Godzilla (1954)
Produced and Released by: Toho Co. Ltd.
Director: Ishiro Honda
By Dr Kain

Introduction

In 1954 Toho released a monster movie called “Gojira,” which went on to become a big hit that would help pave for future Kaiju movies and many Gojzilla sequels. The film featured a giant radioactive dinosaur-like monster that rampaged through Japan. “Gojira” was dubbed and released in the U.S. under the name “Godzilla: King of the Monsters,” which also starred Raymond Burr, who was edited into the movie, along with new scenes made for him. Some fans liked this idea, while purists will hate Burr for life for ruining Godzilla, twice.

The Story

A ship is mysteriously destroyed and giant dinosaur called Godzilla (Gojira) has been spotted around an island by the local natives. Dr. Kyohei Yamane (Takashi Shimura), his daughter Emiko (Momoko Kochi), and a group of researchers travel to this island to investigate the claims made about this creature, which they eventually discover was probably created by the nuclear radiation found on the island.

Soon after making a report about Godzilla, the Japanese military sets up an operation to stop the monster on site, which fails to stop the monster. There is only one hope, Dr. Daisuke Serizawa (Akihiko Hirata) has made a device called the Oxygen Destroyer, which can kill anything it touches in water, but he does not want to use it. Will he allow it to be used to kill Godzilla? Will it kill him?

Review

Being that this is the original movie in the long-running series most fans think this is the best of all the Godzilla movies. I like this filmd, but I don't think it's the greatest, nor one of my top favorites. That does not mean it is not a good though, because it is, especially the original version which is available now on DVD in Japan.

The movie flows by really quickly and has a lot of good scenes featuring Godzilla. There is a lot of human drama, as there are in every Kaiju movie, but the people in this movie don't want you to wish them to be crushed under Godzilla’s feet as other do. There are a few scenes Toho was able to manipulate into looking more realistic since it is in black and white, which is a good thing.

The Region 2 dvd is remastered so nicely, there are hardly any scratchmarks 90% of the time. Sure, they are still there, but for a movie from 1954, this was must have been done very carefully with a great undertsanding and love for what is being done. A widescreen version was never made, so the R2 DVD is in its original full screen format. There have been reports that someone in the U.S. is going to be releasing this movie in theaters subtitled for its 50th anniversary.

Conclusion

Well, I seem to just be rambling on now, so I will finish this up. This movie is what started it all and is the movie that every new Godzilla series (Showa, Heisei, each Millennium movie) acknowledges as its original roots, so this film is a must for any Godzilla or Kaiju fan. I give it a 4/5 because it started the life of a monster that has now been around for half a century.

Dr Kain