Godzilla Raids Again (1955)
Produced and Released by: Toho Co. Ltd.
Director: Yoshimitsu Banno
By Dr Kain

Introduction

Godzilla made his first appearance in 1954, which was thought to only be a one shot movie, but it turned out to be a big success. This caused Toho to make a sequel in 1955, but instead of rehashing the same plot, they gave Godzilla a monster to fight named Anguirus. This movie was released in America with several names, one of them being “Gigantis the Fire Monster,” which called Godzilla Gigantis in it.

The Story

Shoichi Tsukioka (Hiroshi Koizumi), a pilot, is flying around an island looking for his friend Koji Kobayashi (Minoru Chiaki), another pilot, whose plane had engine trouble. While they were on the island, Godzilla appears, but he is not alone. He is battling some new monster that has never been seen before. The monsters fall off into the ocean and disappear.

Afterwards, Shoichi and Koji are attending a meeting where the military has them looking through dinosaur books until they find the one that matches their description of the other monster, an anklosaurus. Due to this, they name the monster Anguirus. Dr. Yamane (Takashi Shimura) attends the meeting because he was in Tokyo when Godzilla attacked it one year ago. He shows everyone a video of Godzilla’s attack in Japan and explains that he was only defeated by Dr. Serizawa’s Oxygen Destroyer weapon.

The military sets up a plan to try and keep the monsters away from the cities. Godzilla is spotted to be close to Kyushu, but Anguirus is no where to be found.

While Shoichi and his girlfriend are at a party, the fun ends quickly as an announcement is heard that Godzilla is in the area, so they must evacuate. During the evacuation, Godzilla rises from the ocean, but the military successfully lures him away using flares they launch.

Moments after Shoichi and his girlfriend come home Koji picks him up so they can help out with the attack on Godzilla. At the same time, a group of criminals escape from a police truck and a gun fight takes place. Three of the criminals hijack a gasoline truck and drive off just as Koji and Shoichi turn the corner, and the police order them to drive them after the criminals. During the chase, the gas tanker flies in to a huge tanker and explodes. The raging flames attract Godzilla and he enters the city.

Anguirus also rises from the ocean, and the two monsters battle each other like wild animals. They claw and bite each other as if it was a fight for their lives until Anguirus is killed by Godzilla’s powerful jaws crunching down on his neck. The city continues to burn as Godzilla walks towards the huge fire, and leaves the city in ruins.

Days pass and no one has seen Godzilla since the attack until Shoichi finds Godzilla on the island he rescued Koji earlier. He informs the military and they attack Godzilla, burying him into the snow. Unfortunately, Godzilla’s breath attack hits Koji’s plane and it crashes into the icy mountain and explodes. As time goes by, Godzilla makes his escape until he is once again buried under the melted snow and ice, this time for good.

Review

Godzilla Raids Again is definitely a movie that needs to be watched more than once before a decision can be made on whether it is enjoyable or not. The story is a little odd and predictable at times, but it pulls through with some unexpected turn of events and makes it an enjoyable one on the second viewing.

The designs of the characters are obviously from the fifties, but they most of the clothing could be something you would see someone wearing today, which helps makes the characters believable when watching this movie in modern times. This was definitely an advantage whereas some of the later movies, coughHedorahcough, you just cringe over their clothing.

The monster designs on the other hand were a little weak. Godzilla’s design from a distance looks similar to later the Showa movies, and when you have a close up of his face, his mouth looks like a mix between the original’s face with the face used in 2002’s GMK. Unfortunately, the costume looks more like a sock puppet when you get a close up body shot because his neck is so thin and crinkly compared to the rest of the body. Anguirus has the exact same problem though. It looks realistic and like his suit in the later movies, but when you get head shots, his eyes look like plastic, and his head moves around unnaturally like a guy was turning his arm in the suit.

Fortunately, the battle between the monsters rectifies that issue. The monsters just constantly fight each other the way you would see real animals fight. They just claw and bite at each other until one is dead. The battles do look like they were sped up a bit, and the final battle is a little too short, but the way they fight makes up for it all. It is definitely not something you see often in a Godzilla movie, which also helps give this movie an edge.

The battle being fitted with a nice score also helps to give it life. Instead of using a fast off the wall track like Akira Ifukube did in the original movie, Masaru Sato uses a slow toned track, and it works. It really fits the mood of the movie, even without Akira’s famous theme. Not many artists during the Showa era were successful at really pulling off a soundtrack that fits during the movie, but Sato has done so here.

Having Dr. Yamane in the movie also gave it a nice connection to the previous movie. It makes it feel a little more realistic having recurring characters. A lot of the later movies during the Showa era had recurring monsters and sequels, but none of them seemed to have had a character from a previous movie return, like the ones from Godzilla vs MechaGodzilla and Terror of MechaGodzilla, where you would think that at least the Interpol guys would make an appearance.

For a movie made in 1955, the special effects seemed to be really good. While the wires on the planes were noticeable in some scenes, they had a realistic look to them. The only vehicle that looked odd was the gas truck. It looked more like a toy rather than a real truck, especially when it went flying into the tanker.

Conclusion

Godzilla Raids Again is the second movie ever filmed, and the second in the Showa series. It is also an enjoyable one, and introduces the fan favorite Anguirus. I highly recommend this movie for any Godzilla or Anguirus fan. I also recommend you try to see the original version as the English dub calls Godzilla Gigantis, and he is a relative to Godzilla, but not the same monster.

I give it 4/5 stars.

Dr Kain