Gojira / Godzilla, King of the Monsters
by Terry Morse
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DVD details
Actor: Akihiko Hirata, Akira Takarada, Takashi ShimuraDirector: Terry Morse
Brand: Genius
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); English (Original Language); Japanese (Original Language), Dolby Digital 1.0; Japanese (Published), Dolby Digital 1.0; English (Published)
Format: Black & White, Collector's Edition, Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 175 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-09-05
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Classic Media
Product features:
- The testing of nuclear weapons in the Pacific Ocean triggers the awakening of a dreadful, 400-foot-tall, fire-breathing prehistoric lizard who commences to wreak havoc on the city of Tokyo. The original Japanese version of GODZILLA, without the Americanized addition of Raymond Burr. Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: SCI-FI/FANTASY Rating: NR Age: 828768455999 UPC: 82876845599
DVD Reviews of Gojira / Godzilla, King of the Monsters
DVD Review: 'Exploitation Madness' - GODZILLA
Summary: 5 Stars
Welcome again to another informative review for 'Exploitation Madness' by yours truly, Christopher William Koenig. Speaking as a movie fan, I have to honest in that Godzilla is one of my all-time favorite movie monsters. While many can complain the later films leaned close to the kiddie matinee fare, the original film that started it all is indeed the better feature. Don't get me wrong for I love the Godzilla sequels, at least the ones from the 1960s and 1970s, but the 1954 film is the best one.
GODZILLA (1954; Japanese Title: "Gojira"/U.S. Title: "Godzilla, King of the Monsters!")
A mysterious radioactive fire appears in the ocean and destroys various Japanese fishing ships. Reports reveal that the citizens of Odo Island also noticed these occurrences and the Japanese Cost Guard are sent to investigate. One night, an unknown force suddenly destroys the village during a storm. Dr. Yamane (Takashi Shimura) is sent to the island to investigate and notices the entire village has giant footprints surrounding the area and suddenly a huge monster briefly appears from behind a mountain! Yamane reveals the village was destroyed by this creature, which is really a fire-breathing dinosaur - which has been dubbed by the citizens of Odo Island as 'Godzilla' - that was hibernating under the deep patches of the sea, only to have its food supply destroyed by H-bomb tests. The Japanese government plans to put up high-tension wires to protect the country from this mysterious creature, but it's not enough to stop Godzilla from destroying Tokyo and leaving the city ablaze at night. In the meantime, Yamane's daughter Emiko (Momoko Kochi) is involved in a relationship with Ogata (Akira Takarada), despite her being engaged to the eye patch-wearing eccentric Professor Serizawa (Akihiko Hirata) who has invented 'The Oxygen Destroyer': a device that can eliminate the oxygen in the water and kill any marine life in the area. Could this be the perfect weapon to kill Godzilla once and for all before the monster makes its move anywhere else?
In 1954, Tomoyuki Tanaka was a young producer who was getting his big start at Toho. The studio was producing a film titled "Behind the Glory", which would be a co-production between Japan and Indonesia, and Tanaka was placed in charge of production. But, at the last minute, the project had to be canceled due to the Indonesian government refusing to grant any work visas to the Japanese crew. With disaster already in hand, Tanaka had to return to Toho for an alternate proposal for the studio despite not having any ideas for a different project. During his flight back to Japan, Tanaka looked out the window and stared down at the ocean and wondered to himself this question: What if there was a giant monster lurking the depths of the sea? Tanaka was smart enough to remember the international re-release of "King Kong" (1933) provided to be a box-office success in Japan, prompting Warner Bros. to distribute "The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms" (1953) in that country with even bigger box-office results. Tanaka also remembered the incident involving the fishing vessel Lucky Dragon No. 5 wandering towards the U.S. atomic testing zone near Bikini Atoll, exposing the crew and the fish to high levels of radiation. With these two elements in mind, Tanaka told the executives at Toho their next project should be a monster film. However, because no other Japanese film company had ever produced a sci-fi monster flick, this would provide to be a difficult task for Tanaka, yet he persisted.
To conceive the story, Tanaka hired novelist Shigeru Kayama to conceive the story treatment for "Godzilla". The original treatment involved a dinosaur attacking Tokyo due to suffering from hunger caused by the H-bomb killing off its fish supply that existed at the depths of the sea. One aspect of the original story that was much different than that of the finished product was the characters; for example, Dr. Yamane was actually a sinister scientist who lived in a pseudo-Gothic mansion, wandering about the streets at night, making claims about the existence of Godzilla on public television (?!), and sabotaging the electronic fence to let the monster from attack Tokyo. The story, coming off as a bizarre variation of 50s science fiction and 40s Universal Pictures-themed horror, was a nice start for Tanaka to use as a template, passing the treatment off to scriptwriter Takeo Murata to work on a first draft. Gone were the dark pseudo-horror elements and the characters were re-arranged to make them more believable, as well as slightly changing Godzilla's reasons for its existence, to be formed in a more structured storyline. Hired to direct the picture was Ishiro Honda, who was trained at Toho as 'assistant director' in the late 40s and then moved up to director status in the early 50s. Honda, who was good friends with Akira Kurosawa and served as 'assistant director' for Kurosawa's "Stray Dog" (1949; Japanese Title: "Nora Inu"), received good praise for his directorial debut of the Toho short film "The Blue Pearl" (1952; Japanese Title: "Aoi Shinju") and Tanaka felt his documentary-style would serve well for "Godzilla". Having seen the destruction caused by the Atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end World War 2, Honda was quite aware of the underlying message of the script and added some additional themes as co-writer. For the special effects, Tanaka utilized Toho's top effects artist Eiji Tsuburaya to conceive the effects scenes of Godzilla's destruction. At first, Tsuburaya wanted to utilize stop-motion animation, for he was also influenced by "King Kong", but this idea was quickly nixed by the effects genius for he estimated the animation would provide too costly and take up to 2 years to complete! Considering it took 1-year for "King Kong" to be completed, Tsuburaya's claim was not too far off and thus settled on using a man in a rubber suit and detailed miniature effects instead.
After the film's completion, "Godzilla" was released to the Japanese public and it would be a huge box-office success next to Toho's release of Akira Kurosawa's "The Seven Samurai" (1954; "Shichinin No Samurai"). Later in 1955, "Godzilla" would have one theatrical release in the United States in its original version, playing at the Toho La Brea Theatre in Los Angeles for Japanese-American viewing. There, producer/distributor Joseph E. Levene saw the film and purchased the American distribution rights for $10,000 from Toho. Levene took the film to Paul Schreibman and his independent company Jewell Enterprises; Schreibman agreed to put up some production money to shoot new American footage to be inter-cut with the existing Japanese sequences. The reason for this plan was while some Japanese features were being released in the United States, the country's post-war attitude towards Japan was not too positive and the idea of a Japanese-made sci-fi picture seemed unbelievable to the American public, let alone in either dubbed or subtitled form. Levene felt he could get away with releasing the film if it looked as if it were a co-production with Japan and the U.S. Script doctor/film editor Terry Morse was hired to direct the new sequences featuring Raymond Burr as reporter 'Steve Martin' visiting Japan only to report the story of Godzilla's rampage, as well as sitting thru press conferences with actor Frank Iwanaga serving as interpreter. Some of the original Japanese footage would be badly dubbed in English while the rest of the scenes were left in its native language as an act of "authenticity". Removing 40 minutes of the film's original 98 minute material and adding in the new footage bringing the running time to 81 minutes, the picture was released in America as "Godzilla, King of the Monsters!" in 1956 by Transworld Releasing and Godzilla Distribution Company (great name!), both formed by Levene and Schreibman. While the American edit would be the most commonly seen version of the film, it's unfortunate that much of the subtext and character development apparent in the Japanese original was removed for standard monster action. However, Raymond Burr does such an excellent job reacting to everything on display that it all becomes forgivable.
For years the original Japanese version of "Godzilla" was rarely seen in the United States; the American re-cut would have continuous plays on television and home video. Then, in 2005, Rialto Pictures re-issued the original version of small revival theatres much to the acclaim of fans and critics, both young and old. Having read about the various differences between the original Japanese and the American re-cut, for myself watching the Japanese original was like seeing the film all over again: there were scenes that I've never seen before and a few surprises here and there. With that, is "Godzilla" a well-deserved classic of both Japanese cinema and the sci-fi genre, or is it a bloated over-hyped relic of its time? Well, speaking not only as a fan but a film admirer, I have to say that "Godzilla" really is an excellent example of making a good sci-fi flick with an effective story (which was sometimes hard to come by in the 50s American sci-fi B-movies, I might add), great performances, an excellent musical score and impressive effects work. Director Ishiro Honda really captures the somber mood with his documentary-style direction, keeping the performances simple and effective. While the film does have a few slow spots, it works this way for once we get to how the characters feel about the situations they are in, it's all the more compelling and we fully realize it's not just about Godzilla but it's really about the human characters. The performances by all are extremely good, most especially Takashi Shimura, a regular in Akira Kurosawa films such as "Drunken Angel" (1948; Japanese Title: "Yoidore Tenshi") and "Ikiru" (1952), as the soul-tortured scientist Dr. Yamane who can't seem to decide if he's on the right side or not. Special props go to Akihiko Hirata as he shines in his role of the doomed Professor Serizawa and playing the character as a desperate individual on the run from society. Akira Takarada and Momoko Kochi do well as the young lovers whose lives are interrupted by these terrible events that occur and come off as quite believable in their own right.
But once Godzilla enters the frame, from then on it's a sight for sore eyes. With the heavy-set body of a Tyrannosaurus Rex, spiky dorsal fins and dragon like head, spewing its fire on the city, Godzilla is defined as the prime example of a creature representing the themes of earth, wind, fire and water: an unstoppable force of nature. The monster is certainly threatening with its slow movement and oblivious reactions to what building it'll crush, but at the same time Godzilla is a different character than any of the monsters that would spawn in 50s American sci-fi productions: while monsters in those features attacked due to science gone wrong or alien invasions, Godzilla is a fish-out-of-water character that really has no specific rhyme or reason to attack Tokyo, but is going by its own instincts. Accidentally interrupted by its hibernation and forced to move on land, Godzilla comes off as more of a victim than the citizens of Japan! The social commentaries and theories of what Godzilla truly represents are abundant: one is that the monster represents the souls of the American and Japanese soldiers who've died in World War 2 exacting their revenge on the world, or that Godzilla is a literal product of what Atomic weapons could do to the world, while others ascertain Godzilla serves as the ghosts of the victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as the creatures skin has the look and feel of a radiation burned victim. Either way, Godzilla is really more than a giant monster on the loose feature, but is a thought-provoking picture that goes way beyond the sci-fi genre. Credit to Eiji Tsuburaya must be given for providing the excellent special effects work; with the abundance of extremely well detailed miniatures, suit-mation, optical effects and puppet-work Godzilla's rampage in Tokyo is a supreme tour-de-force as the monster breaks its way thru high tension wires, setting fire to the streets and tearing down the modern buildings. Adding to the effect is the effectively lit black-and-white cinematography, bringing the harsh destruction to life with dark backgrounds and bright lights. Another huge plus to the film is Akira Ifukube's music score: there has never been any other score like it as Ifukube delivers a tone that could barely be heard in any 50s American sci-fi flick. From the beginning title sequence of its fast-paced score complete with Godzilla's roar in the background to the end with a chorus of young singers mourning the loss of lives, Ifukube helps re-enforce the feeling of dread and despair towards the visuals on display. Ifukube's score was so good that he would re-use some of the cues for Kon Ichikawa's "The Burmese Harp" (1956; Japanese Title: "Biruma no Tategoto"), which also work very well in that film as well.
Classic Media's 2 disc DVD of the film is both a joy and disappointment to both fans and newcomers of this classic. The original Japanese version is presented on Disc 1 with optional English subtitles. While the 35mm materials were remastered on HD, there are some significant scratches and minor print damage on display. But then, the film always looked like that: during the postwar years, most films would suffer this fate due to studios not having the money, which was put into the war effort, to clean up the editing facilities. In other words, it not only affected "Godzilla", but these problems are also still apparent in excellent restorations of Kurosawa's "Seven Samurai". But "Godzilla" still looks good and it was restored the best it could be, and I feel this is the same print used for the Rilato Pictures release and doesn't look too different. The subtitles are another story: in the Rilato release, the subs were nicely printed in white lettering, formatted well and error-free. Sadly, Classic Media ditched those and used ugly yellow subtitles with a spelling error or two, and not spaced apart resulting in some letters to be too close together. The subtitles are definitely readable, but the problems do stand out. After the feature, an audio commentary featuring two Godzilla experts Steve Ryfle and Ed Godziszewski is included and these two know their stuff. The original Japanese trailer is presented, but it is not subtitled and comes off as a useless extra. Two featurettes 'Godzilla: Story Development' and 'Making of the Godzilla Suit' are also included with narration by Ed Godziszewski and are very informative, if somewhat dry due to Godziszewski's delivery. Recently, Classic Media released the Japanese version of "Godzilla" on Blu-Ray with a claim it was fully restored in HD, but most of the reviews claim that the transfer looks exactly like the standard DVD release with marginal restoration present. And that's a shame because Toho recently restored the film for their Blu-Ray release in Japan and reports say it looks much better; it only proves that Japan seems to get the better versions than we do.
Disc 2 includes the American edit "Godzilla, King of the Monsters!" and it looks like the same transfer used for all the previous home video incarnations we've seen before, but it still looks good. One major surprise is the American end credits have been restored; they were present on the original theatrical release, but on later television and home video presentations the credits were cut out. Reportedly taken from an existing 16mm print, it's great to have these credits added back in, however there is a slight problem: on the original theatrical releases, the credits came on after the film faded out and then the 'The End' title card appeared. Sadly, Classic Media has placed the credits at the end of the 'The End' title card and the difference is quite obvious when you listen to the music cues. But, for what it's worth, at least the credits are there. Steve Ryfle and Ed Godziszewski provide an audio commentary for the American version and, once again, these two know their Godzilla info. A short TV spot of the American trailer is presented; shame the longer American trailer wasn't offered but the TV spot will do. Rounding out the disc is a 16-page booklet that gives us more insight to the film and its American incarnation.
Highly recommended just for the original film itself! And please, while I do have some respect for the guy, avoid the one-star review from Roger Ebert: when you have a Pulitzer Prize winning film critic who hates the movie because he claims a room in the Japanese Diet building looks like a classroom set (even though that's what the room looked like in 1954!) and complains about out-of-date effects work, you know this guy won't like a movie unless it's French and it's made with some claim of high art! Bah! Whatever, Roger!
Description of Gojira / Godzilla, King of the Monsters
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