Back when I was a kid of about ten years old (1960), New York City had a TV station (WNEW or WPIX, I can't remember which), that ran what it called "The Million Dollar Movie", taking it's name from films that up to that time had grossed over a million dollars. The film would be featured every night for a week from Monday through Friday at 5:00 PM. One such film was "Godzilla, King of the Monsters". I can't say with certainty what year I saw Godzilla on the Million Dollar Movie, but I can safely say that I saw it five nights in a row. I hadn't seen it ever again since until tonight, having picked up the film at a local flea market.
I can just imagine the impact "Godzilla" had on the sci-fi movie community back in the mid 1950's, probably similar to the importance that "Star Wars" had upon it's release in 1977. The 1956 version offered Raymond Burr as reporter Steve Martin narrating his experience in Tokyo covering the emergence of Godzilla from his prehistoric slumber. Interspersing live action with miniature sets, Godzilla is at the same time a campy sci-fi flick and a nightmarish horror film.
Today, Godzilla's first appearance on screen is almost comical, unable to compete with today's CGI and special effects. My first actual memory of the film was Godzilla's emergence from the depths of Tokyo Bay, resurrected from hibernation by repeated experimenting with America's hydrogen bomb. It was theorized that Godzilla was a species intermediate between a sea and a land creature dating back to the Jurassic Age. As Godzilla advances on Tokyo, he slams through power lines and buildings, stopping a train with his foot and crushing railroad cars in his wake. His steamy breath melts electrical towers and sets the city aflame. Raymond Burr's commentary - "Godzilla has turned the heart of Tokyo into a sea of fire... nothing can save the city now".
Dr. Daisuke Serizawa (Akihiko Hirata) is the only man who holds the secret to Godzilla's destruction, a process that destroys oxygen in water, thereby destroying the key to life itself. Unwilling to share his discovery with the world lest it be used for illicit purpose, Serizawa sacrifices himself to destroy the monster, but only after first destroying his own laboratory research notes.
Godzilla may have been destroyed in the original film, but the franchise certainly wasn't; he went on to oppose an army of future monsters - Rodan, Ghidrah, Mothra, and even King Kong! Viewers too young to have witnessed the original "Godzilla, King of the Monsters" probably won't be able to appreciate it's humble science fiction beginnings, but those of us old enough to remember The Million Dollar Movie days still revere the film as an early art form, corny as it may appear to audiences today.
I can just imagine the impact "Godzilla" had on the sci-fi movie community back in the mid 1950's, probably similar to the importance that "Star Wars" had upon it's release in 1977. The 1956 version offered Raymond Burr as reporter Steve Martin narrating his experience in Tokyo covering the emergence of Godzilla from his prehistoric slumber. Interspersing live action with miniature sets, Godzilla is at the same time a campy sci-fi flick and a nightmarish horror film.
Today, Godzilla's first appearance on screen is almost comical, unable to compete with today's CGI and special effects. My first actual memory of the film was Godzilla's emergence from the depths of Tokyo Bay, resurrected from hibernation by repeated experimenting with America's hydrogen bomb. It was theorized that Godzilla was a species intermediate between a sea and a land creature dating back to the Jurassic Age. As Godzilla advances on Tokyo, he slams through power lines and buildings, stopping a train with his foot and crushing railroad cars in his wake. His steamy breath melts electrical towers and sets the city aflame. Raymond Burr's commentary - "Godzilla has turned the heart of Tokyo into a sea of fire... nothing can save the city now".
Dr. Daisuke Serizawa (Akihiko Hirata) is the only man who holds the secret to Godzilla's destruction, a process that destroys oxygen in water, thereby destroying the key to life itself. Unwilling to share his discovery with the world lest it be used for illicit purpose, Serizawa sacrifices himself to destroy the monster, but only after first destroying his own laboratory research notes.
Godzilla may have been destroyed in the original film, but the franchise certainly wasn't; he went on to oppose an army of future monsters - Rodan, Ghidrah, Mothra, and even King Kong! Viewers too young to have witnessed the original "Godzilla, King of the Monsters" probably won't be able to appreciate it's humble science fiction beginnings, but those of us old enough to remember The Million Dollar Movie days still revere the film as an early art form, corny as it may appear to audiences today.