Godzilla - Das Original (1954)

American nuclear weapons testing results in the creation of a seemingly unstoppable, dinosaur-like beast.

Director:

Ishirô Honda

Writers:

Takeo Murata, Ishirô Honda

Stars:

Takashi Shimura, Akihiko Hirata, Akira Takarada

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Akira Takarada	...	Hideto Ogata
Momoko Kôchi	...	Emiko Yamane
Akihiko Hirata	...	Daisuke Serizawa-hakase
Takashi Shimura	...	Kyohei Yamane-hakase
Fuyuki Murakami	...	Professor Tanabe
Sachio Sakai	...	Newspaper Reporter Hagiwara
Toranosuke Ogawa	...	President of Company
Ren Yamamoto	...	Masaji Sieji
Hiroshi Hayashi	...	Chairman of Diet Committee
Seijirô Onda	...	Parliamentarian Oyama
Tsuruko Mano	...	Mrs. Sieji
Takeo Oikawa	...	Chief of Emergency Headquarters
Toyoaki Suzuki	...	Shinkichi Sieji
Kokuten Kôdô	...	The Old Fisherman (as Kuninori Kôdô)
Tadashi Okabe	...	Prof. Tanabe's Assistant

Storyline

Japan is thrown into a panic after several ships explode and are sunk. At first, the authorities think its either underwater mines or underwater volcanic activity. The authorities soon head to Odo Island, close to where several of the ships were sunk. One night, something comes onshore and destroys several houses and kills several people. A later expedition to the island led by paleontologist Professor Kyôhei Yamane, his daughter Emiko, and young navy frogman Hideto Ogata (who also happens to be Emiko's lover, even though she is betrothed to Dr. Daisuke Serizawa) soon discover something more devastating than imagined in the form of a 164-foot-tall (50-meter-tall) monster whom the natives call Gojira. Now, the monster begins a rampage that threatens to destroy not only Japan but the rest of the world as well. Can the monster be destroyed before it is too late, and what role will the mysterious Serizawa play in the battle?

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Plot Keywords:

kaiju | japan | gojira | godzilla | tokusatsu | 

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Taglines:

spewing flames that scorch the earth!

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Genres:

Drama | Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

Classic Media [United States] Rialto Pictures [United States]

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

7 May 2004 (USA)

Also Known As:

Godzilla

Filming Locations:

Toba, Mie, Japan

Box Office

Budget:

JPY 100,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$38,030 (USA) (7 May 2004)

Gross:

$10,903 (USA) (18 April 2014)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Toho Film (Eiga) Co. Ltd.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Akira Takarada was originally cast as Dr. Serizawa and Akihiko Hirata was to play Ogata. It was reportedly director Ishirô Honda who felt that Hirata was more suited for the darker tragic hero of Serizawa. Honda had the actors switch roles.

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Goofs

As the monster lumbers through Tokyo, the emergency officials are shown evacuating their office just before the building is wrecked by Gojira. After the office has been destroyed, a shot shows the monster's tail outside the wrecked building, and the wires holding up the tail are plainly visible.

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Quotes

Chief of Emergency Headquarters: This is quite a problem, professor. If this keeps up, we'll have to suspend the international shipping routes. Have you found a way? Is there something we can do to defeat it?
Kyohei Yamane-hakase: So, that's it...
Chairman of Diet Committee: Professor Yamane, let's be honest. If there's a way to defeat Godzilla, we need to know.
Kyohei Yamane-hakase: It's impossible! Godzilla absorbed massive amounts of atomic radiation and yet it still survived! What do you think could kill it? Instead, we should focus on why it is still alive. That should be our top priority!

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Connections

Referenced in Robot Chicken: Celebutard Mountain (2007)

User Reviews

Crushes its sequels like Godzilla crushes Tokyo!

The original, Japanese version of "Gojira" is the best giant monster film I've ever seen. Some fans get carried away and call it one of the best movies ever made; I wouldn't go quite that far, but it's damn good.

This film is quite different from the 20+ sequels that followed. Here, Godzilla is not so much a creature as he is a walking incarnation of the atomic bomb. His death ray, which became a rather amusing cartoon laser blast in later films, is here depicted as a sort of radioactive mist that sets its victims on fire. These "radioactive horror" images still resonate today - and imagine the impact they must've had on Japanese audiences fifty years ago.

From a production standpoint, the film holds up well. Godzilla's costume is much more convincing than the silly monkey suits that featured in the 60s and 70s Toho films, and due to the grayscale photography, the model cityscapes look convincing in most shots - or at least respectable. Ifkube's music score is stirring (you know it has to be good, as they kept recycling it in later movies), and director Honda makes great use of camera angles and imaginative special effects to give Godzilla a genuine aura of menace.

For once, the human characters don't let the side down. There's a compelling love triangle, and a dramatic sacrifice made at the end of the film that adds enormously to its emotional impact. The American version ("Godzilla: King of the Monsters") cut out much of the character development, and is thus clearly inferior; but never fear, Rialto is apparently releasing "Gojira," in all its original glory, sometime this year (2004).

In the later Godzilla films, the destruction he causes is almost incidental. Here, it's the whole point - he's a force of nature. Impressive.