Godzilla Raids Again (1955)
"Gojira no gyakushû" (original title)

Godzilla battles an irradiated Ankylosaur and destroys Osaka in the process.

Director:

Motoyoshi Oda

Writers:

Shigeaki Hidaka, Shigeru Kayama (novel),

Stars:

Hiroshi Koizumi, Setsuko Wakayama, Minoru Chiaki

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Hiroshi Koizumi	...	Shoichi Tsukioka
Setsuko Wakayama	...	Hidemi Yamaji
Minoru Chiaki	...	Kôji Kobayashi
Takashi Shimura	...	Kyohei Yamane-hakase
Masao Shimizu	...	Zoologist Dr. Tadokoro
Seijirô Onda	...	Captain Terasawa of Osaka Defense Corps
Sonosuke Sawamura	...	Hokkaido Branch Manager Shingo Shibeki
Yoshio Tsuchiya	...	Tajima, Member of Osaka Defense Corps
Mayuri Mokusho	...	Radio Operator Yasuko Inouye
Minosuke Yamada	...	Chief of Civil Defense
Yukio Kasama	...	Koehi Wamaji, President of the Fishery
Senkichi Ômura	...	Small Escaped Convict
Ren Yamamoto	...	Commander of Landing Craft
Shin Ôtomo	...	Convict Leader
Takeo Oikawa	...	Osaka Municipal Police Commissioner

Storyline

In this second entry of the Godzilla series, another monster is introduced to fight Godzilla. The new creature is called Anguirus and looks like a big spiked turtle. The two creatures wage their war in Japan and level cities along the way.

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Plot Keywords:

monster | godzilla | pilot | giant monster | island | 

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Taglines:

Roasting Anything In Its Path!

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Genres:

Action | Drama | Horror | Romance | Sci-Fi

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Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

21 May 1959 (USA)

Also Known As:

Counterattack of the Monsters

Company Credits

Production Co:

Toho Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

82 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Was going to be remade in the US as "The Volcano Monsters". It followed a similar plot line where a Tyrannosaurus and an Ankylosaurus are found battling and are captured then brought to San Francisco where they awake and do battle. Unfortunately the rights could not be obtained and the movie was never made. However, many of the elements from that script written by Ib Melchior would later be used in the film Reptilicus.

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Goofs

In the shot where a few people are washed away in a flood in an underground-station, they appear to be transparent, as their images were apparently printed upon the background where the flood was actually filmed.

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Quotes

[last line; Japanese version]
Shoichi Tsukioka: Kobayashi... we beat Godzilla for you.

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Crazy Credits

In the closing credits, Minoru Chiaki's name is misspelled as "Mindru Chiaki".

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Connections

Featured in 42nd Street Forever, Volume 2: The Deuce (2006)

User Reviews

a great kaiju film

My mother dragged us kids to the movies a lot - she wasn't a big fan of movies, she just wanted someone else (the usher) to tell us to 'keep quiet!' Anyway, this film is the earliest visit to a movie theater I can remember. It opened up a whole new world for me - and I don't mean that of giant monsters (for some reason I just took their existence as a given). I mean post-war Japan - a world of big cities and neon lights, of hard work and nite-clubs, airplanes and jets but always tense with the fear that some great disaster would befall it. And now, thanks to the newly released remastered original version of this film, I can still visit that world, to share its fears and hopes.

Although the film lags somewhat after the destruction of Osaka (it does pick up, very neatly, towards the end), it certainly is still in the running for 'best kaiju ("giant monster") movie ever'. The characters are pretty well developed, and the acting is solidly professional, Some of the black&white photography is magnificent (e.g., the fire storm above Osaka). The special effects are probably the best of the first Godzilla series - the monster smash between Godzilla and Aguirus is surprisingly fresh, believable, and thrilling. It reminds us that, as far as the monsters are concerned, we humans are the puppets - and not very interesting at that.

A potent mix delivering a great kaiju film.

P.s.: the Japanese version is far superior.