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

There have been two different stories as to why Godzilla's name was changed to "Gigantis" in the American version:

• Warner Brothers could not get permission to use Godzilla from Joseph E. Levine and had to change the name to "Gigantis".
• In an interview, Paul Schreibman, the producer of the American version, said that he changed Godzilla's name to "Gigantis" to give the audience the impression that they were seeing a new monster. He has since regretted that decision.

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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

Followed by Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975)

User Reviews

The Strange History

This film is a decent follow up to the original film. It pretty much shows that you don't have to be a scientist or a major military figure to be a hero. The only thing negative criticism I have about it is that it tends to slow down when it gets to the scenes that feature only the human characters. However, the film really picks up steam when the fight between the two monsters begins.

Also, there is an interesting fact about this film. When it was first proposed that this film would be released in the United States, the title was for the American version was to be called "The Volcano Monsters" and it was to be written by noted schlock master Ib Melchior, the man behind such B classics as "Reptilicus" and "The Angry Red Planet", and his partner Edwin Watson. The proposed production would have used some of the footage from "Godzilla's Counterattack." The premise for the story was to involve the discovery of a tyrannosaurus (Godzilla) and an ankylosaurus (Angillas) in a cave on a remote island. The two monsters are then brought to San Francisco (the Japanese buildings would have been explained as being San Francisco's Chinatown) and then escape and start to fight all over the city. The ankylosaurus is killed during the battle and the tyrannosaurus is then left to rampage all over the city until it escapes to the Artic Circle where in the climatic battle it is covered in ice and preserved forever.

An interesting note, Melchior used several of the intended plot devices for "The Volcano Monsters" in Reptilicus, including the ending which showed the claw of another monster, which was poking out of the cave where the two monsters were found.