Godzilla, King of the Monsters! (1956)

Directors:

Ishirô Honda
Terry O. Morse

Writers:

Ishirô Honda
Shigeru Kayama (story)
(more)

Release Date:

27 April 1956 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Sci-Fi | Action

Tagline:

Makes KING KONG look like a Midget!

Plot:

A 400-foot (122-meter) dinosaur-like beast, awoken from undersea hibernation off the Japanese coast by atomic-bomb testing, attacks Tokyo.

Plot Keywords:

Japan | Godzilla | Monster | Reporter | Scientist

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Raymond Burr	...	Steve Martin
Takashi Shimura	...	Dr. Yamane
Momoko Kôchi	...	Emiko (as Momoko Kochi)
Akira Takarada	...	Ogata
Akihiko Hirata	...	Dr. Serizawa
Sachio Sakai	...	Hagiwara
Fuyuki Murakami	...	Dr. Tabata
Ren Yamamoto	...	Seiji
Toyoaki Suzuki	...	Shinkichi
Tadashi Okabe	...	Dr. Tabata's Assistant
Toranosuke Ogawa	...	President of Company
Frank Iwanaga	...	Security Officer
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Mikel Conrad	...	George Lawrence (uncredited)
Kan Hayashi	...	(uncredited)
James Hong	...	Ogata / Serizawa (voice) (uncredited)
Ren Imaizumi	...	Radio Operator (uncredited)
Kokuten Kôdô	...	Old Man on Hill on Oto Island (uncredited)
Tsuruko Mano	...	The Boy's Mother [Bit] (uncredited)
Lee Miller	...	Man in Line at Airport (uncredited)
Haruo Nakajima	...	Godzilla (uncredited)
Takeo Oikawa	...	Chief of Emergency Headquarters (uncredited)
Kenji Sahara	...	Man on Boat (uncredited)
Kin Sugai	...	(uncredited)
Ryosaku Takasugi	...	Godzilla (uncredited)
Katsumi Tezuka	...	Godzilla (uncredited)
Sammee Tong	...	Dr. Yamane (voice) (uncredited)

Directed by
Ishirô Honda
Terry O. Morse

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Ishirô Honda
Shigeru Kayama		story
Takeo Murata
Al C. Ward		US sequences

Produced by
Edward B. Barison	....	producer
Richard Kay	....	producer
Joseph E. Levine	....	executive producer
Harry Rybnick	....	producer
Tomoyuki Tanaka	....	producer: Japanese material
Terry Turner	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Akira Ifukube

Film Editing by
Terry O. Morse

Production Design by
Satoru Chûko

Art Direction by
Satoru Chûko
Takeo Kita

Set Decoration by
George Rohr

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Ira Webb	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Hisashi Shimonaga	....	sound
Arthur B. Smith	....	sound (as Art Smith)

Special Effects by
Kuichirô Kishida	....	special effects
Hiroshi Mukoyama	....	special effects
Eiji Tsuburaya	....	special effects
Akira Watanabe	....	special effects

Camera and Electrical Department
Guy Roe	....	cinematographer: American footage

Production Companies

• Toho Company (original version)
• Jewell Enterprises Inc.

Distributors

• Embassy Pictures Corporation (1956) (USA) (theatrical) (USA: Eastern)
• TransWorld Releasing Corp. (1956) (USA) (theatrical) (USA: Western)
• Vestron Video (1980) (USA) (VHS)
• Simitar Video (1992) (USA) (VHS)
• Paramount Home Video (1994) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• GoodTimes Home Video (1996) (USA) (VHS)
• Zontarian Video (1996) (USA) (VHS)
• Simitar Video (1998) (USA) (DVD)
• Classic Media (2002) (USA) (DVD)
• Sony Music Entertainment (2002) (USA) (DVD)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• Nihon Eiga Satellite Broadcasting (2008) (Japan) (TV)
• Toho Company (1956) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Criterion Collection, The (2012) (USA) (DVD) (Blu-ray) (with "Gojira")

Other Companies

• Godzilla Releasing Co.  releasing agency
• Toho Studios  sound stages

Also Known As:

"Godzilla" - USA (informal title)

Runtime:

80 min (original U.S. theatrical release version) | USA:78 min (television version)

Country:

USA | Japan

Language:

English | Japanese

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Toho Company

Trivia:

Tôhô released this American version of its own Godzilla (1954) to Japanese audiences in 1957. The studio ballyhooed it as being a CinemaScope production, when in fact what Toho did was chop off the top and the bottom of the frame. These mutilated shots later made it into the studio's Daikaijû Baran (1958).

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: During one scene where Godzilla breathes his radioactive fire, the nozzle that provides the spray can clearly be seen inside his mouth.

Quotes:

[Opening voice over]
Steve Martin:This is Tokyo. Once a city of six million people. What has happened here was caused by a force which up until a few days ago was entirely beyond the scope of Man's imagination. Tokyo, a smoldering memorial to the unknown, an unknown which at this very moment still prevails and could at any time lash out with its terrible destruction anywhere else in the world. There were once many people here who could've told of what they saw...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Diario de una becaria (2003)

Excellent movie, but the Japanese version is a WHOLE LOT BETTER!!!

Godzilla: King of the Monsters was one of the first Godzilla films I ever saw. In fact, it was the fourth. And right off from the first time I saw some previews on the internet and places like that, I knew I would love it. So I watched it and immediately I was hooked on the film. But then I realized that this version is just an Americanized re-edited version from the original, Japanese classic from Ishiro Honda. So before long, once I had gained enough money, I purchased that.

Before I go on, I must tell everyone reading this that the Japanese version, titled "Gojira" is much better than this version. And I highly recommend it over this one.

But this film's marvelous enough as it is. Motion picture star Raymond Burr did a great job as one of the few survivors of Godzilla's unstoppable rampage. The dubbing is, for once, rather decent. But the real greatness of this film comes from the fact that most of its dramatic moments are directly from the original classic.

Godzilla: King of the Monsters is a great monster movie. Not as dramatic and powerful as its original Japanese version, but still a great film that dwarfs a lot of the later Godzilla films.