Godzilla, King of the Monsters! (1956)

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

Directors:

Ishirô Honda (as Ishiro Honda), Terry O. Morse (as Terry Morse)

Writers:

Shigeru Kayama (original story), Takeo Murata (screen play)

Stars:

Raymond Burr, Takashi Shimura, Momoko Kôchi

1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited 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

Storyline

When American reporter Steve Martin investigates a series of mysterious disasters off the coast of Japan, he comes face to face with an ancient creature so powerful and so terrifying, it can reduce Tokyo to a smoldering graveyard. Nuclear weapon testing resurrected this relic from the Jurassic age, and now it's rampaging across Japan. At night, Godzilla wades through Tokyo leaving death and destruction in his wake, disappearing into Tokyo Bay when his rage subsides. Coventional weapons are useless against him; but renowned scientist Dr. Serizawa has discovered a weapon that could destroy all life in the bay -- including Godzilla. But which disaster is worse, Godzilla's fury, or the death of Tokyo Bay?

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Plot Keywords:

godzilla | japan | reporter | japanese | monster | 

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Taglines:

Spawned in the ocean's depths... it stalks the earth! Belching fire that blasts mighty cities into oblivion! A gory Goliath that lives to kill ...kills to live! Diabolical Demon of Destruction... Mightiest Monster of them all - G O D Z I L L A !

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Genres:

Action | Horror | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

USA Japan

Language:

English Japanese

Release Date:

27 April 1956 (USA)

Also Known As:

Godzilla the Sea Beast

Box Office

Budget:

$650,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$2,000,000, 31 December 1956

Company Credits

Production Co:

Toho Company, Jewell Enterprises Inc.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

80 min (original U.S. theatrical release) 78 min (television) 69 min (television) (re-issue)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The Pan Am airliner at the beginning of the movie is a Boeing Stratocruiser, produced shortly after World War 2. It was based on the air frame of the B-29 Superfortress bomber, the plane used to drop the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

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Goofs

The photo shown at the press conference of Godzilla (which in reality is a painting) looks nothing like the real Godzilla, and is at an angle which the cameras on the hill could not have captured.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Steve Martin: [in voice over] 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... now there are only a few. My name is ...

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Crazy Credits

Many prints and videos have absolutely no credits, beyond the title at the start(with a clearly video-generated copyright notice below it) and a "The End" graphic at the close. As of 2006, Classic Media's release of the film in the Gojira/Godzilla: King of the Monsters on DVD has the restored English credits.

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Alternate Versions

Since being reacquired by Toho, all current U.S. prints now have the Transworld logo removed and replaced with black footage

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Connections

Referenced in Diff'rent Strokes: It's My Party and I'll Cry If I Want To (1985)

User Reviews

An Enraged Monster Wipes Out An Entire City! (While Perry Mason watches on for America).

Well it literally is a different animal from Ishirō Honda's seminal 1954 movie about the giant atomic lizard who wakes up in a bad mood. Here the American version clips the atmosphere considerably (and the running time), craftily edits Raymond Burr into Honda's movie and of course removes the anti-American sentiment that once existed. Yet the film did prove to be very popular with English speaking film fans and further enhanced the growing appeal of all things Godzilla like.

As it is it's a decent enough film, especially if you have never seen Honda's original. For sure it's still creaky in that "man in rubber suit" way, but the iconic creature is still thrilling as it goes about its merry way destroying some carefully constructed model workings. The nuclear war heedings are still there and there's much fun to be had, intentional or otherwise. Its pale in comparison to the original, but it's not a stinker either. 6/10