Godzilla, King of the Monsters




Released:  1956

MPAA Rating: No rating

Genre: Super Monster

Nuts and Bolts: A metaphor warning of the horrors of atomic/nuclear testing, a thirty story mutant dinosaur rises from the depths of Tokyo Bay to wreak havoc amongst a stricken populace. American news reporter Steve Martin gives us the up-to-the-minute play by play of every step of Godzilla’s rampage.

Summary: An American news reporter named Steve Martin travels to Japan to visit his old colleague Serizawa. As he arrives he is but one of many airline passengers who are questioned by Tokyo police. Steve learns that a Japanese commercial vessel was destroyed outside Tokyo Bay. Witnesses claimed that the water itself seemed to catch on fire and no one could explain the strange phenomenon. Steve’s airline had passed near the scene of the incident but none of the passengers actually witnessed the event. Revealing himself as a reporter for the Global World News out of Chicago, he offers his aid to the beleaguered police department.

The following day, Steve and a security specialist named Tomo Iwanaga travel to Oto Island, where presumably wreckage of the destroyed vessel had been seen washing up on shore. The natives claim to have seen a disturbing creature reminiscent of a monster from their ancient myths; Godzilla.

Before long, Godzilla emerges again and destroys several more sea vessels. The Japanese officials learn that Tokyo may be seriously threatened and decide to take measures against Godzilla’s rampage. They erect a barrier of electrified power stations all along the shore of Tokyo Bay. Godzilla easily ravages the power stations and the Japanese call out the National Guard to evacuate the city.

At this point, the people of Tokyo realize an even greater terror. Godzilla utilizes an atomic breath weapon to set the entire city ablaze. Tanks and heavy artillery prove useless, and before long Godzilla crushes the press staff building. Steve Martin is buried beneath a ton of rubble but miraculously survives.

A few days later, Steve’s friend Emiko Yamane tells him of a great secret she has learned. Emiko and Steve’s friend Doctor Serizawa has developed a tremendous weapon, which destroys the oxygen cells within biological organisms. Serizawa is reluctant to utilize the weapon because of the danger it represents.

Left with little choice but to use the Oxygen Destroyer, Doctor Serizawa and colleague Hideko Ogata descend deep into Tokyo Bay where Godzilla lies sleeping. The weapon is released and Ogata returns to the surface. Serizawa however, guilt ridden over creating such a destructive device, cuts his lifeline and remains underwater. He is consumed by his own weapon and quickly dies. Godzilla awakens and thrashes about in his own savage death-throes. Eventually however, his body disintegrates into a skeleton and finally disappears all together.

Acting/Dialogue: It’s important to note that Godzilla, King of the Monsters is a re-edited version of the original 1954 film Gojira. However, it contains a great amount of footage from the original. Of all the Godzilla films, this one contains the best acting. Mostly because the crappy re-dubbed voice over work is kept to a minimum. The film is viewed through the point of view of its narrator, Steve Martin, played by Raymond Burr of Perry Mason fame. Burr’s rich narration adds a somber texture to the film which helps to accent the traumatic scenes of destruction left in Godzilla’s wake.

Gore: Since this is an older film, there really isn’t any gore. However some of the victims of Godzilla do show evidence of severe lacerations and convincing looking cuts and scars.

Guilty Pleasures: This film takes place before the age of T&A.

One scene that is really worthy of a sadistic chuckle involves one slow moving pedestrian. Godzilla roasts him alive in his car with a blast of his atomic breath and the guy squeals like a little bitch with a skinned knee.  Always amusing to watch.

The Good: There’s a lot of great stuff going on here. Not to sound like a total luddite, but I think that this is the most technologically appealing of all the Godzilla films. The grainy black and white footage really works well in this flick and it helps to give Godzilla an even more shadowy sense of menace that is not present in later films. His movements are slow and methodical giving an air of majesty about him. And he’s got the coolest fucking monster roar that has ever been put to film.

Some of the best scenes in this film include: The background shot of Tokyo in flames; The slow motion scenes of Godzilla preparing to trash the press staff building; Godzilla tearing down the power stations; and several shots of his big ass tail smashing through buildings in the warehouse district near Tokyo Harbor.

Considering the technology of the time, this truly is a visually stunning film.

The Bad: It’s very obvious in this film what parts are from the original Gojira and which is the new American footage. The American footage is much more crisp with greater sound clarity whereas the Gojira footage is a bit more grainy with really poor audio quality. It gets a bit unstable at times, but not so much as to impede enjoyment.

The one quality about the Godzilla monster effects that always bugged me were his feet. No matter if it’s a film from 1956 or from 2001, he always has really crappy looking feet. Mostly because the FX crew never incorporates any articulation into his feet and they always look like a big pair of fake dinosaur slippers.

Great Lines:

"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."  –Steve Martin’s narration.

Overall Rating: 8 severed heads out of 10.
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