| The first film in a saga is
always the best. Or at least that is the case
in most sagas in popular culture. This is not
an exception with Godzilla, the movie
that started the entire craze for giant monsters
that King Kong had created. Producer
Tomoyuki
Tanaka was inspired by said film, and by The
Beast From 20000 Fathoms, to create an allegory
of the nuclear deployment on Hiroshima and Nagasaki,
which still haunted the Japanese back in 1954.
For that he assembled a legendary trio, comprised
of director Ishiro
Honda (who was the assistant director for
Akira
Kurosawa); special effects technician Eiji
Tsuburaya (later responsible for the Ultraman
saga), and composer Akira
Ifukube, who is considered by some as the
John Williams from Japan. The result was this
amazing movie, which still looks good today, and
quite dark for that matter.
It appears that numerous fishing
boats are mysteriously disappearing near Ootojima
Island. While the Japanese Government believes
underwater mines could cause this, the natives
of the island state that the responsible party
is Godzilla, a giant monster that is supposed
to live beneath the ocean. An expedition is sent
to the island, and they find the monster, which
appears to be a prehistoric sea reptile, awakened
from his slumber by the hydrogen bomb tests in
that area. Soon, the self-defense force unleashes
all its weaponry, bent on destroying Godzilla,
but when the beast arrives at Tokyo, all of man’s
efforts seem useless against it, as the creature
begins ravaging the city.
One could first think this is just
a monster movie, but it’s really full of
analytical content, and the plot is full of anti-war
messages and resolutions. It’s noticeable
that still after 9 years, Japan was still in its
post-atomic crisis, as nuclear fears become present
throughout the whole film. The acting was nearly
superb, only lacking in the absence of a real
main character, but every cast member really put
effort in their roles; especially Takashi
Shimura, whose character, besides being quite
interesting, also looks very real. Akira Takarada
had also a strong performance; he would also appear
in many other kaiju eigas, with this sort of strong
character. Akihiko Hirata gives a very dramatic
role, as the tormented Dr. Serizawa. As for the
special effects, much is to be said; Tsuburaya
was a real genius, and managed to demonstrate
that talent makes movies, not money. This is shown,
of course, in the impressive suit used to portray
Godzilla; it’s full on details, and most
important, it looks alive. The soundtrack was
also powerful, fitting flawlessly with film’s
dark images. Ifukube composed some memorable marches
and themes that would be used in the later films
of the saga. He also created Godzilla’s
trademark roar, making his presence in all those
movies. The bad point here is that the editing
and length of some scenes makes the film pretty
slow at sometimes, and the semi-love story wasn’t
needed at all.
In 1956, Godzilla was
released in the US under the appropriate title
of Godzilla, King of the Monsters. This
version, however, varied a lot from the original.
Some footage was cut, and reorganized, and scenes
featuring Raymond Burr were added. The resultant
movie lacked the same intensity on the film’s
premise, as it was meant to appeal American audiences.
There was also another version in 1977, when Italian
director Luigi Cozzi, decided to use the American
version as a source material, and crudely colorized
the film. But none of these versions will ever
be as good as the original, which by today’s
standards looks dated.
|
(4/5)