1956 was an important year for Toho. While Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto (1954) was one of their early releases in the US, 1956 marked when Toho made an impact in America. Akira Kurosawa‘s stunning Ikiru (1952) and Seven Samurai (1954) were both released that year to US audiences, but another movie legend would also emerge. The original Godzilla (1954) would be shown in the US that year, heavily reworked by Jewell Enterprises Incorporated. This version, called Godzilla King of the Monsters, made changes to the story. These alterations were often quite drastic so that a new character played by Raymond Burr could be added. It was released in the United States by TransWorld Releasing Corporation, and remains the most famous of the US edits for Toho’s films.

Given to Toho Kingdom exclusively from the Brad Thompson collection is four pages of the ORIGINAL Godzilla King of the Monsters 1956 script by Jewell Enterprises Incorporated. This 1956 script is extremely rare and I’d like to thank Brad Thompson for sharing it with Godzilla fans worldwide!

As a side note, it’s interesting to see that the film was still called just “Godzilla” at this point. The “King of the Monsters” subtitle had yet to be added.

About Godzilla King of the Monsters

The Americanization of the first Godzilla film was released in the US in 1956. It featured portions dubbed into English along with new scenes. It’s noteworthy for choosing to keep some scenes intact in Japanese, though, instead of dub them. Instead, it has characters speaking in English to translate these segments for other characters in the added scenes.

In Japan, Toho released the American version of the original Godzilla for Japanese audiences as well. This includes in theaters in 1957, as 怪獣王ゴジラ (“Monster King Godzilla”) and carrying the English title on the poster of Godzilla King of the Monsters. It has also been released on home video in Japan as well, including both VHS and DVD.