Talkback Thread #1: Godzilla (1954)

[LegendZilla]

Fun fact : Had the Sonny Bono act of 1998 not been carried out, This movie would've been set for the Public Domain by no later than 2029!

[Coobzilla03]

The lower quality of the soundtrack in this film really adds to the experience. It really amps up the foreboding and dreadful nature of the movie. It's less "grand" and more threatening.

[airforce111]

do you consider the events of Godzilla 1956 canon? Would you say its canon with 54 in terms of, its the same timeline and Raymond burr was actually there just that its 2 different angles of the attack? Or would you say burr happened in another timeline with the exact same events? Keep in mind, he did interact with emiko and dr. yamane, obviously in the japense version there isnt such an occurence. I want to say that they are just alternate angles of the same event and timeline, but idk. Similar question with Return of Godzilla and its american variant 1985

[Shobijin]

Still the best IMHO, or at least S*. Really gets me hysterical. Black & White adds much to the fear and timeframe. Acting is great.

"do you consider the events of Godzilla 1956 canon?" Yes. Any discrepancies, I defer to the Japanese version.

[edgaguirus]

I see the films as different POV. The events are the same but seen from different eyes.

[G.H.B]

I see the films as different POV. The events are the same but seen from different eyes.

The Problem is that Steve is so interwoven into the lives and events surrounding 54 that it’s damn near impossible to just settle for KOTM being a POV shift. He’s supposedly an old friend of Doctor Serizawa, who’s a confirmed WWII veteran who may or may not have collaborated with the Nazi’s. While it’s certainly not impossible for an American Reporter and a Japanese scientist to have been chums before or after the war, it’s less likely when you consider Daisuke comes off like a guy who’s never left his country other than to aid the imperial war machine.

Emiko also gathers the gumption to reveal the secret of the Oxygen Destroyer due to Steve’s encouragement. It just works out more organically, at least to me, if you view them as alternate retellings of the same events in separate continuities.

[MC_Lovecraft]

While I don't know how much thought was actually put into it, the implications of Steve and Daisuke being old friends is one of my favorite things about KotM'56. Colledge friends, which means before WWII, which means what we see in the film is probably the first attempt at face-to-face reconnection since the war ended. How classic a storyline is that, of a man seeking out an old friend after time and distance and trauma only to discover he's not the man he remembers, irrevocably changed by the road he has traveled? Like I said, probably more thought than the dubbers put into it, but I want to see a version of the story where Mr. Martin and Dr. Serizawa have that dinner.

[Gailah 1966]

Well, this was not only the first "real" kaiju eiga, it was also the birth of the japanese pop culture to get thier own shows in so many categories. Like superheroes, sci-fi, anime, kawaii-stuff and so on.

[Breakdown]

So I watched this film while high as hell, and my god its pure nightmare fuel. The hand puppet used in some scenes is unsettling with its dead, lifeless bulging eyes as if stuck in a permanent crazed stare. The screechy violin music that plays in scene where Serizawa tests the Oxygen Destroyer made the hair on the back of my neck stick up, it sounded like something out of a horror movie. Fitting, because the OD is presented as a weapon worse than the atomic bomb. I also noticed some things I never had before, such as during the part where Godzilla bites down on the radio tower while the guys are still broadcasting live, drawn to them by the flashes of their cameras. Earlier on, Yamane warned the military not to shine lights on Godzilla as it angers him. It was a really nice attention to detail. In that same scene, we have this lovely image:



Godzilla's head resembles a mushroom cloud amidst the backdrop of a burning city. I know the nuclear allegory is there, but I genuinely never made the observation before. The sight must have been terrifying for those guys in the tower too; they were basically going to die no matter what. Either jump off and die or get crushed in Godzilla's mouth. I think that's part of what made the film so "scary", because I really put myself in the shoes of these people. There was one scene where Godzilla intentionally targets a crowd of fleeing people and burns them alive. Imagine being some bystander seeing that? People who you very well could have known getting reduced to cinders, for no reason other than existing near Godzilla. Speaking of, I prefer the more beam/laser like Atomic Breath of the future, but there's something eerie about the original Godzilla's Atomic Breath. It's not a flame or a laser, rather this glowing, all-consuming cloud of vapor that causes anything it touches to burst into flames.

These observations don't detract from the film or anything. I still consider it a masterpiece, even more so now.

[Legion1979]

I haven't watched a Godzilla movie high as hell since 2009 when I gave up weed. But for the first time in 15 years I decided to partake last Friday with an edible THC gummy. And I had a similar experience as you, Breakdown, only with Godzilla vs Hedorah.

[Breakdown]

I haven't watched a Godzilla movie high as hell since 2009 when I gave up weed. But for the first time in 15 years I decided to partake last Friday with an edible THC gummy. And I had a similar experience as you, Breakdown, only with Godzilla vs Hedorah.

Yeah that is NOT a movie I want to watch high. It's already pretty trippy when sober, but I think the scenes of Hedorah dissolving people would be too much for me to handle haha.

[Omegamorph]

So does anyone have the infamous storyboard with Godzilla next to a lighthouse?

[H-Man]

Does anyone here know anything about the Filipino production Tokyo 1960, which appears to be for the Philippines what Godzilla, King of the Monsters was for the US?

[Great Hierophant]

I have been trying to plot out Godzilla's attacks in this film because Honda, Tsuburaya and Co. went to great lengths to use real locations and geography. The first attack is mainly confined to the Shinagawa Rail Station, but with the second attack goes on quite a stroll through Downtown Tokyo. After he polishes off the electrical towers, he plows through the Minato Ward. He then finishes off the tanks and makes his way to the Ginza District in the Chūō Ward. There he sets ablaze the Matsuzakaya Department Store, crushes the Wako Clock Tower, nearly floods the Sukiya Bridge and caves in the Toho Nichigeki Theater with his tail. Then he is next seen stomping on a wing of the Diet Building in the Nagatachō District of the Chiyoda Ward. After he topples the TV tower nearby, the announcer on Dr. Serizawa's TV announces that Godzilla is heading to the Ueno and Asakusa Districts in the Taitō Ward. Finally Godzilla is seen wading through the Sumida River as he overturns the Kachidoki Bridge. The F86F Sabres attack him as he re-enters Tokyo Bay and dives into the sea. Essentially Godzilla zig-zags to get through Tokyo during his second attack, possibly something like a "backwards B."

[Breakdown]

^ It's kinda funny how this attention to detail regarding location actually got Honda in trouble with the authorities, who suspected he was plotting an attack of some kind bc he'd frequently mention things like "ok we'll destroy that building there" and the like.

[JAGzilla]

I have been trying to plot out Godzilla's attacks in this film because Honda, Tsuburaya and Co. went to great lengths to use real locations and geography. The first attack is mainly confined to the Shinagawa Rail Station, but with the second attack goes on quite a stroll through Downtown Tokyo. After he polishes off the electrical towers, he plows through the Minato Ward. He then finishes off the tanks and makes his way to the Ginza District in the Chūō Ward. There he sets ablaze the Matsuzakaya Department Store, crushes the Wako Clock Tower, nearly floods the Sukiya Bridge and caves in the Toho Nichigeki Theater with his tail. Then he is next seen stomping on a wing of the Diet Building in the Nagatachō District of the Chiyoda Ward. After he topples the TV tower nearby, the announcer on Dr. Serizawa's TV announces that Godzilla is heading to the Ueno and Asakusa Districts in the Taitō Ward. Finally Godzilla is seen wading through the Sumida River as he overturns the Kachidoki Bridge. The F86F Sabres attack him as he re-enters Tokyo Bay and dives into the sea. Essentially Godzilla zig-zags to get through Tokyo during his second attack, possibly something like a "backwards B."

Nice breakdown. I'll need to pull it up along with a map of Tokyo, and see if I can follow this course next time I watch the movie.

We're deep in mega-nerd territory with this one.

[LSD Jellyfish]

I have been trying to plot out Godzilla's attacks in this film because Honda, Tsuburaya and Co. went to great lengths to use real locations and geography. The first attack is mainly confined to the Shinagawa Rail Station, but with the second attack goes on quite a stroll through Downtown Tokyo. After he polishes off the electrical towers, he plows through the Minato Ward. He then finishes off the tanks and makes his way to the Ginza District in the Chūō Ward. There he sets ablaze the Matsuzakaya Department Store, crushes the Wako Clock Tower, nearly floods the Sukiya Bridge and caves in the Toho Nichigeki Theater with his tail. Then he is next seen stomping on a wing of the Diet Building in the Nagatachō District of the Chiyoda Ward. After he topples the TV tower nearby, the announcer on Dr. Serizawa's TV announces that Godzilla is heading to the Ueno and Asakusa Districts in the Taitō Ward. Finally Godzilla is seen wading through the Sumida River as he overturns the Kachidoki Bridge. The F86F Sabres attack him as he re-enters Tokyo Bay and dives into the sea. Essentially Godzilla zig-zags to get through Tokyo during his second attack, possibly something like a "backwards B."

Fantastic breakdown. Geography and locations in Godzilla are so neat to follow as they have a lot of siginificance.

^ It's kinda funny how this attention to detail regarding location actually got Honda in trouble with the authorities, who suspected he was plotting an attack of some kind bc he'd frequently mention things like "ok we'll destroy that building there" and the like.

Is this true? Really funny if it is.

[LegendZilla]

do you consider the events of Godzilla 1956 canon? Would you say its canon with 54 in terms of, its the same timeline and Raymond burr was actually there just that its 2 different angles of the attack? Or would you say burr happened in another timeline with the exact same events? Keep in mind, he did interact with emiko and dr. yamane, obviously in the japense version there isnt such an occurence. I want to say that they are just alternate angles of the same event and timeline, but idk. Similar question with Return of Godzilla and its american variant 1985

I'm in the crowd that likes to believe Steve Martin got a head concussion during Godzilla's attack and his recollection of the events that unfolded from his POV is a result of his faulty memory.

[edgaguirus]

^ It's kinda funny how this attention to detail regarding location actually got Honda in trouble with the authorities, who suspected he was plotting an attack of some kind bc he'd frequently mention things like "ok we'll destroy that building there" and the like.

I had no idea about that. These making of details are fascinating.

[Breakdown]

Slight correction, it was Tsuburaya who almost got arrested, not Honda.