Background and Trivia |
- Harry B. Swerdlow submitted the movie to the US copyright office on June 13th, 1959 under the registration number LP0000016500. It used the title Gigantis, the Fire Monster. On March 7th, 1983, Toho submitted a renewal registration for the movie, using the title Godzilla Raids Again and its Romaji title, Gojira no Gyakushu.
- In November of 1954, executive producer Iwao Mori was given a welcome home party, having been gone overseas so he could work on the Italian/Japanese production Madame Butterfly. Although this meant he missed the premiere of Godzilla (1954), he was pleased with its success. As a result, at the party he gave producer Tomoyuki Tanaka instructions to "make another one". This resulted in Godzilla Raids Again. Noted in Japan's Favorite Mon-Star (ISBN: 1550223488).
- Actor Yoshio Tsuchiya originally wanted to be cast in the lead role for the film, as did the director. Toho overrode the decision, though. Referenced in Age of the Gods (self-published).
- Writer Takeo Murata wanted to display the mayhem and looting that would occur if an event like a real monster attack were to happen. However, the budget and timing did not permit it. In the end, the escaped criminals were inserted to at least partially convey this. Mentioned in Japan's Favorite Mon-Star (ISBN: 1550223488).
- The monster scenes for Godzilla (1954) were filmed at high speed (around 72 frames per second) to give the characters a more massive feeling. This trend had been planned for Godzilla Raids Again. However, head special effects cameraman Sadamasa Arikawa notes that, using multi-cameras for their shoot, one of them was not set at high speed. He notes that special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya saw the dailies and was surprised by what happened, but after seeing the fight footage at this speed between Godzilla and Anguirus noted that the "movement's not that bad, maybe we can use it." As a result, this also changed how they approached filming later monster movies, as they now use different camera speeds depending on the shot rather than always using high speed. Cited in Japan's Favorite Mon-Star (ISBN: 1550223488).
- A two meter tall Osaka castle was constructed for use and destruction during the battle between Godzilla and Anguirus. To achieve this destruction, the suit actors would have collided with the model while film crew off screen used wires, built into the model that ran underneath as to not be visible, to help pull down and destroy the model. Despite these efforts, though, the castle did not destroy as planned. Seeing this, Eiji Tsubraya told the crew "cut". However, he was not heard by the staff pulling the wires, causing the unfortunate event of the castle being destroyed after cameras had stopped rolling. As a result, the model had to be partially rebuilt. This took two weeks and increasing the budget to do the sequence again. In the final film, the destruction of the castle is somewhat masked through close up stop animation showing the castle starting to crack. Noted in Age of the Gods (self-published).
- Composer Masaru Sato, in a 1996 interview, has likened his score to Godzilla Raids Again as "listening to a kid trying to learn". Cited in Japan's Favorite Mon-Star (ISBN: 1550223488).
- A novella was written by Shigeru Kayama titled "Godzilla in Osaka", acting as the second half of the book to the first half, "Godzilla in Tokyo". A full interview featuring the English translator of the book, Jeffrey Angels, can be found here.
- In the US version, titled Gigantis the Fire Monster, Godzilla's name is changed to Gigantis as in the title. This was done as it was believed by the people behind the American version that a film about new monsters would sell better than a sequel to Godzilla. US producer Paul Schreibman, who claims he came up with the idea to use the name Gigantis, also incorrectly tried to tell Variety that the original Japanese film was called "Angirus" (exact spelling) to mask it from being realized the 1955 movie was a Godzilla film. Mentioned in Japan's Favorite Mon-Star (ISBN: 1550223488).
- Music for the US version came from The Deerslayer, Kronos, and It! The Terror from Beyond Space.
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