Godzilla, King of the Monsters! (1956)

Review #1223: Godzilla, King of the Monsters!

Cast: 
Raymond Burr (Steve Martin), Takashi Shimura (Dr. Yamane; dubbed by Sammee Tong), Momoko Kōchi (Emiko), Akira Takarada (Ogata; dubbed by James Hong), Akihiko Hirata (Dr. Serizawa; dubbed by James Hong), Sachio Sakai (Hagiwara), Fuyuki Murakami (Dr. Tabata), Ren Yamamoto (Seiji), Toyoaki Suzuki (Shinkichi), Tadashi Okabe (Dr. Tabata's Assistant), Toranosuke Ogawa (President of Company), and Frank Iwanaga (Security Officer Tomo), with Haruo Nakajima and Katsumi Tezuka (Godzilla) Directed by Terry Morse, as originally directed by Ishirō Honda (#167 - Godzilla, #711 - Mothra, and #1092 - Gorath)

Review: 
The original Godzilla was a success upon release in 1954. Over nine million tickets were sold in Japan upon initial run in Japan (which remain the second most attendance for a Godzilla film in Japan) - it soon found its way to being distributed to the United States - in Japanese-American neighborhoods. In 1955 (the same year that Toho would release Godzilla Raids Again), the international rights for the film would be sold to an American group interested in adapting it for further audiences in America, led by Joseph E. Levine, who was involved in over 400 films in his life-tiem as either producer, distributor, or financier (ranging from Santa Claus Conquers the Martians to The Producers). 20 minutes of footage with Burr, alongside stand-ins were edited into the feature, trying (for 1956 standards) to make it seem that he is part of the action, with a bit of dubbing involved when not having Burr just ask someone that he knows to help translate what is going on. The run-time is obviously different from before, with Gojira running at 96 minutes and this lasting 80 minutes. It feels strange to see this one after nearly seven years since I viewed the original - so it is interesting to see what I viewed once again (for the most part), if only to remember how serious it had taken itself (such as shots involving people trapped under rubble), with the black-and-white cinematography helping to make the sequences with Godzilla really stand out in terror. A good deal of the subtext involving the horrors of nuclear testing (along with character elements) is cut out, which admittedly does make for a more stream-lined movie, which I suppose is preferable to dubbing the whole dialogue - even if it does undercut the ultimate decision made in the climax a bit. Burr gives a fairly wooden performance with such a strange role of being in the background of impactful events in the film and occasional dialogue to other characters (one sequence amusingly having him talk to the back of someone's head) that would probably work better for an audio play than anything. He doesn't really get in the way of enjoying the actual film, which in its own right still holds up well. If given the choice between watching the original film with subtitles, a dub, or this, the easy choice for me is still the film in its original 1954 film, but this manages to be a fair second choice. After all, this is the version that audiences outside of Japan were introduced to, lingering as a drive-in favorite and in TV syndication for years on end. It treats the original (and its cast members) with respect, letting them be in the forefront (beside sequences with Godzilla, naturally) just as before.

Believe it or not, this isn't the last time the film would receive edits for release in another country. Italian filmmaker Luigi Cozzi made further edits in 1977 to this film, colorizing the film (hence why it the credits list it as presented as in Spectorama 70) along with adding new scenes (such as Godzilla destroying a train and various stock footage) that made it last 105 minutes; it is referred to as "Cozzilla" in most circles, with limited availability besides the Internet Archive. In 1985, New World Pictures released Godzilla 1985, a re-edit of Toho's The Return of Godzilla (1984) that served as a follow-up to the original film, including additional footage with Burr reprising his role of Martin from this feature. It shouldn't be forgotten that Godzilla, King of the Monsters! soon found its way to Japan, being released in 1957 under the title Kaiju Ō Gojira (translating to "Monster King Godzilla"). In any case, while this film loses some of the underlying structure that made the original Gojira a riveting monster movie, it holds itself well enough with its foundation to make for an interesting piece of entertainment nonetheless.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.