Redux: Godzilla (1954).

Redux #167: Godzilla (1954)

Cast: 

Akira Takarada (Hideto Ogata), Momoko Kōchi (Emiko Yamane), Akihiko Hirata (Dr. Daisuke Serizawa), Takashi Shimura (Dr. Kyohei Yamane), Fuyuki Murakami (Dr. Tanabe), Sachio Sakai (Hagiwara), with Ren Yamamoto (Masaji Yamada) and Haruo Nakajima & Katsumi Tezuka (Godzilla) Directed by Ishirō Honda.

Review:

"Having seen the terror of the atomic bomb in real life, it is most important to weave this element into the film well, so that everyone will understand."

From my review on June 16, 2012:

This is the first world cinema film to come from Japan [on Movie Night]. Gojira (also known as Godzilla) is a film franchise over 50 years old with 28 films in exactly 50 years (1954-2004). This film is chilling, with good atmosphere, with some night scenes that are genuinely frightening. The effects look good to this day, giving you a scare and two. The setting in Japan with the black and white color of the film make it even more threatening as the effects could be hide any mistakes visible in color. Setting it in Japan after the devastation from World War II only adds to it more. The scene that is chilling is at the near end is with the choir girls singing as the city is in peril. This film may be a bit slow at times, but it is still an achievement in filmmaking to this day after 58 years.

I had been waiting to look back at the original Godzilla (known in the Hepburn romanization as Gojira and occasionally released on home media as such) for a long time. After all of these years, I looked forward most to covering it again probably more than seeing the follow-up films that came in its wake. But to know it is to understand how it came together so curiously: Tomoyuki Tanaka had first come up with a idea to do a giant monster film after the failure to make a film in Indonesia (set during the Japanese occupation the previous decade, incidentally). He was flying back on a plane, and it came to him to basically take inspiration from The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953) and the Daigo Fukuryū Maru incident, in which a boat had suffered from contamination after the Bikini Atoll was going through nuclear testing in March of 1954 (one crew member died from radiation sickness, the others survived). Shigeru Kayama was hired to do the initial treatment (which had ideas such as featuring footage of the Maru that went by the wayside) before Takeo Murata and Ishirō Honda wrote the screenplay; Honda had been hired to direct after people such as Senkichi Taniguchi declined. Teizō Toshimitsu and Akira Watanabe designed the creature under the supervision of Eiji Tsuburaya while two performers would be in the suit. Toho actually had a radio drama air during the summer in order to try and build interest for audiences before eventually showing photos of the monster in newspapers prior to release. The movie was first released in one city (Nagoya) on October 27, 1954 before getting a nationwide showing on November 3, 1954, to profound success in its native country. As people already know, an Americanized version of the film was released in 1956 that was trimmed and re-edited, although Toho would later use the "King of the Monsters" label to refer to the character to go along with even showing the edit as "Monster King Godzilla (Kaiju o Gojira)" in theaters. While he didn't direct the 1955 sequel, Honda would direct various other productions for Toho, such as the color monster movie Rodan (1956) and seven of the follow-up Godzilla films from King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962) to Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975).

 

Admittedly, it is a movie that is more historical for what it spawned in its wake more than just being a perfect movie. It is easy to see where the American edit found the 96-minute runtime something to try and edit down for some sort of idea of standards in getting to the point, and one might wonder what the fuss is in that buildup to destruction. But admirers (such as the one I grew up with) see those composite shots mixed with miniatures and can enjoy the craftsmanship anyway for a movie that is sobering in its spectacle and depiction of sacrifice that is moody and capably made in a manner that set a blueprint worth cribbing from in the years to pass. In the seven decades since its release, technology has improved in making a movie monster look more "real" and for some there have been some quality follow-up Godzilla films (perhaps in story or otherwise), but the power of the original still manages to strike a nerve in terms of the sheer curiosity it generated in how it all came to be. Even trying to make an American rendition (1998, 2014) only shows that big money isn't everything (I say this as someone who likes some of those films in selective ways). The acting works with the bleak atmosphere in sheer confidence for what its director wanted to do in humanism, working its main triangle (Takarada-Kochi-Hirata) to worthwhile drama, particularly with Hirata in terms of conflict for what is most important when it comes to technology and the face of danger. Shimura just provides the established presence of worried curiosity that makes the mark handily. Sure, you would see some of these actors again in other Godzilla films, but they really did just hit out of the park in tension on the first try in ways that is easier to celebrate rather than replicate. The movie has carefully dedicated angles, as worked on by Masao Tamai with the cameras of the time (namely old ones) to go alongside a dazzling musical score by Akira Ifukube to accentuate the terror. It just manages to balance the fine line of showing terror (mostly in the reactions rather than directly interacting with the creature) without testing one's patience for the matters at hand. The prayer-for-peace sequence is especially startling in its sincerity. The climax itself is carefully curated in a way that you don't always see in impactful decision-making without needing bombast to drive it all home, particularly in those last moments musing about the nature of where nuclear testing or war may go if left to certain hands. Far from exploitive, there is real passion at hand from Honda and company in what we end up celebrating as a whole rather than simply going right in on just the effects. Metaphor or monster, the power of Godzilla is in just how enduring it all is as the years go on in humanistic filmmaking that made for worthwhile entertainment in ways that we still marvel at to this day.

Overall, I give it 10 out of 10 stars.

Drunken Angel.

Review #2004: Drunken Angel.

Cast: 

Takashi Shimura (Doctor Sanada), Toshiro Mifune (Matsunaga), Reisaburo Yamamoto (Okada), Michiyo Kogure (Nanae), Chieko Nakakita (Nurse Miyo), Eitarō Shindō (Takahama), Noriko Sengoku (Gin), Shizuko Kasagi (Singer), Masao Shimizu (Oyabun), and Yoshiko Kuga (Schoolgirl) Directed by Akira Kurosawa (#968 - Throne of Blood, #1385 - Seven Samurai, and #1870 - Sanshiro Sugata)

Review: 

Well, it was time to do another Kurosawa film, this time with dueling interests. In addition to it belonging as a yazuka film, it is the first film with Kurosawa did with Toshiro Mifune. They would do sixteen films together over the course of nearly two decades. Mifune actually hoped to transfer to the photography department at Toho Productions (requiring new actors due to a strike) rather than be an actor (he was the son of a photographer, after all), having served in the Imperial Japanese Army in its aviation division for photography. He made his audition and happened to have it happen in the presence of Kurosawa, who saw it as "frightening as watching a wounded beast trying to break loose. I was transfixed." As for Kurosawa, he had made fair progress as a director ever since he had made his debut with Sanshiro Sugata (1943). Some of the films since that film fell under the spell of the wartime pushes (such as the two films that followed Sugata), with The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail not being allowed for release in 1945 due to scrutiny from sensors until seven years later; No Regrets for Our Youth (1946) and One Wonderful Sunday (1947) were distinct melodramas. Cutting the two together, Mifune made the cut among the roster and proceeded to make his debut with Snow Trail (1947), which had Kurosawa as a co-writer on the script. The label of "yakuza film" is perhaps a bit debatable, considering that films taking a look at the Japanese organized crime syndicate would be firmly more apparent by the 1950s and 1960s (with studios such as Nikkatsu and Toei), but there were various films before this one that dealt with outlaws such as A Diary of Chuji's Travels (1927), and there are various distinct angles to yakuza films, as represented by Branded to Kill (1967) or most notably with Battles Without Honor and Humanity (1973). Point is, there are many roads yet to take within films that could be quite fascinating in future dealings.

Kurosawa wrote the film with Keinosuke Uekusa, with the script finding modification upon the realization of just how good Mifune was in a role that was not as large as originally planned. Of course, nothing is ever planned to go the way they are meant to go, whether it be film or with life. For those familiar with world cinema, or actors with plenty of familiar work, Shimura was actually the most prolific actor in a Kurosawa film, for which he appeared in 21 of them in four different decades (which includes such films as the aforementioned Sugata alongside others such as the lead role in Ikaru). He provides a worthy performance that is not upstaged in any way when it comes to acting against Mifune, one with the nerve to stand against the eyes of absurd feudalistic loyalty when it comes to gangsters. Handling the sick and depraved while trying to cope with alcohol is all that matters when it comes to life in a post-war time. He is the title character after all, one with an impulse to do what he must for his patient (black market or not) without thinking of the sense of danger if it comes to falling on the negative side of a yakuza (or worse yet, too much alcohol). The decay is visible on the places that fall prey to yakuza, whether that involves poisonous bog or little inflections of occupied fashions mimicking the West or jazz performed by Shuzuko Kasagi (note: Kurosawa had to be subtle, since the American occupation of 1945-1952 meant having to deal with an American censor board, while Kasagi happened to find popularity as someone who could sing jazz or the boogie-woogie). Mifune is exquisite in raw energy, one that seemed like a name to watch out for even back then. There would be far more opportunities for him to show his prowess and for good reason, because he has the cadence and timing required to make this burrowing man of intensity one to watch with curiosity as a beast that could only change what they want to change, which makes the shaky friendship between him and Shimura all the more involving. Each tower over the other actors, even with Yamamoto and his adversarial presence that outranks the pawns that make up the chess game of gangsters. Of course, since the film moves along with worthy patience for 98 minutes, this doesn't prove a meaningful problem when faced with such a compelling duet of people. The fight at the end is quite exquisite, tragic in its timing that sees a tired man make his final act for a duel that could only end one way. As a whole, the movie finds a quiet message of hope amongst the decay, where the only way to approach the ever-growing sense of life going on regardless of who is there is to just go rationally. It works as a film of urgency, one that forges its own tradition for an audience that surely wanted to see what Kurosawa could provide next.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.

Sanshiro Sugata (1943).

Review #1870: Sanshiro Sugata.

Cast: 

Susumu Fujita (Sanshiro Sugata), Denjirō Ōkōchi (Shōgorō Yano), Yukiko Todoroki (Sayo Murai), Ryūnosuke Tsukigata (Gennosuke Higaki), Takashi Shimura (Hansuke Murai), Ranko Hanai (Osumi Kodana), Sugisaku Aoyama (Tsunetami Iimura), Ichiro Sugai (Police Chief Michitsune Mishima), and Yoshio Kosugi (Master Saburō Kodama) Directed by Akira Kurosawa (#968 - Throne of Blood and #1385 - Seven Samurai)

Review: 

"I just had a gut feeling that "This is it". There was no logical explanation for my reaction, but I believed wholeheartedly in my instinct and did not doubt for an instant." - Akira Kurosawa

Sure, a martial arts drama seems a bit odd to consider within the bounds of action, but I think the quality involved behind and in front of the camera merits a worthy case. It is an adaptation of the novel of the same name that was written by Tsuneo Tomita. He was the son of Tomita Tsunejiro, a famed disciple of judo, a system of unarmed combat that is part of the modern Japanese martial art since its creation by Kanō Jigorō in 1882 as a clear mark away from jujutsu in its form of free sparring without weapon training, and it became especially important when the Tokyo Metropolitan Police hosted tournaments to see which martial art was superior, with the result being that the police academy would adapt judo as their official training style. This form of full contact designed with the intent to either throw an opponent, pin them or force submission without outright striking has proven an influence on other martial arts that includes mixed martial arts (MMA). Tomita (described as "Four Guardians of the Kōdōkan" for him being an early competitor in judo when it began its split from jujutsu), alongside Maeda Mitsuyo, would do numerous exhibitions in the United States in the early 20th century; the younger Tomita based his character of Sanshiro Sugata on his father's colleague Shiro Saigo. Amidst all of that information, it also is the feature film debut for Akira Kurosawa. He had grown up with watching films due to his upbringing, but it was his time spent with his brother Heigo in his teenage years that proved important in seeing films alongside theater and circus performances. In 1935, he was hired by Photo Chemical Laboratories (a company that would merge with the Tokyo-Takarazuka Theater Company, Toho Eiga, and Jenkins Osawa Studio to form what we know as Toho in 1937), where he would serve as an assistant director for a number of years, primarily under director Kajirō Yamamoto. Uma (1941) had him basically serve as a director in terms of control of the production when Yamamoto was busy with shooting a different film (Kurosawa, as a 4-F, was able to build on his career in the midst of World War II). It was he who told Kurosawa to take up screenwriting in order to be a good director, which he would do for all of his feature films along with a handful of other productions. The basis for Kurosawa making this film came from his gut instinct in seeing an advertisement of Tsuneo Tomita's forthcoming novel in the newspaper, but his lobbying for Toho to buy the rights to make it as a movie did not occur until it was published (indeed, when he got down to read the book, he found it commercially appealing and adaptable to his own interests); despite his enthusiasm, Toho actually approached Masahiro Makino to direct before he declined, which opened the door for Kurosawa to step in, and the film was shot in the winter of 1942.

The movie originally ran at 97 minutes on release, but it was trimmed by Japanese censors to 79 minutes (it should be noted that one defending member of the board was Yasujiro Ozu, who called it an important artistic achievement despite some charges of being too "British-American"). Some of the scenes cut did not survive, and the aforementioned cut version begins with text (since it was re-released by Toho in 1952) that also comes into play when describing a cut sequence. The movie has been remade five times, although the first two took inspiration from Kurosawa's screenplay rather than the novel. Two years later, Kurosawa would do a sequel called Sanshiro Sugata Part II, doing so at the behest of requests to do a propaganda film for the war effort that was released in May 1945, mere months before the surrender of the war (The Most Beautiful, his second feature, was also a propaganda work released in April); the film sees Okochi, Fujita, Tsukigata, and Todoroki return, but it is generally considered a lesser sequel. Let us get the obvious part out of the way: it is the journey of the hero that matters more than outright action with the hero, but it sure does pack an important punch with its execution by Kurosawa in the art of nuance. Beyond his use of wipes and shots of the weather to depict the mood of characters is a movie that seems quite prescient in making an action movie built on emotional growth, which Fujita does pretty well as the main focus. Beyond just being a judo hero, he has the brimming confidence required in making the journey believable in all the facets required in sincerity (Fujita became a star during the war for playing the hero in war flicks, much to his subsequent regret, and he shifted to supporting roles by the mid 1940s). Seeing him jump in a lotus pond and cling to a stake in an attempt to show his worth to his master is probably the noted sequence, since it shows him rising the occasion of just what matters most when lying in a pond in the spur of the moment: self-realization. Ōkōchi doesn't say much as the mentor figure, but he does exactly what is needed in the art of stoic balance, one best represented by the sequence of him handling jujutsu toughs in a river with calm patience. Todoroki makes a decent pairing with Fujita in graceful quietness, but it is Tsukigata who sticks out more in the adversarial role, slithering patiently for the inevitable climax, which is handled expertly in a windy hillside (incidentally, Kurosawa likened the character played by Tsukigata to Mephistopheles). There are four general fights shown in the film, which is handled with quiet ease that manages to not muddle the overall arc, showing that Kurosawa was all primed to become a force worth viewing in his first effort as director in a victory of style. He would get better over the course of time as a director, but one cannot go wrong with starting their curiosity here with a movie that packs the ideal punches: A Kurosawa effort and an action triumph. 

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.

Seven Samurai.

Review #1385: Seven Samurai.

Cast: 
Toshirô Mifune (Kikuchiyo), Takashi Shimura (Kambei Shimada), Keiko Tsushima (Shino), Isao Kimura (Katsushiro Okamoto), Daisuke Katō (Shichirōji), Seiji Miyaguchi (Kyūzo), Yoshio Inaba (Gorōbei Katayama), Minoru Chiaki (Heihachi Hayashida), Kamatari Fujiwara (Manzō), Kokuten Kōdō (Gisaku), Yoshio Tsuchiya (Rikichi), Eijirō Tōno (Thief), and Yoshio Kosugi (Mosuke) Directed by Akira Kurosawa (#968 - Throne of Blood)

Review: 
"I suppose all of my films have a common theme. If I think about it, though, the only theme I can think of is really a question: Why can’t people be happier together?"

"Mifune had a kind of talent I had never encountered before in the Japanese film world. It was, above all, the speed with which he expressed himself that was astounding."

It is easy to say this one of the greatest films of all time when you know how great its director is. You don't need me to tell you that this is a masterpiece of massive importance and influence to film everywhere around the world, a gem of the golden age of Japanese cinema. And yet here we are, still talking about how one could make such a grand epic in terms of direction, writing (with Shinobu Hashimoto and Hideo Oguni), and editing, which Kurosawa was responsible for. Kurosawa grew up with encouragement from family and teachers for drawing and education alongside film and theater through his brother Heigo, who worked as a silent film narrator before committing suicide in 1933. At the age of 25, he was hired by P.C.L as an assistant director. He started his work with Shojo Hanazono (1936) and worked for five years as a third/chief assistant director for 25 films. He made his debut with Toho's Sanshiro Sugata (1943), which proved successful enough to merit a sequel two years later. In a career that spanned five decades, Kurosawa made 30 feature films, with several of his works proving iconic for world cinema, such as Rashomon (1950), one of the first major hits for Japanese cinema, Dersu Uzala (1975), a Soviet-Japanese production that won an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, and Ran (1985), which was his last epic. It should only figure that a great director has a great star to go with him, which is the case with Mifune, who collaborated with Kurosawa in sixteen films over seventeen films. He had gotten his start in the film industry with the ambition of being in the photography department. As it turned out, Toho soon needed new faces to find due to a labor dispute, and Mifune was one of numerous talents auditioning. Kurosawa, hearing about the prospect of a promising actor, found himself transfixed by the violent frenzy displayed by Mifune, later equating it to like watching a wounded beast trying to escape. Mifune found himself with his first role in Snow Trail (1947) and then his first film with Kurosawa in Drunken Angel the following year. Mifune would go on to a distinguished career in several countries before his death at the age of 77.

At three hours and 27 minutes, it is Kurosawa's longest film along with being his greatest success. One knows fairly quickly than this is going to be a grand experience from the level of detail one sees right away, since this is a beautiful film in terms of its cinematography (Asakazu Nakai) along with its music (Fumio Hayasaka) to go with effective editing from its director, who would edit late at night during shooting (as opposed to later in the studio) through the use of multiple cameras. He had sets constructed for the film when it came to the village in the belief that the quality of the sets influences the quality of the acting. The writing process took 45 day, with Mifune's role as the seventh samurai being the crucial addition made to liven up what was felt to be a bore with six. A year was spent on the production of the film, with plenty of rain for the crew to deal with and a climatic battle sequence that was filmed in snowy conditions. In any case, this is a film that resonates likes visual poetry, where no scene or character seem detrimental to its enjoyment while utilizing its immense time to build immense atmosphere and tension that make its final battle all the more worth it. Mifune, tasked with improvisation as the rogue among the others, is perfectly in his element here, delivering an energetic and compelling performance wrapped in intensity in every scene he is in. Shimura proves just as adept with leading this group of outsiders with weary skill and class. Tsushima and Kimura make for a quiet coupling, careful in chemistry that follows along with the accompanying buildup to the inevitable. The rest of the samurai cast prove just as skilled with generating interest in honor among outsiders, whether through charm or resilience. The villagers, such as Fujiwara and Kodo, lend credit to the desperation and resentment that comes from dealing with samurai, filled with class differences. There are plenty of scenes one can highlight from this film, such as the first burial sequence, where Mifune's intensity over a somber scene mourning a dead comrade leads him to make his way to a rooftop and plant the makeshift flag made to represent them and the land. Or perhaps one will find highlight in the downpour for the climax, which is swift and riveting in its composition to view. It is a film of such discipline from a director who wants to show the heroic ideal within tragedy that rewards its viewer with something to think about alongside great entertainment.

It is obvious to note that the film had plenty of admirers that led to inspiration for filmmakers. The most immediate one that comes to mind is The Magnificent Seven (1960), which Kurosawa viewed as entertaining along with disappointing as a non-version of his film. Plenty of films have taken to task the idea of assembling a team to defend a land from danger in the years since, and this is the key link to said films, whether acknowledged or not. There existed various versions of the film differing on length. For example, the release in America and the UK cut were nearly an hour shorter than the original due to Toho's belief that audiences would not want to sit through such a long film. Nowadays you can find the film in its original pristine version, and this is the easiest recommendation I can make for a film as legendary and entertaining as this one proves to be. It is certainly one of Akira Kurosawa's greatest achievements along with one of the best films of its time that stands for all time in all that it has inspired in over six decades since its release.

Overall, I give it 10 out of 10 stars

Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster.

Review #1226: Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster.

Cast: 
Yosuke Natsuki (Detective Shindo), Yuriko Hoshi (Naoko Shindo), Hiroshi Koizumi (Assistant Professor Murai), Akiko Wakabayashi (Princess Selina Salno of Selgina), Emi and Yumi Ito (Shobijin), Takashi Shimura (Dr. Tsukamoto), Hisaya Ito (Malmess, Chief Assassin), Akihiko Hirata (Chief Detective Okita), Kenji Sahara (Kanamaki), Susumu Kurobe (Assassin), Ikio Sawamura (Fisherman), Haruo Nakajima (Godzilla), Masanori Shinohara (Rodan), and Shoichi Hirose (King Ghidorah) Directed by Ishirō Honda (#167 - Godzilla [1954/1956], #711 - Mothra, #1092 - Gorath, #1224 - King Kong vs. Godzilla, and #1225 - Mothra vs. Godzilla)

Review: 
Well, here we are. Essentially this has become like a Godzilla Week (with one obvious next step to come), although I do intend to cover a different sort of monster movie for June. Hope you folks enjoy film, for which all four monsters showcased here are also happening to be featured in the new Godzilla film.

As one might say, once you find gold (in case, box office dollars), you go off to search for more gold mines (in other words, bigger spectacle pieces) to scrounge around for. For the fifth film in the Godzilla franchise, there would not be just two monsters this time around; four monsters would be featured (Rodan had its own feature film in 1956 by Toho, right in the middle between Godzilla and Mothra's debut), while the big highlight is the introduction of the three-headed King Ghidorah. The monster was based off of Japanese mythology, such as the tale of Yamata no Orochi, which had featured an eight-headed (and eight-tailed) dragon. Eiji Tsuburaya's design for Ghidorah was modified to have just three heads. If operating the Godzilla costume seems grueling, the costume for King Ghidorah was not much better, owing to the fact that Hirose spent hours being hunched over in a costume with only a crossbar for support, while numerous men in rafters helped worked plastic wires for the neck, tails and wings - which would get stuck together on occasion.

The cast handle their responsibilities with enough conviction to go around; they aren't necessarily aiming to win awards as much as they are playing with familiar kinds of roles (after all, half of these actors have been in other Toho sci-fi films). Highlights in the cast include Natsuki and Hoshi, giving off light charm and rolling with the plot just as normally. Wakabayashi, cast as someone believing themselves to be from Venus (like that famous book, only 30 years early) shines just as well, reserved yet capable at letting this role seem more than a offbeat standout. As per the course, there's plenty of oddball sci-fi/fantasy meshes to go along with the monster mashing, and the human story doesn't tread too much water. I do appreciate the effort to push a bit of an message regarding the Earth and trying to help the planet one lives on, even if it's regarding a giant monster. In general, the series was soon shifting towards having Godzilla be more of a defender of the Earth than a simple towering beast over all, which reflects the lighter tone undergone. The fight between Godzilla and Rodan (turning up just before the hour mark) is a bit amusing, what with a giant flying reptile facing off against Godzilla with one move involving him dropping Godzilla into an electrical tower while they also flail their arms about and bash rocks against each other like volleyball (resolved of course by Mothra spraying the two of them with some pollen). Highlight two involves the monsters speaking...through the translation of the fairy guardians. If one has accepted tiny twin guardians of a giant moth creature by this point, one could probably accept (or expect) anything, so having someone claiming to be from Venus show up is quite a curve-ball. The designs for the creatures are fairly well done, with King Ghidorah looking like a suitable beastly threat with a nice golden polish (changed from suggested ideas of green or red) to go along with it.

Despite the rush to make sure that this film was released on the heels of a film released only eight months prior, it does seem that Honda and his crew (which was the same from the previous film with regards to direction, writing, music, effects, producer) have managed to do good craftsmanship once again with making a workable monster movie. It is a neat grand mess of ideas that I find to be quite wonderfully amusing to go along with. It works as a fine-tuning of the monster mash formula for the series while also having plenty of charm to go alongside a capably consistent feature well worth checking out.

Next Review: Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019).

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.

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.

Godzilla Raids Again.

Review #1098: Godzilla Raids Again.

Cast: 
Hiroshi Koizumi (Shoichi Tsukioka), Setsuko Wakayama (Hidemi Yamaji - Koehi's Daughter), Minoru Chiaki (Koji Kobayashi), Takashi Shimura (Dr. Kyohei Yamane-hakase), Masao Shimizu (Zoologist Dr. Tadokoro), Seijirô Onda (Captain Terasawa of Osaka Defense Corps), Sônosuke Sawamura (Hokkaido Branch Manager Shingo Shibeki), Yoshio Tsuchiya (Tajima, Member of Osaka Defense Corps), with Haruo Nakajima (Godzilla), and Katsumi Tezuka (Anguirus) Directed by Motoyoshi Oda.

Review: 
Six years after doing the original film (#167), I figured it was finally time to do the sequel. Apologies for the wait.

The original film managed to evoke its share of terror and fine moments with its monster in 96 minutes, being an interesting piece of world cinema from Japan in my eyes. It had its share of human drama that I found to be moderately entertaining to accompany the narrative, and it had a conclusion that felt satisfying. Six months after its release, a sequel, going by the title of Godzilla Raids Again (whose title in Japan translates to Godzilla's Counterattack), and it certainly tried to stand out - for better or worse. For one thing, Godzilla fights another monster (this one called Anguirus), with the explanation being that the two monsters were brought back to life by the bomb that had awoken the original Godzilla, and naturally they fight each other, complete with miniature sets and destroying a pagoda. Like before with the original, Eiji Tsuburaya assisted with the special effects, serving as Director Of Special Effects for this film, and they certainly fit well for the spectacle that plays out on screen. The human drama this time isn't too particularly interesting, having its share of cliches and actions that you'd probably expect, and it borders a bit on tedious at moments but it proves to be mildly conventional enough to fit fine. Koizumi and the others (including Shimura briefly reprising his role from the earlier movie) do okay in carrying the movie to the points where it needs to go in its 81 minute run-time. The film isn't as good as the original film in the sense that it doesn't resonate so much with its action and narrative, but it does prove to be a fairly decent product of entertainment. It would be seven years until King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962) continued the series.

One year after the release of this film, the original film was heavily re-edited in order to be released into American audiences, which was released as Godzilla, King of the Monsters!, with new scenes filmed with Raymond Burr describing the action that occurs in the movie that were directed by Terry Morse. In 1959, a re-edited version of the sequel followed (after trying to make a new film with the effect footage dubbed The Volcano Monsters failed), with it being called Gigantis the Fire Monster. This version, released into U.S theaters by Warner Brothers, had numerous edits such as replacing the original music by Masaru Satō with stock music, dubbing over the voices (with such voices like Paul Frees and George Takei), and even replacing Godzilla's roar with Anguirus' roar, while being released in a double bill with Teenagers from Outer Space. It should be noted that both films in their original form had played in theaters in Japanese-American neighborhoods, with the re-edited version of the first film being released in Japan in 1957. In any case, the modern age has led to the original versions of either film (and the re-edits) being more available, and it's not hard to see why as both of these movies are fine pieces of entertainment, with Godzilla Raids Again serving as a fair sequel for any sort of audience.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.

Gorath.

Review #1092: Gorath.

Cast: 
Ryô Ikebe (Dr. Tazawa - Astrophysicist), Yumi Shirakawa (Tomoko Sonoda), Akira Kubo (Tatsuma Kanai - Cadet Astronaut), Kumi Mizuno (Takiko Nomura), Hiroshi Tachikawa (Wakabayashi - Pilot of Ôtori), Akihiko Hirata (Endô - Captain of Ôtori), Kenji Sahara (Saiki - Vice Captain of Ôtori), Jun Tazaki (Raizô Sonoda - Tomoko's Father), Ken Uehara (Dr. Kôno - Astrophysicist), and Takashi Shimura (Kensuke Sonoda - Paleontologist) Directed by Ishirō Honda (#167 - Godzilla and #711 - Mothra)

Review: 
Note: I watched the English dubbed version of this film, which I happened to encounter on television last night. However, I have found a source or two that have compared the original version and the English dubbed version (which features Paul Frees for some of the voices), which are slightly noticeable in its editing, and I hope that seeing the English dub doesn't affect the quality of this review, since I generally try to watch a world cinema film with its original language and subtitles. In any case, I hope you enjoy this review.

With this science fiction film (also known as Yôsei Gorasu), you get the best of both worlds (of sorts): You get your share of shots in space involving either rockets or a planet and you also get your share of scenes involving exposition and occasional story bits with characters. Whether that makes for a serviceable time is up to you, but I found it be okay if not too particularly exceptional. The actors are fairly okay, but because of how the film likes to jump around between numerous people (generally ones in some sort authority), there isn't anyone who sticks out too particularly well, although Tazaki commands a bit of attention for the brief time he is on screen. The strangest moment of the movie isn't even involving the deadly planet, it's actually a part where one of the characters (played by Kubo) takes a framed photo of someone who died and throws it out the window. A close second involves the planet apparently having the power to give someone who gets close to it some sort of amnesia - which is cured by looking at it again apparently. There isn't really too much to the story other than just the incoming planet (which you get to hear is 6,000 times the mass of Earth a few times) and some exposition on the solution to said planet: move the Earth. In a worse movie, it'd probably be easy to pick at that and probably get mad for being insulting to the mind, but in a movie as okay as this, it doesn't feel too terrible to go through, perhaps since it doesn't feel too deceptive in being entertainment - success or not.

The effects are pretty nice to look at for the time that they were created in, having some model shots that seem pretty convincing at moments, particularly during the climax with a flood, which is quite striking. At the head of the department behind the visual effects for the film along with Toho as a studio was Eiji Tsuburaya (who you may know as one of the creators for Godzilla). One interesting thing about the film is a giant walrus named Maguma that appears near the end of the movie, which was added in at the last minute due to influence from one of the producers. Most of the sequence was actually cut out of the English-dubbed version, believe it or not, with the result being a bit disjointed and probably more amusing to giggle at than the original. There exists numerous run-times for the film, with the original being 88 minutes long, the German version being 84 minutes, the American version being 83 minutes, and the American VHS release being 77 minutes. The movie doesn't try to be just one of those sci-fi movies that throw random situations at an audience, having an aim for presenting a message involving cooperation between humans and achievement against all odds, which at the very least is something worth presenting. It isn't a complete success, but it isn't a complete failure either. It won't be known as a great classic, but it is something that you could encounter late at night and probably have some enjoyment with in you're in the right mood.

Overall, I give it 6 out of 10 stars.

Throne of Blood.

Review #968: Throne of Blood.

Cast: 
Toshiro Mifune (Washizu Taketoki), Isuzu Yamada (Washizu Asaji), Takashi Shimura (Odakura Noriyasu), Akira Kubo (Miki Yoshiteru), Hiroshi Tachikawa (Tsuzaki Kunimaru), Minoru Chiaki (Miki Yoshiaki), Takamaru Sasaki (Lord Tsuzuki Kuniharu), Kokuten Kōdō (First General), Ueda Kichijiro (Washizu's workman), Eiko Miyoshi (Old Woman at castle), and Chieko Naniwa (The Spirit of Spider's Web) Directed by Akira Kurosawa.

Review: 
It is good to do another world cinema film, particularly one from Japan, with this being the sixth covered (#167 - Gojira, #711 - Mothra, #735 - A Page of Madness, #737 - House (1977), and #922 - Himiko). Throne of Blood (also known as Kumonosu-jō, which translates to Spider Web Castle) is based off the play MacBeth by William Shakespeare, with a few liberties taken (alongside a change of setting to feudal Japan), though one can forgive that in a movie as evocative as this movie is. It's amazing how long it has taken for me to cover a film directed by Akira Kurosawa, considered one of the most seminal filmmakers in cinema, with this being his 17th feature film.

There is just something so majestic about the movie, where the design along with the acting come together to make something so entertaining along with thrilling. Mifune (who starred in sixteen of Kurosawa's films) manages to convey his emotions and character without having to resort to having too much expression on his face; the final scene involving the arrows is the best example, in that you can clearly see the terror of having to dodge actual arrows (for the sake of realism), with his expressions being fairly clear. He does everything quite clearly and effectively, without any sense of dodgy intention. The scene where he is trying to rally his men during the climax is also a key manic highlight. Yamada is also excellent, doing a fine job at showing her ambition and her grip on Mifune's character, and the resulting aftermath. Her last scene with him is the most striking along with the most emotionally powerful to watch, especially with her not blinking throughout the film. The rest of the cast is also pretty good, with Shimura and Kubo being useful highlights, particularly when conversing with Mifune. The showcasing of emotions and themes is quite clear to see, from the consequence of human ambition to the power of fate. The cinematography by Asakazu Nakai is quite commendable, being great to look at and see executed on screen. The atmosphere of the movie is great, where the sets and design look quite realistic and the action has a sharp but incredible feel to watch. The music by Masaru Sato is also fairly striking, and the chants at the end are fitting for the tone of the film. It is easy for me to recommend this one, in part because of the core elements that make for a great film, from the way the film is constructed to the actors to the action and look of the movie.

Overall, I give it 10 out of 10 stars.

Mothra.

Review #711: Mothra.

Cast
Frankie Sakai (Zen-Chan Fukuda), Kyoko Kagawa (Michi Hanamura), Hiroshi Koizumi (Dr. Shin'ichi Chujo), Ken Uehara (Dr. Harada), Jerry Ito (Clark Nelson), Yumi Ito & Emi Ito (The Shoubijin), Takashi Shimura (Sadakatsu Amano), Masamitsu Tayama (Shinji Tyuujou), and Tetsu Nakamura (Nelson's Henchman) Directed by Ishirō Honda (#167 - Godzilla)

Review
It has been way too long since I've reviewed a world cinema film, and what better one to do than Mothra, a Japanese film involving a monster (also known as kaiju), in this case a caterpillar/moth. Unlike Godzilla, the movie is less grim with regards to the monster and more light on the tone, with vocal group The Peanuts starring as twin fairies. Strangely enough, it all works well. It's a fun flick mainly because it manages to just be itself without going overboard in silliness. The color of the movie looks good, especially with the sets, looking so crisp. I like the effects on Mothra, especially after she transforms. Is it dated? Sure, but sometimes dated can be a good thing, and with this movie, it's a plus mainly because it's too much joy to dislike. The characters seem to be having a good time, and I like the main three actors (Sakai, Kagawa, Koizumi), who seem to click well. The villain (Itou) is hammy, but perfect for something like this. It may not be as thrilling as Godzilla or have the same impact, but Mothra makes up for it by just being a movie filled with bridled joy.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.