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As all of us Godzilla fans know, this year marks the 50th Anniversary of the big green lizard since he first stomped Tokio back in the year 1954 and there's no better way to celebrate this occasion than the theatrical release here in the US of the original Japanese version of GODZILLA( or GOJIRA which is the creature's real name) which was never seen here except for a brief and limited 1982 run. This 2004 restored version of the film distributed by Rialto Films is a much more somber and character driven film than the 1956 version starring Raymond Burr as American reporter Steve Martin. It is also one the first Japanese films to be indicative and critical thru a science fiction plot of America's use of nuclear weapons and their use of them on Nagasaki & Hiroshima in 1945. The major differences between the original 1954 Japanese version and the 1956 American version we all saw and grew up with, besides the appearance of Raymond Burr(pre-Perry Mason) in the US version, is various scenes in which Japanese citizans commentating about Godzilla's threat to Japan and how they compare it to the atom bomb on Hiroshima & Nagazaki; another where there is a conference between scientists, politicians and Japanese public discussing about the menace of Godzilla and the politicians want to hush or cover up the relationship between Godzilla's radioactivity and the US practice of expolding nuclear weapons in the Pacific and the Japanese public's violent reaction against the coverup. Those particular scenes were deleted from the 1954 original when Joseph P. Levine prepared the 1956 version to avoid anti-american sentiment
But another major diference between these two versions is that the 1954 version gives more character development and conflict between three major characters in the film: 1)Dr. Kyohei Yamane the eminent Japanese paleontologist(played by that great Japanese actor Takashi Shimura who also played the leader of Kurosawa's The Seven Samurai) who first discovers Godzilla and who want to convince the authorities that Godzilla should be studied and not destroyed, because it's his belief that by studying Godzilla, other radioactive monstrosities can be avoided in the future. Unfortunately Dr. Yamane's point of view is the minority one and he suffers because of it.
2) The tragic romantic and ideological triangle between Emiko Yamane, daughter of Dr. Yamane(played by Momoko Kochi) and the two men who love her: Naval Savage Officer Hideto Ogata(played by Akira Takarada) and eminent Japanese scientist, Dr. Daisuke Serizawa(played by Akihiko Hirata) is more complete in this 1954 version than in the US 1956 version, especially since in the 1954 version both men are close friends and Emiko was promised as a bride to Dr. Serisawa in accordance to then Japanese tradition but is broken when Emiko and Ogata fall in love while tracking down Godzilla. There is also a Japanese reporter played by Sachio Sakai that basically plays the role done by Raymond Burr in the American 1956 version, but that character is a minor one in the 1954 version compared to what Burr does in the 1956 one.
Of course, all the sequences of Godzilla's appearances in the 1954 film are virtually identical to the 1956 one with no discernable changes. But the big green monster looks better in a black & white film with night photography filmed in high speed originally to later at regular speed, look & move at the right convincing lumbering pace than in the later color films in which Godzilla appears in broad daylight and definitely looks like a guy in a lumbering monster suit!. Also this new restored version has appropiate new English subtitles that really and accurately convey what the film's characters say in their native Japanese. Although this release print has some evident wear and tear from it's original 1954 source( remember this film is 50 years old!) but it still looks great and sound great as well.
This release of GODZILLA that I saw today at the New York's Film Forum regains Godzilla at his full glory and it's appropiate that we see this version this year since Toho Studio plans to kill off Godzilla in their latest feature GODZILLA:FINAL WARS that is being filmed now in New York City, Tokio and Shanghai to be released at the end of this year and to retire the Big Lizard for the next ten years! If you are interested in seeing this version, check the website for the film's distributor Rialto Films for a listing of cities in the US which will show the film and since it's Rialto Films that distributing this version of GODZILLA, don't be surprised if Criterion Home Video releases this film on DVD as they have done with other Rialto Films releases.
But another major diference between these two versions is that the 1954 version gives more character development and conflict between three major characters in the film: 1)Dr. Kyohei Yamane the eminent Japanese paleontologist(played by that great Japanese actor Takashi Shimura who also played the leader of Kurosawa's The Seven Samurai) who first discovers Godzilla and who want to convince the authorities that Godzilla should be studied and not destroyed, because it's his belief that by studying Godzilla, other radioactive monstrosities can be avoided in the future. Unfortunately Dr. Yamane's point of view is the minority one and he suffers because of it.
2) The tragic romantic and ideological triangle between Emiko Yamane, daughter of Dr. Yamane(played by Momoko Kochi) and the two men who love her: Naval Savage Officer Hideto Ogata(played by Akira Takarada) and eminent Japanese scientist, Dr. Daisuke Serizawa(played by Akihiko Hirata) is more complete in this 1954 version than in the US 1956 version, especially since in the 1954 version both men are close friends and Emiko was promised as a bride to Dr. Serisawa in accordance to then Japanese tradition but is broken when Emiko and Ogata fall in love while tracking down Godzilla. There is also a Japanese reporter played by Sachio Sakai that basically plays the role done by Raymond Burr in the American 1956 version, but that character is a minor one in the 1954 version compared to what Burr does in the 1956 one.
Of course, all the sequences of Godzilla's appearances in the 1954 film are virtually identical to the 1956 one with no discernable changes. But the big green monster looks better in a black & white film with night photography filmed in high speed originally to later at regular speed, look & move at the right convincing lumbering pace than in the later color films in which Godzilla appears in broad daylight and definitely looks like a guy in a lumbering monster suit!. Also this new restored version has appropiate new English subtitles that really and accurately convey what the film's characters say in their native Japanese. Although this release print has some evident wear and tear from it's original 1954 source( remember this film is 50 years old!) but it still looks great and sound great as well.
This release of GODZILLA that I saw today at the New York's Film Forum regains Godzilla at his full glory and it's appropiate that we see this version this year since Toho Studio plans to kill off Godzilla in their latest feature GODZILLA:FINAL WARS that is being filmed now in New York City, Tokio and Shanghai to be released at the end of this year and to retire the Big Lizard for the next ten years! If you are interested in seeing this version, check the website for the film's distributor Rialto Films for a listing of cities in the US which will show the film and since it's Rialto Films that distributing this version of GODZILLA, don't be surprised if Criterion Home Video releases this film on DVD as they have done with other Rialto Films releases.
