> > Godzilla is a symbol of nuclear power (not electrical generation) gone
too
> far. The consequences of wielding a power that could consume the world,
> from those fears comes Godzilla to teach man a lesson. I highly recommend
> seeing the original japanese version of Gojira which is making the rounds
at
> art house movie theaters... you would get a better understanding for the
> film and the character.
> >
> > James
Yes. The original GOJIRA(1954) will make it's cinema debut this year via
Rialto Pictures, aimed at "Art cinema" houses.
The original film was concieved as an answer to the disasterous account of
the "Lucky Dragon" fishing boat which drifted through a Bikini test area
where a cloud of radiation was still hanging. The boat returned where many
of the crew wound up with radiation poisoning and died. This coupled with
the Hiroshima and Nagasaki
A-Bombs was the motivation of the lore behind Godzilla.
At the time, producer Tomoyuki Tanaka had flown over an area that had been a
test site(but safe when he was near it) and wondered what it would be like
to see a monster rise from the waters. He was partly inspired by THE BEAST
FROM 20,000 FATHOMS, but he imagined the first idea for GOJIRA as being a
giant octopus!! The idea of the dinosaur-like monster was proposed as a
better way to successfully pull off the special effects, by Eiji Tsuburaya.
Stop motion animation was considered(the first Gojira film does indeed have
several *short* sequences of stop motion animation and, puppet animation)
but ruled as too costly and time consuming(Consider Harryhausen was not
exactly prolific over the years) so the idea of suitmation was suggested and
the rest is history.
The original GOJIRA minus the Raymond Burr scenes is by far a more
straightforward and dramatic film. Much of what was cut for the US release
were the human relationships(quite complex) and scenes of wounded,
raditation-poisoned children(rarely done in the US at the time), etc which,
when you see them are chilling and powerful. That, plus exhanges that
illustrate the Japanese "Honor" code and such. In one scene, Dr Serizawa
,when burning the plans for his Oxygen Destroyer device, launches into a
tirade about politicians and military officials, referring to them as
"Devils" with his fear that somehow, if the plans his device-more terrifying
than an A-Bomb-were to be stolen or, even forced out of him-that truly dire
consequences could arise. The idea being that, the world already has a
enough terrible weapons-the A-Bomb and nuclear devices, and those have
brought Gojira to life.
There are also scenes that show a puppet-animation of Gojira that seems to
have a larger, bulbous head.
This was done to suggest a mushroom cloud, if only subconciously.
The film was toned down for US consumption and re-framed totally. Referring
generally to the political-military complex as "Devils and demons" in l950's
post-McCarthy-thinking America was not something movie companies wanted to
risk. So with actor Raymond Burr and some Japanese extras, and director
Terry Morse, and producer Joesph E. Levine the film was re-cut and sold as a
"giant monster film" popular to the time with kids.
It is also the re-cutting and bad dubbing that have garnered these films
collectively a bad rep in the US. So I tell anyone, see them as they were
originally meant to be seen, if you can! It's eye-opening.
Bob E.
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