Godzilla: King of the Monsters
Starring: Raymond Burr, Akira Takarada, Akihiko Hirata, Takashi Shimura
Directed by: Ishiro Honda, Terry O. Morse
Rating: Not rated
Genre: Horror, Science Fiction
1956

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Japan is ruthlessly attacked by a giant monster, Gojira. An American reporter (Raymond Burr) and a handful of brilliant scientists try to come up with a way to stop the beast before more people die.

Review:

Tim: This is really interesting. Gojira came out in 1954, a great Japanese movie. Two years later, American audiences got Godzilla: King of the Monsters, the Americanized version of the same film. The original movie was cut, and a number of scenes with Raymond Burr were added. I highly recommend watching the original film first, then checking out this movie. The differences are very, very interesting. 90% of this movie is similar to the original, but that 10% makes a huge difference. When watching this movie, you almost feel like you're watching the previous film, but from a different viewpoint.

I have to say that this Americanized version isn't nearly as good as the Japanese one. Much of the character development was cut to include Raymond Burr's scenes. They covered this up by having Japanese characters interact with Burr (watch carefully, as all of the big characters in the Japanese version, when interacting with Burr, are only shown from the back). This is a clever way to include the Americanized scenes without having the original Japanese actors playing those parts, but it doesn't work nearly as well. Burr almost feels like an intruder in his scenes. I was also surprised (well, maybe not THAT surprised) that the whole nuclear testing/weapons allegory was downplayed in this version. This movie is much more of a straight-up monster movie, which is very disappointing. The nuclear commentary was one of the original film's great strengths, which is missing here.

Director Terry O. Morse does a fairly good job of stitching the new American scenes with the original Japanese ones. Burr's narration covers up most of the holes. Audiences unfamiliar with the original version might not even be aware of this.

Godzilla: King of the Monsters is still a good movie, but this has more to do with the original Japanese scenes than with the American ones. I liked the original Gojira better, and if you can only see one version, see that one. However, it is a fascinating study to watch both films back-to-back. For unknowing American audiences, this film still works well as a monster movie. Sadly, it is not as powerful or memorable as it originally was.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Gojira