Godzilla Raids Again (1955)
© Sony Wonder

Mania Grade: B+
Show Grade: B / C+
Disc Grade: A-
Reviewed Format: DVD
Rated: Not Rated
Cast: Hiroshi Koizumi, Setsuko Wakayama, Minoru Chiaki, Takashi Shimura
Writers: Shigeaki Hidaka, Takeo Murata
Director: Motoyoshi Oda
Distributor: Classic Media
Original Year of Release: 1955 / 1959
Extras: Japanese/English DD 2.0; English subtitles; audio commentary track; featurette; gallery; trailers
Suggested Retail: $18.98
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Godzilla Raids Again

Toho Studios decided not to wait for director Ishiro Honda to finish the project he was working on when his Godzilla became a huge hit, and rushed into production on this quickie follow-up without him, releasing it less than six months later. Another notable absence is that of composer Akira Ifukube. It may have been just as well, as the two maestros would likely have been discouraged by the project’s lack of time and money. The special effects in Gojira no Gyakushu (“Godzilla’s Counterattack”) also fail to match the power of the originals. However, the climax shows a lot of imagination.  

A second Godzilla (Harou Nakajima) appears to cause trouble off the coast of Japan, while another monster - the spiny Angilas (Katsumi Tezuka) - also appears to threaten mankind. They battle to the death while trashing Osaka – the first monster on monster battle in Japanese cinema. Although the monster scenes are fun, with Godzilla facing off against another creature for the first time, too much of the story centers around a fishing fleet troubled by the behemoths. Indeed, the monsters seem to be following fishing fleet pilots Shoichi Tsukioka (Hiroshi Koizumi) and Koji Kobayashi (Minoru Chiaki) around throughout the movie. They first appear on an island where Koji has to land his plane due to engine trouble. The beasts come to shore in Osaka Bay, ruining the fishing. When the family business moves to their Hokkaido location to get away from the destruction, and again in Fukuoka, the monsters appear there, too. And of course, it’s our flying heroes who are the first pilots to spot Godzilla on a frosty northern island as the military is trying to hunt him down. 

Though we can’t blame the American distributor for ruining this entry in the series, they sure didn’t help matters by cutting four minutes off the running time and making Godzilla Raids Again still duller by adding senseless stock footage and having Shoichi give us relentless play-by-play narration of everything happening onscreen. In the dubbing session, actors Keye Luke and George Takai were reportedly urged to sound more Japanese. At first, independent AB-PT Pictures attempted to make an entirely new picture called The Volcano Monsters using much of the footage from Gojira no Gyakushu, even borrowing some monster costumes from Toho to shoot extra scenes. AB-PT went out of business before they could start shooting, and the distribution rights fell into the hands of Warner Bros., who released it on a double bill in 1959 with the even goofier Teenagers from Outer Space under the title Gigantis the Fire Monster. Although it’s been suggested that the producers didn’t want to pay to use the Godzilla name, the more likely scenario is that they thought an “all new” monster would play better than a sequel. Either way, it was a stupid decision, made worse by the fact that dubbed characters often misidentify which monster they’re talking about, and the scientific explanations for the monsters offered by experts are laughable. Godzilla Raids Again/Gigantis disappeared for years, until its release on home video in the 1980s under its present title.

 
This is the second release in Classic Media’s series re-releasing the Japanese monster movies they’ve acquired in deluxe editions, and following the lead of their deluxe edition of Godzilla, .both the original uncut Japanese version of Godzilla Raids Again and its American remodeled version are presented here in remastered transfers taken from the best available elements. The image on the Japanese version is soft in some spots, but is generally clean. The US print bears some wear, but looks generally sharp – sometimes displaying better contrast than the original - though the 1.33:1 image is cropped too tightly on the right side. This time both films appear on one disc, and its held in thinner, but just as sturdy, album-style digipac.  
 
Steve Ryfle – along with occasional additional contributions from his fellow monster experts Stuart Gailbraith, Ed Godziszewski and Bob Burns – again provides a commentrak, though this time only the US version warrants the extra track. No doubt it was thought that everything worth saying could be said in one track, and indeed that is the case. Instead of two tracks with much repeated information, we get one lively and informative presentation. Ryfle, though clearly in love with his subject, is well aware of its flaws, and has some fun pointing out the gaffs, especially in the nonsensical US cut.  
 
Godziszewski contributes another of his short (14m) illustrated lectures here, telling the tale of “The Art of Suit Acting”, informing us of how the actors inside the monster suits approached their difficult task. This, and a slide show of posters for the film are available from the menus for both versions of the film.  
 
Rushed into production as a cash-in device, much like Son of Kong followed closely on the heels of King Kong, Godzilla Raids Again suffers not only from comparison to a classic, but from its own rashness as well. However, it has its own charms, and is greatly entertaining whenever the monsters appear on screen.

Copyright © 2006 Brian Thomas, author of the massive book VideoHound's Dragon: Asian Action & Cult Flicks.