GOJIRA (a.k.a. GODZILLA, 1954)

By: Aaron Smith
Date: Thursday, June 07, 2001

Chosen by Akira Kurosawa as of one of Japan's most important films, this story of a beast resurrected by atomic bomb tests balances entertainment with a moral allegory that is still felt strongly to this day. Though the film's creators intended to make a general monster on the loose story to compete with similar films in the U.S., director Ishiro Honda, SFX master Eiji Tsuburaya, and producer Tomoyuki Tanaka instead masterfully created a dark, atmospheric tome with subtle criticism of the U.S.'s nuclear decimation of wartime Japan. Helping to define the movie's mood was Japan's eminent composer Akira Ifukube, whose Godzilla theme is instantly recognized by legions of fans the world over. At the heart of the film is a tragic love triangle played by some of Japan's finest actors of the time: the doomed Dr. Serizawa (Akihiko Hirata) and his fiancée Emiko Yamane (Momoko Kochi) who is secretly in love with another man, Hideo Ogata (Akira Takarada)all the parts are played well. Known as GODZILLA, KING OF THE MONSTERS in the U.S., with Raymond Burr spliced in and fairly good dubbing, GOJIRA still needs to be viewed in Honda's original cut with subtitles to be truly appreciated. No other Godzilla film has ever been able to capture the original sadness/terror of Gojira, and it still remains the standard to which other kaiju eiga will always be compared.