Gojira (1954)

Director:

Ishirô Honda

Writers:

Ishirô Honda (writer)
Shigeru Kayama (story)
(more)

Release Date:

7 May 2004 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

The legend begins....

Plot:

American nuclear weapons testing results in the creation of a seemingly unstoppable, dinosaur-like beast.

Plot Keywords:

Monster | Japan | Nuclear Weapon | Monster Terrorizes City | Giant Monster

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Akira Takarada	...	Hideto Ogata
Momoko Kôchi	...	Emiko Yamane
Akihiko Hirata	...	Daisuke Serizawa-hakase
Takashi Shimura	...	Kyohei Yamane-hakase
Fuyuki Murakami	...	Professor Tanabe
Sachio Sakai	...	Newspaper Reporter Hagiwara
Toranosuke Ogawa	...	Nankai Shipping Company Manager
Ren Yamamoto	...	Masaji the Fisherman
Miki Hayashi	...	Chairman of Diet Committee
Takeo Oikawa	...	Chief of Emergency Headquarters
Seijiro Onda	...	Parliamentarian Oyama
Tsuruko Mano	...	Shinkichi's Mother
Toyoaki Suzuki	...	Shinkichi (Masaji's Younger Brother)
Kokuten Kodo	...	The Old Fisherman
Kin Sugai	...	Ozawa-san
Tadashi Okabe	...	Reporter Killed on Tower
Ren Imaizumi	...	Radio Operator
Junpei Natsuki	...	Power Substation Engineer
Katsumi Tezuka	...	Gojira / Hagiwara's Editor
Haruo Nakajima	...	Gojira / Power Station Worker
Yasuhisa Tsutsumi
Jiro Suzuki
Saburo Iketani	...	News Reporter
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Shizuko Higashi	...	Partygoer
Kiyoshi Kamata	...	Partygoer's Escort
Kenji Sahara	...	Young Lover on the sound
Keiji Sakakida	...	Mayor Inada
Tamae Sengo	...	Mother
Ryosaku Takasugi
Ishirô Honda	...	Power Station Worker (The Hand that Throws the Switch) (uncredited)

Directed by
Ishirô Honda

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Ishirô Honda		writer
Shigeru Kayama		story
Takeo Murata		writer

Produced by
Tomoyuki Tanaka	....	producer

Original Music by
Akira Ifukube

Cinematography by
Masao Tamai

Film Editing by
Kazuji Taira		(as Yasunobu Taira)

Production Design by
Satoshi Chuko
Takeo Kita

Art Direction by
Satoshi Chuko
Takeo Kita

Production Management
Teruo Maki	....	executive in charge of production

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Koji Kajita	....	chief assistant director
Susumu Takebayashi	....	second assistant director

Sound Department
Ichirô Minawa	....	sound effects editor
Hisashi Shimonaga	....	sound recordist
Nobuyuki Tanaka	....	sound assistant
Norio Tone	....	sound assistant

Special Effects by
Sadamasa Arikawa	....	director of photography: special effects
Kuichiro Kishida	....	special effects lighting
Yoichi Manoda	....	assistant camera
Hiroshi Mukoyama	....	matte work
Fumio Nakadai	....	special effects wire work
Yasuaki Sakamoto	....	production manager
Sokei Tomioka	....	assistant camera
Teizo Toshimitsu	....	monster builder
Eiji Tsuburaya	....	special effects director
Hajime Tsuburaya	....	assistant camera
Akira Watanabe	....	art director
Taka Yuki	....	opticals
Fuminori Ohashi	....	special effects technical advisor (uncredited)

Stunts
Haruo Nakajima	....	stunt choreographer

Camera and Electrical Department
Yuzuru Aizawa	....	assistant camera
Choshiro Ishii	....	lighting technician
Shinji Kojima	....	lighting assistant
Shoshichi Kojima	....	lighting assistant

Other crew
Sei Ikeno	....	assistant: Akira Ifukube
Fumio Nakadai	....	tail supervisor
Shôji Okawa	....	tail supervisor

Production Companies

• Toho Film (Eiga) Co. Ltd.

Distributors

• Toho Company (Japan)
• Distributors Corporation of America (DCA) (1956) (USA) (theatrical)
• Vestron Video (1983) (USA) (VHS)
• Zontarian Video (1996) (USA) (VHS)
• Rialto Pictures (2004) (USA) (theatrical)
• British Film Institute (BFI) (2005) (UK) (all media)
• Atlantic Film (2006) (Sweden) (DVD)
• Classic Media (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• Sony BMG Music Entertainment (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• Sony Wonder (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• Nihon Eiga Satellite Broadcasting (2008) (Japan) (TV)
• Kuk Dong (South Korea)

Other Companies

• Toho Studios  sound stages

Also Known As:

Godzilla (International: English title) (USA)
Kaihatsu keikaku G (Japan) (working title)
Kaitei ni-man mairu kara kita daikaijû (Japan) (working title)
Godzilla (Poland) [pl]
Godzilla (France) [fr]
Godzilla (Italy) [it]
Godzilla (Hungary) [hu]
Godzilla - Der sensationellste Film der Gegenwart (West Germany) (video title) [de]
Godzilla - monstret från havet (Sweden) [sv]
Godzilla, to teras tou aionos (Greece) [el]
Japón bajo el terror del monstruo (Spain) [es]
O Monstro do Oceano Pacífico (Portugal) [pt]

Runtime:

98 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

Australia:PG | USA:Unrated | West Germany:12 (nf) | Sweden:15 | UK:PG (re-rating) (2005) | UK:X (original rating)

Filming Locations:

Toba, Mie, Japan

Company:

Toho Film (Eiga) Co. Ltd.

Trivia:

There were three cables coming out of the back of the costume. Two were for the operation of the eyes, and one was for the operation of the mouth. Eizo Kaimai was responsible for the movement of the eyes and the mouth. Batteries were installed in the Godzilla costume that was made for the second Godzilla movie. They were for the operation of the eyes and the mouth. The batteries made the costume even heavier than the one that had been constructed for the first Godzilla film.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When the jets attack Gojira as he's walking out to sea after destroying Tokyo, the rockets they fire at the monster can be seen bouncing off the sky backdrop.

Quotes:

[last lines]
Kyohei Yamane-hakase: I can't believe that Godzilla was the only surviving member of its species... But if we continue conducting nuclear tests... it's possible that another Godzilla might appear somewhere in the world again.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Back Lot Murders (2002) (V)

The First and Definitely Best of the Series

Gojira (not Godzilla, King of the Monsters, with Raymond Burr), stands as one of the best monster movies...and one of Japan's finest and most allegory pieces of cinema. The original version of the movie has a lot of anti-nuclear sentiment that the US editors dropped from the Raymond Burr version. A woman on a subway noting that is seemed like she survived Nagaski only to die from Godzilla is an offhand but telling comment on Japan's unique view of the use of nuclear weapons.

The story itself is makes a bit more sense than the patchwork used with Raymond Burr (though that version is also quite good for the genre that it helps perpetuate). The effects are (I think) still great...the grainy, documentary feel of the movie makes it seem a lot more real.