Godzilla on Father's Day

[Ollie 859]

With all of the talk about changes to films, CGI enhancements, deleted footage etc etc, I thought I would share a little story with you.

This Sunday for Father's Day I was treated to the original version of Godzilla on the big screen. For Godzilla's 50th Birthday Rialto Pictures has received and restored a print of the original Japanese version of Godzilla that was first released in 1954. The film is presented in it's original japanese language with english subtitles.

The "art" of butchering or editing films has been around for ages. When Godzilla first came to the US in the 50's the running time was shortened down to 80 mins from it's original 98 min running time and an additional 40 mins were cut and replaced by scenes with Raymond Burr.

Gone from this film was the actual story that made the film work. A love story and a country recovering from WWII that is forced to re-live the horrors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki thru Godzilla.

When I was 5 Godzilla was the very first monster/dinosaur film I saw and I've been hooked ever since. Unfortunately the US butchered version was the only one available for many years. I did get a chance to see the original once when we lived in Germany, but it was shown and dubbed on German TV.

Anyhow as we left the theatre I thought about the changes people make to their films, especially a certain person loathed by many on this board for the alterations made to a 1977 classic, and I wondered why would a person want to change something that was so beloved by millions.

Godzilla is still perfect after 50 years, yes it is a man in suit, yes there are scenes where a puppet is used, yes there are many shots of minatures and wires are visible in a few scenes. But you know what? It has a story, there is character developement, Godzilla doesn't appear in the first 5 mins, in fact Godzilla is maybe on screen for 25 to 35 mins the whole film.

I read a review of the film that said that version of Godzilla wouldn't work today because it takes it's time in telling a story, a sad statement on today's audience.

The film is beautifully shot in B&W and most of Godzilla's appearances take place at night, that's one of the great things about the film, you never get a really clear glimpse of the creature. There's always a shadowy appearance to him that makes it all the more frightening/menacing.

Akira Ifukube's score is simple yet delivers a power performance. It's dominated by 4 themes; Godzilla's, Naval March, Military March and a sorrowful cue for the devastation and death of Tokyo and it's people.

After the film ended my son, who is 15 years old, turned to me and said "that was great, much better than the US version."

Anyhow I apologize for my rambling post but it was nice to re-live a little bit of yesterday as an adult.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,765]

Gojira is a masterpiece. The black and white photography is brilliant and Ifukube has never rivaled himself until Godzilla vs. Destroyah. Godzilla vs. Mothra '92 and Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla '93 were high calibre scores as well.

It's one of my all-time favourite movies. I saw it on SBS when I was seven years old. My trusty old tape of it has worn well. I hope to see a DVD release of it in Region 4.

It also screened at the Sydney Film Festival last Saturday at the State Theatre, but I was too tired from the Lord of the Rings concert to really sit up for it.

[David Coscina 3]

Thanks for sharing this story with us Mark. I got hooked on Godzilla back when I was a young lad too and my love for Kaiju films has never really gone away.

I'm planning on seeing Godzilla in theatres if I can find one up in the Toronto area that is running it.

I'd also love to see DaiMajin re-released, at least the first one. It's one of my favorite kaiju films and the score by Ifukube is simply stunning.

p.s. is Akira Ifukube still alive (retired) or has he passed? I'm thinking it's the former not the latter.

[Ollie 859]

Akira Ifukube recently celebrated his 90th Birthday. Check out this link for info:

http://www.clubtokyo.org/monsterzero/edito...5&contentID=469

Also check out this link to see if Godzilla will be playing near you:

http://www.rialtopictures.com/

[JoeinAR 1,759]

great read Mark. 8O