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Raymond Burr, Takashi Shimura, Momoko Kochi, Akira Takarada, Akihiko Hirata ... see more see more... , Sachio Sakai , Fuyuki Murakami , Ren Yamamoto , Toranosuke Ogawa , Kokuten Kodo , Haruo Nakajima , Kenji Sahara , Kin Sugai , Katsumi Tezuka , Frank Iwanaga

Filmed in 1954 as Gojira, this grandaddy of all Japanese giant-reptile epics was picked up for American distribution two years later, at which time several newly filmed inserts, featuring Raymond Burr... read more read more... as reporter Steve Martin, were rabetted into the original footage. In both the Japanese and American versions of Godzilla, the story is basically the same: a 400-foot amphibious monster, brought back to life by underwater nuclear testing, goes on a rampage in a tinker-toy Tokyo. The authorities look on in vain as Godzilla proves more powerful than the army, navy, and air force, while paleontologiist Dr. Yemane (Takashi Shimura) rails against the destruction of a unique scientific find such as Godzilla. Finally, an enigmatic scientist (Akihiko Hirata) reluctantly steps forward to destroy the beast with his newly-discovered creation, the Oxygen Destroyer, dreading all the while that his weapon may unleash a danger even greater than Godzilla. Though Godzilla is apparently disintegrated in the climax, this didn't prevent Toho Studios from grinding out an endless series of sequels with the title character becoming less destructive and more lovable with each subsequent film. Hampered by a low budget which precluded stop-motion animation, special-effects wizard Eiji Tsuburaya was forced to rely upon an actor (Haru Nakajima) in a rubber Godzilla suit. Incidentally, the name "Gojira", a combination of "gorilla" and "kujira", is Japanese slang for "big clumsy ox" and was allegedly the nickname of one of the Toho stagehands. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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73% liked it

8,388 ratings

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23 critics

Unrated, 1 hr. 18 min.

Directed by: Ishirô Honda, Terry O. Morse

Release Date: April 27, 1956

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DVD Release Date: May 5, 1998

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Stats: 478 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (478)

  • blacksheepboy
    March 5, 2012
    blacksheepboy
    The debased Americanized version of the original Japanese film, re-edited to include Raymond Burr as reporter Steve Martin. It is relatively well done but has inconsistencies, bad re-dubbing and a lot of terrible exposition, with Steve annoyingly narrating all the time what we ca... read moren easily see.
  • cosmo313
    September 21, 2011
    cosmo313
    This is the Americanized version of the original Godzilla film. While not a terrible piece of cinematic entertainment, I felt rather let down, and suspect (since I haven't actually seen it) that the Japanese original (which came out two years before this one) is probably far bett... read moreer.

    The story (if you need to know it), concerns a giant reptiallian creature who emerges from the sea surrounding Japan and raises all manner of hell and devastation. In this version, it's told in a documenatry style format and is presented from the view of an American journalist in Japan named Steve Martin. He was only passing through Japan for some fun while headed to Cairo for business, but gets stuck there after the giant monster starts attacking.

    I kinda liked the format here, though research tells me that the big differences between this version and the original is that this one takes footage from the original and splices new footage of Raymond Burr as Steve Martin into it. Also, this version is shorter and a bit more PC as a way of making it more watered down for American audiences. The biggest changes being dubbing it into English, and removing all references to the atomic attacks at Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and the firebombing of Tokyo. Okay, so maybe at the time people worried about appeasing WWII veterans, so they removed some material to ease the guilt or whatever.

    I don't like that because I've always found Godzilla to be fascinating because it's about the byproducts of nuclear horror from a country who experienced actual nuclear horror and devastation firsthand. Removing the references and showing Japan struggling in the aftermath of a huge disaster (but at the hands of a fictional monster) lessens some of the emotional impact, as well as the effects of history on the public conscience.

    All that scholarly rambling aside, this is still an okay movie though, like I said, the original version is probably far better. Unlike some of the later films though, this one comes off as far more scary and serious, with a more somber tone, aided by the grainy black and white cinematogrpahy and dramatic music.
  • ajv2688
    November 14, 2010
    ajv2688
    This is the original (American version) Godzilla movie. It's pretty cool, and Perry Mason's Raymond Burr is in it too. A really good monster movie. It's much better than it's sequels.
  • husky10000years
    December 29, 2007
    husky10000years
    Great movie. Godzilla still stands head and shoulders above every subsequent version. The original Godzilla is really a quite serious film with a well-developed plot.
  • fb100002343630392
    July 13, 2011
    fb100002343630392
    the classic that started it all! the monster from hell's first debut! a face like this is something you'll never forget! a smart 50's monster film! A+
  • cacutshaw
    January 17, 2008
    cacutshaw
    The one I grew up with. I haven't seen this in a long while, but after finally seeing the Japanese version I'm very curious to revisit it. As a side note, before I saw the Japanese version, this was a five star film.
  • threefolddado
    May 4, 2007
    threefolddado
    See the Japanese version. It's better.
  • kenscheck
    September 15, 2011
    kenscheck
    This American Version of the Japanese classic is pretty weak. I think Raymond Burr feels shoehorned in, as well as a character that just seems like a fly on the wall more often than not. His character takes the emotional punch completely out of the film. I personally would rather... read more watch 98 minutes of subtitles than 80 minutes of bad dubbing and a guy constantly asking for a translation, only to take the sort of moral and point of the movie out of commission. Original Japanese versions for me from here on out.
  • donaldwhite1
    November 23, 2009
    donaldwhite1
    This movie was the Japanese attempt to tell the story of World War II without admitting their own guilt in starting the war or the atrocities committed by the Japanese army. They could show the suffering of the Japanese civilians by having the cities of Japan destroyed by a giant... read more fire breathing radioactive dinosaur that rises mysteriously from the sea. Godzilla is in fact the good old US of A. No sea going dinosaur ever burned Japanese cities and spread radioactive fallout across the landscape. It was the U.S. Army Air Force. But the Japanese didn't want to offend us since we were protecting them from communist invasion from Korea. Therefore they had a giant lizard do it in the movie. The version released in America was dubbed into English and extra scenes with Raymond Burr added and scenes that might offend U.S. audiences deleted. The added scenes are obviously out of place and don't fit the Japanese story. The Japanese actors seem to be acting their hearts out but the English dialog seems flat and unemotional. Godzilla is actually seen in less than 30 percent of the movie. Sometimes all you see is his head. In the U.S. version there is actually only about 17 minutes of Godzilla smashing cardboard miniatures of a Tokyo. By using black and white film and keeping everything slightly out of focus it's not as obvious as in later Japanese monster movies made in color and filmed in sharp focus. I guess the only reason this film was popular in America was because it was shown at drive-in movie theaters and the American people of 1954 still enjoyed the sight of Japanese getting smashed even if it was by a giant lizard. Although Godzilla was supposed to be the bad guy, Americans probably saw him as the hero. Americans who lived through World War II know exactly what this country did to Japan and why we did it. If you were to ask someone of that generation they will tell you the Japanese deserved every bit of all the damage we did to them. That was the generation that in the 1950's was having fun driving their new cars to the drive-in movies on Friday nights and watching a guy in a rubber lizard suit smash models of Japanese cities.
  • EVERYTHINGISBIGGERINTEXAS
    July 7, 2009
    EVERYTHINGISBIGGERINTEXAS
    This is the movie that spawned countless seqeuls and made me the Godzilla fan that I am. The monster Godzilla was inspired by the real life horror of the two atomic bombs dropped on Japan during world war II it is quite a chilling theme in the movie. Godzillas rampage through civ... read moreilization shows just how easily we humans can extinguish life from our own planet.

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Critic Reviews

Dennis Schwartz
April 7, 2012
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews

Granddaddy of all Japanese monster films. Full Review

Christopher Long
February 3, 2012
Christopher Long, Movie Metropolis

It's hard not to chuckle at the fiftieth cutaway to an oddly passive Burr after watching a scene from the Honda original, but this cut shouldn't be dismissed either. Full Review

Rob Humanick
October 10, 2011
Rob Humanick, Suite101.com

Compared to the "Japoteurs" propaganda that was barely a decade out, it's an astonishing leap forward. Full Review

Charles Cassady
September 14, 2010
Charles Cassady, Common Sense Media

Giant-monster drama is stiff, dated but still a classic. Full Review

Steve Crum
October 15, 2004
Steve Crum, Kansas City Kansan

It looked really good when I was in grade school. Now it's beyond retro.

Emily Blunt
December 24, 2003
Emily Blunt, Blunt Review

How could you not love the lizard?

Ken Hanke
August 13, 2003
Ken Hanke, Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

Americanized version of Gojira is still a kind of classic.

KJB
August 8, 2002
KJB, IGN Movies

Not as good as the original Japanese version but still a classic.

Scott Weinberg
July 25, 2002
Scott Weinberg, eFilmCritic.com

The one that started it all. And by all I mean "a series of progressively more atrocious sequels and one abysmal remake."

Bosley Crowther
May 6, 2008
Bosley Crowther, New York Times

Click to read the article Full Review

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Facts

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    • Newspaper Employee (Japanese version only)/Power Subs: Godzilla!
    • Steve Martin: Seems like he had a little too much Saki.
    • Steve Martin: A prehistoric monster that the Japanese call Godzilla has just walked out of Tokyo Bay.
    • Steve Martin: Godzilla has turned the heart of Tokyo into a sea of fire! Beneath the flames, thousands lie dead or dieing.
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Godzilla, King of the Monsters! Trivia

  • In 'Godzilla' (1954) What was the weapon used to 'slay' the King of Monsters?  Answer »
  • What year was Gojira released as Godzilla, King of the Monsters in the United States?  Answer »
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