Gojira begins in darkness. Then, slowly, as the pomp and circumstance of Akira Ifukube’s familiar "March of the Monsters" swells over the opening credits, it's infused with the footfalls of something monstrous, punctuated by the most recognizable roar in all monsterdom. (The roar was also Ifukube’s creation, made by rubbing a rubber glove across a stand-up bass' strings.) When said credits expire, we open at sea with the crew the Eiko-maru as they lazily lounge around the deck, seemingly without a care in the world -- he typed ominously ... When suddenly, the ocean around them begins to glow, then boil and churn until a destructive wave of fire crashes over the freighter, engulfing it completely. And all of this happened so fast the ship barely got off a distress signal before it exploded.

Since the Eiko-maru was part of the Southern Sea Shipping line, the owners call in Ogata (Akira Takarada), their salvage expert. But Ogata must first break his date with Emiko Yamane (Momoko Kouchi), which he does, before reporting to work. Finding the offices jammed-packed with relatives wanting to know the fate of those on board, Ogata reassures them all a rescue ship has already been dispatched -- and it's almost to the spot where the Eiko-maru went down when the second ship mysteriously explodes, too! More ships and planes soon follow but only three survivors are found; and once they're picked up, to be taken to the nearest port on Ohto Island, disaster strikes yet again when the ship transporting them never makes it, another victim of these inexplicable maritime calamities. Some fishermen from Ohto do find one survivor among the wreckage, half dead, who claims to have seen a monster. And once he passes out, a cranky old coot proclaims that it must be the mythical Gojira, come alive to eat them all!

A few days later, when Hagiwara (Sachio Sakai), a reporter, comes to Ohto to interview the lone survivor, no one is willing to officially comment about the shipwrecks -- except the old crackpot, who tells Hagiwara how they used to sacrifice girls to appease Gojira, but now, a ritual "Exorcism Ceremony" is all that remains of this ancient tradition. Later that night, a tropical storm whips up and hits the island hard. But there is a little bit more than mere thunder and lightning involved. Something monstrous has come out of the ocean, and proceeds to trample the fishing village flat...

Drawing inspiration from The Lucky Dragon incident, where a Japanese fishing boat wandered too close to the Bikini Atoll and got a massive dose of radiation from the recent H-Bomb tests, igniting a firestorm of controversy worldwide, Tanaka's premise was to have an ancient creature awakened by these same tests, who would then wreak havoc on mankind as way for nature to exact revenge for dabbling to far into its inherent mysteries. Tanaka's boss, Iwao Mori, was sold, and Kaitei Niman Mairu Kara Kita Dai Kaiju, roughly translated, The Big Monster from 20000 Miles from Beneath the Sea, was given the green light. Known simply as "G" -- for giant -- during production, the legend goes that while searching for a proper title, Tanaka liked the sound of a nickname for a burly press agent, a combination of the words gorira (gorilla) and kujira (whale); it stuck, and the rest is cinematic history.

To direct, Tanaka turned to Akira Kurwasawa's assistant director, Ishirô Honda, who brought a lot of his own ideas to the project; and it was his notion to make the monster indestructible, making it a true manifestation of the bomb; and he also added the doomed hero, Serizawa, when he and Tanaka took over the script after several drafts failed to capture what they wanted. For the F/X, when the stop-motion option was deemed both too expensive and time-consuming, veteran artist Eiji Tsuburaya was brought in to oversee the creation of the monster-suit and the miniatures it was destined to destroy. Settling on a combination of a T-Rex and a Stegosaurus, the heavy and cumbersome costume was worn by stuntman Haruo Nakajima; and to give the monster a larger sense of scale, he had to be filmed at a slower speed and with double the lights, causing the overheated actor to faint on several occasions. The process seems simple enough on screen, but the effort and coordination expended to pull these scenes off have been unjustly maligned and given the short-shrift over the years and is a terrible insult if you'd just take the time to look a little closer at all the details involved.

Pressed for time and money, the production did run long and go over budget before it was eventually completed. But the financial risk paid off, big time ... 1954 was a huge year for Toho. Not only was Gojira released that year, but Kurwasawa's Shichinin no samurai (Seven Samurai) and Toshiro Mifune's Mushashi Miyamoto (The Master Swordsmen), which would win the Academy Award for best foreign picture, were also rolled out to both critical and box-office success -- so much so that Toho began to send out feelers about possible foreign distribution. Several Stateside film companies took the bait, but that's another story for another review. For now, let's rejoin our film already in progress...

After the storm lifts, the surviving village elders are hauled to the mainland to testify before a government committee. After relating the mass destruction that has befallen them to the gathered politicians, they all state, most definitely, it was no hurricane that destroyed their village. Calling in an expert, a Dr. Kyohei Yamane (Takashi Shimura), Japan’s most eminent zoologist -- and also Emiko's dad -- compares the villager's claims of a monster to the mystery of the abominable snowman. Seeing a rare opportunity for scientific discovery, he volunteers to go to the island and investigate. When the expedition sets sail for Ohto, on board are the Yamanes, Ogata and Hagiwara. (Brave souls all, considering what’s happened to every other boat that’s ventured into that area.) During the voyage, we see that Ogata and Emiko are truly in love. The only problem is, she has promised to wed another man: a Dr. Daisuke Serizawa (Akihiko Airata). We then learn this engagement happened before the war, but during said war, Serizawa was badly injured, and after, became somewhat of a bitter recluse. The two never did get married, and probably never will, but Emiko hasn’t officially broken it off with him yet. Meanwhile, Ogata has his own problems; he must get consent from the elder Yamane -- who arranged his daughter's marriage with Serizawa -- before they can even think about getting married ... and so are the Days of Our Lives.

Upon arrival, the expedition finds the coastal village in ruins and detect traces of radioactivity everywhere. After a cursory examination, Yamane believes all the deep impressions they find are actually the footprints of some unknown beast. He also finds a trilobite -- a parasite that was thought to be extinct. Suddenly, their investigation is rudely interrupted when a warning bell is sounded. Hearing the huge footfalls that probably caused all the damage, they head for the safety of the hills -- but find they're fleeing in the wrong direction when Gojira pops his head up over the crest they're climbing! After an abrupt about face, most flee in abject terror but a few brave souls like Hagiwara manage to snap some pictures of the monster before it retreats back into the sea ... Then it's back to the mainland to appear before another committee. Presenting his startling evidence, Yamane postulates that Gojira is a living dinosaur that survived over the eons deep in the ocean. He also believes, due to its immense radioactivity, the recent hydrogen bomb tests are responsible for driving it to the surface. This wild hypothesis triggers a real nasty argument between two officials on whether to inform the public of Gojira’s existence or to keep it a secret. (We’ve got to close the beaches!) Amazingly, the politicians decide to go public, close down all major shipping lanes, and begin concentrating on finding a way to kill the monster as soon as possible.

With the direct approach not really working, the government asks Yamane if he can think of anything that can kill Gojira. Alas, the doctor fears the monster has absorbed so much radiation that it's virtually indestructible. He also still firmly believes they should save and study this one of a kind creature. Meanwhile, Hagiwara receives a tip that a Dr. Serizawa has made a major breakthrough in a weapon to fight off Gojira. Asked to go with him for the interview, Emiko agrees and also promises Ogata that she will finally tell Serizawa about them and break off their long engagement. But Serizawa denies the weapon rumors. In fact: he won’t talk about his research at all. Frustrated, Hagiwara soon leaves, but he should have stuck around. Seems Serizawa does have a secret discovery, and he has decided to show it to Emiko. Taking her to his basement lab, he puts a small dose of a chemical powder into an aquarium, teeming with fish. He then throws an electrical charge into the water, and as Emiko watches the violent reaction, she soon recoils in horror and quickly turns away. (What happened? We don’t know. Yet.) Perhaps regretting his decision, Serizawa swears her to secrecy.

While all of this implemented, Yamane's foul mood only worsens over these developments; and Ogata makes the mistake of picking that exact moment to ask permission to marry Emiko. Instead, they argue about Gojira, and since Ogata thinks the monster should be destroyed, an enraged Yamane kicks him out. (Oops.) And before Ogata can try to apologize, Gojira attacks again and makes quick work of the electric fence. Like the ancient dragons of old, the beast uses his fiery atomic blasts to set the whole city ablaze. And this time, he sticks around for a while, stomping and crushing the things that he doesn’t set on fire, cutting a wide swath of destruction until the Japanese Air Force drives him off. Yes, you read that right -- the military managed to drive the monster away.

The aftermath of Gojira’s rampage is immense and those not killed in the initial assault are poisoned by radiation. Most of them terminally. At the hospital, Emiko volunteers to help the wounded, and is so shaken by all the suffering, she confesses Serizawa’s secret to Ogata...

We flashback to Serizawa’s lab, where Emiko watches in horror as the water in the aquarium bubbles and boils furiously until all the fish inside are vaporized, leaving only their skeletal remains -- but then they quickly dissolve, too! With that, Serizawa reveals how his research led to the discovery of a powerful substance that liquefies oxygen. Swearing his research was only for the expansion of knowledge (-- sure, that’s what they all say), the end result was the deadly "Oxygen Destroyer." Terrified of this lethal discovery, Serizawa believes that if given time, a beneficial use for it can be found. And so far, he’s the only one who knows how to create it. And Emiko, so far, is the only one else who knows about it -- until she blabs to Ogata...

Together, the couple begs Serizawa to use this invention against Gojira, but he adamantly refuses to let his deadly creation be revealed to the world. And now, with the secret out, Serizawa begins to destroy his notes and records. When Ogata tries to stop this, they fight until Emiko separates them, and then rushes to the battered Ogata’s aid. Seeing there is something between them and that he's out of the picture, Serizawa goes into a big speech about why he can’t use the Oxygen Destroyer. (That I'll go into greater detail later.) But then they overhear a televised national prayer for deliverance given by the children of Japan, and the children's desperate cry for help finally sways Serizawa. He will use the Oxygen Destroyer -- but just this once, and only once, -- and then proceeds to finish destroying all of his notes to guarantee this claim.

I’ve been a Godzilla fanatic for over twenty-five years, and I’m kind of ashamed to admit this, but it wasn’t until late last year (-- for the record, 1999 --) that I finally tracked down and watched the original Japanese version, Gojira. Now, the main difference between the two versions of the film is that the love triangle between Emiko, Ogata and odd-man out Serizawa is more pronounced in this version. And there's also the subplot of Dr. Yamane wanting to study the creature, instead of destroying it, that is completely absent from Godzilla: King of the Monsters. And of course, Raymond Burr is gone, and seeing the original in its original sequence was a tad disjointing after having seen the Americanized version so many times. You see, when it was imported to the States in 1956, the film was torn asunder and then spliced back together so the monster showed up sooner, and the boring romantic interludes were left on the edit room floor. Also lost in those cuts and inserts was the overall somber tone of the piece and the muddling of it's message.

All told, Gojira is very somber affair with definite anti-nuclear feelings, and, unlike its American counterpart, is more about its ideas and characters than its title monster. With all that said, if you haven't read it yet, let’s go take a look at the Americanized version, and see what else they left out.