Godzilla (1954 film)

**Godzilla** (Japanese: ゴジラ, Hepburn: ''***Gojira''***) is a 1954 Japanese *kaiju* film directed by Ishirō Honda, with special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya. Produced and distributed by Toho Studios, it is the first film in the *Godzilla* franchise and the Shōwa era. The film stars Akira Takarada, Momoko Kōchi, Akihiko Hirata, and Takashi Shimura, with Haruo Nakajima and Katsumi Tezuka as Godzilla. In the film, Japan's authorities deal with the sudden appearance of a giant monster, whose attacks trigger fears of nuclear holocaust during post-war Japan.

## Godzilla (1954 film)

### Screenplay by

Takeo Murata
Ishirō Honda

### Starring

Akira Takarada
Momoko Kōchi
Akihiko Hirata
Takashi Shimura

### Release date

October 27, 1954 (Nagoya)
November 3, 1954 (Japan)

### Box office

$2.1 million

*Godzilla* entered production after a Japanese-Indonesian co-production collapsed. Tsuburaya originally opted for a giant octopus before the filmmakers decided on a dinosaur-inspired creature. *Godzilla* pioneered a form of special effects called suitmation, in which a stunt performer wearing a suit interacts with miniature sets. Principal photography lasted 51 days, and special effects photography lasted 71 days.

*Godzilla* was theatrically released in Japan on November 3, 1954, and grossed ¥183 million ($1.6 million) during its original theatrical run. In 1956, a heavily re-edited "Americanized" version, titled *Godzilla, King of the Monsters!* was released in the United States. The film spawned a multimedia franchise, being recognized by *Guinness World Records* as the longest running film franchise in history. The character Godzilla has since become an international pop culture icon, and the 1954 film has been largely credited for establishing the template for *tokusatsu* media. Since its release, the film has been regarded as a cinematic achievement and one of the best monster films ever made.

## Plot

Several Japanese ships go missing at sea. Eyewitnesses from an island village claim a giant creature is responsible. They claim it is their fierce deity Godzilla. Yamane, a prominent paleontologist, travels to the island and confirms the existence of Godzilla. Yamane hypothesizes that Godzilla is a member of a now extinct species of dinosaur that was revived and mutated by exposure to the H-bomb. The military anticipates Godzilla’s arrival to Japan and attempts to destroy the monster. Meanwhile Yamane’s daughter, Emiko, is engaged to his colleague Serizawa, but she is really in love with Ogata, a sailor.

Godzilla breaches the military’s defenses and lays waste to Tokyo. The monster is impervious to all forms of conventional weaponry. Emiko and Ogata believe that Serizawa may have discovered some way of stopping the monster. They confront Serizawa, who admits to having invented the oxygen destroyer, a device that kills all life in water. He is hesitant to reveal it because in the wrong hands it may prove more destructive than the H-bomb. Serizawa is moved by the plight of the Japanese people and relents.

The military arranges for the oxygen destroyer to be deployed in Tokyo Bay, where Godzilla is resting. Serizawa and Ogata descend together and plant the device. Ogata surfaces, but Serizawa remains behind in order to protect the secrets of the oxygen destroyer. Serizawa gives his blessing to Ogata and Emiko, and both Serizawa and Godzilla are killed by the oxygen destroyer.

## Cast

* Akira Takarada as Hideto Ogata
* Momoko Kochi as Emiko Yamane
* Akihiko Hirata as Dr. Daisuke Serizawa
* Takashi Shimura as Dr. Kyohei Yamane
* Fuyuki Murakami as Dr. Tanabe
* Sachio Sakai as Hagiwara
* Toranosuke Ogawa as Fishing Company President
* Ren Yamamoto as Masaji
* Kan Hayashi as Diet Chairman
* Seijiro Onda as Parliamentarian
* Takeo Oikawa as Defense Secretary
* Keiji Sakakida as Mayor Inada
* Toyoaki Suzuki as Shinkichi
* Kuninori Kodo as Izuma
* Kin Sugai as Parliamentarian
* Shizuko Azuma as Cruise Passenger
* Tsuruko Mano as Shinkichi's and Masaji's Mother
* Tadashi Okabe as Yamane's Assistant
* Kiyoshi Kimata as Cruise Passenger
* Ren Imaizumi as Coast Guard
* Masaaki Tachibana as Doomed Reporter
* Yasuhisa Tsutsumi as Islander
* Jiro Suzukawa as Islander
* Saburo Iketani as Reporter
* Katsumi Tezuka as Newspaper Reporter, Godzilla (first scene)
* Haruo Nakajima as Newspaper Reporter, Godzilla (second scene)
* Ken Echigo as Sailor
* Yu Fujiki as Ship's Radio Operator
* Kazuo Hinata as Defense Official, Radio Operator
* Shoichi Hirose as Parliamentarian
* Takuzo Kumagai as Defense Official
* Sokichi Maki as Coast Guard
* Junichiro Mukai as Reporter, Defense Official
* Junpei Natsuki as Substation Operator
* Rinsaku Ogata as Radio Operator
* Yutaka Sada as Defense Official
* Kenji Sahara as Reporter, Cruise Passenger
* Akira Sera as Parliamentarian
* Hideo Shibuya as Reporter
* Kamayuki Tsubono as Coast Guard
* Mitsuo Tsuda as Policeman
* Koji Uno as Correspondent

## Staffs

* Producers: Iwao Mori (executive producer), Tomoyuki Tanaka
* Director: Ishirō Honda
* Screenwriters: Takeo Murata, Ishirō Honda
* Story: Shigeru Kayama
* Cinematographer: Masao Tamai
* Film Editor: Kazuji Taira
* Production Designer: Satoru Chûko, Takeo Kita
* Production Management: Teruo Maki
* Second Unit Director or Assistant Director: Kôji 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 recordist)
* Music Composer: Akira Ifukube
* Special Effects:Sadamasa Arikawa (director of photography: special effects), Kaimai Eizo (special effects), Kyuichirô Kishida (special effects lighting), Yôichi Manoda (assistant camera), Hiroshi Mukoyama (matte work), Fumio Nakadai (special effects wire work), Yasuaki Sakamoto (production manager), Sokei Tomioka (assistant camera), Teizô Toshimitsu (monster builder), Eiji Tsuburaya (special effects director), Hajime Tsuburaya (assistant camera), Akira Watanabe (art director), Taka Yuki (opticals), Fuminori Ôhashi (special effects technical advisor, uncredited)
* Visual Effects: Sadao Iizuka (creator of Godzilla's atomic breath)
* Stunts: Haruo Nakajima (stunt choreographer)
* Camera and Electrical Department: Yuzuru Aizawa (assistant camera),Chôshirô Ishii (lighting technician), Shinji Kojima (lighting assistant), Shoshichi Kojima (lighting assistant)
* Additional Crew: Sei Ikeno (music assistant), Fumio Nakadai (tail supervisor), Shôji Okawa (tail supervisor)

## Themes

In the film, Godzilla symbolizes nuclear holocaust from Japan's perspective and has since been culturally identified as a strong metaphor for nuclear weapons. Producer Tomoyuki Tanaka stated that, "The theme of the film, from the beginning, was the terror of the bomb. Mankind had created the bomb, and now nature was going to take revenge on mankind."Director Ishirō Honda filmed Godzilla's Tokyo rampage to mirror the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, stating, "If Godzilla had been a dinosaur or some other animal, he would have been killed by just one cannonball. But if he were equal to an atomic bomb, we wouldn't know what to do. So, I took the characteristics of an atomic bomb and applied them to Godzilla."

Academics Anne Allison, Thomas Schnellbächer, and Steve Ryfle have stated that Godzilla contains political and cultural undertones that can be attributed to what the Japanese had experienced in World War II and that Japanese audiences were able to connect emotionally to the monster. They theorized that these viewers saw Godzilla as a victim and felt that the creature's backstory reminded them of their experiences in World War II. These academics have also claimed that as the atomic bomb testing that woke Godzilla was carried out by the United States, the film in a way can be seen to blame the United States for the problems and struggles that Japan experienced after World War II had ended. They also felt that the movie could have served as a cultural coping method to help the people of Japan move on from the events of the war.

Brian Merchant from Motherboard called the film "a bleak, powerful metaphor for nuclear power that still endures today" and on its themes, he stated: "It's an unflinchingly bleak, deceptively powerful film about coping with and taking responsibility for incomprehensible, manmade tragedy. Specifically, nuclear tragedies. It's arguably the best window into post-war attitudes towards nuclear power we've got—as seen from the perspective of its greatest victims." Terrence Rafferty from The New York Times stated Godzilla was "an obvious gigantic, unsubtle, grimly purposeful metaphor for the atomic bomb" and felt the film was "extraordinarily solemn, full of earnest discussions".

Mark Jacobson from the website of New York magazine stated that Godzilla "transcends humanist prattle. Very few constructs have so perfectly embodied the overriding fears of a particular era. He is the symbol of a world gone wrong, a work of man that once created cannot be taken back or deleted. He rears up out of the sea as a creature of no particular belief system, apart from even the most elastic version of evolution and taxonomy, a reptilian id that lives inside the deepest recesses of the collective unconscious that cannot be reasoned with, a merciless undertaker who broaches no deals." Regarding the film, Jacobson stated, "Honda's first Godzilla... is in line with these inwardly turned post-war films and perhaps the most brutally unforgiving of them. Shame-ridden self-flagellation was in order, and who better to supply the rubber-suited psychic punishment than the Rorschach-shaped big fella himself?"

Tim Martin from The Daily Telegraph (London) stated that the original 1954 film was "a far cry from its B-movie successors. It was a sober allegory of a film with ambitions as large as its thrice-normal budget, designed to shock and horrify an adult audience. Its roster of frightening images—cities in flames, overstuffed hospitals, irradiated children—would have been all too familiar to cinemagoers for whom memories of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were still less than a decade old, while its script posed deliberately inflammatory questions about the balance of postwar power and the development of nuclear energy." Martin also commented how the film's themes were omitted in the American version, stating, "Its thematic preoccupation with nuclear energy proved even less acceptable to the American distributors who, after buying the film, began an extensive reshoot and recut for Western markets."