Saturday, April 8, 2017

Movie Review: Godzilla [ ゴジラ | Gojira ] (1954) | The 1st Godzilla Film

I first learned of Godzilla in the 90s. I was too young back that time. I feel happy whenever I saw a movie trailer of it in a TV commercial. The movie trailer is black and white. Later on, Cable channel is booming in every home. I was able to watch another Godzilla movie on cable TV. As far as I can remember, Star Movies channel aired it. The Godzilla movie I watched is colored but I wasn't able to watch it fully. Just only half of it.

I'm already an adult and I realized, I've never watched a full Godzilla movie. Any of it. I mean, In the past, I watched some of it but I'm not always on schedule. You can't pause or replay movies on cable TV during those times. Nowadays, you can watch them anywhere online - free or paid. So, I decided to watch the first Godzilla movie.

Title: Godzilla [ ゴジラ | Gojira ]
Director: Ishirō Honda
Producer: Tomoyuki Tanaka
Story: Shigeru Kayama
Cast: Akira Takarada, Momoko Kōchi, Akihiko Hirata, Takashi Shimura
Music: Akira Ifukube
Cinematography: Masao Tamai
Country: Japan
Language: Japanese
Release date:
Running time: 96 minutes

Credits: Toho Company Ltd. (東宝株式会社, Tōhō Kabushiki-kaisha) © 1954 - movie poster made by Toho Company Ltd. (東宝株式会社, Tōhō Kabushiki-kaisha); image grabbed from its Wiki
(continue scrolling down or click 'Read more' to see full review)


For modern viewers, you must set yourself living in year 1950s so you can appreciate this movie. Just make yourself comfortable watching a black and white screen.

I can say, the creation of this movie looks realistic in 1954 (if I'm already living in that year). The screen is black and white. Viewers of that time may not be bothered distinguishing what's props and what place was captured real. Modern viewers like me would obviously notice the buildings and other structures crushed by Godzilla, are just a miniature. It was a very great idea. Perhaps, this was inspired by King Kong film because King Kong was the first giant monster film released in the US (1933). Note that Godzilla movie is not the first one who use miniature effect. For the record, the 1902 film Le Voyage dans la Lune (A Trip to the Moon) was the known first one who used miniature effects in their film.

My ending remark, this 1954 Godzilla movie is creative and effortful. Aside to movie's thrilling scenes, It reminds the viewers of the danger of the past - the use of a Nuclear bomb.


If you want to watch this Kaiju film, I found someone uploaded it DailyMotion (see below):



Disclaimer: WWV doesn't own the uploaded videos above. It's publicly available online. It's only shared here. It's still better to buy an official copy below at the ff. seller:




It's a nice addition to your collection so buy now!


Of if you're from the Philippines, try searching and buy locally below:




My rating for this film would be: 3.5 / 5.0




Awards
  • 1954 - Japan Movie Association Awards - Special Effects
  • 2007 - Saturn Awards - Best DVD Classic Film Release


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Reference:


7 comments:

  1. To believe that they came up with all the effect of the original Godzilla movie without any CUG is just mindblowing!!! That was the era of Creativity!

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  2. The latest remake of Godzilla called Godzilla Resurgence is also very good, but that new one had all the advantages of technology for it. Of course the original is still quite an achievement because it created an iconic film phenomenon that survives to this day.

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  3. This would be an epic movie to watch. Godzilla has been a classic and I would love to watch the 50s version.

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  4. It's awesome that you finally got to watch a Godzilla movie and it's a great choice starting with the very first one. I think old movies are great, they're always so nice to watch.

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  5. I guess its somehow realted to king kong but never tried watching this

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  6. Wow, good old days of Film making...Those people must be so much hardworking! Now technology can do wonders. Godzilla indeed was fun to watch.

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