Godzilla, King of the Monsters! (1956)

This is the granddaddy of all the Japanese monster movies. It's and oldie ('56!) but a goodie! The Japanese have stirred up this bad boy and are they gonna pay! Godzilla goes on a rampage and stomps entire cities just plain ole FLAT! The SFX in this film are so dated that they're quite humorous now. The acting was never called good, but who cares when you have a huge T-Rex-ish monster on the loose? The Japanese military tries to stop Godzilla but to no avail! This is one that everyone who loves monster movies should OWN!

Fmovies: Well it literally is a different animal from Ishirō Honda's seminal 1954 movie about the giant atomic lizard who wakes up in a bad mood. Here the American version clips the atmosphere considerably (and the running time), craftily edits Raymond Burr into Honda's movie and of course removes the anti-American sentiment that once existed. Yet the film did prove to be very popular with English speaking film fans and further enhanced the growing appeal of all things Godzilla like.

As it is it's a decent enough film, especially if you have never seen Honda's original. For sure it's still creaky in that "man in rubber suit" way, but the iconic creature is still thrilling as it goes about its merry way destroying some carefully constructed model workings. The nuclear war heedings are still there and there's much fun to be had, intentional or otherwise. Its pale in comparison to the original, but it's not a stinker either. 6/10

American studios obviously believed two things: (1) that Godzilla could be sold to American audiences, and (2) that American audiences wouldn't watch the original Japanese version, and so a familiar American actor would have to be added. The end result was the filming of many scenes incorporating Raymond Burr as American newspaper reporter Steve Martin, who just happened to be in Tokyo when Godzilla struck.

In all honesty, I haven't seen the Japanese original ("Gojira") and so I have no basis on which to compare the two versions, so "Godzilla: King Of The Monsters" has to be looked at on its own merits. Let's admit right off the top that it has a lot of weaknesses. The Burr scenes aren't edited in particularly well, there are some strange decisions about dubbing (sometimes the original scenes are left in, with Japanese language and all and a narration by Burr explaining what's happening and sometimes English is dubbed over the original Japanese, and there didn't seem to me to be any particular rhyme or reason for which decision was made to which scene), the special effects are primitive (but it was made in the 1950's), and the monster stretched credibility a bit (partly the costume, and partly that he was 400 feet tall - how would the link between Jurassic era land animals and sea animals be so big?) Having said that, unless your agenda is simply to bash Americans for Americanizing the movie, you also have to admit that it's not bad. The opening scene is marvellous, with Martin being rescued from a destroyed building and brought to a hospital on a stretcher. If you didn't know the story (and we do, so perhaps this loses its impact) you'd swear off the top that this is a movie about an atomic bomb attack. For all the above weaknesses, the movie's fun pretty much all the way through if not particularly scary, and the casting of Burr accomplished what the studios wanted - Godzilla became as much an American cult classic as a Japanese one.

The ending is a bit abrupt, and seemed pretty decisive, leaving me to puzzle where all the sequels came from, but overall, if not great this was still an enjoyable film, probably undeserving of some of the criticism it gets. 6/10

Godzilla, King of the Monsters! fmovies. "Godzilla, King of the Monsters!" is the ridiculous Americanized version of the Japanese "Gojira" (1954) that destroys the Japanese masterpiece. The insertion of Raymond Burr´s character Steve Martin is a bad joke and the Japanese characters speaking in English is unbearably stupid. Do not waste your time trying to watch this garbage, prefer the original "Gojira". My vote is three.

Title (Brazil): Not Available

The abuse and destruction unleashed on this Japanese city Tokyo is nothing short of epic in stature. The city, through the various romps of the titular character, literally swirls in flames, buildings fall at amazing speed , and just about every human form of transportation is reduced to rubble. This is the setting for much of the film, Godzilla - King of the Monsters. Despite being nothing more than a film with a man in a rubber suit trashing a miniature Tokyo set, this first Godzilla has much going for it. It is well-paced, and the action is engrossing and climactic. I saw the Americanized version with Raymond Burr, and thought Burr did a fine job playing foreign correspondent Steve Martin. Burr really helps create and add tension in the film with his narration and through the events we see through his eyes. The Japanese actors are very good as is the direction. Really the only low-point of the film for me was the inept dubbing, particularly the Brooklyn accent given to one of the chief Japanese scientists. Quite a gem!

My understanding of Godzilla, King of the Monsters! was that it was the USA's first outing with the titular monster. I was kind of mistaken.

You see Godzilla, King of the Monsters! is not an original US made movie. Now we all know the US have a long history of making inferior versions of foreign films but here is something else entirely.

Godzilla, King of the Monsters! is merely a compressed version of the original Japanese Godzilla (1954). No I mean literally, it IS the Japanese movie but with a few additional scenes added.

These scenes star Raymond Burr (Perry Mason) as a reporter who has travelled to Japan to get the story of this giant monster.

So 90% of the movie is just the original Japanese one and 10% is American footage. And this was released as a US Godzilla film!? What an absolute crock!

I simply couldn't believe what I was watching. It's fairly interesting how they managed to integrate Burr into the movie, but this simply isn't a new film. It's like watching a directors cut with a few additional scenes!

Godzilla, King of the Monsters! is one of those movies that simply should never have existed.

The Good:

Raymond Burr

The Bad:

The whole fact it exists is a bit of a joke

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

I'm very glad this trend of ripping entire movies and modifying them didn't catch on

Perry Mason walking just doesn't sit right with me