How good is the original 1954 Godzilla (or Gojira if you’re Japanese or a nerd)? It’s perhaps the only entry in the long-running franchise where both the English and original Japanese versions get almost an equal amount of respect. The original Japanese version is scarier by a considerable margin, and the overall story is much more interesting and effectively told, but the English version still manages to retain and emphasize the power of this character and story.
It’s also always nice to see Raymond Burr, who respected Godzilla and what he stood for so much that he supposedly refused to do any comedic lines when he reprised his character for Godzilla 1985. The American version has its flaws, since some of the best elements of the film were removed or altered in the name of making the movie more “accessible” to western audiences.
I think that’s generally a pile of crap, but I can’t help but feel affection for the U.S. release, which was the only legitimate way to see the first entry in the franchise in North America until the 1954 original was released on DVD in 2004. The dubbing isn’t great, but you put up with it, and the movie really did benefit from the presence of Burr, whose career includes literal decades on television as Perry Mason and Ironside, and appearances in such films as Rear Window and A Place in the Sun.
My memories of watching this version inevitably compel me to still seek it out sometimes, and it’s always a pleasant revisit. Godzilla is such a powerhouse, the genuine creepiness and brutal despair of this first incarnation is apparent in any language, and in spite of gratuitous, absurd editing choices. Burr’s narration and dialog in the American version curiously adds to that energy in its own singular way. It’s worth at least one watch.
However, if you haven’t seen either version, and for some reason you’ll only watch one, the Japanese version is far and away the best. It is a beautiful, terrifying way to experience the world’s introduction to one of the most iconic movie characters anyone will ever create. The original Gojira is for many still the best Godzilla movie ever made. Even the parts that look a little dated are still astonishing in their effectiveness.
The human performances and characters of Godzilla, particularly Akihiko Hirata as Dr. Daisuke Serizawa (it’s also a treat to have Kurosawa regular Takashi Shimura in this), gives this movie some serious emotional weight. This is a story about a sort of cosmic vengeance borne out of humanity’s most dreadful, downright hideous decisions. The natural order of actions and consequences, as the movie is literally about a physical manifestation of our “success” with nuclear weaponry. The original Gojira is thrilling as a kaiju movie, but it’s also a brutally honest, downbeat story of the inevitably of death and chaos as payment for our collective arrogance.
Godzilla himself is still a really big deal almost 70 years later, and that extends to the original still being discovered and enjoyed by audiences. I’m still a fan of this franchise, and this masterpiece is one of the reasons why.
Itching for more movie heritage? The rest of MTSBYD is calling.
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