Godzilla 1956, a re-examination.

I prefer the American version personally. I didn't find love triangle that compelling in the original version and preferred the start with the destruction followed by an account that led up to it, I also liked that they didn't dub a lot of the actors but had a translator with Steve Martin as he walked around to tell him what was happening it gave it a much better feel than most of the dubbing would have.

Godzilla: King of the Monsters is a good movie, it's just an inferior piece to the 1954 film.

The fact is the film in its original version wouldn't have sold well in the States. The atomic fear and cultural references to post-war anxiety simply wouldn't have resonated with western audiences. And the addition of Raymond Burr gave Westerners a recognizable face to cling to. It wouldn't have worked with Takarada and Hirata.

A lot of the splicing is jarring, but not immediately bad and I thought the way Burr interacted with some of the characters was clever in a Mighty Morphin Power Rangers splicing sort of way. You could tell the footage didn't match, but Burr kept things fairly believable.

Fans should remember that this is the version that made Godzilla an international star, not the Japanese version. It was Godzilla: King of the Monsters that was used as Toho's international foray into world wide success and it even got a Japanese theatrical release for it. It may be an inferior film, but it was always more widely accessible.

That being said, I don't really revisit it very often. The original Godzilla is a movie I watch all the time and I'm constantly finding new things to love about it year after year. Meanwhile there is a sort of shallowness Godzilla: King of the Monsters that goes beyond the atomic anxiety of a nation. The movie has no tension and it's immediately obvious due to the film's opening: Martin's prologue gives away everything. We know what happens to Tokyo from the get go. We know people died. And we know a monster probably did it.

Granted this was done to alliviate the atomic anxiety throughout the film, but as a filmmaker I'm perplexed by Morse's decision to make the majority of the movie a flashback. Perhaps it gives the movie an American film noir feel, but it doesn't hold up. Meanwhile, Ogata might as well have been omitted from the film entirely as the love triangle subplot is thoroughly tarnished. I recall one reviewer calling the love triangle omission, "marginalized racism" with the idea that the editors didn't want to promote the idea that Japanese are capable of love. I don't know where he got that and I don't think I agree, but it's an interesting opinion non-the-less.

At the end of the day I look at Godzilla: King of the Monsters as a very unique companion piece to the original movie. It's not too weak of a standard monster movie and it should be recognized by fans, and film historians, as the cut that introduced Godzilla to the international market.

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I love the film, I love Burr's work in the film despite it being added to the original. In my opinion both GKotM and Gojira are equally great to me. They each had their own "uniqueness." Both are great films to watch and set the standard for most large monster films. 

GMAN, well said as usual.

Koldwarkid-I have the same sentiment.

 I can't really think of any other American edit that actually worked to be honest.

i like the 1954 version best

Gojira is easily the better film, that much is clear. A big problem with Hollywood back then, as well as today, is the assumption that Western audiences require a white cast in order to be compelled to care about the film. That being said, I think Godzilla: KotM could have been a lot worse (I'm thinking KKvsG) in terms of Westernization and although it has some glaring faults, I believe the fact that it works at all is due to Burr. He brought a gravitas to the role that complimented the tone of the original. I mentioned this in another thread a bit ago, but I'm thankful that Burr was picked for Morse for this version. By all accounts, he seemed to take his role in Godzilla history seriously and would later refuse to desecrate Gojira(84) with a lampoon-style redux.

Why would you think you would be flamed for saying that? You're basically stating exactly the most common opinion about it in the Godzilla fandom.

Maybe, but I'm addressing the perception among some film critics that King of the Monsters was a mere rip-off/hack job to the original. :)

^I think most level-headed fans agree King of the Monsters was a compitent variation of the original movie. But it does seem that after Rialto Pictures brought the original to American cinemas in 2004 more critics take to bashing it.