10.25.04
Movie Review: Godzilla (1954)

You know, it occurs to me that Ishirô Honda’s giant radioactive monster movies are just as specific to time and place as Yasujiro Ozu’s art-house family dramas are. Which is to say, Japan, and after World War II. Ozu dealt with the breakdown of the traditional family unit and the westernization of Japan; Honda with giant monsters stomping on Tokyo. But really- after coming out on the losing side of a World War and the first two atomic bombs (and the after effects), a giant, angry lizard rising out of the sea and stomping on your city might not seem as unlikely a prospect as it did 15 years earlier.

Now, behold Godzilla in all of its glory! When originally imported to the US in 1957, it lost about 40 minutes of its running time, to trim controversial scenes and make way for Hollywood-shot footage of Raymond Burr as an American reporter. This restored version is a much darker movie; while the scene where Godzilla stomps his way over the mountain is still a classic, it seems to me that the really chilling scene is when the scientists show up with Geiger counters and start pointing them at the village water supply. “Don’t drink the water.”

Godzilla, complete and uncut, has been re-released for roadshow engagements by Rialto Pictures.