Go-Go-Godzilla: #1 - Gojira

English Name: Godzilla
Japanese Name: Gojira  
Director: Ishiro Honda
Studio: Toho
Year: 1954

The Story:
The sea turns iridescent, blinding the sailors, and suddenly the ship explodes. A rescue vessel is sent, only to suffer the same fate. Panic besets the nation as ships continue to disappear and officials investigate but have no answers. Only the oldest shoremen on Odo Island think of the legendary Gojira, a terror from the deep that used to feed on the people of the land.  A supposed hurricane next hits Odo Island, but the people claim it was something more. A research team is sent out, finding that half the island is radioactive. It's only moments before Gojira proves his existence, all 50 meters of him.  

Professor Yamane speculates it was atomic and nuclear detonations that has roused the beast to emerge from its depths. Professor Yamane wants to study Gojira, not see him destroyed, but he's outvoted. Shipping routes are comprimised, threatening to cripple the country's economy.  Counter-Gojira Headquarters are established, and depth charges are dropped in the ocean to little avail. Yamane's daughter, Emiko, learns of her fiance, Dr. Serizawa's devastating new weapon, the Oxygen Destroyer, but is sworn to secrecy. Serizawa knows the OD is potentially the most dangerous weapon known to man, but knows if only given time he could make the weapon into something more beneficial to mankind.

Gojira hits the mainland, destroying a passenger train, wrecking a transformer station, destroying bridges, before exiting back to sea.  Counter-Gojira decide an electric fence is their best defence along the coastline, hoping to shock him to death. Unfortunately the injection of electricity only seems to give him a flaming breath power that sets buildings aflame and vaporized people instantly.  The fires themselves seem unstoppable, spreading quickly throughout Tokyo. The city is decimated by the time Gojira retreats into the sea.

Dr Serizawa is convinced he must use his Oxygen Destroyer on the creature. He fears exposing his discovery to the masses so destroys all records of his weapon and intentionally sacrifices himself in the process of using it.. Gojira is turned to bones. Prof Yamana regrets the loss of what may be the last of a unique species, but warns should nuclear testings continue who knows what sort of monsters it may rouse.

It's a film that's practically a series of vignettes rather than a cohesive, singularly driven tale. It's compelling, but very disjointed.

The Creatures:
Gojira. The costume is loose and dumpy, the head of the full body suit looks like the Gojira we know just with goofy bulging eyes, but there are close-up puppet heads which are squat and looks like an awkward muppet. Gojira is killed at the film's end by the Oxygen Destroyer, but The Game Is On, as we're warned there may be others like him out there.

The Humans:
Besides a very brief early scene of Ogata and Emiko, it's over 15 minutes before we truly meet any of our main players.

Emiko's father, Professor Yamane is the chief government consultant, and lead investigator until Gojira reveals itself.  Ogata seems to be a military consultant. Emiko is in a love triangle with Ogata and Serizawa, but considers Serizawa like a brother, rather than lover.

Dr Serizawa, was scarred in the war and wears an eyepatch.  He's a moody cat burdened by his discovery of the Oxygen Destroyer. He abhors violence and weapons, but is swayed into using the OD against Gojira by a chorus of children mourning the destruction in Tokyo.  There's certainly Oppenheimer parallels here, but Serizawa's self-sacrifice is portrayed as noble and honourable, using the weapon for a singular purpose, then ensuring it can never be recreated.

The story of the humans is quite nominal in the picture. There's very little attention paid to the argument of studying the creature versus destroying it. Likewise the love triangle is hardly worth mentioning. Dr. Serizawa might as well have been Emiko's brother Yamane's son, rather than romantic competition for Ogata...and probably more impactful were he family of other main characters.

The Sounds:
Akira Ifukube's haunting, pulsating strings accompany the roars of Gojira over the opening credits. This repeated score is intense, agressive, and intimidating.  There's a counter-score, one sombre foreboding, used over the destruction of Tokyo and Serizawa's sacrifice. Also his rendition of the tribute sung by a choir of schoolgirls is effectively powerful, you can believe they would sway Serizawa.

The pounding thud of Gojira's footsteps are erratically used, and often a warning sign that he's on his way. We hear them when he's emerging out of the water, actually more often than when he's on land, which I find spurious. 

Gojira's roar is that famous squelch but with a deep throttled finish that sounds like a motorcycle engine revving.

The Message: 
It's a film that carries the weight of the post-Nagasaki and Hiroshima's bombings, the horror of the devastation and the real human toll that resulted. The literal point is that the bombings resulted in awakening a monster that's as powerful and unstoppable as an atomic bomb. The metaphor is that the bombings awakened the monster of man, the need to amass power and compete, continuing to find newer and bigger ways to destroy ourselves.

Dr. Serizawa has an ominous appearance - eyepatch, sunken cheeks - and could very well be a villain, but he is the hero of the piece. He recognizes that sometimes a bigger weapon is needed to defeat an enemy but is deeply troubled by where using such a weapon will lead. He understands once the beast of war is revealed it can't be contained. 

Rating (out of 5 Zs):
ZZZ