MovieChat Forums > Godzilla, King of the Monsters! (1956) Discussion > Does anyone else like this one better th...

Does anyone else like this one better than the 1st?

posted 19 years ago by ChikMagnet110
8 replies | jump to latest

I have recently seen both versions of the orginial Godzillas and I would have to say I liked this one better. I don't know why exactly, but I saw this one first so that might be part of it. I just got into this one more. I thought Raymond Burrs character fit in perfectly and enjoyed his scenes very much. Another reason is that I am an American so I kind of got my feelings hurt by the firsts message. Before you start calling me a racisit and ignorant, please hear me out. Hiroshima was a bad thing , but let's face it, we were at war. The war would of dragged on for many more years if that bombed wouldn't of being dropped. Either the Americans or Japanese had to do something jurastic, and as you know, it happened to the U.S. I'm not saying the Japanese should just go "Well it was war let's forget about it and go skip and sing." that is not what I mean at all. They should be remorseful, I felt the same on September 11, but they make it seem as if the Americans did for entertainment by represneting it through Godzilla. I would understand if the Japanese didn't want to show the birds, for I hear Alfred Hitchcock was using the birds to represent Pearl Harbor, which would offend some Japanese citizens. Heck, I wish they wouldn't show the birds in the states, LOL. Anyone else enjoy this movie more?

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[–] ChikMagnet110 19 years ago

Hey Skye! I don't know if you've noticed or not but I was also the guy on the Gojira board with the anit-america question. I wrote this post a little before that when I first saw the original Japanese version and I kind of reacted with out thinking at first. Untill I had a talk with one of my friends who loaned me the movie and told me that he thought it wasn't really that big of commentary and I was reading a little to far into it. Although, it was really a very short talk because we had to get back to work, we didn't want to be swamped on Saturday night, LOL. But his remark stuck with me and I still felt my question was unanswered so I made that post on the Gojira message board. After reading your post and a little bigger of a chat with Ro I had a much better understanding for the Japanese orginial, and even though I liked it before I noticed more so I had a much bigger appreciation. Although,I still like the American one better. Like you said it seems a little empty without him. I really liked actor Raymond Burrs character, I thought he was really likeable and he fit right in with the story. His narrations were very well done and I never would of guessed that his scenes were additions( although i think it was you that informed me that they always showed the back of the orginial Japanese stars of the film, which i didn't noticed at first but if you look for it you notice. But the way they hide their faces could also seem intentional because it adds a mysterious air about the secretive Serizawa.) I don't know I just thought his character contributed way more to the film then it take away from it! It would be neat to see a combined version, two storys of different sets of characters (more of a story about Ogata and Emiko and then also including the scenes of Raymond and his officer buddy.)that also interact with one another would be cool and I think it wouldn't seem out of place! Thanks for posting!

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[–] southbase 17 years ago

It is not that bad a translation when you consider what happened to a few of the subsequent American Toho releases and is even strangely prescient about nationalist security movements toward surveillance and monitoring of air passengers and traveling visitors which the Japanese version doesn't address. The American version admittedly pares down a great deal of the sideline characterizations and moody longuers that make the original more intimate, and extends/heightens certain sound effects and adds some American temp-track music in addition to switching/re-editing some of the inner-sequence footage around just enough to bring Burr's reporter character more in-line with the Japanese character exchanges. It should work a lot worse than it does--Raymond Burr's musing, pipe-smoking Steve Martin just happens to be an intimate friend with practically everyone in Tokyo who'd be involved with the appearance of a prehistoric 400-ft. tall fire-breathing lizard! Yet his slightly-puffed, natural agreeability and believably troubled mien (his supporting-character work with Alfred Hitchcock and George Stevens on prestigious major studio releases worked well for him here) and baritone voice that links many of the slower and transitional points of the Honda cut are held back just enough in the first half to allow a natural transition from uninterrupted Japanese dialog to the English dubbing. The redone montage is clumsier but also a little burlier and quicker and works quite well in its own way to introduce and sustain Burr's reporter character (in a different world where reporters were considered almost fully-fledged & badged agents). After many years I still find a great deal of feeling and redemptive shock at Godzilla's death in the US version in the way it accumulates and climaxes that works very differently from the Japanese but both having their own meriting interpretations.

[–] hingleyc 17 years ago

I grew up watching "GKOTM" with Burr inserts and had no idea, as a child, there was an original version, so my heart belongs to this one. Saw the gorgeous original "Gojira" only within the last few years and wish it had been available to me years ago.

[–] maneatingbear 17 years ago

I grew up watching the Raymond Burr/King of Monsters version and only recently saw the original Japanese one. Sorry, but I felt that the Japanese version was much the superior one. The dubbed version detracted from the characters and Burr edited awkwardly into the scenes without the other actors feels Ed Woodsian. There's a pervasive sense of dread to me in the Japanese one that I just didn't get from the cheesier one.