Dir. Ishirō Honda (1954)
A giant lizard beneath the ocean is awakened by an atomic bomb test and begins to ravage Tokyo.
The lasting impact of films within the horror genre has always fascinated me. Even the worst film, if it reaches cult status, will last forever, a presence within the genre and within the cultural zeitgeist that ensures everyone involved will be a legend long after they're gone. The best films, of course, end up with cult followings that defy logic, with even bit players welcome on the convention circuit for years after the film's release and fans flocking to filming locations that have become their own blood-soaked Meccas. It's rare that a film completely invents a genre, however, as that is solely reserved for one-to-two films for each subgenre (unless there's a lot of argument as to which was first, which does sometimes happen in the more populated genres). There is no debate, however, that Godzilla was the first actual Kaiju film, a movie that popularized the Giant Monster subdivision of horror and one that has created a legacy that literally no film in horror history has come close to supplanting in the hearts and minds of the general public.
Just nine years after the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the surrender of the Japanese Imperial Navy to Allied forces, Godzilla was a cultural response to a threat that was no longer vague, no longer science fiction. The catastrophe of atomic weaponry had already appeared on the Japanese shores, and there was no returning from the path that the militaries of the world had chosen to take. The destruction, the chaos, the loss of life present during the world's only military use of the atomic bomb could no longer be dismissed as an idle threat, and writer/director Ishirō Honda and his fellow screenwriters Takeo Murata and Shigeru Kayama focused their fears and their trepidation towards the future into a story of that same type of annihilation at the hands of a behemoth they were likewise powerless to stop.
Godzilla is not a monster, Godzilla is a judgment, a consequence levied upon Japan because of their own hubris and that of the nations they fought against. The film is a historical artifact, an inside look into the mindset of a nation struggling to cope with a tremendous loss and trying desperately to understand their place in the future. By turning the lens inward, towards legend and folklore inherent within their own culture, this first Shōwa Era film created a movie that is entirely horror while also being a relic of a bygone generation. The film is about nuclear war and its consequences, sure, but it's also about the Japanese mindset and their attempt to grapple with their future by examining their civilizational past. It's as if a film about the relationship between the Greeks and their gods was made in Athens 400 years before the birth of Jesus. It's compelling cinema for people who aren't movie fans, history for people who couldn't bear to open a book. There are exceedingly few films in history with the impact and reach of Godzilla, disguised as it is as a run-of-the-mill science fiction monster movie.
Besides its historical relevance, Godzilla is also one of the best films ever made. It's beautiful, emotional, scary, important... it's all of the things a film needs to be to continue to have the same percussive effect that it did 70 years ago. It's wonderfully shot, and every single acting performance helps provide the foundation for the poignancy the film seeks to convey. The creature itself, of course dated by nature of the time the film was made, remains as iconic today as it was almost a century ago. In fact, the Godzilla franchise is the longest running movie series in history, a run that has thus far been comprised of 38 films, several television shows and cartoons, multiple video games, and even a few comic book series. This didn't all come from a fandom vacuum: even this initial film, the one that started it all, is an absolute masterpiece of a film.
The decision to film most of the movie in dark tones, often with the action taking place at night, was a brilliant one. At the very least, it hides a lot of the flaws in what would certainly be a dated creature design. What's more, it makes the film legitimately scary, a near impossibility for a film that was made the same year as Them!, the Cold War Era film about giant ants. Godzilla is an epic, a beginning to a genre of horror that is still going strong and simultaneously its greatest example. Even the film's more cheesy effects are charming in their own way, no doubt terrifying at the time even if they don't quite stand up to modern scrutiny. The destruction of Tokyo is not some monster movie joy ride: every fallen building, every collapsed bridge carries a palpable human toll in a way that no other film has really managed to capture even today.
The sound design in Godzilla is impeccable. The kaiju's roar, created by rubbing a leather glove against a contrabass, is as iconic as his appearance, a sound imitated nearly constantly in cinematic history. The score, a fairly typical 50's-era classical soundtrack, firmly places it within the era that it is made but also ups the emotional impact of the film in a way that most "monster movies" fail to attain. Despite an attempt to "Americanize" the film with English dubbing and the insertion of actor Raymond Burr with the new title Godzilla, King of the Monsters!, it is the original Shōwa film that has lasted as one of the quintessential Kaiju films, and inarguably one of the best horror movies ever made. It resonates emotionally even today, and it's a film that literally every horror fan, and even more so every movie fan, should watch at least once.
Who this movie is for: Film history buffs, Monster movie fans, Nuclear energy scientists
Bottom line: Godzilla is, plainly put, one of the best horror movies ever made. It's a phenomenal movie even without its historical import, but it is undeniably one of the most important and culturally impactful films of all time. It's still terrifying in its scope and message, a Kaiju film that is so much more than even the tremendous sum of its parts. It's streaming now on Max, along with a lot of the other films in the series, and this is one that you owe it to yourself to see. Godzilla is still incredible, all these years later, and its impact on the film industry, and the entire world, is undeniable.
Today, November 3rd, is the 70th anniversary of the film's wide release date. Join us as we celebrate Kaiju month and take on all 38(!) films in the series (as well as a few other select Kaiju films) to discuss one of the most important films in movie history and its long-reaching impact on the world of cinema.
