Godzilla (1954)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Godzilla |
| Original title | ゴ ジ ラ |
 | |
| Country of production | Japan |
| original language | Japanese |
| Publishing year | 1954 |
| length | German cinema version: 81 minutes Original version: 96 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Ishirō Honda |
| script | Ishirō Honda |
| production | Tomoyuki Tanaka |
| music | Akira Ifukube |
| camera | Masao Tamai |
| cut | Kazuji Taira |
| occupation | |
| |
| synchronization | |
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| chronology | |
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Successor → |
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Godzilla ( Japanese ゴ ジ ラ , Gojira , alternative title: Godzilla - The Original ) is the title of a monster film by the Japanese director Ishirō Honda .
The film, shot in black and white , formed the foundation for the cult of the giant monster Godzilla , which was to play the leading role in 30 Japanese and three US monster films to date , and founded its own film genre in Japan, that of " Kaijū Eiga" (Japanese. 怪 獣 映 画 ).
action
Strange events take place off the coast of the island of Odo: A number of ships are shipwrecked and burned down. The few survivors cannot give any specific information. Only the inhabitants of the island of Odo think they know the reason for the occurrence: According to this, the legendary monster Godzilla searches for food on land when he can no longer find any fish in the sea. Only human sacrifice could appease him.
At night Godzilla rises from the sea and devastates the island. Professor Yamane, whose daughter Emiko has a relationship with the naval officer Ogata, examines Godzilla's huge, radioactive footprints and finds the explanation: This is how the monster spent millions of years under water, as a correspondingly old trilobite proves, and came ashore after being subjected to atomic bombing was startled. There is a first sighting of the godzilla on the island, which then retreats into the sea. Immediately, the navy begins to bomb the stretch of sea where Godzilla lives. When the military asked Professor Yamane about ways to kill the Godzilla, he pleaded that Godzilla should study the secrets of life, for example how he absorbed the radioactive radiation and survived.
Emiko visits Dr. Serizawa, to whom she has been promised since childhood. He shows her his latest invention, the oxygen destroyer. The oxygen destroyer decomposes the oxygen in its immediate environment and can kill all life. Serizawa wanted to go down in history as the most important scientist in the world with the invention of the oxygen destroyer. Since the oxygen destroyer could become a threatening weapon in the wrong hands and Serizawa wants to neutralize it before he makes it public, he promises Emiko not to tell anyone about his invention.
The Godzilla goes ashore again and can not be stopped by military fire or high-voltage cables on its way to Tokyo . Panic breaks out, Godzilla devastates Tokyo, mainly by setting it on fire with his atomic heat ray. When Emiko sees the devastation and misery, she can't help but tell Ogata about Serizawa's invention. Both now try to convince Serizawa to use the Oxygen destroyer. At first he is reluctant, but gives in when he sees television pictures of the misery caused by Godzilla.
A ship with Emiko, Ogata, Serizawa Professor Yamane and press on board goes to Godzilla's whereabouts. Ogata and Serizawa descend to activate the Oxygen Destroyer, after which Godzilla only leaves bones. While Ogata reappears, Serizawa stays downstairs, sends Ogata a radio request that he should be happy with Emiko, and cuts his oxygen cable. Professor Yamane muses that if humanity continues to misuse nuclear power, it faces even worse catastrophes than Godzilla.
backgrounds
Emergence
The incident involving the Japanese fishing cutter Dai-go Fukuryū-maru (English: Happy Dragon ), which was radioactively contaminated on March 1, 1954 by the US Castle Bravo nuclear weapon test , gave producer Tomoyuki Tanaka the idea of that the Japanese people had suffered nine years earlier as a result of the atomic bombs being dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki . He proposed to his superiors at the Tōhō studios a monster film based on the scheme of the successful American production Panik in New York (1953).
Initially, Senkichi Taniguchi was planned as a director. But he canceled because Godzilla's major project Behind the Glory had been stopped. So Ishirō Honda was hired, who until then had only worked as an assistant director and had made his debut film with Eagle of the Pacific , but brought great ambitions for the monster film project: the average preparation time for a normal Tōhō blockbuster was only three weeks, Honda needed More than double the time for the script alone.
The film was under the supervision of the authorities responsible for special effects technician trick Eiji Tsuburaya in suitmation shot method, which means that an actor in the Godzilla costume trudged through model buildings. In the case of Godzilla, the actors Haruo Nakajima and Katsumi Tetsuka took turns portraying Godzilla, because the film could not be shot for more than three minutes at a time because of the heat and stuffy air that developed in the 100-pound rubber costume. In contrast to later Godzilla films, in which the model buildings were made of cardboard walls in one piece, miniature buildings were painstakingly assembled by hand from small building blocks for Godzilla . The characteristic roar of the monster, in turn, was created by running a leather glove coated with pine resin along the strings of a double bass.
The monster itself was only called "G" in the early stages; later it was named after the nickname of a plump Tōhō employee "Gojira" (a play on words from "gorilla" and "whale"). The name “Gojira” was “un-Europeanized” by the American distributor in “Godzilla”.
Godzilla premiered in Japan on November 3, 1954 and was one of the ten most successful films of the year. When the film was released two years later in American cinemas, scenes specially shot by Terry O. Morse in which Raymond Burr plays the reporter Steve Martin were added, as well as scenes that would have given too much insight into Japanese culture. Godzilla - The Return of the Monster (1984) was treated similarly .
continuation
After the overwhelming success for the Toho studios, the sequel Godzilla Returns ( Gojira No Gyakushu ) was filmed in 1955 under the direction of Motoyoshi Oda . In this film, Godzilla (who was called Gigantis in the US version of the sequel ) has to face another monster, here against Anguirus, for the first time
In both films, Professor Yamane was portrayed by the actor Takashi Shimura - who, also in 1954, starred in The Seven Samurai , also directed by Akira Kurosawa , which is also popular outside of Japan . Honda had also worked as an assistant director for Kurosawa.
German version
The German synchronization of Godzilla was created in 1957 by Berliner Synchron GmbH ; The dubbing director was CW Burg, who also wrote the dialogue book.
The German theatrical version of the film was shortened by about twelve minutes (mainly plot), but it is based on the Japanese original version. Today the Japanese original version is available in Germany as a DVD from Splendid. There is also a double DVD with the German and American theatrical versions and a Blu-ray Disc with the German and Japanese versions from the same provider.
Compared to the Japanese original version, the German theatrical version was missing the following scenes:
- In the original Japanese version, the expedition around Prof. Yamane says goodbye at the harbor as they set off for Odo to investigate Godzilla's devastation.
- When Prof. Yamane presented his research results, he warns in the original Japanese version against the use of the atomic bomb, which triggers a heated debate among the audience gathered in the hall about the correct course of action against Godzilla. This scene was also removed from the German theatrical version.
- In the Japanese Original Version, this scene is followed by a conversation between two passengers (a man and a woman), which is missing in the German theatrical version, who are talking about current events.
- When Dr. Serizawa Emiko demonstrates the oxygen destroyer, he explains to her in the original version that he invented it to go down in history and that he first has to neutralize it before he can publicize it.
- The German theatrical version lacks the scene in which Ogata tries to ask Prof. Yamane for Emiko's hand shortly before the destruction of Tokyo by Godzilla and Prof. Yamane insists that he promised Emiko to Serizawa when she was a child.
- After the devastation of Tokyo by Godzilla, pictures of the care of the injured follow in both versions; However, the Japanese Original Version also shows a shot in which children are examined for radioactivity with a Geiger counter .
- When Ogata and Emiko Dr. Going to Serizawa to get him to use the Oxygen Destroyer was missing in the German theatrical version that he repeated his concerns to Ogata that the Oxygen Destroyer had to be neutralized first.
- When Dr. Serizawa sees pictures of the devastated Tokyo on television, one hears the children's prayers in both versions. In the Japanese original version, however, there is also a longer tracking shot that shows the children singing.
American version
- Removed scenes that gave too much insight into Japanese culture.
- Due to fears that a film by the former enemy Japan would not attract any visitors to the US cinemas, scenes with the US actor Raymond Burr were added. Burr played US journalist Steve Martin here.
- While Raymond Burr speaks English, the Japanese dialogues were not dubbed.
- In contrast to the Japanese version, the American version begins with the destroyed Tokyo and the injured Steve Martin. Most of the film is therefore structured as a kind of flashback.
- The extra scenes show Raymond Burr commenting on the destruction of Godzilla or in the background of important scenes.
- If Raymond Burr is having a conversation with one of the main characters, a body double is shown from behind.
World premieres
- Japan: November 3, 1954
- Germany: August 10, 1956
reception
The budget for Godzilla was the highest ever budgeted for a Japanese film: it was around $ 1 million. The gross profit was around $ 2 million. There were two re-releases in North America, one in 2004 and one in 2014; this brought in around $ 560,000.
The film Godzilla is judged with clearly predominantly positive criticism, critics rated the film at the Rotten Tomatoes company 93 percent positively, a very similar result was also obtained with the audience, where they rated the film 89 percent positively.
“ Japanese adventure film that is tactless enough to combine its scary tricks with realistic horror scenes and to pass this sensational mixture as a warning against nuclear abuse. "
“ [...] a multiple 'cut to size' horror classic (today's version was created in 1956) with genre-defining special effects. (Rating: 3 stars = very good) "
“ This is where the Japanese atomic bomb trauma finds its expression in a very trivial way. Technically simple, but staged with naive imagination, the film with the bizarre monster was an international success and started a series that will be continued in the 90s. "
literature
- Gernot Gricksch: Godzilla. From Japan to Hollywood: Everything about the most famous monster in film history. Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-453-13836-8 .
- Jens Hauser: Godzilla - the incredible success story of the cult monster. Droemer Knaur, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-426-61110-4 .
- Jörg Buttgereit : Japan - The Monster Island: Godzilla, Gamera, Frankenstein and Co. With DVD tips. (Hardcover), Martin Schmitz Verlag, February 2006, ISBN 978-3-927795-44-0 .
Web links
- Godzilla in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Comparison of the cut versions German version - Japanese version of Godzilla at Schnittberichte.com
Individual evidence
- ^ Certificate of Approval for Godzilla . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , June 2005 (PDF; test number: 12 640 V / DVD).
- ↑ Gernot Gricksch: Godzilla. From Japan to Hollywood: Everything about the most famous monster in film history . Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, Munich 1998, p. 11
- ↑ Gernot Gricksch: Godzilla. From Japan to Hollywood: Everything about the most famous monster in film history . Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, Munich 1998, p. 12.
- ↑ Gernot Gricksch: Godzilla. From Japan to Hollywood: Everything about the most famous monster in film history . Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, Munich 1998, p. 13
- ↑ http://www.ew.com/article/2014/05/22/godzilla-roar-interview-timeline-video
- ↑ http://www.npr.org/2014/05/18/312839612/whats-in-a-roar-crafting-godzillas-iconic-sound
- ^ Godzilla (JAP) (1954). In: synchronous database. Retrieved May 27, 2020 .
- ↑ World premieres according to IMDb
- ↑ Gernot Gricksch: Godzilla. From Japan to Hollywood: Everything about the most famous monster in film history . Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, Munich 1998, p. 14.
- ↑ Godzilla (1954). Retrieved July 25, 2019 .
- ↑ Godzilla. Retrieved November 21, 2019 .
- ^ Godzilla (Gojira) (1954). Accessed August 6, 2019 .
- ↑ 6000 films. Critical notes from the cinema years 1945 to 1958. Handbook V of the Catholic film criticism, 3rd edition, Verlag Haus Altenberg, Düsseldorf 1963, p. 162.
- ^ Adolf Heinzlmeier, Berndt Schulz. In: Lexicon "Films on TV" (extended new edition). Rasch and Röhring, Hamburg 1990, ISBN 3-89136-392-3 , p. 311.
- ↑ Godzilla. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .