Godzilla, King of the Monsters

[Andrew]

I watched the Americanized version of "Gojira" the other night and realized how much the editing and the addition of Mr. Burr hurt the film.  The scenes with the American reporter, Steve Martin, are horribly tacked on and the voiceovers for the Japanese characters are awful.  They also cut too much of the plot that carries forward the tragic love triangle.

Another "why in the heck did they do that" question is changing the reason for the group of government officials to visit Odo island.  In the original version, it was to meet the survivors from one of the shipwrecks.  In the American cut, it is because the backwards islanders have a legend about a monster.

Still effective for the Godzilla scenes, but the 1956 American cut is a far inferior film.

[DodgingGrunge]

The changes were certainly political in nature.  Godzilla was a poignant tale about the dangers and destruction of nuclear warfare, a heartfelt sentiment resounding through post-war Japan.  America, on the other hand, having dropped two nuclear bombs just a decade earlier, was in a position to neither empathize nor appreciate the story as such.  The silliness and campiness of the American cut suggested it was nothing more than just another b-movie monster extravaganza, and that's how it has been perceived by us ever since.  And even though the original has (finally!) been restored, Godzilla has become just another cheesy b-movie monster through its numerous sequels and spinoffs.  It's a shame.

[daveblackeye15]

It's weird how Godzilla went from a serious movie (something like Casablanca) to total B-movie themed stuff (a la you know) and yet he's still popular and it works in a way. I don't think any other film has been able to do that. It would be like starting with Godfather IV the movies became more and more action packed car chase stuff and yet they'd still be poplular and make money. (When of course in these days such a thing would bomb)

It's something I scratch my head at times.

[Snivelly]

The changes were certainly political in nature.  Godzilla was a poignant tale about the dangers and destruction of nuclear warfare, a heartfelt sentiment resounding through post-war Japan.  America, on the other hand, having dropped two nuclear bombs just a decade earlier, was in a position to neither empathize nor appreciate the story as such.  The silliness and campiness of the American cut suggested it was nothing more than just another b-movie monster extravaganza, and that's how it has been perceived by us ever since.  And even though the original has (finally!) been restored, Godzilla has become just another cheesy b-movie monster through its numerous sequels and spinoffs.  It's a shame.

So true!  It's the cultural difference, and that's why we can't make giant monster movies with the same heart as the Japanese.  I'm not knocking the atomic monster movies like Them! and the like, because those are fun, but the kaiju movies are much more interesting, even the really bad ones. 

[JaseSF]

It's a personal preference maybe but I do prefer the American version perhaps because it's the movie that first caused me to fall in love with Godzilla as a movie monster. Honestly I actually miss Raymond Burr in the original Japanese cut and personally, I like seeing less attention focused on the romantic triangle as if that's somehow more important than the horror threatening Tokyo.  But that's just me.

[Andrew]

I was amused by how they injected Steve Martin into some parts by having him "interact" with the original Japanese characters.  "Emiko" kneeling by him in the hospital was one such event.  Notice that the woman kneeling is shaped like Emiko, but she never turns so we can see her face.

Ditto with the scene where Steve calls Dr. Serizawa.  Yes, the person on the phone in the lab is wearing an eyepatch, but a beaker or test tube is obscuring his face.  Sort of like the neighbor from "Home Improvement," but with science stuff.

[Captain Tars Tarkas]

What America did is nothing compared to what Italy did:  http://tarstarkas.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=407&Itemid=46

[WingedSerpent]

It's still a classic.  I like my giant monster movies with more of a dark edge.  I'll still watch campy ones, but they are just not up to the quaility.

The documentary style scences that have Godzilla destroying the city are my favorite parts of the movie.  They tried to make it look like an actual kaiju was filmed.

[RCMerchant]

It was YEARS before I saw the original Japanese version...and I enjoyed it much better...I thiought the scenes with Raymond Burr were very irratating and somehow condencending to the intelligence of the audiance, Of course,in the 50's teenagers were probally the target audiance...and for them,it was most likely the giant monster,and not the social commentary that was the selling point...

[daveblackeye15]

I'll read that Italian version later.

I remember when I first heard that Raymond Burr was merely inserted in the U.S. version I went and re-watched the movie. It was that time that I noticed that we never saw the other character's faces. I pointed this out to my dad this one time he was watching it with me (I was 11 at the time) and he looked at the screen thoughtfully and went 'ooohhh.'

[Flangepart]

Yep.
I do prefer the original version. Much more solid,as a story. My friend jim watched my two disc copy, and he prefered the original version too.
And i don't think Jim has ever seen either version. Have to ask him...

[Just Plain Horse]

I watched the Americanized version of "Gojira" the other night and realized how much the editing and the addition of Mr. Burr hurt the film.  The scenes with the American reporter, Steve Martin, are horribly tacked on and the voiceovers for the Japanese characters are awful.  They also cut too much of the plot that carries forward the tragic love triangle.

Another "why in the heck did they do that" question is changing the reason for the group of government officials to visit Odo island.  In the original version, it was to meet the survivors from one of the shipwrecks.  In the American cut, it is because the backwards islanders have a legend about a monster.

Still effective for the Godzilla scenes, but the 1956 American cut is a far inferior film.

I have to admit it seems sort of condescending towards the Japanese in general- from the line, "if he's seen a monster he's had too much sake" to the way all the Asian characters seem to cowtow to Burr in almost every scene.

My favorite bad voiceover has to be the one for Dr. Yamane: "It can safely be assumed that two milion ears ago, this Bondazarus roamed the Earth..."


Still, if you think that bad, you should check out the new DVD release of Godzilla Raids Again. I saw it once when I was a kid, but I'd forgotten how awful the Americanized version was... Even though Mr. Sulu, George Takei does some of the dubbing... the "Banana Oil" line is MST3k material if ever there was some.

[CoreyHeldpen]

Jeez, America has been taking great Japanese films and turning them into mediocre shadows of their former selves for over half a century now. In the case of Gojira, the American remake was a pretty OK movie, albeit not as good as the original.

I don't know why Devlin and Emmerich bothered to make an Americanized Godzilla flick in '98. The same thing had already been done long before.

[JaseSF]

The Devlin and Emmerich Godzilla film was much closer to BEAST FROM 20, OOO FATHOMS with a bit of unwanted JURASSIC PARK thrown in. I'm sticking to my preference of the Americaned GODZILLA, KING OF THE MONSTERS because I feel it does concentrate more on the terrifying thing happening to Tokyo than the original which is a little too concerned with the love triangle stuff for my liking.

[Flangepart]

Sadly, the original version of G Raids again is not much better, accept story wise. Nice they brought Dr. Yamane back for the "Scientest explains it all" scene.