How the West Lost or How Hollywood Destroyed Something beautiful

I couldnt sleep last night so i did what any person of my disposition would do watch a movies untill they passed out so you get a Twofer today. I started off with a movie of grandiose proportions and very Lovecraftian where such a society doesn't exist the movie was Gojira not Godillza the original no Raymond Burr no english dubbing the original edit. I found this film to be much darker than its American counterpart. This film begins differently in its orginal vision with serveral ships being sunk by Godzilla a creature awakened by atomic explosions and sent from the depths of the sea. Then the real meat and potatos of the movie begins when Godzilla shows up on Ota Island and begins to wreak destruction on Tokyo. It has a moral issue to either destroy the beast or to find out why Godzilla even exists. Eventually destruction of Godzilla is decided much to the chagrin of Dr. Yamane who wanted to study the force of nature. It also has a sub plot of two people in love and trying to survive the catastrophe. If you are looking for light hearted godzilla this isn't one of them . It is bound togather by a chilling sound track and excellent cinematography. For being made in 1954 the scenes with Godzilla are amazing and much care was taken in the creation of models that were used while Godzilla is destroying japan and the like. I was extremely impressed with the film it really is a must see for every one.


After watching Gojira the original cut I decided to compare and contrast it with the American Cut of the film titled Godzilla King of the Monsters. This version of the film is much much weaker and less dark than Gojira. While watching it I realized the addition of the american character Steve Martin played by Raymond Burr really seemed to cheapen the film and brought a certian hokeyness to the film. I understand that it was to bring Godzilla to a market that didn't want a dark horror movie but the american horror market at the time was flooded with movies starring Bela Lagousi and Boris Karloff which was always a Happy endings. This version also seems much like a Readers Digest condensed version and Dumbed down Godzilla seems almost oafish in this version. Needless to say the original Gojira is truely King of the Monsters.