It certainly appears as though this latest adaptation will be strong on personal drama and emotional turmoil, elements that made the original movie the classic it is.

Alas, my initial exposure to Godzilla did not leave me very impressed.  You see, the first Godzilla film I saw, which happened to be in the theaters rather than television was..."Godzilla vs. Megalon", a film a sizeable percentage of fans consider one of the lowest points in the series.

In the United States, the lobby poster used most depicted the titular monsters atop the World Trade Center Towers as they faced off each other.  In my ignorance of the franchise, I honestly expected the setting to be New York.  But no such sequence took place.  In fact, most of the combat took place in the wilderness, away from dense population centers.  True, the beetle inspired Megalon blasted a few buildings and factory centers, but for the most part the creatures fought in a region of rolling hills devoid of human habitation.  Thus, there was little sense of impending peril.

Also, being a kid "raised" upon films featuring the the otherworldly quality of "stop motion" puppet animation as used in "King Kong" and the Charles Schneer/Ray Harryhausen "Sinbad" series, I expected something akin to that.  Instead, I witnessed what were obviously performers in elastic costumes "wrasslin'" upon a soundstage festooned with railroading type models.  Godzilla did not arrive until the final quarter of the film and his visage was almost puggishly "cute"!  What on earth?!  I found "Land of the Lost" more frightening!

Needless to say, that moviegoing experience "put me off" the Godzilla concept for several years.

 

Fast forward five, maybe six years and I found myself thumbing through the TV listing in the paper.  I noticed that a local UHF channel was going to broadcast the "original" Godzilla one evening.  Now, when I say "original", I actually mean the version with the inserted scenes featuring Raymond Burr.  I was doubtful, but I had read some retrospectives about the franchise since my Megalon disappointment.  Various articles claimed the original movie was a very different, ahem beast from the material produced during the 70s.  So I decided to give it a chance.

I'm glad I did!  Given the subject matter, it was very serious.  It exuded a definite sense of impending menace as this "force of nature" first threatened and later destroyed Japan's largest city, Tokyo.  This creature did not look like some wide eyed "foo dog".  Instead it posseesed a very crocodilian face, coldly reptilian.  And while its initial reveal happened during the day, the devestation was depicted at night, so the costume was considerably in shadow and "spotlit" from below, giving a better sense of implied scale.  Plus, unlike many US produced monster  films in which the featured city usually experiences at most relatively little damage, Tokyo was razed to the ground, consumed in a city wide firestorm.  The scenes of the aftermath, survivors stacked like firewood in the few intact buildings was a bit more graphic than most American made popcorn cinema would dare depict.  And yet, I read this was partially edited from the Japanese original.

I suspect what some of you may be thinking.  "Bill, as impressed as you seem to be with the "Raymond Burr cut", you would probably enjoy the the "original Japanese "Gojira" even better.  Well, thanks to Turner Classic Movies, I've had that opportunity, and yes, I enjoyed it more that the 1956 American cut.  About two years ago, TCM broadcast the original "Gojira" (no Raymond Burr inserted footage), subtitled rather than dubbed.  That pleasantly surprised me as it allowed me to watch it without being distracted by awkward voiceovers that didn't quite sync with the mouth movements.  I was smart enough to record it upon my DVR and still retain that "feed".

Yeah, we may joke about the later Godzilla films that became more "kid friendly" with more, say we say, "frugal" budgets.  But the creators took the original film very seriously and that earnest approach comes across in the final production.  I think (okay, hope) that the upcoming Legendary Pictures release will recapture some of that original atmosphere.

Sincerely,

Bill

Tempt the Hand of Fate and it'll give you the "finger"!