Godzilla Raids Again (1955)

At the end of the original Godzilla, Dr. Yamane warned that if man continued meddling with nature and engaging in destructive wars, perhaps another Godzilla would arise.  And, indeed, he was right.  The following year, in 1955, Toho cranked out a sequel to the original Godzilla, introducing a concept to the series that would forever become a mainstay: the "monster vs. monster" trope.  This film would also see a new director in Motoyoshi Oda, and would be his only directorial Godzilla outing.

The film opens only a few months after the death of Godzilla at the hands of the Oxygen Destroyer, with two pilots named Shoichi Tsukioka and Koji Kobayashi, hunting for schools of fish for a tuna cannery company in Osaka.  Both were prior war pilots, but now they spend their days flying over the sea, looking for schools of fish just beneath the surface, and radioing back to the company headquarters about their findings.  As they fly, Kobayashi's airplane malfunctions, and he is forced to land near Iwato Island, an uninhabited strip of rocks formed by volcanic eruptions.  Tsukioka is informed, and flies out to look for his downed friend, eventually finding him safe, with only a wrist sprain. While talking on the rocky strip of islands, the two men hear some strange sounds, growing ever louder, and find two enormous monsters locked in brutal, mortal combat. Tsukioka immediately recognizes one of the monsters to be Godzilla, while the other one is a four-legged beast, as of yet unidentified.  The two monsters fight until they fall off a cliff, and into the ocean's depths.  As an interesting aside, while many Godzilla movies often show the monsters moving in somewhat slow motion in order to convey their immense mass and weight, Godzilla Raids Again often depicts the monsters moving (and fighting) at normal speed in order to convey their full brutality.  This originally happened because of a mistake on a part of the cameraman, but it was ultimately deemed an appropriate choice for the film.  

Tsukioka and Kobayashi report the monster sighting to the authorities in Osaka, where the second monster is dubbed Anguirus, due to its similarities with the dinosaur ankylosaurus - both are four-legged and have plated armor on their backs, though there are significant differences.  This creature is covered with spikes along its back, and equipped with huge fangs and serrated teeth.  Professor Yamane, who experienced Godzilla's attack as a main character in the previous film, is also present at the meeting.  He confirms that the monster seen by the two pilots is undoubtedly a second member of the same species as Godzilla, and that it and Anguirus were probably brought back to life by the same hydrogen bomb tests that awoke the first Godzilla - as evidenced by both of their large sizes, likely being mutations.  

Upon concluding that this is a second Godzilla, along with a potentially equally dangerous second monster, Yamane states that there is no way to kill Godzilla.  Dr. Serizawa, the inventor of the Oxygen Destroyer that had destroyed the first Godzilla, had died and burned the formula in the previous film. Yamane, though, comes up with a theory that could help defend the nation.  He suggests that the military might be able to use flares on the monsters to attract them away from the shore.  Yamane believes that Godzilla becomes angry when he sees bright lights, because the hydrogen bomb's bright explosion had awakened and mutated him.  There isn't much time to deliberate over this before Godzilla arrives on the shore of Osaka.  A blackout of all city lights is enforced within Osaka, and jets are sent to drop flares from above in order to lead Godzilla away from the shore. Godzilla sees the flares, and, as Yamane predicted, follows them safely out to sea.

Meanwhile, a prison truck is transporting dangerous criminals to another part of the country. All of the criminals, using body language, convey to each other that the cover of darkness caused by the city's blackout provides a great opportunity to escape from prison. The prisoners beat up the two policemen guarding them inside the truck, and escape. A few of them find a gasoline truck, and use it to drive off, but the truck crashes into an industrial building and starts a massive fire. The fire, much brighter than the planes' flares, attracts Godzilla's attention, and he begins heading back toward the shore of Osaka. A few minutes later, Anguirus swims to shore as well, and upon seeing Godzilla, attacks him. The two creatures fight an intense battle, while destroying several buildings, including the tuna cannery that Tsukioka and Kobayashi work for.  In the course of the battle, the criminals are drowned in the subway when it is flooded by the thrashing of the two monsters.  During the wholesale destruction, Godzilla finally bites Anguirus' neck, and throws him upside down into a moat near Osaka Castle. Godzilla then fires his atomic ray at Anguirus, burning him to death in the ruins of the famed castle.  Osaka is left smoldering in flames as Godzilla disappears.  In the aftermath, Tsukioka and Kobayashi are transferred to a Hokkaido plant, further north, and during a company party they are all notified that Godzilla destroyed one of the company fishing boats. The military and Tsukioka begin a massive search for Godzilla, eventually finding him swimming to the shore of a small, icy island.  

Several attacks are attempted on the monster, but all are futile.  The two cannery pilots join the fight, and as Godzilla is making his way to shore, Kobayashi's plane is hit by Godilla's atomic blast.  The plane crashes on an icy mountainside, killing Kobayashi.  Tsukioka is devastated but realizes that the military can shoot missiles at the mountain, and bury Godzilla in an avalanche, thereby freezing him to death. The jets fire their missiles, and bury Godzilla in snow and ice up to his waist.  The jets return to base to reload, and Tsukioka is authorized to fly in his own jet. The jets return to the icy island, only to find that Godzilla is digging his way out of the previous avalanche. They fire a fresh round of missiles at the mountain, triggering a new avalanche, and burying Godzilla up to his neck.  As Godzilla thrashes in the snow and ice, Tsukioka fires his own missiles, burying Godzilla completely, thereby finishing the job. The men then return home and receive the homage of a grateful nation.  

The final scenes are ironic in hindsight, as they all take comfort in Kobayashi's death by saying that he helped lead to the defeat of this second Godzilla.  The irony is that Godzilla does indeed rise again in later films, along with dozens of other monsters.  The sacrifice was in vain, and not only was it in vain, but their entire attack may have been in vain as well.  After all, when they find Godzilla, he is just roaming around in the icy north.  He's completely minding his own business, nowhere near any civilized areas.   Why chase after him at all?  In the greater context of the series I think that's interesting.  But when looking at the film on its own there are plenty of other interesting things to note as well.

If Godzilla is a film about the bombing of Hiroshima, then Godzilla Raids Again, is perhaps somewhat analogous to the bombing of Nagasaki.  Although technically inferior compared to the first film, as this time Honda was not in the director's seat, the second film in the Godzilla series explores the reaction of the Japanese public both during and after the time of war.  Japan is once again at war with Godzilla, only unlike the first film, this time the film follows more closely the effects the threat that Godzilla (representing war and strife) has on the personal lives of the main characters.  

The first half of the film represents Japan's war preparations, and how the threat of war impacted the lives of the Japanese people.  However, unlike the first film, where the bombing of Hiroshima is represented by Godzilla's attack on Tokyo at the end of the film, the bombing of Nagasaki is represented by the battle between Godzilla and Anguirus in Osaka, about halfway into the film.  And now the characters are left to pick up the pieces again.  In fact, the focus of this film is much more on the aftermath of the "bombing," so much so that Godzilla is not even shown being driven out or leaving Osaka after killing Anguirus.  Instead, we see characters simply watching the burning ruins of the city from the window of their family's faraway country house.  The dead silence of the land and the night contrast eerily with the unearthly light hovering over the besieged city.  The focus is on their principles and work ethic to pull together and start rebuilding, instead of focusing on the dead and dying.  The "war is over," and it is time to rebuild.  We are shown scenes of wholesale wreckage, but we also see workers toiling to clean out and rebuild Osaka where the characters all work for their living.  This is just as it was when the Japanese accomplished the most speedy and thorough economic recovery of the century following World War II.  These scenes are especially moving, and add a sense of realism to the story.  The film also conveys the sense that life goes on, as Kobayashi and the rest of the canning company are relocated to the company's Hokkaido branch to continue work.  Hokkaido, the northern island of Japan, is pictured as a winter wonderland, with the workers enjoying themselves and the threat of war long since gone.  It almost feels like watching a Japanese Christmas movie at times.  Then disaster strikes; Godzilla destroys the fishing fleet, and the threat of war again looms over Japan, just as the Cold War followed World War II, and just as the specter of worldwide nuclear destruction has haunted the world ever since the wake of destruction at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

And it is in this new world - a world that cannot be devoid of Godzilla and his monster gang ever again - that the majority of Godzilla's films take place.  A world that has already opened up the can of worms that is nuclear power, weapons of mass destruction, industrialization, genetics, you name it.  If it's a dark part of man's own advancement, Godzilla has probably made a film about it.  And it only gets wilder from here on out.

Godzilla, King of the Monsters! (1956)

Japan was not a popular country for much of the western world in the decades following World War II.  In fact, I know plenty of elderly people who still harbor very ill feelings toward the people of Japan.  That said, one can imagine just how rare it was in the mid 1950s to see a Japanese film on American soil.  Or for that matter, it was rare to even see a film depicting any Japanese characters in a positive light either.  Following its 1954 release, when Ishiro Honda's Godzilla finally reached American shores, it only showed in small theaters in Japanese or heavily Asian communities, with subtitles.  It was not something that the general public was exposed to at all.  At least, not until a man named  Edmund Goldman happened upon it in a California Chinatown theater.  Movies about monsters and aliens were garnering massive popularity at that time, and realizing the title monster's star power, Goldman bought the international rights for the film for $25,000, and then sold them to Jewell Enterprises Inc., a small production company that successfully adapted the film for American audiences. 

This adaptation meant that the film underwent heavy editing.  While it would be essentially the same film as the original Godzilla, several plot points were removed or drastically reduced - mostly those involving the darker, political themes of nuclear unease - and new scenes were shot featuring actor Raymond Burr, playing a new character named Steve Martin (this was before the comedian Steve Martin, obviously).  Mr. Martin was an American reporter, providing something of a "more relatable" character for American audiences to follow, as the film opted to be mostly shown from his point of view.  Ultimately, this new version of the film would follow Mr. Martin on a trip to Japan, set during the events of the original Godzilla film - more or less telling the same story, but from a different character's point of view.  Along with the numerous new scenes featuring Raymond Burr and others being inserted into the edited version of the Japanese film - along with some other scenes with the Japanese characters, using body doubles in matching dress, shot from behind in direct interaction with Burr's character - most of the dialogue was dubbed over into English.  Subtitles were not a popular idea, and since the American producers were marketing it to kids, this technique was deemed best.

Dubbing is when the original audio track is removed, and a new one is put in its place.  Because of this, the Japanese characters' mouths, and even body language and facial expressions, rarely match with the English dialogue.  This audio-trick used to make the film more accessible later became one of the hallmark traits targeted by those who mock the Godzilla franchise, which is, in my opinion, quite ignorant.  Obviously this isn't the work of bad editing on the original film maker's part.  It's a result of the mass audience not being able to put up with subtitles.  Unfortunately, ignorance over this process has more or less forever marred the franchise in the eyes of those who are too unfamiliar with it, labeling it as "cheesy" or "cheap,"  which couldn't be further from the truth.  

Also along with the Americanization, came a relabeling of the title monster.  To make it sound less foreign, they changed "Gojira" to "Godzilla."  It was this version of the original Godzilla film that introduced most audiences outside of Japan to Godzilla and labeled the monster as the "King of the Monsters."  It became a smash hit, and was easily distributed to studios all over the world.  It even gained popularity within Japan itself, and reportedly replaced the original version in many cinemas.  As a result, Gojira is known internationally the world over, under the moniker of Godzilla, King of the Monsters.  This film is also notable for being a large part of the shift between how the western world saw Japan during the war, to the years thereafter.  Although a handful of independent, low-budget films had previously been filmed in Japan after World War II by American companies and featuring Japanese actors in the cast, Godzilla represented the first to present Japanese peoples in principal, heroic roles or as sympathetic victims of the destruction of Tokyo (albeit by a fictional giant monster) to the American public in a commercial release given A-picture status and bookings.  Though Toho, Ishiro Honda and the rest of the gang there are primarily responsible for creating Godzilla, it is undoubtedly the American crew behind King of the Monsters that are responsible for exploding this Japanese smash hit into an icon recognized all over the world.  

As for the movie itself, the story is very similar to the 1954 original.  The revised story begins at a hastily established emergency hospital in an evidently devastated Tokyo, to which is brought American reporter Steve Martin, one of the wounded.  Traumatized and injured, Martin tells of his stopover in Tokyo on a routine assignment to Cairo for United World News, where he found himself confronted by the emergence of an inexplicable menace to navigation in the Sea of Japan.  Something had been causing ships to be destroyed without warning, and sinking them with no time for escape.  When a dying seaman finally washed up on an inhabited island, Martin flew there for the story with Tomo Iwanaga, a representative of the Japanese security forces.  There, they learned of the island inhabitants' belief in a monster/god/mystical being, which lived beneath the sea, that they believe is causing the disasters.  They call this being Godzilla, and Martin realized this could be a big headline.

Phoning his editor at United World News, he had been given permission to stay and cover the story.  Martin's involvement in the unfolding events broadens when paleontologist, Dr. Yamane, is consulted and, returning to the island with his daughter Emiko and her young naval-officer/boyfriend Ogata to investigate, sees the monster when it attacks the island village.  They quickly return to Tokyo with clear evidence of the monster's existence and power, and Yamane becomes a leading consultant to Japan in mounting a defense, as it becomes apparent the monster is moving towards Tokyo.

We more or less know the story from here on out.  Godzilla eventually shows up and wreaks havoc on Tokyo, with Martin being among the millions injured in the attack.  Here, his flashback ends, and we are returned to him in the hospital, recovering from the attack.  Emiko reveals she may know a solution to the monster's apparent indestructibility. She loves the young naval officer, but had until recently been engaged to a young scientist named Dr. Serizawa, who was also, apparently, Steve Martin's friend in college. She lost interest in him because he has become a recluse, delving into an exhaustive study of Oxygen.  After breaking up with him, he revealed to her the reason for his reclusiveness - over the course of his research, he had accidentally developed a formula capable of destroying all oxygen in water, in the process of which any animal coming in contact with the "Oxygen Destroyer" is stripped clean of all flesh and organs, reduced to a skeleton.  His anguish over what to do with this discovery has become a constant preoccupation.  She had agreed to keep her knowledge of this a secret, but with Godzilla on the loose, she realizes this may be the only thing capable of stopping the monster, and informs her boyfriend and father.

The scientist is only reluctantly persuaded to use his remaining sample of the oxygen destroyer to try to kill Godzilla, provided he accompanies the young officer, in a diving suit, to the sea bottom to place and release the formula more or less at the monster's feet. After concluding this agreement, the scientist destroys all his notes and papers on the formula. Once at the bottom of the sea, he sends the young officer back up to the boat, releases the destroyer himself, and cuts his own oxygen hose and lifeline, to ensure no one else will ever know the chemical composition of his horrid formula. The young officer joins Dr. Yamane, Emiko and Steve Martin on the ship to watch as the Oxygen Destroyer does its work, reducing Godzilla to a skeleton. Afterwards, Martin's last words were, "The menace was gone.  So was a great man.  But the whole world could wake up and live again."

To this film's credit, it is one of the only Godzilla films that has an Americanized version which doesn't completely cannibalize the integrity of the original cut - even though this is probably one of the most heavy edits out of the entire series.  The plot is kept mostly in tact, and even - at least for me - somewhat enhanced by some of Steve Martin's monologuing.  Particularly the various things he says as he watches Godzilla's romp through Tokyo. In the original, it is visually obvious what a disaster Godzilla really is, but when added to Steve's commentary on the scene, it becomes strikingly apparent just what a worldwide problem this could be if Godzilla were left unchecked.  And I like that.  Having a World News Reporter on hand definitely makes this feel like a much bigger and more profound disaster.  Keep in mind, I still prefer the original Japanese version.  There are so many tiny details in that cut that makes it the clear superior.  But I somehow wish there was an official cut that still kept a majority of Steve's journey in tact, along with the original Japanese cut in its entirety.

Still, Godzilla King of the Monsters! cannot be underestimated for its influence.  As mentioned earlier, numerous other countries picked up the Americanized edit of the film for distribution.  Still, some countries opted to further edit the film to be better suited for their own markets.  One of the most notable versions of the film is the Italian cut that has come to be known by fans as "Cozilla," though officially is simply titled Godzilla.  In 1977, Italian filmmaker Luigi Cozzi released a modified and colorized version to magnetic band and sensurround theaters in Italy. Originally, Cozzi planned to re-release the original 1954 version without the Raymond Burr scenes, but was unable to secure the rights from Toho, and instead was sold the Americanized version of the film.  Since the film was in black and white, regional distributors in Italy refused to release it, so, in order to release the film, Cozzi hired Armando Valcauda to colorize the whole film frame by frame, using gels attached to the negative. 

The film's content was also re-edited, removing several scenes and adding lots of stock footage of graphic death and destruction from actual Wartime footage reels, which has made it 105 minutes long.  These added scenes - including some new and somewhat psychedelic soundtrack pieces - add a gruesome tone to the movie that instantly pushes it out of the normal array of 1950s sci fi mayhem, and into the realm of the exploitation film (something that Italian Cinema became something of a breeding ground for in the 70s).  These additions also put Godzilla's originally intended atomic and nuclear subtext back into the spotlight, really hoping to show the carnage and reprocussions of the beast's movements through Tokyo, rather than simply the empty spectacle.  When the film was released in the cinemas, a special effect was added that shook the seats each time that Godzilla took a step.

In the end, all of this culminates to just another interesting addition to Godzilla's history as a character that has proven more versatile than his origins intended.  Both horror figure and heroic figure, Godzilla had now transcended its own subtext, its own country, and even its secondary country.  He had become something of an entity unto himself, and while he was still nowhere near the popularity that he would reach in the 1960s, it was hard to argue that he had cemented himself as the King of the Monsters.

Godzilla (1954)

The first Godzilla film is often considered the best of them all - not merely for being a groundbreaking achievement unlike any other movies released at that time, but also due to the somber historical context from which it was birthed, and from which it derives it heavy cultural commentary.  It's a seminal piece of cinema that rests close to the hearts of fans around the globe, and as such, it's hard to say anything about it that hasn't been said in countless other spaces.  Still, there's no better place to begin, than at the beginning.  

Early Concept Art

Godzilla was born out of several different culminating factors.  As far as social climate goes, Japan's defeat at the end of World War II was still a relatively recent event, as well as the slew of devastating attacks that eventually led to the detonation of two nuclear weapons in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan received not only the alienating distinction of having lost the war, but also the horrifying distinction of being the only country in the world to have ever had a nuclear attack conducted on their soil - on their people. Despite a long list of atrocities that Japan had enacted during the war itself, the coupling of immense physical devastation in property and human lives, and the deep sense of sadness, and national shame they had after being lumped in with the likes of the German Nazis, ultimately brought about a unique national climate. Even further, regulations had been placed onto Japan by the Allied Nations after the war, preventing Japanese media from really fully expressing that unique loneliness and shame, and it was this situation of censorship that shaped most of 1950s Japanese culture - which was about to give birth to the biggest movie star of all time.

Still, years after the end of World War II, in March of 1954, Japan suffered from yet another nuclear disaster - though, perhaps even more frightening, due to it happening during a time of peace.  A Japanese fishing vessel, the Fukuryu Maru (Lucky Dragon), accidentally sailed into an American nuclear-test site, contaminating the entire crew with high doses of radiation. Political debates broke out after one crew member died of radiation poisoning, with the Japanese press pointing fingers towards America's irresponsibility with their nuclear testing. America largely shrugged off the incident, with some even saying that the ship's crew was at fault, even though many argued that the radius affected by the test far exceeded the estimated range, and had only accidentally caught the ship.  The incident was dubbed "The Second Atomic Bombing of Mankind" by the Japanese press and garnered a lot of negative publicity.  Many were wondering just what kind of horrors awaited them in a world where Japan had become submissive to nations that wielded such incredible nuclear power so recklessly.

The same year as the incident with the Lucky Dragon, a Japanese fellow named Tomoyuki Tanaka sat in his seat during a flight back to Tokyo.  Mr. Tanaka was about to celebrate his tenth year as a producer at the Toho Motion Picture Company, and had, until now, done quite well for the studio. On his flight he was worried, and drenched in sweat, as he stressed out about a film he had planned to make at the studio.  The film was to have been In The Shadow of Glory, a war epic co-produced in cooperation with the Indonesian government.  However, the plans for the film had fallen through when Tanaka could not get work permits for the film's stars. Having a budget for a war film, but having no film to shoot, Tanaka agonized at the prospect of losing face in the eyes of his company.  But it was during that plane ride that desperation became his friend, and would lend him an idea that would develop into something far larger and more enduring than the project he left behind. Looking out the window at the sea below, Tanaka says that he saw a vision of a terrifying monster rising out of the ocean.  RKO Studios' 1933 King Kong had recently seen a popular theatrical rerelease, hurling giant monsters back into the spotlight, accompanied by another American horror/sci fi film, The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms - a story about a monster awoken by and irradiated by atomic testing.  Tanaka decided to put his mind to a similar story.  Piggybacking off of the national sense of loss in the wake of the atomic bomb, as well as the outrage and fear of the continuing effects of radiation such as the disaster of the Lucky Dragon fishing ship, Godzilla was born - or, as the film and titular creature are known by in Japan, Gojira.

How the creature himself, along with his design came about is somewhat less clear. The name, Gojira, is a mixture of the words Gorilla and Jira - the Japanese word for Whale. Studio legend states that Gojira was the nickname of one of the stagehands, though specific citation has often been hazy.  How the monster got his iconic look is equally hazy, with numerous accounts offering up different narratives.  What is known is that the design wasn't set in stone until relatively late in the overall preproduction process, with his appearance changing from panel to panel of the storyboards, and lore even claiming that Eiji Tsuburaya (the man behind the special effects) originally wanted Godzilla to be a giant octopus-like entity.

Unlike the contemporary popular image of Godzilla films being ludicrous Saturday Afternoon Matinees, the first Godzilla is actually a rather gloomy, stern, and tragic movie.  Don't get me wrong, it still has all of the fun charm that comes with little model cities being smashed by men in rubber monster suits - the studio wanted to use stop motion animation like King Kong, but the process was too expensive and time consuming so they improvised - and is ultimately a fun romp to watch; but tonally, there is some pretty serious stuff being tackled here. Gareth Edwards, director of the 2014 American Godzilla, said of the original film, "I think it’s really underrated and Godzilla is misunderstood in terms of how it all began. People think of Godzilla and think of the child-friendly versions. It’s funny because when people look at the 60's films, they’re a bit B-movie, and people can say, 'What if you made it serious like the Batman series became?' And if you look at the original, they did that already. They beat us to it by 60 years.  It’s really serious and somber and very harrowing.  Apart from the fact there’s a giant monster, I challenge you to show me a film – like a popcorn movie – where they show a child and they hold a Geiger counter to his face and it clicks as if the child is going to die of radiation sickness and the shot moves on. I have not seen that in films of real dramatic weight, let alone a monster movie. I can’t think of a more serious monster movie."  And indeed, he is correct.  

Director Ishiro Honda - himself an associate of the great Akira Kurosawa - brought an expertly trained eye to the project, giving it something of a westernized and almost documentarian feel.  Accompanied by the killer - and truly ground breaking - special effects of Eiji Tsuburaya, and the booming musical score composed by the brilliant Akira Ifukube, Godzilla comes off as a serious classic, and deserves to be recognized for being just as influential as any other classic film of the era. Of all of the Godzilla outings, the original is likely the one which is most beloved. The franchise has experienced numerous reboots throughout its history, but the original film has always remained at least somewhat within continuity, being referenced by nearly every other version ever produced.  Its legacy is most certainly ensured.

The film opens with some scrolling credits, accompanied by composer Akira Ifukube's iconic score (Ifukube would go on to compose music for most of the franchise, and is undoubtedly responsible for most of the iconic themes that endure throughout the series to this day), and then shifts to a Japanese fishing ship modeled after the real-life Lucky Dragon, floating just off the shores of Odo Island. Suddenly, the ocean is engulfed in a blinding flash of light, and the ship explodes. Several other ships in the area start going under, and the people of Japan find themselves in a bit of a panic, mourning their losses.

On Odo Island, a relatively remote and medieval rural locale, the village elder blames their poor fishing on a sea monster from ancient legend known as "Godzilla," and recalls that in earlier times, native girls were sacrificed to appease the giant sea monster/god.  Shortly thereafter, one of the fishermen from a sunken fishing vessel washes up on shore, where he dies of radiation poisoning.  Word gets out, and a helicopter arrives on the island with curious and skeptical reporters.  Frightened natives perform a night-time ceremony to keep the ghostly monster of legend away, yet, that night, while everyone is asleep, a storm arrives; and along with it comes something else.  Buildings are crushed, people are squished, the helicopter is mangled, and a young boy on the island bears witness to an enormous monster lumbering by in the darkness.

In Tokyo, famed paleontologist Professor Kyohei Yamane suggests that investigators be sent to Odo Island in order to survey the destruction.  Permission is granted, and an expedition is organized.  Going on the trip is Professor Yamane, his daughter Emiko, and their friend Hideto Ogata.  At the expedition's departure, they are all seen off by a crowd of cheering civilians, as well as the mysterious Dr. Daisuke Serizawa, who happens to be Emiko's fiance through arrangement.  Serizawa is quiet, and wears an eyepatch over an eye that he lost in World War II.  Emiko likes him, seeing him as a sort of brother-character, but it becomes apparent that her true feelings are actually for Ogata, making things somewhat awkward between them all.

On arrival at Odo, Yamane and the survey team discover that the village has become contaminated with high levels of radiation.  They also discover giant footprints strewn throughout the village, inside one of which they find a living trilobite - a bug-like creature that went extinct millions of years ago.  At about the time of the discovery, the town bell sounds, alarming the village of danger.  The villagers arm themselves with sticks and various weapons, and run to the nearby hills.  As they reach the crest of the largest hill, an enormous shape rises over the horizon, revealing itself to be the massive head of of a dinosaur-like animal, which turns and roars before lumbering off down the beach and back into the sea.  The creature is dubbed "Godzilla," named after the mythical beast of Odo Island lore.

The team returns to Tokyo to present their findings, where Yamane hypothesizes that Godzilla was unleashed by a nuclear explosion.  He says that the creature is some sort of transitional reptile from prehistoric times, which had been sealed - perhaps in suspended animation - in a deep sea cave, using the living trilobite as proof of Godzilla's home being a sort of natural time capsule.  He then cites the radiation and bizarre shape/size of the creature to conclude that nuclear testing in the Pacific must have unleashed, and perhaps even painfully mutated the creature.  Some at the hearing want to conceal that fact, fearing international repercussions for blaming nuclear testing.  Others say the truth must be revealed.  Political argument ensues, but those seeking the declassification of this information eventually prevail, and Godzilla's origins are announced to the public.  Battleships are immediately sent with depth charges to kill the monster, and after several detonations, the threat of Godzilla is declared to be over.

But obviously, it's not.  Godzilla appears again, this time near Japan-proper, frightening patrons on a party boat, and causing nationwide panic. Officials appeal to Dr. Yamane for some way to kill the monster, but Yamane wants him kept alive and studied, noting that enormous amounts of good to be accomplished by studying Godzilla's ability to not only survive in, but seemingly absorb radiation.  Meanwhile, his daughter Emiko decides to break off her arranged engagement to Dr. Serizawa, because of her love for Ogata.   However, before she has the opportunity to do it, Serizawa tells her about his secret experiment.  As it turns out, following the war, Serizawa has devoted himself to studying Oxygen, and all of its apparent uses.  His research, however, has led him to become recently rather reclusive, as he has apparently stumbled upon something horrifying.  He gives a small demonstration of a devise he calls The Oxygen Destroyer, activating it inside a fish tank in his lab.  Shocked by what she sees, Emiko is sworn to secrecy and never gets a chance to break off the engagement.

That night Godzilla rises from Tokyo Bay and attacks the city.  Though the attack is over quickly, there is much death and destruction. The next morning, the army constructs a line of 40-meter electrical towers along the coast of Tokyo that will send 50,000 volts of electricity through Godzilla, should he appear again. Civilians are evacuated from the city and put into bomb shelters. And, as night falls, Godzilla does indeed attack again. Still, he easily breaks through the electric fence, melting the wires with his atomic breath, an ability that the world had previously been oblivious to.  A blast of atomic radiation is emitted from his mouth, his enormous spiked dorsal fins glowing as he does so.  A bombardment of shells from army tanks have no effect.  In fact, it should be noted that since World War II, Japan hasn't had a true "army" per se.  Instead, they have the JSDF, or the Japanese Self-Defense Force.  Anyway, Godzilla continues his rampage until much of the city is destroyed and thousands of civilians are dead or wounded.  During this, there are several pretty harrowing scenes.  People getting melted, buildings being crushed, trains being chomped on, and so on.  We see a mother gathering her children around, waiting to die, repeating to them that soon they'd join their father in heaven.  Dark.  There's also a famous scene where some reporters stand atop a tower, reporting live as Godzilla approaches and kills them.  Eventually, with the entire city more or less in ruins, airplanes arrive and herd Godzilla back to the depths of the sea, though he is virtually unscathed.

Something to note in the original Godzilla film is that his power is all shown in full force, but never truly discussed through exposition.  He's big, and he destroys, but his motives are never really made clear.  And he is nigh indestructible, but it will be a great many films before that ability is ever truly explored beyond Dr. Yamane being annoyed that the government would rather kill the monster than study him.

The next day, hospitals overflow with victims, including some with radiation poisoning.  Witnessing the devastation, Emiko tells Ogata about Serizawa's secret Oxygen Destroyer, a device that she says disintegrates oxygen atoms, causing living organisms to either die of asphyxiation, or completely dissolve (the fish from Serizawa's fish tank were entirely stripped of flesh, left merely as skeletons) and that it accidentally created a new energy source.  She hopes that the two can persuade Serizawa to use it to stop Godzilla.  When Serizawa realizes Emiko has betrayed his secret, he refuses, and he and Ogata fight, leading to Ogata receiving a head wound.  As Emiko treats Ogata's wound, Serizawa apologizes, but also refuses to use the weapon on Godzilla, citing the public bedlam his weapon could cause.  There are some pretty ominous parallels made between nuclear weaponry and the Oxygen Destroyer, and the dangers of escalation.  Nuclear weapons ended World War II, but nuclear weapons also created Godzilla.  The Oxygen Destroyer could end Godzilla, but what new evil would rise from that?

Serizawa eventually changes his mind after seeing a newscast showing the devastation Godzilla has caused. Choirs of children are shown singing a hymn of prayer, and Serizawa decides he will use the weapon once and only once.  To ensure it can never be used again, Serizawa destroys all of his notes on the subject, and creates one final Oxygen Destroyer device.  Emiko breaks down and cries when she sees this, as she understands that Serizawa is sacrificing his life's work to stop Godzilla.

A navy ship takes Ogata and Serizawa to plant the device in Tokyo Bay.  They don diving gear and descend into the water, where they find Godzilla sleeping.  As they begin setting up, the monster awakens.  Ogata returns to the surface as Serizawa activates the device underwater.   Serizawa tells Ogata to be with Emiko, and then cuts his own oxygen cord so his knowledge of the device cannot be used to harm mankind.  A dying Godzilla surfaces, letting out a final roar, and sinks to the bottom before completely disintegrating into an enormous skeletal carcass.  Although the monster is gone, those aboard ship mourn the unexpected loss of Serizawa.  Godzilla's death has come at a terrible price, and Dr. Yamane believes that if mankind continues to test weapons of mass destruction, meddling with the elements of nature, another Godzilla may appear again one day.

Godzilla is represented as a symbol for nuclear holocaust and ever since the film's initial release, Godzilla has been culturally identified as a strong metaphor for nuclear weapons.  In the film, Godzilla's attack mirrors the same horrors the Japanese people experienced near the end of World War II.  Producer Tomoyuki Tanaka stated that, "The theme of the film, from the beginning, was the terror of the bomb. Mankind had created the bomb, and now nature was going to take revenge on mankind."  This theme has echoed throughout the entire series. The hit song from Blue Oyster Cult states, "History shows again and again how nature points out the folly of man."  This line was further carried on in the 2014 Godzilla, in a line which states, "The arrogance of man is thinking nature is under our control, and not the other way around." Director Ishirō Honda filmed Godzilla's rampage on Tokyo with the mentality that the monster's onslaught was a parallel and physical manifestation of an Atom bomb attack. He stated, "If Godzilla had been a dinosaur or some other animal, he would have been killed by just one cannonball.  But if he were equal to an atomic bomb, we wouldn't know what to do.  So, I took the characteristics of an atomic bomb and applied them to Godzilla."

With the original film's huge success, its title creature became a runaway hit and entered the realm of popular culture.  Though Godzilla initially began as a metaphor for nuclear devastation, the more sequels Toho produced, the more the symbolism and metaphor behind Godzilla evolved.  He became a symbol for war itself, for forces of nature, and even became something of a hero in certain outings.  Reportedly just as many people in the audience for the original Godzilla had mourned the death of the monster as they did the death of Serizawa.  After all, Godzilla had been a victim of the bomb as well.  It seems almost no wonder that the masses took such a fast and hard liking to the monster.