Godzilla (1954)

With the latest Godzilla film due to come out in November, I thought I would start watching them all from the very beginning. This original film is probably my favourite (time will tell on the rewatch). The set up of the film is that after a series of ships sinking, an investigation is started. I usually like the first in a series because it isn't weighed down by over complicated plot strands or characters that are over the top.

The first appearance of Godzilla is relatively lowkey by 2026 standards. The effect might look a bit primitive but for 1954 it did what it needed to do. The next appearance is of Godzilla coming out of the sea and with the black and white filming, it looks a lot more effective and would have probably been the better choice for its first appearance. Something that Godzilla does well (and future films utilise this in every other film) is the destruction is brilliant. His first attack on Tokyo is spectacular and its made even more effective with the great shots to the people as they look on helplessly.

It might be unfair but the scene where there is a discussion about what the reporters saw and there are the stuffy scientists and politicians being shouted at by the residents is a little bit funny. I think this sort of scene was commonplace in films of this period but it just made me chuckle. That's the only time the film made me chuckle. I suppose the other issue with Godzilla that doesn't get really addressed until the terrible Roland Emmerich 1998 version is that it does look like a bloke in a costume.

The score is something that I wanted to point out. Normally films from the 1950's are something that stand out to me because of the score yet there is something about Akira Ifukube's score that manages to convey the terror of what Godzilla is doing yet have moments where the music is somewhat comical. That's not an easy thing to pull off and yet Ifukube manages it really well.

I do like the central performances. I thought that the trio of Hideto Ogata (Akira Takarada), Emiko Yamane (Momoko Kochi) and Daisuke Serizawa (Akihiko Hirata)  helped make the human side of the film more interesting instead of reducing it to screaming. Yamane did unfortunately resort to stereotypical 'woman crying/shrieking at what terror she saw' a couple of time but I thought that the role was well performed by Kochi. Takarada as Ogata is a good leading man although if I were judging by 2026 standards I would say he doesn't have the greatest charisma or charm. Hirata is good as Serizawa but it did feel like his character was centered around the eye patch. It was somewhat inevitable that Serizawa would sacrifice himself to kill Godzilla.

The idea that Godzilla wasn't the only one of his species is an interesting idea of having more of these films and getting yourself out of a creative dead end. Even in the 1950’s they were hinting at sequel bait. I still stand that this is one of if not the best Godzilla films. The story is straight forward, the performances were really good and the way that Godzilla was defeated was rather low key but perhaps one of the more inventive ways instead of building mechagodzillas or using every weapon known to man.