GODZILLA (1954) | FIRST TIME WATCHING | MOVIE REACTION

Enjoy my reaction as I watch "Godzilla" for the first time!

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00:00 - Intro
02:07 - Reaction
26:49 - Review

[Shrapnel]

The original Godzilla suit weighed 200lbs. Haruo Nakajima wore the suit and would often pass out while still in the suit and had to be pulled out. The suit would also fill with his own sweat. He would go on to play Godzilla as well as Rodan and Varan until 1972. He unfortunately passed away in 2017, but he has been immortalized forever in pop culture.

[fester]

"How did they do this before CGI?" A man in a rubber suit.

[cameronwiscovitch]

Some trivia of the original 1954 Godzilla for you, Cassie.

1. The creation of Godzilla is owed to four events. First, the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War 2 in 1945. Second, the Lucky Dragon No. 5 Incident, where a Japanese fishing vessel was caught in the fallout zone of the Castle Bravo hydrogen bomb test, irradiating the boat's crew. Third, the cancellation of In The Shadow Of Glory, which was slated as Toho's big film in 1954 before tensions between Toho and Indonesia (one of the areas occupied by the Imperial Japanese during WW2) resulted in production being halted, forcing producer Tomoyuki Tanaka to scramble for an idea, with a popular rumor being that he looked out at the sea from his plane ride and imagined a monster rising from the depths. Finally, the then-recent re-release of the original King Kong and the success of another atomic age monster movie called The Beast From 20, 000 Fathoms.

2. Director Ishiro Honda was actually a veteran of the Imperial Japanese army, and his experiences in war would shape his pacifist views as the memory and trauma of the war lingered with him. At one point during the war, a mortar shell landed near him, but failed to explode. Honda would take this shell with him back to Japan following the war's conclusion, where it remained in his office at home. A constant reminder of the closest war nearly took him.

3. When designing Godzilla, several concepts were suggested, ranging from an octopus to a big-eared sea monster. The final design came from looking at dinosaur illustrations in children's books and Life magazine. Godzilla himself is a fusion between a Tyrannosaurus Rex for its vicious appearance, Stegosaurus for its back plates, and Iguanodon for its posture. Godzilla's name in Japanese, Gojira (ゴジラ), is a combination of the Japanese words for gorilla (ゴリラ gorira) and whale (kujira クジラ). A popular rumor states that the name was the nickname of a burly member of staff at Toho, but this has never been confirmed.

4. While stop-motion was considered for Godzilla's moments similar to King Kong, it was deemed to expensive and time consuming, so special effects artist Eiji Tsuburaya chose to create the monster with suit-mation. The original Godzilla suit, known to the fandom as ShodaiGoji (or First Generation Godzilla), was designed by Teizo Toshimitsu, Kanju and Yasuei Yagi, and Eizo Kaimai. The suit weighed 220 lbs, or 100 kg, and was made with ready-mix concrete, as latex was a rare commodity in post-war Japan. Two suits were made, with the original being so unusable that it had to be cut into different pieces to use properly, and puppets were used for close up shots. Haruo Nakajima dawned the suit for the majority of the film, earning the title as the first man to play Godzilla, with Katsumi Tezuka as his understudy. Both actors would have difficulty seeing and moving within the suit, with Nakajima infamously passing out on several takes due to heat exhaustion, not helped by the studio lamps above that raised the temperature inside the suit. After each take, a cup of sweat had to be removed, and Nakajima lost 20 pounds over the course of filming.

5. Godzilla's roar took some time to create, with staff using lions, tigers, bears, and herons as references, but all were deemed as sounding too natural. When the film's composer, Akira Ifukube, was asked to help come up with a sound, he was initially reluctant, feeling that, as a reptile, Godzilla wouldn't make roars like a mammal. Ishiro Honda convinced him after explaining that the roar was a result of Godzilla's mutation. The final roar was made by Ifukube when he unwound the e-string of a contrabass and recorded his assistant rubbing gloves covered in pine tar along the strings.

6. Following the original Godzilla, several follow ups and continuities sprouted in succession, each under a different label. They are as follows.
. Showa Era (1954-1975)
. Heisei Era (1984-1995)
. TriStar Series (1998-2000)
. Millennium Era (1999-2004)
. Monsterverse (2014-Ongoing)
. Reiwa Era (2016-Ongoing)
To date, Godzilla has had 38 films and 4 series, and is one of the longest ongoing film franchises of all time.

[edl]

"Toy Helicopter" 🤣 That's 1954 state of the art special effects.

[nekoking]

As a lifelong fan of Godzilla, It’s so good to see more & more people watch his movies for the first time and give him the respect he deserves!

[delfordchaffin]

"He looks well fed."
"That is not a solid piece of architecture."

Cassie killing me with these one-liners. 😂

[rosario]

Hopefully Cassie will someday realize that Godzilla’s roar is the greatest sound effect in the history of film

[sonnercampbell]

Godzilla’s roar hits me right in the nostalgia nerve

[DoerOfThings]

The reason Seven Samurai and Godzilla both came out in 1954 is not a coincidence. When the Americans occupied Japan they instituted strict censorship in the country. Japanese media was not allowed to depict anything related to nuclear issues, the war, the occupation, and were not allowed to show swords on screen or positively portray warrior culture or imperialism. The censorship ended in 1952. Shortly after there were a lot of movies made about samurai, the war, and nuclear issues.

[NecroSeraphim]

It's interesting you mentioned Seven Samurai and I'm guessing you didn't notice, but the actor who played the professor in this also played the lead bald samurai in Seven Samurai, Kanbei.

[chipsdad]

Cassie is watching old school godzilla....AWESOME. Love this channel.

[dq]

People here have recommended the 1933 KING KONG, and I can only say, Yes, Utterly, Absolutely.

[wayneblanchard]

Yes I would highly recommend the original King Kong from 1933 with Canadian fay Wray.

[bjchit]

Godzilla is very rarely evil, maybe two movies he was. Sometimes he’s even been a hero. But most of the time, he is simply a force of nature, a representation of the power of the atom bomb, and all its consequences.

[CTH]

"I thought that was a toy Helicopter..It was to 1950's special effects Cassie.

[matthewdunham]

Godzilla is a cross between a metaphor for the horrors of thermal nuclear war and a metaphor for natural disasters and mother nature unleashed. He is neither good nor evil he just is.

[gorgonsdeathstare]

"Nature has a way sometimes of reminding man of just how small he is. She occasionally throws up the terrible offsprings of our pride and carelessness to remind us of how puny we really are in the face of a tornado, an earthquake or a Godzilla. The reckless ambitions of man are often dwarfed by their dangerous consequences. For now Godzilla, that seemingly innocent and tragic monster, has gone to Earth. Whether he returns or not, or is never again seen by human eyes, the things he has taught us remain." --- Raymond Burr (as Mr. Martin from Godzilla 1985)


I've been a Godzilla fan for as long as I can remember. I grew up either watching the dubbed versions on TV or renting them from the video store. It's tough to explain why I liked Godzilla so much, it's probably due to the fact that kids love dinosaurs and Godzilla is the coolest dinosaur ever. It wasn't until 2004 that the original unedited Japanese versions of the classic Showa Era Godzilla movies became commercially available here in the West and that's when I finally saw this movie. This isn't really a fun monster movie but rather a post-war tragedy. It reinvigorated my love for these movies but I also came to greatly admire the creative forces behind Godzilla.

Tomoyuki Tanaka was the creator & executive producer of every Godzilla film from 1954 to 1995. He only got the idea to do this film because another film he was trying to get off the ground fell through and so he needed a movie for later that year. As he so often enjoyed telling the story, he was on plane going home when he looked out the window and imagined a monster rising up from the depths. This was hardly an original thought as the previous year the film 'The Beast From 20, 000 Fathoms' was released which is a similar story to this movie. However, it was actually a real life incident that occured that greatly influenced Godzilla. On March 1, 1954, the first Hydrogen bomb test was done in the Marshall Islands in the Pacific by the U.S. with the codename 'Castle Bravo'. The blast ended up being more than twice as big as expected and as a result a Japanese Tuna boat named the 'Lucky Dragon No.5' was hit with radioactive fallout. The men all had radiation sickness with one man dying 6 months later. The opening scene to Godzilla is a direct reference to this event.

The man responsible for bring the monster to life was special effects legend Eiji Tsuburaya (his first name is pronounced A-Gee). His work for the film 'The War at Sea From Hawaii to Malaya' was so convincing that during U.S. occupation of Japan after WWII, the U.S. confiscated the film believing it was actual footage of the attack on Pearl Harbour. He was blacklisted from the film industry as a result, Gojira was his big comeback to film. Tsuburaya was known as the 'Father of Godzilla' and when he died in 1970, director Ishiro Honda believed that Godzilla should've been retired then.

The one thing that always stood out for me throughout the Godzilla movies is the music and the man who created most of Godzilla's most recognizable music was composer Akira Ifukube. On top of that Ifukube is also responsible for creating Godzilla's iconic roar by running a leather glove over the loosened strings of a contrabass and then slowing the sound down. Ifukube was the 'Voice of Godzilla', although a huge shout out to the many others who left their mark on the franchise; Masaru Sato, Reijiro Koroku, Shiro Sagisu, and Naoki Sato (no relation to Masaru Sato).

Director Ishiro Honda is probably the one I admire the most for his influence on Godzilla cannot be understated. The early drafts of the script were very typical of other science fiction movies of the time with Godzilla being more akin to wild animal as opposed to a true monster. Once Honda was chosen to direct, he jettisoned all of those tropes. Ishiro Honda was the son of a Buddhist priest and he had a great interest in science. Honda was all set to join the film industry when WWII broke out and he was instead drafted into Japan's Imperial army. The horrors of war stayed with him forever and as a result Honda became a fierce pacifist. Honda's respect for scientist is on full display in this film. Originally the Dr. Yamane character was more of a mad scientist living in a gothic castle, Honda changed him to a well respected scientist. Honda also wasn't a fan of his government which is reflected in scene with the politicians arguing over whether or not Dr. Yamane's findings should be made public or not. Ultimately, Honda believed that scientist have a responsibility to the public and to the world, hence Dr. Serizawa choosing to sacrifice himself rather than allow a doomsday weapon to be unleashed on the world. 'Gojira' is Honda's call for sanity in an increasingly insane world.

Ishiro Honda loved making movies and for all the people that he ever worked with throughout his long career, not one of them had an unkind thing to say about him. A truly humble and warm natured man, Honda was truly the 'Soul of Hmm? Kinda reminds me of someone

[GairBear]

The same year, 1954, another movie came out about the effects of radiation, THEM. This movie takes place in New Mexico near the site of the first Atomic tests. There followed a string of movies about the effects of radiation on animals but I think these two, GODZILLA and THEM are the best.

[chazertronfivethousand]

Honestly, as much of a classic as it is, I would never in a 100 years think this would be here. I'm glad you gave it a chance. At the time of the original release, pain was still raw, and they needed a way to embody and communicate the horrors of what they were still dealing with. The films get progressively sillier and he kind of becomes more of a hero, but the movies don't really follow much of a through-line after a certain point, where they're mostly stand-alones. There are a lot of re-imaginings of this movie though. Shin-Godzilla is another one I'd recommend along with Godzilla Minus One.

Also, thank you for recognizing the accomplishments of the effects of the time. They originally wanted to do stop-motion but at the time did not have the time or expertise to fully utilize it.

[Cadinho]

Very glad you opted to watch the original Japanese movie as opposed to the American version, which I grew up on. While there's nothing actually wrong with the U.S. version, its focus is just on the monster and the havoc it wreaks. Seeing the movie in its original incarnation, the way it was meant to be seen, I can appreciate the deeper meanings and textures of the story as opposed to it just being another "monster movie."

Also, this movie actually serves as a cautionary tale about atomic bombs bring dropped on major cities and what the terrible effects of radiation can do to a person. When the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima it signaled the end of WWII, but began the use of nuclear weapons.