Godzilla and the Lucky Dragon
01/17/2005
Gojira (Godzilla). Dir Ichiro Honda. 1954 (Toho Studios, Japan).
"The Lucky Dragon" wasn't lucky at all. On March 1, 1954, an American H-bomb test at Bikini Atoll scorched the crew of this ill-fated Japanese fishing vessel, supposedly in a safe zone. Many of its crew were seriously burned. Despite intensive medical care, the radio operator of the Dragon died from radiation sickness, while a horrified nation watched. This started an anti-nuclear movement in Japan, one that is still very evident today.
In same spirit, Toho Studios hired science fiction writer Shigeru Kayama, known for his "lost world" stories about the Orang Pendek, a small Yeti-like creature said to inhabit Sumatra, to create a story board partly inspired by the incident. Together the lost world and the H-bomb gave rise to Gojira, better known on this side of the Pacific as Godzilla. It became the longest running series of films in the world, and is still going in Japan, with no end in sight. For Godzilla's 50th anniversary, Toho studios has released the uncut original version of Gojira with English subtitles, and it is being shown in this country's theatres for the first time.
Unlike the American version of the film, Gojira opens on a Japanese fishing boat, a boat similar to "The Lucky Dragon." The sea begins to boil with an unnatural light. A blinding, Alamagordo-type flash bursts through the surface, waylaying the crew. Their radio operator rushes out a distress call. But it is too late, for the sea and the boat are quickly engulfed in flames. In a long shot, the stricken vessel explodes in huge cloud of steam. In response, the boat's parent company, Nankai Shipping, sends two more vessels in sequence, but both meet the same fate. Everyone is baffled.
The movie then shifts to scenes of the fishing village of Odo, where a few of the survivors manage to wash onto shore. Exhausted and frightened, they say little and die shortly after their rescue. The film's pace again changes, to show the village festival that stars a legendary creature called Gojira. Lots of drummers and dancers in masks and traditional costumes pass by. Later that night, an earthquake-like disturbance nearly flattens the village.
In the morning, the eminent scientist, Dr. Yamane (Takashi Shimura), and his cohorts visit the village and discover a large depression in the ground. It's a giant, radioactive footprint, an idea borrowed by the American Godzilla. Embedded in the footprint is a living trilobite, a creature that has been extinct for millions of years. The villagers flee up into the hills and there they meet the creature named Gojira. In a scene which adds some comic relief, only Gojira's head pops up from behind a hilltop, but that is enough to send everyone scurrying back down the mountain.
Next, Dr Yamane leads a conference on Gojira. He claims that Gojira is a survivor of the Jurassic Period, 2 million years ago, who was driven out of his habitat by H-bomb testing1. As a result of the conference, Yamane takes a large ship with a highly trained crew out to get the facts. After a few scenes, the movie changes pace again, speeding up for a wonderful rampage--as Gojira wrecks Tokyo for the first time. His footfalls seem like earthquakes. His atomic breath makes metal wither and concrete crumble. The high voltage power lines around the city don't stop him. Jets, missiles and tanks are useless. The monster smashes buildings and derails trains, at one point putting an occupied train car in his mouth.
Based on this formula, I would have to place Gojira into a category of horror called the unclean. This subgenre is defined by texts where originally normal creatures, be they human or animal, are transformed by exposure to something horrid, such as vampire blood, werewolf bites, or atomic radiation. Gojira, like The Incredible Shrinking Man, Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, and Night of the Living Dead, is an example of the latter. For all practical purposes, Gojira is just an ordinary Jurassic dinosaur who got blasted. But now made radioactive, his artificial energy seems boundless, and his fury makes him seek revenge against mankind for the sin of nuclear testing.
Unfortunately, this message got lost in the translation.
The American version begins with reporter Steve Martin (Raymond Burr) lying injured in a makeshift medical facility, awaiting treatment. Then there are scenes of the aftermath of Godzilla's wrath. The rest of the movie is a flashback, picking and choosing scenes from the original, intercut with shots of Martin looking despondent, while doing a deadpan narration. The rapid intercutting and shortening of scenes makes the American version more fast-paced and thus appealing to audiences with short attention spans. Dr. Yamane's scenes were also edited out, as the American crew did not realize he was already an internationally famous actor for his roles in Kurosawa films. The American editor also nixed the love triangle scenes among Yamane's daughter, Emiko; Ogata her simple boyfriend; and the brooding scientist Serazawa, her ex-fiancé. Not a single frame was cut of the monster, Godzilla, though.
Nonetheless, the plots of the two versions are basically the same. What happens is well known to Godzilla fans around the world. After the dismal failure of conventional arms, a horrible but non-atomic weapon puts an end to Godzilla's wrath, and unlike the Americans and their H-bombs, the Japanese destroy the secret of their super-weapon, saving future generations. The final scene shows the real difference between the two versions: In the Japanese one, Dr. Yamane gives a speech warning that continued H-bomb testing will create more and more Gojiras. All nuclear testing must stop or everyone will pay a terrible price. These are indeed prophetic words, for Gojira returned again and again to flatten Japan with his anti-nuclear warnings. In the American version, Raymond Burr does a voice-over explaining that Japan is free from the menace of Godzilla forever, and all is right with the world. Gojira's message disappears beneath his drowsy voice-over.
Messages aside, the Japanese original is a more watchable film, with better continuity and acting, than the American one. Dr. Yamane has charisma and charm, and his daughter Emiko plays her part with sensitivity and genuine emotions. After seeing the original, it becomes painful to watch the other film, with its tired English dubbing and awkward transitions between scenes. Another bonus of the original is hearing Akira Ifukube's fine film score without interruptions. He did the music for most of the Gojira films, and he's underrated for his bright, often discordant work that punctuates the action. Gojira's theme is a driving progression that builds to cataclysmic heights--an unmistakable sound.
In all, the film holds up well today, despite its low budget and simple special effects. The miniatures of Tokyo were quite marvelous, and it seemed a shame that Gojira/Godzilla destroyed them so wantonly. While American audiences will find that the anti-nuclear testing message is heavy-handed, the first of this important, long-lived series is still one of the best.
1In reality, the Jurassic Period ended about 140 million years ago, and trilobites were extinct about the time the Jurassic period started, so not much actual science went into script.