He may be king of the monsters and headliner of the longest-running film franchise, but Godzilla isn’t exactly a beacon of consistency. He made his premiere in Honda Ishirô’s 1954 classic Godzilla as an allegorical figure, warning of the dangers of nuclear technology, before eventually settling into a drive-in movie star and a hero for children, as well as those young at heart. That’s a somewhat unlikely legacy, especially considering that the original film ends with the creature’s unambiguous death.
Inspired by King Kong’s popularity in Japan, Godzilla’s filmmakers didn’t have the time or resources to execute the stop-motion movie magic that brought Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack’s King Kong to life (the 1933 monster adventure was re-released in Japan in 1952), but their resourcefulness and ingenuity resulted in a different kind of magic. Tsuburaya Eiji’s pioneering use of suitmation was not...
Inspired by King Kong’s popularity in Japan, Godzilla’s filmmakers didn’t have the time or resources to execute the stop-motion movie magic that brought Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack’s King Kong to life (the 1933 monster adventure was re-released in Japan in 1952), but their resourcefulness and ingenuity resulted in a different kind of magic. Tsuburaya Eiji’s pioneering use of suitmation was not...
- 3/29/2024
- by Rob Humanick
- Slant Magazine
The original 1954 "Godzilla" was directed by Ishirō Honda, butithout minimizing his importance, it's impossible that the film would have turned out the same way without the special effects Director Eiji Tsuburaya. Portraying a giant monster with the convincing scale of Godzilla had almost never been done before and crafting the monster was Tsuburaya's responsibility.
Tsuburaya had a prolific career that began almost 30 years before he worked on "Godzilla," and included previous collaborations with Honda on the war films "Eagle of the Pacific" and "Farewell Rabaul." Today, though, he is mostly remembered as "the father of Tokusatsu" or effects-heavy Japanese film/TV. Such productions typically depict actors in costume as giant monsters, robots, or superheroes. Tsuburaya earned this title not just through his work on "Godzilla" and subsequent films (such as "Rodan"), but by creating the 1967 TV series turned media phenomenon "Ultraman."
While Ultraman is a hero, Godzilla is (at least...
Tsuburaya had a prolific career that began almost 30 years before he worked on "Godzilla," and included previous collaborations with Honda on the war films "Eagle of the Pacific" and "Farewell Rabaul." Today, though, he is mostly remembered as "the father of Tokusatsu" or effects-heavy Japanese film/TV. Such productions typically depict actors in costume as giant monsters, robots, or superheroes. Tsuburaya earned this title not just through his work on "Godzilla" and subsequent films (such as "Rodan"), but by creating the 1967 TV series turned media phenomenon "Ultraman."
While Ultraman is a hero, Godzilla is (at least...
- 2/4/2024
- by Devin Meenan
- Slash Film
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