I remember as a kid on Saturdays watching the old Godzilla movies on TV I have been a Godzilla fan for more than 30 years but I had never seen the original 1954 movie. (the original Japanese film, not the the badly edited Raymond Burr Americanized version.) I finally got to see the Japanese version today and watching it made me realize why I am a fan. The later versions of these films were cheesy and childish, not this one. Producer Tomiyuki Tanaka wanted to make a film that was very similar to the 1930's King Kong movie, but the studio did not have the time or the budget so they went with a man in a suit. This movie came out 9 years after the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki so the event was still fresh in the minds of the people of Japan. The movie depicts Godzilla as an unstoppable force of nature that was mutated by H-Bomb tests in the Pacific. Unlike the later films this movie takes a very serious take on the dangers of nuclear weapons. Godzilla's destruction of Tokyo was brilliantly film using low angles and life like minatures. The special effects are by 1954 standards pretty good and you tend to forget there is a man in a suit when Godzilla terrifies Japan. There are scenes in the movie that look like they came from World War II and the after effects of the Atomic bombing, the scenes of death are very realistic as well as the damage. The acting is first rate as it doesn't come across as too hammy and it is believable. It is a terrific monster movie that gave birth to a character I liked as a little kid. The King of the Monsters!!
