MovieChat Forums > Godzilla, King of the Monsters! (1956) Discussion > Good idea ruined by terrible film-making

Good idea ruined by terrible film-making

posted 14 years ago by aa56
9 replies | jump to latest

Back in the days when Japanese quality control was nil, a few examples:

Laughable continuity
Nonsensical sound effects (like Godzilla sounding like he’s stomping on a drum when he’s in the water)
Absurd zoology (a reptile able to sleep under water?; 100-mm cannon fire unable to puncture its skin?)
Cheesy, obviously toy props (like the helicopter on the island)
Undisciplined extras (laughing in the fleeing scenes when they should be terrified; the non-singing girl in the front row of the prayer-song scene)
Over-acting (Emiko, Dr. Serizawa, & Ogata)
Nonsensical action (a TV suddenly comes on with no one touching it)
Unbelievable plot holes (they ring Tokyo with high-voltage lines in what, a day or so?)
Erratic dubbing (Japanese speaking English when Burr isn’t there)

It’s like Ed Wood Jr. had a hand in this production.

[–] PillowRock 14 years ago

Be careful who you're blaming. If you're going hit Toho with an accusation of "Japanese quality control was nil", then you should really limit your supporting arguments to things that have at least a little to do with Toho's production of the movie. They had nothing to do with the re-dubbing (and not just the dialog) / re-shooting (everything around Burr) / re-editing of the movie for American release. That was *all* on the American distributors.

You should watch the original Japanese version of the movie some time. The continuity is much better (including the kinds of things that you called "nonsensical actions"). The scoring / sound is better and more consistent. The acting performances work better (and don't come across as bad overacting) when seen in their full original context and continuity.

I'm curious where you found the inappropriately laughing extras. These days my mental image of the movie is more the original version, and I thought they were pretty good there. So I'm curious whether we're talking about scenes around Burr, meaning American made. That did become a problem for them in the sequels as the idea that "this is a Godzilla movie" got be something that the film makers couldn't overcome with the non-pros in the crowd scenes (to the point where they eventually only filmed fleeing crowds from the back). I can't view a non-singing school girl as any real problem. The scene is a full school assembly where everyone is singing. There *are* going to be some students not singing, regardless of whether it is the "real thing" or movie making.

The "toy props" are not a quality control issue. They are a limited budget issue. I can't blame them for working within the budget limitations that were beyond their control.

As for the "absurd zoology" issue: So you're OK with the bit about a hibernation period most easily measured in millions of years, and the idea of "atomic breath" that melts steel being basically a side effect of radiation sickness? But things like sleeping underwater are just too ridiculous to accept? That's up there with faster-than-light travel among the things that you just have to accept if you're going to bother to watch a certain subset of science fiction movies.

[–] aa56 12 years ago

Didn't Toho have any control at all with the U.S. release? It certainly does today with any aspect of the Godzilla franchise. For example, Toho will not allow MST3K to release their rift of the film. If Toho had any control, it should have objected to such butchery of its film.

I think the laughing extras scene is when the beast first appears at the top of the hill, and all the people are fleeing down it. There is a still of this scene in an issue of the old Famous Monsters Magazine. One woman in particular at the front of the crowd is having a grand time.

I'm not really "OK" with the hibernation period and the "atomic breath." These also are absurd, but if one gives the writers any slack at all for the premise of the story, you tend to gloss over these items. I listed things that would give even a child a WTF? pause. A child knows his/her pet lizard doesn't sleep underwater. A child knows cannon fire blows apart steel and concrete structures and makes very large holes in the earth, but it bounces off dinosaur skin???

Good story writing should offer some plausible explanation for the viewer to cut the film some slack.

[–] EpsilonX 10 years ago

Godzilla's superpowers are more of a metaphor than anything that's supposed to be viewed logically. But just think, what would Godzilla be if he wasn't so over-the-top? A regular giant lizard attacking a city. Boring

[–] Kanano 13 years ago

Laughable continuity

It's the American version. Watch the Japanese version.

Nonsensical sound effects (like Godzilla sounding like he’s stomping on a drum when he’s in the water)

It was to add fear, and I liked it.

Absurd zoology (a reptile able to sleep under water?; 100-mm cannon fire unable to puncture its skin?)

From the booklet they give you with the 2 disc special edition:

For Honda (the director), Godzilla was not a metaphor for the bomb, but a physical manifestation for it. "Most of the visual images I got were from my war experience," he said years later "After the war, all of Japan, as well as Tokyo was left in ashes. The atomic bomb had emerged and completely destroyed Hiroshima. If Godzilla had been a dinosaur or some other animal, he would have been killed by just one cannonball. But if he were equal to an atomic bomb, we wouldn't know what to do. So I took the characteristics of an atomic bomb and applied them to Godzilla."

Cheesy, obviously toy props (like the helicopter on the island)

It was from the 50's man. Cut it a little slack. I think this was from the same era where they'd set a lizard on an miniature city and call it a monster.

Undisciplined extras (laughing in the fleeing scenes when they should be terrified; the non-singing girl in the front row of the prayer-song scene)

I don't remember any people laughing while running away. What scene are you referring to? As for the girl, I didn't even notice that.

Over-acting (Emiko, Dr. Serizawa, & Ogata)

It's the American version. Watch the Japanese version.

Erratic dubbing (Japanese speaking English when Burr isn’t there)

It's the American version. Watch the Japanese version.

[–] hdfans 10 years ago

Wow, you people are so friking serious about a 60 yo movie just ment for entertainment. Get a grip.

[–] nickm2 10 years ago

Interesting addition to the canon:

That 'Tank Corp' that was wiped out 'by a wall of fire', one of the tanks survived the flames. That theory is was what is behind IDW's graphic novel, "Half Century War".

Why can't you wretched prey creatures understand that the Universe doesn't owe you anything!?

[–] flipper33 9 years ago

this post should have been made in 1956 not 2010, but back then few people would know what a computer was, yet alone know what one could do so people actually enjoyed films like this, a quality lost by being intelligent, you only have yourself to blame for not enjoying this film.

[–] tcrizzo-1 8 years ago

When I was a kid, I had a toy helicopter similar to the one in the movie. It was indeed marked "Made in Japan." Most people under 50 won't remember the time that MiJ = cheap and inferior. Boy, times change. Eventually I disassembled the helicopter (as I did with most toys) and found printing on the inside. My helicopter was a recycled tuna can (or something similar.) I thought it clever the way it was assembled with metal tabs and friction "engine" that made noise when you pushed it on the wheels. I don't think the rotors actually moved. You needed to buy the 49 cent version for that.

My favorite MiJ toy was a police car. It had a recording - "A tiger has escaped from the zoo! A tiger has escaped from the zoo! Be very careful, tiger is dangerous!"

[–] bastasch8647 8 years ago

Those were the days...thanks for sharing your charming personal story...reminds me of my own childhood.