I grew up on this version of Godzilla and it would be decades before I had the opportunity to see the original. Of course the Japanese version is the superior of the two but the Americanized version does have a few good moments. I actually prefer the opening of the latter. It begins with that slow tracking shot of Tokyo in ruins and Raymond Burr (as Steve Martin) hints at what caused tbis devastation. Given that this film was released a decade after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki it is this version that drives the theme home that this is more than just a monster movie. We see the survivors being cared for in makeshift hospital space, tested for radiation. These images might just as well be documentary footage of those events which laid to waste two cities. This is more serious than any other monster movie released at this time. Unfortunately it is the clumsily inserted footage of Burr that is the biggest problem. I imagine that to sell this to a wider American audience it was necessary to shoot these new scenes. Watching it now makes one cringe a bit. Burr often looks so out of place as he pretends to be involved with the action, gazing off into the distance whenever Godzilla is sited. Although not intentionally funny they make you chuckle. I cannot bring myself to hate this version as it played such a huge role in my youth.
Review of Godzilla: King of the Monsters!
