Gojira no gyakushû (1955)

... aka: ゴジラの逆襲

... aka: El rey de los monstruos (The Return of the Monsters)

... aka: Gigantis, the Fire Monster

... aka: Godzilla kehrt zurück (Godzilla Returns)

... aka: Godzilla Raids Again

... aka: Godzilla's Counterattack

... aka: Il re dei mostri (The King of Monsters)

... aka: Le Retour de Godzilla (The Return of Godzilla)

Directed by:

Motoyoshi Oda

Supposedly, this first GODZILLA (1954) sequel was given the green light after the original had only spent two weeks in theaters. That's how much money it was making and how quickly it was making it. Deciding to strike while the getting was still good, this was proposed, planned, filmed and went through post production in a matter of just months and was already in theaters less than six months after the original debuted! A quick cash grab, you say? That would be correct and, sadly, it shows. Due to the rushed schedule, Ishirô Honda was replaced as director, not because the studio didn't want him but because he was already busy making another film. Oda was then brought in due to his experience in special effects driven films, while Eiji Tsuburaya was again put in charge of the effects. The young leads from the original have been replaced, though Takashi Shimura (best known for his roles in Akira Kurosawa classics like Seven Samurai and Ikiru) was brought back to reprise the role of the paleontology professor in just one scene. In the canon of Godzilla films, this is mostly important for setting up the monster vs. monster premise that would be used in most of the later entries.

Fishery pilots Shoichi Tsukioka (Hiroshi Koizumi) and Kôji Kobayashi (Minoru Chiaki) are flying around the ocean scouting for bonito when Kôji's engine dies. He's able to make a successful crash landing near uninhabited Iwato Island. Shoichi swings in to rescue him and the two men witness a fight between Godzilla and a second giant ("150 to 200 feet high") prehistoric monster called Anguirus, who's part of the ankylosaurus (quadrupedal dinosaur with an armored, spiked back) family. That fight ends with both beasts disappearing after tumbling into the ocean. If you recall, Godzilla was liquefied and dissolved with the "Oxygen Destroyer" contraption in Tokyo Bay at the end of the first film. However, as Dr. Serizawa did not want his invention to fall into the wrong hands, he agreed to use it just one time to kill Godzilla. Kind of sad to think he sacrificed both his life and his life's work for the sake of mankind only for a second creature of the same species to emerge soon after!

I suppose since Tokyo has already been through enough, this relocates things to Osaka and lets them get stomped on for a bit instead. After the new Godzilla and Anguirus sightings, an emergency meeting of the Godzilla Task Force is organized. Seeing how he'd experienced the Tokyo attack first hand, Prof. Kyohei Yamane (Shimura) is flown in to help. After showing the board destructo footage from the first film, he then lets them know that Dr. Serizawa burned all of his notes before he died and thus they'll have to start from scratch coming up with another way to stop the creatures.

Here we learn that Godzilla is light sensitive and bright light sends him into a destructive rage because it reminds him of when he was repeatedly subjected to the underwater H bomb tests. Because of this, when there are nearby sightings of the monster, citywide blackouts are ordered, with plans to lure Godzilla back out to sea with the use of flares shot from jets. The plan seems to actually work as Godzilla makes a 180 and starts heading back out to sea. However, some criminals in a transport van manage to kill a few cops, escape, get into a high speed car chase and then crash into the cities electrical plant, which causes a series of massive explosions. And that means fire and that means light and that means Godzilla's about to make a u turn and head back to town.

As soon as Godzilla arrives in the city, Anguirus shows up and the two engage in a lengthy battle, destroying about half of the city in the process. That ends with Godzilla going for the jugular and then whipping out the ole atomic breath trick to fire roast its rival, before returning to the sea. Now I do have to give this film some credit. Usually films utilizing the monster vs. monster format make us wait until the very end for the showdown, while this puts the fights at the very beginning and middle.

Because the fishing cannery is destroyed in the attack, owner Koehi Yamaji (Yukio Kasama) sends pilot Kobayashi away to work at another branch affiliate in Hokkaido, while he, his daughter Hidemi (Setsuko Wakayama), Tsukioka and the other employees work at rebuilding what they've lost in Osaka. Once that's finished, Tsukioka and Hidemi head over to Hokkaido to join their friend. Tsukioka hooks up with some old college / military friends he hasn't seen since the war and it isn't long before Godzilla sightings are being reported there. Seeing how the military are already there, they try to devise a plan to bury the monster alive by triggering an avalanche.

This film is filled with nice, normal, everyday, working class people, but in stripping all of the human conflict and moral catch 22's that fueled the first film, the characters come off as bland and one-dimensional and this completely loses the dramatic and emotional weight of the first. In that same regard, eliminating most of the pointed WWII / Nagasaki / nuclear war allusions results in a far less conceptually interesting film.

I do kind of see what they were going for here though. The original was criticized by Japanese critics for being too dark, downbeat and gloomy. It was a film of unease and uncertainty on numerous levels. I suppose the next logical step was to depict the recovery process and a move forward. The characters are generally optimistic, love their country, band together to rebuild communities and are protected by a courageous gung hu military willing to die to destroy the enemy. While rallying the audience troops may be a more crowd pleasing approach, it's also far less substantive and intriguing, and downgrades this to straightforward monster movie that devolves into a three act piece with uninteresting dialogue filler used as glue to string together the monster stuff. All rather forgettable on the whole.

The film also shows the usual telltale signs of something conceived and spit out too quickly and with far too little planning. There are recycled clips from the original and many instances of time padding, including a musical number and lots of pointless, underdeveloped characters gumming up the works. Even the leads this time out come off like cardboard.

Here in the U. S., plans were made to shoot new footage around the Japanese special effects scenes as had been done with Raymond Burr for the Godzilla: King of the Monsters! version of the original. A script was written, it was given the new title The Volcano Monster and the monster suits were flown all the way over from Japan, but then the producers backed out. Instead, they added a different (recycled) music score, spliced in some stock footage, re-edited the film and had the whole thing dubbed, with Paul Frees, Keye Luke and a young George Takei among the voice over artists and narration from Marvin Miller. The title was changed yet again to Gigantis, the Fire Monster and it was released on a double bill with TEENAGERS FROM OUTER SPACE by Warner Brothers in 1959.

For many years, the only version that was available to English speakers was the Gigantis butcher job (released under the Godzilla Raids Again title by Video Treasures in 1989). That was until 2019, when the original Japanese cut with English subtitles was included in the fifteen film Criterion Collection set Godzilla, the Showa-Era Films, 1954-1975.

Unrelated side note: My sincerest apologies for my absence. I truly hate when that happens but I got derailed by a death in the family and then having to travel out of state and then catching a nasty case of COVID and then, because we had a virtual revolving door of infections where I work, getting slammed having to fill in for others who were out sick. And some other stuff on top of that! I've just not had the time or energy to watch too many movies these past few months but I'll be working my way back into my usual groove over the next few weeks. While I do have two other trips planned (next weekend and another around Thanksgiving), barring any unforeseen new things popping up, I should be able to dedicate a nice chunk of time to reviewing for the rest of the year.

★★