| Godzilla Raids Again | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Motoyoshi Oda |
| Produced by | Tomoyuki Tanaka |
| Written by | Shigeaki Hidaka Takeo Murata |
| Starring | Hiroshi Koizumi Setsuko Wakayama Minoru Chiaki Haruo Nakajima as Godzilla |
| Music by | Masaru Satō |
| Cinematography | Seiichi Endo |
| Editing by | Kazuji Taira |
| Distributed by | Toho Warner Brothers (USA) |
| Release date(s) | April 24, 1955 |
| Running time | 81 min. 79 min. (USA) |
| Language | Japanese |
| Budget | $800,000 |
Godzilla Raids Again (ゴジラの逆襲 Gojira no Gyakushū), also known in the United States as Gigantis, the Fire Monster, is a 1955 Japanese black-and-white kaiju film directed by Motoyoshi Oda, written by Shigeru Koyama, Shigeaki Hidaka and Takeo Murata, and produced by Toho.
It is a sequel to the previous year's successful Godzilla and the second film in the Godzilla franchise. It is the first film to feature Anguirus and the first film in the series to feature a battle between two giant monsters. This would become a long standing tradition in Godzilla films after this film. Although director Ishirō Honda and composer Akira Ifukube did not return for this sequel, the special effects were once again created by Eiji Tsuburaya.
The English title Godzilla Raids Again was created by Toho in the 1950s, but only appeared onscreen in later US television and home video releases. The 1959 U.S. release was titled Gigantis the Fire Monster, and Godzilla's name was changed for this version of the film as well as his roar, replacing his original roar with Anguirus' roar. The American and Japanese versions of the film vary considerably.
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Pilots Shoichi Tsukioka and Koji Kobayashi are hunting for schools of fish for a tuna cannery company in Osaka. Kobayashi's plane malfunctions and is forced to land near Iwato Island, an uninhabited strip of rocks formed by volcanic eruptions. Tsukioka then looks for Kobayashi and finds him safe, with only a wrist sprain. While talking, the two men hear strange sounds and find two kaiju fighting. Tsukioka immediately recognizes one of the monsters to be Godzilla. The two monsters then fall off a cliff, into the ocean.
Tsukioka and Kobayashi report to the authorities in Osaka, and find out that the other monster Godzilla was fighting is Anguirus. A group of scientists with the two pilots research Anguirus in a book written by a Polish scientist. Godzilla and Anguirus lived around the same time millions of years ago. Anguirus hated Godzilla, which explains the intense rivalry between the two monsters.
Dr. Kyohei Yamane, who experienced Godzilla's attack in 1954, was also present at the meeting, and shows a film of Godzilla attacking Tokyo. Yamane states that there is no way to kill Godzilla, and that Dr. Daisuke Serizawa, the inventor of the Oxygen Destroyer, had died and burned the formula. Yamane, though, suggests that the military should use flares on Godzilla to attract the monster away from the shore. Godzilla becomes angry when he sees lights because the hydrogen bomb's bright explosion had awakened and mutated him.
One day, Godzilla appears on shore of Osaka. Jets are sent to shoot flares from their planes to lead Godzilla away from the shore. Godzilla sees the flames, and starts to walk away.
Meanwhile, a prison truck transports dangerous criminals to another part of the country. All of the criminals, using body language, decide that this would be a great opportunity to escape from prison. The prisoners beat up the two policemen guarding the back door of the truck, and run away. A few of them use a gasoline truck which then crashes into an industrial building and starts a massive fire.
The fire attracts Godzilla to the shore of Osaka again. A few minutes later, Anguirus swims to shore and attacks Godzilla. The two monsters fight an intense battle, in the course of which they destroy several buildings, including the tuna cannery where Tsukioka and Kobayashi work. Godzilla bites Anguirus's neck and throws him into a moat near Osaka Castle. Godzilla then fires his atomic breath and burns Anguirus to death. While this saves Japan from Anguirus, it also lights a large number of structures on fire.
Tsukioka and Kobayashi are transferred to a Hokkaido plant. During a company party, the two are notified that Godzilla has destroyed one of the company's fishing boats. The military and Tsukioka begin a massive search for Godzilla. Tsukioka spots Godzilla swimming to the shore of a small icy island. He notifies the cannery, and Kobayashi takes off in his plane to switch shifts with Tsukioka.
Kobayashi dives his plane towards Godzilla to distract him from walking back into the ocean. Tsukioka then transferred to the air force, travels on a jet with an old college friend. They drop bombs on Godzilla but are unsuccessful. Godzilla then wades towards shore. Kobayashi dies when he swoops down towards Godzilla, but Godzilla counterattacks with his ray, knocking Kobayashi off course, causing him to crash on an icy mountain.
Tsukioka grieves but then realizes that the military can shoot missiles at the mountain, and bury Godzilla in an avalanche. The jets fire the missiles, and bury Godzilla in snow to his waist.
The jets return to base to reload, and Tsukioka is authorized to fly in his own jet. The jets return to the icy island, and shoot missiles at the mountain, burying Godzilla to his neck. Tsukioka then shoots his missiles and defeats Godzilla by burying the monster completely.
The film sold approximately 8,340,000 tickets in Japan. It is the third most-attended Godzilla film in Japan, even though the film was poorly received by fans and critics, and Godzilla would not re-appear until 1962 in King Kong vs. Godzilla.
Instead of merely re-dubbing the film, Henry Rybnick and Edward Barrison planned on a radically altered Americanized version called The Volcano Monsters which was planned for a 1957 release. All scenes with Japanese actors would be cut, saving just special effects scenes, and these would be altered to reduce the apparent size of the monsters to a more dinosaur like scale. In addition, all scenes with Godzilla breathing fire were to be cut. A totally new script was written by SF screenwriter Ib Melchior,[1] and Ed Watson to be shot with American actors. New special effects footage was to be shot as well, and to that end Toho sent the suits for Godzilla and Anguirus to the United States.
The Volcano Monsters never went into production because the studio that was supposed to produce it, AB-PT Productions, closed its doors in 1957. In 1958, producers Paul Schreibman, Edmund Goldman and Newton P. Jacobs bought the rights to Godzilla Raids Again and planned to dub the film since The Volcano Monsters fell through. While the finished product was much closer to the Japanese original than The Volcano Monsters would have been, it still differed greatly from Toho's original movie. Instead of marketing the film as a sequel to the original Godzilla movie, Schriebman decided to rename the monster "Gigantis" and change his trademark roar to Anguirus' roar to convince the audience that they were seeing an entirely new monster. This act of changing Godzilla's name and roar was greatly criticized by fans and critics.
Schreibman, Goldman and Jacobs hired Hugo Grimaldi to dub and edit the film. George Takei, who would later play as Lt. Hikaru Sulu in the original Star Trek television series, was among the voice-actor cast.[2] The film was dubbed at Ryder Studios in New York.
Various Edits and Changes:
In 1959, Warner Brothers theatrically released Gigantis the Fire Monster on a double bill with Teenagers From Outer Space.
The American version of the film wasn't popular with neither critics nor fans who felt that the Japanese version was superior to the Americanized version. The film is, however, notable for introducing the monster Anguirus.
On November 7, 2006, Classic Media released both the Japanese and English versions of Godzilla Raids Again on DVD. Prior to this release, the film had been unavailable on North American home video since Video Treasures' VHS release in 1989. A notable difference between the original Gigantis and the U.S. version featured on this DVD, is the fact the Gigantis title card has been replaced with a newer Godzilla Raids Again one, by request of Toho.