Godzilla: The Japanese Original

Release Date: Friday, April 27, 1956 New York Friday, April 18, 2014 New York

Ishirô Honda, Akira Takarada, Momoko Kochi, Takashi Shimura, Akihiko Hirata, Fuyuki Murakami, Takeo Murata, Kokuten Kodo, Sachio Sakai, Toranosuke Ogawa, Takeo Oikawa, Miki Hayashi, Tadashi Okabe, Kin Sugai, Toyoaki Suzuki, Ren Yamamoto, Seijiro Onda

N/A Action N/A

  • 4.4

50%

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Plot

What's the story about?

Plot
A 400-foot monster reptile with radioactive breath is revived, thanks to nuclear testing. It goes on a mad rampage, destroying Tokyo - how will they kill it?
Action Adventure Drama Fantasy Horror Sci-Fi

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Top Cast

The lead cast starring in Godzilla: The Japanese Original.

Crew Behind the Film

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Additional Information

MPA Rating
N/A Not available
Runtime
N/A
Tagline
Not available
Also known as
Gojira, Godzilla: King of the Monsters

Language
English

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Production Details

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Key Facts

  • Godzilla was originally released here in 1956 as Godzilla: King of the Monsters, an atrociously cut, dubbed and re-edited version that inserted American actor Raymond Burr into the action; only an hour was used of the original's 98 minute running time. Burr does not appear in the original, uncut version, which has an all-Japanese cast including Kurosawa regular Takashi Shimura, who the very same year appeared as leader of the Seven Samurai.

    As directed by IshirĂ´ Honda, with special effects by the legendary Eiji Tsuburaya, Godzilla: The Japanese Original is much darker in tone than the dumbed-down U.S. release version, which entirely eliminated the original's underlying theme: in the Japanese version, the monster is clearly a metaphor for the nuclear menace and the film itself a cry for world peace and disarmament. The American version also cut out all of the original's astonishing Strangelove-like black humor.
  • A new restoration of Godzilla: The Japanese Original, the monster classic that has spawned six decades of sequels, imitations, and remakes, will debut April 12 at the fifth TCM Classic Film Festival in Hollywood, followed by a national release beginning at New York's Film Forum, April 18-24.

Production Updates

Completed

The film was tagged as Completed.

Release Dates

When was the film released?

Godzilla: The Japanese Original was released in New York on Friday, April 27, 1956 . in around 1 theater



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Follow the Updates

Thu., Feb. 20, 2014

  • Added "Godzilla: King of the Monsters" as an also known as title

  • Changed the title from "Godzilla" to "Godzilla: The Japanese Original"

Fri., Jul. 24, 2009

  • Added the Blu-ray release date of November 3, 2009

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