Godzilla, King of the Monsters!

This article is about the 1956 film. For the unproduced film, see Godzilla: King of the Monsters in 3D. For the 2019 film, see Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019 film).

Godzilla, King of the Monsters!
Theatrical release poster
Japanese name
Kanji怪獣王ゴジラ
Transcriptions
Revised HepburnKaijū Ō Gojira
Directed byTerry O. Morse
Ishirō Honda
Special effects byEiji Tsuburaya
Screenplay byTakeo Murata
Ishirō Honda
Uncredited:
Terry O. Morse[1]
Story byShigeru Kayama
Produced byTomoyuki Tanaka
Uncredited:
Richard Kay
Harold Ross
Edward B. Barison[2]
StarringRaymond Burr
CinematographyMasao Tamai
Guy Roe
Edited byTerry Morse
Music byAkira Ifukube
Production
companies
Toho Co., Ltd.[3]
Jewell Enterprises, Inc.[3]
Distributed byTrans World Releasing Corp.[4]
(United States)
Toho
(Japan)
Release dates
  • April 4, 1956 (1956-04-04) (New York City)
  • April 1956 (1956-04) (United States)
  • May 29, 1957 (1957-05-29) (Japan)
Running time
80 minutes[5]
CountriesJapan
United States
LanguagesEnglish
Japanese
Budget$100,000[3]
Box office$2 million (U.S.)[6][7]

Godzilla, King of the Monsters! (Japanese: 怪獣王ゴジラ, Hepburn: Kaijū Ō Gojira)[8] is a 1956 kaiju film directed by Terry O. Morse and Ishirō Honda, with special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya. It is a heavily re-edited American localization, or "Americanization", of the 1954 Japanese film Godzilla.[9] The film was a Japanese-American co-production, with the original footage produced by Toho Co., Ltd., and the new footage produced by Jewell Enterprises. The film stars Raymond Burr, Takashi Shimura, Momoko Kōchi, Akira Takarada, and Akihiko Hirata, with Haruo Nakajima and Katsumi Tezuka as Godzilla. In the film, an American reporter covers a giant reptilian monster's attack on Japan.

In 1955, Edmund Goldman acquired the 1954 film from Toho and enlisted the aid of Paul Schreibman, Harold Ross, Richard Kay, and Joseph E. Levine to produce a revised version for American audiences. This version dubbed most of the Japanese dialogue into English, and altered and removed key plot points and themes. New footage was produced with Burr interacting with body doubles and Japanese-American actors in an attempt to make it seem like Burr was part of the original Japanese production.

Godzilla, King of the Monsters! was theatrically released in the United States in late April 1956, and was followed by an international release. In the U.S., it received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $2 million at the box office against an estimated $100,000 production budget. The film was responsible for introducing Godzilla to a worldwide audience, as the 1954 film remained unavailable officially outside of Japan until 2004.[10]

  1. ^ Kalat 2010, p. 31.
  2. ^ Galbraith IV 2008, p. 106.
  3. ^ a b c "Godzilla, King of the Monsters! (1956)". American Film Institute. Archived from the original on January 30, 2023. Retrieved January 29, 2023.
  4. ^ Ryfle 1998, p. 52.
  5. ^ Ryfle 1998, p. 19.
  6. ^ Ryfle 1998, p. 58.
  7. ^ Davis 2012, p. 95.
  8. ^ Mamiya 2000, p. 206.
  9. ^ Williams, Larry (May 9, 2004). "Fifty years later, 'Godzilla' still mutating, multiplying". The Baltimore Sun. Archived from the original on November 27, 2021. Retrieved November 26, 2021.
       Rafferty, Terrence (May 2, 2004). "The Monster That Morphed Into a Metaphor". The New York Times. Archived from the original on August 20, 2021. Retrieved November 26, 2021.
       Hanlon, Patrick (May 14, 2014). "Godzilla: What Is It About Monsters?". Forbes. Archived from the original on September 3, 2014. Retrieved October 27, 2021.
       Orr, Christopher (May 22, 2014). "Why You Should Watch the (Actual) Original Godzilla". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on November 27, 2021. Retrieved November 26, 2021.
       "Janus Films – Godzilla". Janus Films. Archived from the original on September 2, 2021. Retrieved November 26, 2021.
  10. ^ Ryfle & Godziszewski 2017, p. 106.