GODZILLA by Jim Harmon

GODZILLA

Colossal Villain or Misunderstood Hero?

by Jim Harmon

(A special excerpt from the Godzilla Book, reprinted in Forrest J. Ackerman's Monster Land #9, April 1986)

What makes a hero or villain? It is always a matter of opinion, a case of what position you are looking from. Certain presidents of the United States are regarded as heroes by many, as villains by others. Old West figures like Billy the Kid and Jesse James have been portrayed as the Good Guys in some movies, and as the heavies in others. In the case of Mutiny on the Bounty, Captain Bligh usually takes the rap for driving his crew to rebellion, but there are other viewpoints pointing out that he was a skilled seaman and good captain to get his small boat, full of loyal men, across the sea to safety.

Such a contradictory figure is the towering one of Godzilla.

At this late date, can we criticize such a being that has saved mankind from destruction countless times? Among figures on the world scene, Godzilla stands head and shoulders above the rest, and by several building stories. Yet there are things in Godzilla's past that must be remembered. A certain respectful caution must be exercised around him. True, Godzilla is our friend now .... But what if he reverts to his old ways? Could mankind survive a hostile Godzilla forever?

It is time to review the facts. This journal will make every effort to impart that record accurately. But at the same time, we don't intend to white-wash any large green reptiles. Let that record speak for itself. Godzilla's story is -- as President Wilson said of D.W. Griffith's silent film masterpiece, The Birth of a Nation -- "history written in lightning." And fire and smoke, from Godzilla's own mouth.

Spokespersons for Godzilla were invited to come forward, and give his side of it. For their own reasons, none complied. So this record will be impartial, aided by neither friend nor foe of this weighty public figure.

Historians are fortunate to have the cinematic record compiled by the Toho company, covering the many exploits of Godzilla. So faithful is this film account of his life, one could say that these films are his life. Never has there been such a central source for lore on any one monster.

We have used the word. Yes, Godzilla is a Monster. Call him a Greenie, or a dinosaur, or a prehistoric beast -- none of these terms describe him quite so well as what he is -- a Monster.

There have been other monsters in the past -- the huge reptillian juggernauts who roamed the Earth millions of years ago ... the scaley sea serpents reported on all the oceans from the time of ancient Greece to today's Lochness creature ... the werewolves and vampires of central European folk tales ... the man-made creations beginning with Mary Shelly's Frankenstein Monster to the robots and crazed computers of today, perhaps best exampled in Star Wars' Darth Vader, " more machine than man." (No, Vader isn't exactly a robot, but his general appearance suggests one, and he has had so much of himself replaced cyberneticly that at his worst he can no longer identify himself as human.)

Most of the great Monsters to appear on the screen are the distillation of years of writings, plays and other movies. The creature of Frankenstein began in the Shelly book, and soon went to the stage, and then into films beginning with Thomas Edison's version to the classic interpretation of Boris Karloff in 1930. The roots of the vampire legend go back even further into folklore and literature, before Lugosi appeared in the 1931 film Dracula.

Yet, Godzilla was born full blown. When Godzilla appeared in his first feature film presentation in 1954, there was little precedence for him. Of course, stories of giant dinosaurs had been around for some time, in the silent Lost World and the talkie One Million Years B.C. But these creature seemed a faceless menacing horde, a hungry species out for human blood. (Of course, many dinosaurs were vegetarians, and their only menace would come if they accidentally stepped on some human, could humans co-exist with them.) These creatures had no real personality or identity.

Godzilla could be more easily compared to King Kong, even though Kong was a mammalian ape, and the Green One is a great reptile. Kong was a unique creation too. There had been other menacing apes in literature and film -- hairy creatures prowling dusty hallways of old mansions to scare beautiful maidens, but they weren't really very big, just a guy in an ape suit -- not only in film-making reality, but according to the final on-screen plot development, it usually turned out. The really huge ape, with a distinctive name and personality, was born with King Kong. So it was that the huge dinosaur-like creature with a memorable name was born with Godzilla.

His name was not originally Godzilla.

The Japanese crew at Toho International called their great creature Gojira, a play on the English word "gorilla" and the Japanese word for whale, "kujira." The inspiration for the word came from a lumbering employee around the Toho studios adept at lifting heavy pieces of equipment. He became nicknamed "Gojira" by some of the other employees, much as we might call him "Hulk."

Why not call the mammoth monster of the film "Gojira" too? From that now unkown person's suggestion a legend was born.

The name became translated into English as Godzilla. The English word still resembled "gorilla," although this scaley behemoth was clearly no primate. The "God-" prefix suggested an awesome being -- overwhelming in size and power. The rest of the name "-zilla" suggested a lizard or member of the dinosaur family.

The first picture, known as Godzilla, King of the Monsters, as it appeared in the United States, was directed by Inoshiro Honda, who would stay to direct the majority of the sequels in the fabled career of the screen's leading reptile.

Movie studios don't always realize they have a star on their hands. Godzilla himself was really enough to carry his own picture, but studio heads thought it necessary to load up with "star appeal." For the American audience, scenes were introduced with Raymond Burr, often a screen heavy in both senses of the word, but one who would be discerned a leading man despite weighing more than the traditional slender hero. He went on to play Perry Mason, the valiant defense lawyer on the TV series of that name for many years. And in 1985 he returned to both the Godzilla movies and to Perry Mason on TV with a new telemovie.

In both the original and current versions ofGodzilla, Burr plays a newspaperman named Steve Martin. It has been suggested that perhaps someday comic Steve Martin can play a newspaperman named Raymond Burr in some film. (It should be noted that the character name, Steve Martin, was invented before the actor of that name came to fame. Probably the name was inspired by that crusading representative of the press, Steve Wilson, the leading character in the long-running radio and TV series, Big Town.)

With the addition of Burr, the first in the reptillian series came to the United States as Godzilla, King of the Monsters. The movements of the lumbering green one were smooth, if not entirely convincing as those of a quadraped lizard. It was a guy in a suit, just as the gorillas in many low-budgeted pictures had been for years. Actor Haru Nakajima was inside the foam rubber creation of technician Ryosaku Takasugi. The human, Haru, appeared to be a towering monster compared to the well-crafted miniatures of trees, mountains and city buildings that were the work of special effects genius, Eiji Tsuburaya. Tsuburaya went back to the days of the silents. In the early years of the century, when in America Tom Mix was fighting Indians on screen and Lon Chaney Sr. was swinging from bell ropes as the Hunchback of Notre Dame, Japan was turning out its own silent "Hunchback" film, Enmei-in no Semuski. On that early picture and others, Tsuburaya learned his skills at creating minature scenes of great destruction. In a full life (1901-1970) he capped his career with his work on the Godzilla series. The special effects were combined with Honda's unassuming, unintrusive direction to create a convincing screen image of the King of Monsters.

The storyline was typical of many of the low-budget horror films of the fifties. Something big and dangerous is on the loose. It was giant ants in Them, a giant lobster in the serial Panther Girl of the Congo and a giant fire-breathing dinosaur in Godzilla. Only in its technical achievements did the film rise above the rest of its type.

(compiled by Roy Ware and Ken Gage in 1986)

Godzilla (GOJIRA)

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Godzilla's Counterattack

AKA Gigantis the Fire Monster

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King Kong vs. Godzilla

(Kingu Kongu tai Gojira)

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Godzilla vs. Mothra

(Gojira tai Mosura)

AKA Godzilla vs. the Thing

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Ghidrah -- The Three Headed Monster

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Invasion of the Astro-Monsters

AKA Godzilla vs. Monster Zero

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Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster

AKA Ebira, Horror from the Deep

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Son of Godzilla

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Destroy All Monsters

AKA Attack of the Marching Monsters

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Godzilla's Revenge

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Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster

(Gojira tai Hedora)

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Godzilla vs. Gigan

AKA Godzilla on Monster Island

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Godzilla vs. Megalon

(Gojira tai Megaro)

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Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla

AKA Godzilla vs. Cosmic Monster

AKA Godzilla vs. Bionic Monster

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Terror of MechaGodzilla

AKA Revenge of MechaGodzilla

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Godzilla '85

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The Green Guy also appeared (in disguise) in the 10th. episode of the 1966 Tsuburaya TV series Ultraman, as a villain.

In the 1970's, he starred in several episodes of another Japanese TV series, Zone Fighter. Not his best work.