Son of the Revenge of the 31 Days of Cheese - Day 2 - Godzilla Raids Again.

 AKA Gigantis the Fire Monster.

 

Godzilla in 1955 was a huge hit for Toho – one of the biggest of the year and  in the manner of movie studios all over the world they decided well if they liked this one so much lets make another. And so they did. Rushed into production and opening something like only 8 months after the first Godzilla opened it has a rushed get it out now feel and a significantly smaller budget – whereas Godzilla used location shots,  this film used Star Trek looking sets and the story isn’t well thought out at all. The main characters sort of wander about – interact a bit and then when the film’s about to come to a dead halt Godzilla appears. It’s as if the screen writer had adopted Raymond Chandler’s advice “when in doubt have two guys come in through the door with guns” substituting Godzilla for the two guys.

The story deals with our hero and his buddy who fly sea planes for a fishing company in Osaka directing their boats towards schools of fish and what not.  The hero’s buddy has to have make an emergency landing and when the hero flies in to rescue him discover that the island they picked has two large inhabitants Godzilla and some other beast with  spiky back who are fighting each other and in the process of their battle fall off a cliff into the sea. (this was a rather dicey stunt and the fellow in the hedgehog like suit – called Anguiris in this film – almost drowned as the suit got waterlogged rather quickly and started to drag him down).  The pilots head back – as fast as possible one assumes – and report that Godzilla has returned.

At least that’s what happens in the Japanese version. The American version of the film – not released until 1959 features stock footage galore hyperactive narration and instance that the monster is not Godzilla but a beast called Gigantis – there have been a lot of stories about why but as time has gone on the consensus is that the producer of the American version of the film changed it because he wanted it not to be linked with the earlier Godzilla film for reasons that remain obscure other than the producer was a right jackass for doing this. 

Upon hearing this there is one of the many many meetings that take place in Godzilla films – Dr. Yamane from the original film shows up to  explain that the oxygen destroyer used to kill the first Godzilla can’t be used – then to cheer everybody up he shows footage from the first film showing Godzilla destroying Tokyo – in the American version there is berserk almost Ed Wood style stock footage montage describing the history of something called the fire monsters of which these two are.  It then  shows the footage of Godzilla doing his thing to Tokyo – which is why the name change is such a poser – That’s Godzilla on the screen for Pete’s sake how is this not the same monster? I just don’t get Hollywood types sometimes.

Granted the suit looks a bit different it’s thinner and the face look different but it’s Godzilla folks.

Anyway after that last discursion both versions of the films are pretty much the same. So Onward.

They decide that since Godzilla is attracted to bright lights – no this is actually not what trope folks would  call an ass pull – in the first film there is brief scene where Yamane tires to tell the military commander not to shine their searchlights on Godzilla as it will attract him. He is ignored and soon the military are too busy being burned or crushed to death to bother about it. But in this case with the advance warning Osaka will black itself out and jet fighters will drop flares to lure the beast away.

Godzilla appears, the city blacks itself out, and the jets drop the flares and for a moment by gum, it seems to be working. 

Then, convicts begin transported from prison escape the prison van in the process highjack a truck which they then, after a bit of this and that, mange to ride the truck straight into one of the storage tanks of Osaka’s oil refinery which of course goes up in flames luring both Godzilla and Anguiris who then fight for about twenty minutes – some of the fight looks absurd as due to a mistake some of the film was run at normal speed – one of the tricks was to film at high speed so that when the film was played back at normal speed the guys in the suits had a sense of weight and mass – however because the speed of the film was so fast the suit actors had move faster than normal (one of the reasons, along with the  massive amount of light needed to run fast film that made being in a monster suit an exercise in physical misery) so in this case it looks like something from the Benny Hill show.

In the end Osaka is leveled – Anguiris is killed and Godzilla goes back to the sea.

The human cast about which there really isn’t much to say – other than the heroic pilot and his buddy – there is the bosses daughter who works as radio operator for the company and is dating said heroic pilot and the other radio operator who is the object of the Buddy’s unspoken love.

Osaka now an ash heap the principles head north to Hokkaido to keep fishing. Well folks gotta eat I guess but the knowledge that Godzilla is out there – well doesn’t seem to enter into anybody’s mind, they go about their business until Godzilla shows up pretty much at the time forward momentum of the plot has come to a dead halt. 

There is a final rather confusing battle where Godzilla has come ashore on a ice covered island – and during that battle one the buddy dies and Godzilla gets buried in said ice – the buddy’s death is the thing that leads to Godzilla’s being covered in ice as the Buddy, after his seaplane is blasted by the Big G’s fire breath crashes it a massive ice formation above Godzilla’s head raining ice down on him. The head of the air force squadron seeing this directs his planes  to fire their rockets into said ice flow – there is a moment where they have to go get more missiles – which is taking a lot for granted like Godzilla’ s going to stay put but it allows Heroic pilot to climb into a jet himself (which is might nice of the Japanese air force I must say even if he was a former military pilot one doubts he’d had a lot experience flying jets in World War 2 yes?) and fire missiles into the ice sheet.

Godzilla is buried and all is right with the world – indeed Godzilla would stay buried in that ice until 1962’s King Kong vs. Godzilla.

While it did introduce the idea of Godzilla fighting another monster it really doesn’t do it very well and you really don’t care about any of the cast. And while some of the special effects show that they have  learned a lot from making Godzilla the rushed natured of the production led to them using shots that should have been retaken especially the Benny Hill shots. 

Enjoy with a tuna fish sandwich  or a spicy tuna roll.