Godzilla (Classic) Movies

Godzilla , King of the Monsters

The legend of Godzilla starts here. A mysterious monster is destroying ships and island villiages in the Pacific Ocean. A Japanese island and his freinds investigate, and soon find out that a giant aquatic dinosaur is heading for Tokyo. The monster, named Godzilla after an old legend, arrives in Tokyo Bay and begins making nightly raids into the city. All military might is useless, but there may be a scientist who has an invention that can save Japan. Moody, and meticulously made, Godzilla set the bar for all monster movies that followed. And there were a lot.

Versions: The American version deleted quite a lot of material and inserted copious footage of Raymond Burr pretending to talk to the original Japanese actors. This cut is widely available in the US. The original Japanese cut may be found at Video Daikaiju.

Reviews: Stomp Tokyo, Barry's Temple of Godzilla.

Godzilla Raids Again

In his second outing Godzilla fights another giant dinosaur, this one called Anguirus. This movie started the trend of pitting Godzilla against other giant monsters, but otherwise it isn't an improvement over Godzilla, King of the Monsters.

Rodan

Honda's followup to Godzilla, King of the Monsters was filmed in color and has even better special effects. A miner finds a giant flying dinosaur deep underground. The creature reaches the surface and begins eating people. Then the first animal's mate shows up and the two monsters destroy a city before the Japanese military figures out how to destroy them.

Varan the Unbelievable

You know what's really unbelievable? That this B&W snore fest was made by Toho four years after Godzilla, and two years after Rodan. It's a real step backwards for the Japanese monster movie.

A village in a remote part of Japan worships a god named Varan, and forbids people to approach a certain mountain. Scientists from the outside arrive in the area, ridicule the villagers, approach the mountain, and then almost immediately get trampled by a giant lizard. The lizard then flies to Tokyo Bay (this scene was cut from the American version of the film, which actually reduced the level of unbelievableness) and hangs out while the humans have interminable conversations about how large a shell will have to be to pierce Varan's hide. Then it's discovered that Varan will eat a flare if he sees one, so they put a bomb on a flare and before you can say "Taco Bell," Varan is dead from a really bad case of gas.

The special effects aren't much of an improvement over Godzilla, let alone Rodan. There is no human interest in the story, unless discussions about artillery interest you greatly. Varan is a neat design, though he looks pretty skinny when he stands up. Maybe that's to sell us a bit more on the 400-ton lizard gliding around. But the movie fails to interest, and that's why Varan only appeared in Destroy All Monsters after this.

Mothra

Mothra introduces another classic monster to the genre. Scientist find an island that has been covered in radioactive fallout, with mutations including tiny telepathic twin girls and a giant egg. The girls are kidnapped, and the egg hatches into a huge larva hell bent for Tokyo! The special effects are particularly good this time around, especially once Mothra becomes a full grown insect. Mothra is also noteworthy for being the first kaiju with good intentions.

King Kong vs. Godzilla

A turning point in the evolution of our favorite radioactive dinosaur, King Kong vs. Godzilla marks the beginning of such movies as elaborate, colorful fantasy romps instead of dark, brooding disaster films. The plot is pure puff pastry: Corporation sends expedition to remote island to harvest rare berries. Expedition finds berries, island natives, and King Kong. Expedition brings back berries and Kong as a souvenir.

Of course, Kong gets loose and begins loping around Japan, much to the consternation of Godzilla, who has chosen the exact same minute to do the exact same thing. Rather than playing together and making mankind miserable, they proceed to tear hell out of one another. One might think it would be a lopsided match -- one whiff of Godzilla's fire breath should set the big fuzzball alight -- but the odds are evened when it turns out that Kong thrives on electric current, while the big G can't stand the stuff. Good, goofy fun, even when watching the butchered U.S. cut, which removes large portions of dialogue and plot.

Note: despite what you may have heard or read elsewhere, there are no "alternate endings" for this film. A more complete examination of the rumors regarding different outcomes from the King Kong / Godzilla deathmatch can be found at the Urban Legends Reference Pages.

Reviews: Stomp Tokyo.

Atragon

The undersea Mu Empire declares themselves the rulers of the world. Who can resist their super-science? Only a rogue Japanese naval captain who has secretly built a flying battleship known as Atragon! Can the Japanese government find him and convince him to fight the invaders?

Even though Toho Studios specialized in giant monster movies, the monster in this movie is one of the weakest parts of the production. Manda, a giant Chinese dragon, appears only briefly, and isn't very convincing.

Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster

King Ghidorah falls to earth and can only be opposed by three already established monsters: Godzilla, Mothra and Rodan. This sprawling story has destruction, huge battles, and lots of spy intrigue. It also has a hilarious real-sounding-but-made-up country called Selgina and conversation between the various monsters, who can understand each other's roars.

Godzilla vs. Mothra

Probably the Godzilla film. Mothra's egg washes ashore in Japan, causing a general ruckas as the Cosmos Twins, a greedy tycoon and Mothra herself try to posess it in one way or another. And then Godzilla shows up, just to ruin everybody's day. The special effects in this installment of the the series would not be equalled until the 1990s.

Versions: The American version is largely the same as the Japanese version. It even includes an extra scene of the U. S. Navy shooting missiles at Godzilla. It's currently out on DVD and video from Classic Media. The Japanese version can be found on video.

Reviews: Stomp Tokyo, Barry's Temple of Godzilla.

Godzilla vs. Monster Zero

Aliens offer to help us with our monster problems by taking Godzilla and Rodan to their planet to fight King Ghidorah. The twist is pretty easy to predict these days, of course. The aliens are lying and soon all three monsters, under alien control, are trashing Japan.

Godzilla vs. Monster Zero is pretty silly by any standard, but it is fun. You have to love the aliens' fashion sense and light-up saucers. There's more than enough monster action, and the cast features lots of faces familiar to anyone who watches Japanese fantasy.

Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster

Spunky dance contestants find themselves aboard a hijacked boat while searching for a friend lost at sea. The boat has been stolen by a bank robber on the lam, but at least he’s useful when they stumble upon a mysterious island whose natives have been enslaved by a terrorist syndicate! Godzilla and Mothra guest-star in this campy tale of intrigue which also happens to feature a giant shrimp monster that does the terrorists’ bidding. Classic ‘60s story and style.

Those of us with a weakness for giant monsters will find this a particularly enjoyable film, despite the ruinous condition of the Godzilla suit and the fact that Godzilla's presence kind of takes a back seat to the human action. Recommended for those parties when the non-initiated ask to see a Godzilla movie.

Review: Stomp Tokyo.

War of the Gargantuas, The

A semi-sequel to Frankenstein Conquers the World, this movie features two hairy giants loose in Japan. The brown one, Sanda, is freindly to humans, while the green one, Gaira likes to eat humans. While Sanda tries to get his giant brother under control the Japanese army decides that the only good giant monster is a dead giant monster. Obviously made with U.S. in mind (hence Russ Tamblyn in the main character), War of the Gargantuas still has more than it's share of surreal moments, especially the musical number thankfully interrupted by Gaira.

Son of Godzilla

Godzilla finally has a reason to smoke! On a remote island scientists find Godzilla and new member of his species, recently hatched from a egg. The scientists run some weather experiments which result in giant insects that threaten the other monsters. No city stomping in this one, but the giant insect puppets are very impressive.

Destroy All Monsters

Destroy All Monsters was probably the last great Godzilla movie. In the year 1999, all of the world's monsters have been imprisoned on one island. Aliens release the monsters and demand all governments surrender to them. Earth's scientists release the monsters from alien control, but the aliens retaliate by unleashing King Ghidorah. The climactic monster battle is the most ambitious kaiju scene ever filmed.

Godzilla's Revenge

All the monster action in this movie takes place in one little kid's dream. He dreams that he flies to Monster Island, meets Minilla and helps him overcome a monster called Gabra. Then the kid applies the lessons he learned to the real world.

Godzilla vs. Hedorah

From this film's opening minutes, which feature the wacky '60s theme song, "Save the Earth," you just know you're not in for a normal sort of Godzilla movie. The storytelling methods here border on hallucinogenic, but the movie does include everybody's favorite short-pantsed hero Kenny. This is one of Kenny's finer moments, as he not only predicts the movements of Godzilla, but also directs a scientist in his work to destroy Hedorah, a monster whose job is apparently to spread pollution across the planet. Not looked upon kindly by Godzilla purists, it features scenes of Godzilla flying under his own power, an environmentalist cartoon, and some bizarre split-screen techniques.

Review: Stomp Tokyo.

Godzilla vs. Gigan

For the umpteenth time aliens try to take over Earth, but this time they try to do it with an amusement park with a tower in the shape of Godzilla. This fails. So they go to their backup plan, which is Gigan and King Ghidorah. Meanwhile on Monster Island, Godzilla talks Anguirus into heading to Japan and kicking the two space monsters' butts.

The human element of this film is particularly poor, as it presents us with a cartoonist as the hero, includes some atrocious acting, and forces us to endure even more atrocious wardrobe. The monster action isn't bad, exactly, but by this movie the Godzilla suit in question had been through three outings and pieces of it fly off during some of the battles. Another cause of some disappointment is the fact that most of Ghidorah's scenes are compiled of stock footage from other movies.

Review: Stomp Tokyo.

Godzilla vs. Megalon

Godzilla vs. Megalon has many of the hallmarks of the Godzilla series: a goofy monster against whom Godzilla must fight, a little boy whom we'll call Kenny, and the gullible adults who take little Kenny so seriously that they actually believe his half-baked theories about Godzilla's motives. Unfortunately, it also has the ridiculous Jet Jaguar, an Ultraman-like robot who can not only turn his own artificial intelligence on and off, but can also "program himself in some way to increase in size."

Even that wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the film's underwhelming production values and the fact that it plays out like a toy commercial. Oh yeah, there's some plot or another about the Seatopians, who want to wipe out we surface dwellers, but you'll probably be distracted by the googly-eyed Godzilla suit, which keeps changing shape during footage from the previous film, Godzilla vs Gigan. Let this be one of the last Godzilla movies you watch, so you can hug yourself and think of happier times, when Godzilla movies were something you enjoyed.

Review: Stomp Tokyo.

Zone Fighter [TV Series, 1973]

Alien super heroes, disguised as the race car driving Sakamori family, defend earth from Garonga and his monster army. Zone Fighter was just another Ultraman rip-off, more juvenile than most, but it was produced by Toho. This meant that the TV series could draw from Toho's stable of film monsters, so Godzilla was in five episodes, Gigan appeared in one, and King Ghidorah appeared in another two.

Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla

If you have fond memories of watching Godzilla movies on tv on Saturday afternoons, then Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla is probably one of the films you saw. Released in the States in 1977 with an awful English dub, this movie is the stuff of which surrealistic memories are made. With the ridiculous story, hokey props, bizarre special effects, and the surprise bonus monsters hidden inside, we almost reached Godzilla Heaven with this tape in our VCR.

Part spy flick, part alien invasion movie, part Godzilla film, Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla is all about style over substance. The dialogue is ridiculous, the plot too laughable to mention, and the acting is way over the top. But it's almost guaranteed to fascinate anyone who walks into the room during a screening.

Review: Stomp Tokyo.

Terror of Mechagodzilla

Ishiro Honda returns to the Godzilla director's chair after a five year absence (he was dabbling in Zone Fighter and Ultraman episodes), bringing with him some of the class and professionalism that was missing from the series during its long, slow decline. Unfortunately, not even Honda's return could keep this film from being irrepressibly silly, nor from being the last installment in the original run of Godzilla films.

Silver-jumpsuited aliens take control of a new monster, Titanosaurus, as well as the newly-rebuilt Mechagodzilla, by installing monster control mechanisms inside a dying young human woman. If you can help us make any sense out of that, we'd be very grateful. But then, what would you expect from aliens who wear the goofiest helmets you've seen this side of Tom Corbett, Space Cadet?

Godzilla arrives to kick monster ass and take monster names, and to the film's credit, it relies very little on stock footage and actually delivers on the goods. Helping things along considerably is the fact that venerable composer Akira Ifukabe returned one last time to provide the big G with his stompin' tunes. As the swan song for the original Godzilla, Terror of Mechagodzilla is a worthy time-waster.

Reviews: Stomp Tokyo.