Directed by Ishiro Honda • 1954 • Japan
Starring Akira Takarada, Momoko Kōchi, Akihiko Hirata
GODZILLA (a.k.a. GOJIRA) is the roaring granddaddy of all monster movies. It’s also a remarkably humane and melancholy drama, made in Japan at a time when the country was reeling from nuclear attack and H-bomb testing in the Pacific. Its rampaging radioactive beast, the poignant embodiment of an entire population’s fears, became a beloved international icon of destruction, spawning almost thirty sequels.
Up Next in Godzilla: The Showa-Era Films, 1954–1975
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Godzilla Raids Again
Directed by Motoyoshi Oda • 1955 • Japan
Toho Studios followed the enormous success of the original Godzilla with this sequel, efficiently directed by Motoyoshi Oda as a straight-ahead monsters-on-the-loose drama. An underrated standout among the Showa Godzilla films, Godzilla Raids Again introd...
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Godzilla, King of the Monsters
Directed by Ishiro Honda and Terry O. Morse • 1956 • United States
Starring Raymond Burr, Frank Iwanaga, Akira TakaradaThis 1956 feature film, codirected and edited by Terry Morse, is the famous American reworking of the original GODZILLA. It combines footage from the original 1954 production w...
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Mothra vs. Godzilla
Directed by Ishiro Honda • 1964 • Japan
Godzilla faces off against the benevolent insect monster-god Mothra in this clash of the titans, a crossover battle between two of Toho Studios’ most popular monsters—the last in which Godzilla would figure as a malevolent villain rather than a fearsome he...
