Thursday, December 5, 2013

A Little Lizard Goes a Long Way

By now you have realized I am a fan of movies, cinema, film.  And you have probably concluded, quite correctly, that I have an affinity for bad movies.  Now I recognize that applying “bad” to any example of art in any medium is purely a judgment call.  But the truth is, unless one is a saint, it is within the nature of human behavior to assign meritorious relevance to all things; i.e. ‘This is better than that”.

And so it goes with movies. In my porous brain, a movie that entertains me with its utter disregard for production quality, lack of plot continuity or scenery chewing line delivery is far more memorable, and therefore more likely to be viewed and viewed again to the point of dialogue memorization.  For example: I have seen Gone with the Wind (1939 MGM); once was enough and quite frankly I believe this hallowed icon of American Cinema to be a waste of good celluloid.  On the other hand, I never pass up a chance to see Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956 Columbia Pictures).  If you are a fan of Tim Burton’s Mars Attacks (1996 Warner Bros.), Earth vs. the Flying Saucers is the source code and you must see it.

But let me rein myself in, as true to form, I have wandered afar from my original intent, Godzilla, King of the Monsters! (1956 Embassy Pictures or TransWorld Releasing Corp depending on region).  Everyone knows Godzilla, the radio-active ray-breathing dinosaur, but have you seen the original episode that spawned the franchise?  No, you haven’t and neither have I!

With a purposeful grimace and a terrible sound
He pulls the spitting high tension wires down

Helpless people on a subway train
Scream for God as he looks in on them

He picks up a bus and he throws it back down
As he wades through buildings toward the center of town

Oh no, they say he’s got to go
Go go Godzilla, yeah
Oh no, there goes Tokyo
Go go Godzilla, yeah

I do not remember at which age I first experienced this exemplar offering of Japanese film art, but I do remember that I was equally impressed with the stern delivery of Raymond Burr and the magnificent modeling of the city of Tokyo.  Those people must build killer miniature train layouts.  I was surely relatively young (as I am confident I saw it well before I started drinking). At any length, I carried very vivid memories.

So I was taken aback recently when I watched a few minutes of Godzilla, King of the Monsters! broadcast on one of the more daring cable channels dedicated to airing really bad movies.  I noticed that there was a peculiarity in any of the scenes in which the film’s story-telling lead character, Steve Martin (amply portrayed by Raymond Burr of subsequent TV Perry Mason fame… oh, yeah and TV wheelchair-bound sleuth Ironsides). You youngsters out there will want to look into these examples of the golden and pewter (respectively) ages of TV.

I recognized, after a few minutes of confusion, that all of Raymond’s scenes were eerily similar.  They all consisted of Burr, and a few Japanese actors, posed in front of a set backdrop (a wall painted and decorated to simulate a real-life scene) staring off intently at some odd angle as if they were looking upon the action that we had witnessed in the previous shot.  Burr would voice over a description of the action.  This technique struck me as odd.  Eventually, my confused brain was able to decipher the dilemma.

Oh no, they say he’s got to go
Go go Godzilla, yeah
Oh no, there goes Tokyo
Go, go Godzilla

History shows again and again
How nature points out the folly of men
Godzilla

All of the scenes with Raymond Burr had been cut into the film after the initial production was complete!  It explained clearly why, in each scene featuring Burr speaking to one of the movie’s principals, all we ever saw was the back of a Japanese head (kudos to their barbers, by the way). Now, I thought, that was one accommodating production company.  And Burr wasn't even that big an actor.  Well, in girth he was one of the biggest, but in relative star status, not so much. Then it dawned on me, Godzilla, King of the Monsters! was not the original.  This was a rework intended specifically for the American and international theater markets. I had been living my life the victim of a con job.

The original movie responsible for this franchise that has spawned over thirty sequels was titled simply, Godzilla, being released for the domestic Japanese market in 1954 by Toho Studios.  It is doubtful that the original version will ever be aired in the U.S. as the American version is language dubbed and is American-centric.  But given the then recent history of the use of atomic weapons on Japan by the United States to end the Second World War, it would be interesting to get some insight into the Japanese sense of things.

History shows again and again
How nature points out the folly of men
Godzilla


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