Steve Reviews: Godzilla 1954 (The Original) 

Original Godzilla: *Extremely serious, dark, and depressing.* 1970s Godzilla: *Kid friendly with goofy monster designs, music, and sound-effects.*

"You'll see your father soon,We'll join him in heaven" Jesus,that's dark.

Japan: Gojira America: Godzilla UK: Godziller

To be fair, the change of Godzilla from villain to hero could be a metaphor for changing attitudes towards nuclear power. He went from an enemy and a weapon to an ally to mirror a potential future for energy in the human scale.

A lot of people don't realize the original Godzilla is a legitimately good film.

"I have no German friends" Dr.serizawa- 1954

Japanese version - "If we continue to develop nuclear weapons we may have another tragedy" American version - "It's all good, dude, the lizard is dead"

Here's a fact: when the producers added angurus, they notice more kids started to like Godzilla, so they lead down that path of what is modern Godzilla. Except for shin Godzilla, he was the last Godzilla movie made in Japan, he was made as a reminder of what Godzilla once was. Nevermind we got minus one coming up, I'm so happy.

Shin Godzilla is the closest thing to this film's tone.

*gOdZiLlA sAyS i ShOuLd LeArN tO fIgHt My OwN bAtTlEs*

15:37 I remember watching that scene for the first time, and I was like, "GOOD GOD, WHAT DID THEY TELL THAT POOR KID???" Even to this day, that scene rips my heart out of my chest!!

*Japanese:* You cutted out the message about nuclear weapons? *Americans:* Yep. *Japanese:* B-But why? *Americans:* Because it was kinda dark, and didn't really fit in the peace times... *Japanese:* You just wanna make more bombs don't you? *Americans:* We wanna make more bombs.

No one: Steve: fUn FaCt Gonna be honest tho the screams of the little girl where really sad.

R.I.P Haruo Nakajima, the father of rubber suit monsters.

I like how each Godzilla era that was made started with a darker and serious movie,and then the sequences are just a WWE between giant monsters with goofy fights lol

Fun fact: Shin Gojira has a song named "Who will know" which is about "Who will know... If I die..." implying that Gojira was a victim of some sort. This is true in some sense, because of the pollution. This can also be applied to the first Gojira.

*Things to fit on the this channel:* 1. Dark 2. Takes itself seriously 3. Disturbing in some places

The prayer for peace is one of the best pieces of music in the entire Godzilla franchise and also one of the most underrated

Nothing's darker than a mother telling her children to look up to their death (as they'll be reunited with their father). It simply deprived us of any possible hope ; and i don't think i ever heard something as depressing as that. . .

After watching Godzilla Minus 1, it's clear that they followed the path of the original film.

The crying girl is also one of the daughters being held by their mother who says that they'll join their father in heaven. She survived but her sister and mother didn't, which makes this even sadder.

The original Godzilla theme was used in the 2019 king of the monsters movie and I loved it so much

16:00 the crying must sound like a prerecorded one, and the little girl was just acting it out. Whoever did the crying tho... that was unsettling

Godzilla (1954): Dark, depressing, symbolic of World War 2 bombings. The very next movie and last 66 years: YEAH FIGHT THAT GIANT ALIEN MONSTER YEAH OHHHH NO THEY SAY HE'S GOT TO GO GO GO GODZILLA!

I like how the first godzillas true foe was a guy with a eyepatch

The cries from the little girl gave me chills and goosebumps

And then in 1956, the US "Americanized" this film to remove any anti-nuclear themes that might induce a negative perception amongst the American public regarding the nuclear bombings of Japan. It was turned into a simple monster movie. I'm glad people are now appreciating the original version.

This movie is a true Cinema masterpiece. It deserves more recognition

I watched Godzilla king of the monsters with my parents. They said it was boring. I think I'm adopted.

Haruo Akajima sadly passed away, Rip to the original Godzilla actor, they actually named the main character in the animated Godzilla trilogy Haruo, likely as a tribute.

I grew up with the Americanized version where they edited in Raymond Burr. I didnt know how good this film really is until I finally saw the original a few years ago.

Godzilla was basically nature showing people what happens when they mess with bombs and stuff

The "EEEEEEEEUUUUUUUMMMM" At the end of Godzilla's roar is so satisfying

1954 : -Dr serizawa create oxygen destroyer -dr serizawa burn his note before sacrifing himself to kill godzilla 2019 : - america create oxygen destroyer - dr serizawa give his note to somebody else before sacrifing himself to save godzilla

This is why Gojira is one of my all time favorite movies. It uses a fictional monster to display the real terrors of war. 15:10 According to my brother, the heavy focus on the people suffering from Gojira's attacks was meant to symbolize the people who suffered after the atom bombs fell.

Fun fact about your fun fact: "Gojira" was allegedly a nickname for a Toho Studio employee who was tall, muscly and had a lot of body hair. They named the monster after this employee as an in-joke. However, nobody has ever come forward to being this employee. And to be fair, I probably wouldn't either. Its a bit of a myth, but its kind of funny.

My friend wanted to show me this movie, and I was like "Ah heck yeah this going to be hillarious!" And he said "no this is a serious movie." And yeah... it wasn't hillarious. It was heartbreaking. But its a great movie.

FUN OBSERVATION (haha.) I know the film is in black and white, but I think that's what makes Godzilla look really scary in this movie, because most of the time, he's completely covered in darkness.

Who else is here rewatching this after Godzilla Minus One?

0:06 It brings me to tears every time. I don't know why, but out of all the sad movie scenes in history, this one hits the hardest for me. That mother and her children didn't deserve to die. 😭😭😭

Agreed. The original 1954 film is eternally gothic and haunting in its tone.

That scene with the mother holding her children and crying about seeing their father soon haunts me, it's truly disturbing. It is fascinating that the evolution of the character somewhat mirrors our relationship to nuclear power itself. At its core it is a monster that can't ever be truly controlled or fully trusted, but it has eventually become a source of assistance to us and kind of a neutral figure of just pure power.

When I was a kid in the 60s and saw the original Godzilla (the one cut with Raymond Burr for American release), it affected me. Even though it haunted my nightmares, I still sat in the front row of the movie theater when a fresh 1960s Godzilla movie played in a matinee. Just for the foot of the monster, big screen view.

Original Godzilla: Extremely serious, dark, and depressing, a symbol of war and destruction. Godzilla: King of the Monsters (1956): A giant lizard/dinosaur who stomps on buildings and breaths fire.

1954 Godzilla is still the best example of Godzilla film with human dramas. Dr.Serizawa is undeniably the best and saddest human hero of entire series.

"Having a hero that gives you a terminal illness, doesn't make fro great writing" *Remembering Spider-Man having nuclear **_jizz_*

The scene of the little girl has scarred me. Not only does it cement the amount of suffering Gojira has caused, but how much suffering War in general causes.

I can’t believe that this year is going to be the 70th anniversary of this film

Oh boy, this film. I sum up this film in one word, grim

Godzilla: Unleashes destruction upon the masses and appears indestructible Some man with an eye patch: I'm about to end this man's whole career The entirety of the godzilla series: Let me Introduce myself

Literally a cinematic master piece. This video is so incredibly well researched and in-depth. Really impressive I hope I can make something like this at some point

“We’ll see your father soon.” Holy F#cking God.

Emiko is a really underrated character that deserves more attention

*I imagine in Godzilla’s mind he was probably thinking they were legos..*

To this day, whenever I watch this film, I can get through the crying little girl, and I can force myself not to well up with the mother and her children, but the scene where Serizawa makes his decision, the prayer for peace sung over the television, calling to God for mercy and hope... that part always gets me. Honestly probably the most important movie ever made, with the most felt lasting effect on culture and entertainment, yet sadly is consistently ignored because of what the series became. I love the Godzilla series, don't get me wrong, but it has undermined the purpose of the character so much. One of the greatest films ever made. Am I biased? Absolutely. Am I wrong? Not in the slightest.

The ending gets me almost every time, it's difficult to keep my eyes dry while watching the end title card show up along with a prayer for peace playing I'm the background.

Dang steve is a godzilla fan! Even bigger respect!

For the first time ever A 1954 monster film _isnt_ a metaphor for communism!!!!!

Godzilla is an amazing character. Originally, Godzilla represented the horrors of that fateful day in 1945. The pain, suffering and loss the innocent Japanese people had to go through due to the sick depravity of the bastard responsible for ordering the use of the bombs in the first place. Godzillas skin was reflective of this as it was made to look like burn victims from the blast. Charred and almost black. But then, more in the future. Toho decided something that would have more impact they might have realized at the time. Godzilla all of a sudden, became a symbol of heroism, fortitude, and all around persistance. Then I realized myself that the Japanese did this to try to mend the broken feelings of thier dark past of what their people have suffered through. That Godzilla can be a symbol of hope and triumph for them, something to project themselves on. Most of all. Something to allow them to finally heal and move on from the past. I know Japanese officials are not all so innocent either, but the use of the bombs could've been passed over.

If you want a nice, modern Godzilla reflecting this movie, Shin Gojira is a pretty good retelling.

Oddly enough, the 'People are the Problem' aspect can be taken further when looking at Godzilla's motivations in the film. He only comes to Japan after following the ships that had just used Depth Charges against him. Once coming to Tokyo for the first time, the only destruction caused is simply because of him walking, much like how an animal may trample brush and break branches when walking through the forest. Godzilla only attacks the train because it ran into his foot, causing him to react violently to the metal creature that attacked him so. For the second appearance in Tokyo, after the electrical towers are constructed, Godzilla learns that these structures not only block his path and protect the small creatures that fire upon him, but that they harm him as well, prompting the usage of the atomic breath and enraging Godzilla enough to destroy the heart of Japan's capital. Had Godzilla just been left alone and the fishing route in which he resided been quarantined off, he probably would've just retreated back down to the depths of the ocean and never seen again.

"Having a hero that gives you a terminal illness, isn't good writting." But it sounds like an interesting premise.

15:40 either that little girl is an AMAZING actress, or she was genuinely in some kind of physical or emotional pain. I haven't heard pained cries from a child like that since the game That Dragon Cancer - which featured *real* cries from a kid who *actually died* from cancer.

Out of all the large monster films, especially the ones created in the 50s, the original Godzilla and THEM! are my two top picks for actually showing the human side and not just borderline glorifying the destruction of the monster, glad to see you covered one of my faves Ste~

Little Girl: Is crying about the death of her mother Captions: (Applause) (Music)

“I have no German friends,” -Dr. Serizawa

People of Japan: "AAAAHHHHHHH" Godzilla: "DERP"

I found the original Gojira to be a GREAT movie. So very much in so far as storytelling goes. Once you get over the fact that it is a guy in a rubber suit and you have to read all the subtitles, you can really enjoy it. Yep, it's in my top 3 movies of all time.

Something that I didn’t catch on to until fairly recently was just how deep the connections between Godzilla and the atomic bomb go. His design, and specifically his head, were meant to evoke the image of a mushroom cloud. Along with that, the rough texture of his hide is very similar in appearance to the skin of bomb survivors who were partially exposed to the flash from the bomb’s detonation; those survivors who were closer to the blast than others had such terrible burns that the parts of their skin that had been exposed looked almost like asphalt. You could build a monster to be evocative of all sorts of catastrophic events, but those based on man-made disasters will always be that much more unsettling. (With a few notable exceptions; Hedorah was a very interesting idea for a monster that was put in a bizarrely campy movie where it just couldn’t be taken seriously)

1:13 That scene alone will haunt our dreams. And the infamous scene 3:08 ... just wtf! XD

"gOdZiLlA sAyS tHaT I sHoUlD lEaRn To FiGhT mY oWn BaTtLeS"

I remember buying a DVD set of alien and predator series as a kit and It came from the UK and I had the inverse problem as it wouldn't play on my ps3 lol

Me: nothing can make me cry Emotional scene: exists Me: pauses video to cry

A good way to describe Godzilla, the way he was intended to be seen originally: It doesn't matter so much the form in which the destruction is caused. A cold shell of a bomb or a giant lizard, isn't what makes it horrifying. It's what comes after that people truly care about. What makes it horrifying. This is why Godzilla isn't particularly horrifying in terms of his appearance, why he never really was for that long. The destruction he brings and the after effects of that destruction are what makes it so tragic. What makes him truly terrifying. The realism and horror of what comes after the fact.

Having been a fan of Godzilla since a child, I finally saw the 1954 original as an adult. Wow. What a great film. The monster was a direct result of man playing god with nuclear weapons, and its tone is perfectly dark.

"we'll join him in heaven" thats dark af

Steve reviews a film about death and destruction Also Steve: FUN FACT!

That little girl crying over her mother's death really pierces once heart, ... My country Bangladesh suffered war loss many times! This really rings a bell!

Godzilla: why are there bugs in my home???? *breathes atomic breath on buildings* The humans: dafuk bro..

Please review Godzilla Minus One when you’re given the chance to see it.

19:52 They were! The footsteps are meant to represent the bombs being dropped while the roar is meant to represent the planes soaring over head that dropped the bombs. Also, I think that the main difference between the original Japanese version from 1954 and the American remake from 1956 with Raymond Burr, is that the original is written as an expressive piece, while the American version is written as a reflective piece. In the same way that Godzilla represents America when we bombed them, I believe that Raymond Burr’s character, Steve Martin, is meant to represent America and our reaction to the destruction we caused. Also, the only other differences between the two films were small ones, for example, in the original Japanese version Godzilla is said to be 150 feet tall because, at the time, that was bigger than any building Japan had. However, in the American version, because America has big skyscrapers, 150 feet wouldn’t have come up above any building so they changed it to be over 400 feet tall.

Godzilla (1954):You’ll see your father soon, We’ll join him in heaven Godzilla KOTM (2019): serizawa got that lizard juiced!

I can’t be the only one to get goosebumps from the kid screaming “MAMA!!!”

This movie is a masterpiece,it changed the way monsters films were made but also from a technical aspect was surprisingly amazing,the cinematography,the special and sound effects and even the musical score even if it’s pretty simple.

*uses go go Godzilla song in review* Huzzah! A man of quality!

12:03 When your mum notices the glowing light from your DS under your pillow

To be fair to the train drivers in monster movies, it takes half a mile to stop a train. And you always hear the stock brake sound effects at some point.

There was a man who survived both nukes, first one he was at work, survived and then after he recovered he went home and thats where the 2nd nuke dropped, he survived as well.

What if you wanted to go to heaven But god said: *fUn fAcT*

17:17 That's funny, because the use of the oxygen destroyer spawned destroyah, arguably the most powerful monster in this universe....

I just watched Godzilla minus one... All I can say is they understood the source material. They did not give us what we WANTED to see Godzilla as Rather what we NEEDED to see Godzilla as.

Love Godzilla. It's An Unparalleled Classic That Still Holds Up To This Very Day.

A bit unnerving that the U.S. version cut out the parts that advise against WMDs. Yes, I'm paranoid.

The original looks so good. I like the serious tone and message of the movie. Great review

I can’t wait to see his review of Minus One

So here's a fun fact. Godzilla 1985 did have the actor who played Steve show back up BUT he turned down ANY attempt to try and make the movie 'funnier' or 'less serious' then the original The Return of Godzilla because he TOOK the message of Godzilla SUPER serious. Hell one of the lines where a Soldier mentions that Godzilla's doing a 'remodel' of Tokyo, or something like that, has him LOOK AT THE GUY IN DISGUST at saying such a thing.

Godzilla 1954: *well this is dark and depressing* Shin Godzilla: _hold my sake_ *edit*: while the OG Godzilla is dark and depressing by the human's standpoint, I find Shin Godzilla dark and depressing from the monster's standpoint. I also find the stakes to be higher in Shin Godzilla, as the destruction of Tokyo is more pronounced and on a much larger scale, not to mention the U.S decides to solve the problem by (you guessed it!) dropping a nuke.

15:38 this scene sends chills down my spine every time.

I ran into this video a long time ago, and this was the video that got me into Godzilla. Thanks, Steve Reviews. 🙂

Tokyo 1954: **exists** Godzilla 1954: *I’m about to end this man’s whole career*