Godzilla, King of the Monsters (1956)
Godzilla (Gojira - 1954) Added Raymond Burr as Steve Martin.

Dr. Yamane: Takashi Shimura,
Hideo Ogata: Akira Takarada,
Daisuke Serizawa: Akihiko Hirata,
Emiko Yamane: Momoko Kochi.

Director: Ishiro Honda,
Screenplay: Takeo Murata & Ishiro Honda,
Original Story: Shigeru Kayama,
Special Effects: Eiji Tsuburaya,
Music: Akira Ifukube.

Running Time: 98 minutes. 
U.S. Version released by Transworld (80 min)
Director: Terry Morse.
Steve Martin: Raymond Burr

TOMOYUKI TANAKA

THE MAN WHO CREATED THE MOST FAMOUS MONSTER OF ALL TIME.

     Godzilla is the father of all Japanese monster movies, and Tomoyuki Tanaka is the father of Godzilla. In the early 1950's Tanaka, a cameraman-turned-producer working for Toho Studios in Japan, was desperate for an idea... "I was up against a deadline when I first thought of Godzilla, and I made it up all at the last minute. At that time, Toho was collaborating with Indonesia to make a blockbuster film to be called "Beyond the Glory". This film was going to be Toho's 'eyeball' (premiere release) for the year. It was just before crank-in ... Ryo Ikebe and Toshiko Yamaguchi were to be the stars, but they couldn't get a visa from the Indonesian government. So the film was canceled. It was easy to say that the film was just canceled, but now I had to come up with something big enough to replace it. On the plane ride back to Tokyo, I was so desperate and I was sweating the whole time."

     On his return to Japan Tanaka visted the special effects department at Toho studios. "I asked special effects expert Eiji Tsuburaya, who I knew wanted to make a movie about a giant octopus in the Indian Ocean, to make ten or so models, about 2 meters tall, all in clay. We picked one from that." At this time Tanaka formed several key concepts which contributed greatly to the success of Godzilla - 1) that the monster be frightening but should have some likeable aspects, and the monster was based on a dinosaur for that reason, and 2) that the monster was somehow "awakened", and the havoc created was merely from the monster moving about - so the monster was a victim of circumstances, and less of a villain.

     "After Godzilla was finished, movie journalists gave it a lot of negative reviews, so I was really worried about it," said Tanaka. "So on opening day I went to Shibuya. What I saw there was a line as long as a snake, so inside I thought 'Alright!' I knew it was the line to see Godzilla, but I couldn't resist asking people what they were standing in line for. Over 9,691,000 people went to see it, and next to King Kong vs Godzilla (1963 1,200,000), it was the most popular box office of all Godzilla movies."

The title of the film was "Gojira", a name reportedly adopted from a tough looking crew member at Toho studios. "Gojira" is a combination of "gorilla" and "kujira" (Japanese for whale). The film was released in the United States two years later with th e title "GODZILLA, King of the Monsters". Tanaka and Toho went on to produce 21 more Godzilla films, and in his lifetime Tanaka produced over 200 films for Toho. In 1971, Tanaka became president of Toho Eizo and subsequently gained the same title in Toho Eiga in 1975. In 1981, he was bestowed with the Kun Santo Tanho Award. Tanaka passed away as a result of a stroke on April 2, 1997 at the age of 86.

Below is a list of all the Godzilla squels and spin offs from Toho studios.  This list demonstrates the popularity of the  monster epic.  

1. "Godzilla"  1954
2. "Godzilla Raids Again" 1955
3. "King Kong vs. Godzilla" U.S.A. 1963 
4. "Mothra vs. Godzilla" 1964
5. "Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster" 1964
6. "Invasion of Astro-Monster" 1965
7. "Ebirah, Horror of the Deep" 1966
8. "Son of Godzilla"  1967
9. "Destroy All Monsters"  1968
10. "All Monsters Attack" 1969
11. "Godzilla vs. Hedorah"  1971
12. "Godzilla vs. Gigan"  1972
13. "Godzilla vs. Megalon"  1973
14. "Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla"  1974
15. "Terror of Mechagodzilla" 1975
16. "The Return of Godzilla" 1984
17. "Godzilla vs. Biollante" 1989
18. "Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah" 1991
19. "Godzilla vs. Mothra" 1992
20. "Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II" 1993
21. "Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla" 1994
22. "Godzilla vs. Destoroyah" 1995
23. Godzilla 98
24. Godzilla 2000

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