Screenings
South West Silents | Godzilla
Still rated amongst the top twenty Japanese movies of all time, the original Godzilla is perhaps the definitive monster movie.
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. Takashi Shimura stars as the revered palaeontologist who uncovers the horrible secret at the heart of the monster (Godzilla is a long dormant Jurassic beast awoken by the atom bomb).
An enormous hit for the Toho film studio, this original film created a rampaging radioactive beast that would became a beloved international icon of destruction, spawning almost thirty sequels over the course of fifty years, countless rip-offs, and a new genre: the kaiju eiga or Japanese monster movie.
Still rated amongst the top twenty Japanese movies of all time, the original Godzilla is perhaps the definitive monster movie – both a bold metaphor for the atomic age and a thrilling tour de force of pioneering special effects. A thrilling, tactile spectacle that continues to be a cult phenomenon, the complete, uncut, original, 1954 Japanese version is presented here.
Director: Ishirō Honda
Starring: Akira Takarada, Momoko Kōchi, Akihiko Hirata, Takashi Shimura
Special intro by Tom Vincent (Film Archivist at Aardman Animations).
An enormous hit for the Toho film studio, this original film created a rampaging radioactive beast that would became a beloved international icon of destruction, spawning almost thirty sequels over the course of fifty years, countless rip-offs, and a new genre: the kaiju eiga or Japanese monster movie.
Still rated amongst the top twenty Japanese movies of all time, the original Godzilla is perhaps the definitive monster movie – both a bold metaphor for the atomic age and a thrilling tour de force of pioneering special effects. A thrilling, tactile spectacle that continues to be a cult phenomenon, the complete, uncut, original, 1954 Japanese version is presented here.
Director: Ishirō Honda
Starring: Akira Takarada, Momoko Kōchi, Akihiko Hirata, Takashi Shimura
Special intro by Tom Vincent (Film Archivist at Aardman Animations).
