Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 1,146 (click to see context) from:
[[quoteright:220:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Godzilla_1954_1385.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:220: The original horror...]]
->''"Bombs vs. bombs. Missiles vs. missiles. And now a new superweapon to throw upon us all. As a scientist, no, as a human being, I cannot allow that to happen."''
-->-- '''Dr. Daisuke Serizawa''' after his Oxygen Destroyer is revealed to Ogata
->''"I can't believe Godzilla was the [[LastOfHisKind last member of his species]]. [[SubvertedTrope But]] if we continue to conduct nuclear tests, [[ThereIsAnother another Godzilla]] may appear, somewhere in the world again."''
-->-- '''Dr. Kyohei Yamane''', closing the film
In TheFifties, UsefulNotes/ColdWar tensions were high, movie monsters [[NuclearNasty created or awakened by nuclear explosions]] were a thing, and the monster could be defeated in a scientific way. ''Gojira[=/=]Godzilla'' introduces a new type of radioactive monstrosity in a new, darker way...
''Gojira'' (or ''Godzilla'' for English-speaking viewers), is a black and white {{kaiju}} {{tokusatsu}} film directed by Creator/IshiroHonda in 1954 and the first film of the ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' franchise.
The story is written by Shigeru Kayama. The film is roughly based on Honda's wartime experience as well as seeing the wasteland of Hiroshima caused by the atomic bombing. It had a profound effect on his outlook, leading to a strong dislike of nuclear weapons. Thus, the film is a metaphor for their destructive power. The opening scene is a direct reference to the Castle Bravo test, and Godzilla's rampage in the second act symbolizes the atomic bombings.
The film also has an ensemble cast of characters, Ogata (Akira Takarada), Emiko Yamane (Momoko Koichi), Dr. Yamane (Takashi Shimura), and Dr. Daisuke Serizawa (Akihiko Hirata). A summary of the film's story can be found on the franchise's main page.
While set up originally as a ''horror film'', this film sets up the landmark of {{Kaiju}} being a genre on its own, and the legacy of this film is what would make one of the greatest franchises in the world.
Despite debuting to poor reception in Japan initially, ([[VindicatedByHistory in subsequent years, Japanese film scholars and fans of the series have come to consider it one of the best Japanese films ever made]]), ''Gojira'' (or ''Godzilla'', take your pick), was praised by American viewers after the original film was made available outside of Japan with two DVD releases, by Classic Media and Creator/TheCriterionCollection. The English version, ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters'' was edited to add American reporter Steve Martin ([[Franchise/PerryMason Raymond]] [[Series/{{Ironside 1967}} Burr]]), and remove some of the slower scenes. (Despite the edits, it still has merit.) There is also the Italian version, ''Film/{{Cozzilla}}'', a much stranger recut that includes colorization and StockFootage from UsefulNotes/WorldWarII.
''Godzilla'' is a much more grounded, bleak film than its successors, so viewers visiting the film after a bout with the more fantastical later installments may be surprised at its somber tone and unsubtle allegories.
Not to be confused with the French [[TechnicalDeathMetal progressive death metal]] band [[{{Music/Gojira}} of the same name]].
----
!!! This film shows the examples of:
* ATeamFiring: The military brings out fighter jets to attack Godzilla as a last-ditch effort. Too bad the missiles keep missing him, even as he submerges into the ocean.
* AdaptationDyeJob: The American version's poster depicted him green.
* AdultFear:
** A woman during Godzilla's rampage holds her children, telling them they'll see their father soon.
** Dr. Tanabe shakes his head in regret after examining a child with a Geiger counter, signifying he'll die from radiation poisoning.
* ApocalypseWow: We see what happened in the second act and the aftermath of the third.
* AlasPoorVillain: You'd wouldn't ''think so'' towards Godzilla. But when you consider he survived a hydrogen bomb test, you know Ishiro Honda goes out of his way to show that, yes, this gigantic radioactive monstrosity, is a victim to the nuclear age.
* AntagonistTitle: Godzilla, who's the villain here.
* ArtMajorBiology: Godzilla is supposedly from the Jurassic Era of dinosaurs (the era itself being 201.3± 0.6 Ma). Shigeru Kayama purposely date the Jurassic Era later than that to tie Godzilla's origins to man.
* ArtisticLicensePaleontology: Dr. Yamane's description of the Mesozoic Era is woefully inaccurate.
* ArtisticLicensePhysics: Having the oxygen atoms in your body spontaneously destroyed[[note]]We'll just ignore all the scientific laws this violates in and of itself[[/note]] would be ''nasty'' and most likely fatal, but probably would not strip the flesh from your bones and disintegrate you.
* AttackOfThe50FootWhatever: Godzilla is exactly 50 meters in the Japanese version. The dub overshot this with him being 400 feet tall, which is 121.92 meters. The latter is rather inconsistent, due to him being barely taller than a couple of buildings that would be over his height.
* AvoidTheDreadedGRating: Averted. While there was a special event for children where Momoko Koichi and Haruo Nakajima (in the suit) in Hawaii uniforms (Godzilla even had a ''guitar'' around his neck), the film is still classified as a horror film.
* BadVibrations: An early example. It usually signifies an OhCrap for everyone, including the audience. However, the special effect used for other scenes is rather... odd. Since in the party boat scene, we can hear the stomping ''before'' Godzilla surfaces(it would made sense, but sound is usually not heard underwater), then again when it can be heard before Godzilla puts his head out of the water in his first rampage. In fact, Akira Ifukube accidentally stepped on a sound system, and it was used in the film.
* BerserkButton: Dr. Yamane urges the JSDF not to shine lights on Godzilla during the monster's rampage in Shinagawa. It's explained in the second film, when Yamane speculates Godzilla doesn't like bright lights because they remind him of the glare of the atomic bomb, which turned him into what he is today.
* BadassNormal: Daisuke Serizawa, a brilliant, yet otherwise ordinary human, is responsible for one of the few times that the King of Monsters has been defeated.
* BigBad: Aside from the pun, Godzilla's actions kick-started the plot, and his death has cast his shadow over the entire franchise in all 3 entire series, Showa, Heisei, and Millennium. However, his Showa successor went from a villain to a hero, Heisei successor from villain to antihero, and multiple ones who are villains and antiheroes in the Millennium series.
* BreathWeapon: Godzilla's Atomic Breath, a stream of radioactive plasma which he uses to blow up the ships at the films beginning, melt the high-tension power lines, and burn Tokyo to the ground.
* CentralTheme: '''Tragedy''' and '''Consequences'''. What, you thought we were kidding? Even the central characters are not immune for the latter, which triggered the trope of the former. And then there's the cleverly hidden WarIsHell theme.
* ContrivedCoincidence: Godzilla seems to know where to go in this film. He lands on Odo Island (where Masaji happens to be), Came to Tokyo twice on separate nights. But since this is an Creator/IshiroHonda film, it's PlayedForDrama. And he's damn good at it. Until ''Film/DestroyAllMonsters'', FridgeHorror kicks in 'cause the monsters are aware of their target's location.
* CruelAndUnusualDeath: [[spoiler: Godzilla and Dr. Daisuke Serizawa being disintegrated by the Oxygen Destroyer.]]
* CurbStompBattle: Godzilla against the electrical blockade and a squad of tanks as he moves inward on Tokyo's wards.
* DeadlineNews: A radio crew reporting the attack on Tokyo realize they have no way out. Accepting it, they announce this fact to their listeners and continue reporting until Godzilla destroys the tower from which they're broadcasting.
* DarkerAndEdgier: It's a very dark film of its time. Before its ReverseCerebusSyndrome and LighterAndSofter sequels (barring its first direct sequel ''Film/GodzillaRaidsAgain''), it is much darker than the radioactive monsters of the 50's and this is the ''first film'' of the film's overall chronology.
* DeathByIrony: Masaji, the fisherman who survived Godzilla's third attack in the ocean, has an OhCrap when Godzilla comes to Odo Island during a typhoon.
* DecoyProtagonist: In the opening, Ogata seemingly shown as the protagonist of the film. He's not.
* DigitalDestruction: The Classic Media Blu-ray of Gojira used a mediocre, rough looking print hit with excessive grain smoothing (which didn't even get rid of much of it to begin with). Fortunately, the CriterionCollection Blu-ray gave the film a proper restoration.
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Considering Creator/IshiroHonda directed this film and its screenplay, there are several references to Japan's experience in the aftermath World War II and the incoming UsefulNotes/ColdWar:
**The Eiko Maru blowing up in the beginning is a direct reference to the nuclear incident that occurred earlier in the year, when the US "Castle Bravo" test detonated a hydrogen bomb in the Pacific and the ''Lucky Dragon 5'' fishing boat got caught in the radiation burst by ''accident''.
** Godzilla himself is not just a metaphor of the atomic bomb (or nuclear weapons in general), but also a living nuclear weapon. A rather sad part, Godzilla in the climax is treated as the monster itself is innocent, since it experienced the aftershock of the nuclear weapons that gave the monster its powers. How it went to "[[KillAllHumans kill every single human that stands in my way]]", we will never know.
** The exchange with Ogata and Dr. Yamane when Ogata agrees with the army to kill Godzilla because of him being a reminder of the atomic bombings. Unfortunately, Yamane doesn't take it well, and kicks Ogata out of his house.
** The fire raids. Those of you don't know about the fire raids, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Tokyo look it up]].
** A couple complains about using bomb shelters should Godzilla come again. The majority of the generation of that era would most likely be survivors during the time when US air raids were common during World War II.
* DownerEnding: Godzilla is killed, but at the cost of Serizawa's life. He destroyed his notes, so there's no more Oxygen Destroyer option if another Godzilla were to come around.
* DyingMomentOfAwesome: Serizawa's final moments and words. He is canonically the first human to have ever defeated Godzilla by himself.
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Unlike the later sequels, there's a very clear anti-war and anti-nuclear message written over it. This is made by the man who saw the aftermath of Hiroshima, and considered to be the ''best'' film of the franchise.
* EyePatchOfPower: Again, Serizawa, the brilliant scientist who made the Oxygen Destroyer, wears an eye patch.
* FilmNoir: While this movie isn't a crime drama, it nevertheless makes use of ''Noir''-style lighting.
* ForeignRemake: Has 2 under its belt by the US. The much-maligned ''Film/{{Godzilla 1998}}'' and the [[Film/{{Godzilla2014}} 2014 remake]] for its [[MilestoneCelebration 60th anniversary]].
* {{Foreshadowing}}: In the beginning of the film, we see the fishing boats explode, and earlier, a blinding flash of light. In Godzilla's second raid in Tokyo, they are revealed to be the result of his [[BreathWeapon Atomic Breath]]
* FromBadToWorse: People find out Godzilla is a giant radiation-mutated dinosaur. Said mutant dinosaur can ''use'' a radioactive BreathWeapon, and proximity towards him can make people suffer from radiation poisoning.
* GiantEqualsInvincible: Godzilla. The big guy set the stage for "giant monster ignores heavy artillery".
* GodzillaThreshold: The Japanese government is willing to go to any lengths to eliminate Godzilla, including using an untested superweapon that will cause drastic long-term damage to Japan's own marine-based economy. The entire point of the film, in fact, is to examine how humanity is willing to develop and deploy ever more powerful weapons without regard for the consequences, making this an UnbuiltTrope.
* GoneHorriblyWrong: The JSDF sends ships out to depth charge Godzilla. Not only does that not work, the creature follows the ships back to Tokyo Bay and lays waste to the city.
* GreyAndGrayMorality: As the DVD commentary says, the crux of the film is its moral ambiguity that Serizawa is wrestling with. If he does nothing, Godzilla will surely destroy his people, putting his inaction as culpable to the extinction of the Japanese. However if he uses the Oxygen Destroyer, it creates the danger of a new arms race, and one that has the power to cause ''the utter destruction of all mankind''. It's because there is no third option in this film that Serizawa is so tortured by the decision he has to make.
* HappilyAdopted: Godzilla killed Shinkichi's mother and brother. Now he's Emiko's adopted brother, and doesn't mind being their new son. In ''Godzilla vs. Destoroyah'', he really does seemed to get along with his adopted father in his picture with Dr. Yamane.
* HellIsThatNoise: Would you believe that Godzilla's roar was a result of a rubber glove used against a string instrument? It's damn chilling too.
* TheHeroDies: [[spoiler:Daisuke Serizawa cuts the rope tethering him to the boat so that the secret of the Oxygen Destroyer dies with him.]]
* HeroicBSOD: Serizawa has one after realizing the full weight that rests on his shoulders. One must wonder how Akihiko Hirata felt when playing the guy. As mentioned in the BittersweetEnding entry, Yamane laments that Godzilla was the last of his kind, but if nuclear tests are continued to be conducted, another Godzilla will appear again in the world. Cue FridgeHorror for that part.
* HopeSpot: The military are throwing everything they can, including electrical wires, at Godzilla. Cue Atomic Breath and ensuing death that follows.
* {{Horror}}: This is technically a ''horror'' film. Unlike most giant monster films and its later sequels (except ''Film/GodzillaRaidsAgain'') that weren't, this one sets it apart differently. The black and white nature of the film lampshades this, and it is actually meant to scare the shit out of you. Not just the picture format, but the music has its level of creepiness.
* IgnoredExpert: Guess how Tokyo ended up when Dr. Yamane told them to never use lights on Godzilla? In ''Film/GodzillaRaidsAgain'', the military were wise enough to listen to him.
* InfantImmortality: Played with. Shinkichi survives (which is played straight). The children on the second act survives the attack from Godzilla, but their mother dies. Then one of Yamane's colleague uses the Geiger Counter on a boy who has the counter crackle near him.
* IntrepidReporter: Though not a main character, Hagiwara tries to get the story as much as he can. Throughout the whole movie, he survives the ''entire'' film.
* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: Daisuke Serizawa, one of the scientists involved in the story, is aware that Emiko Yamane is with Ogata the whole time. Even he knows she's inseparable with the man. During the climax, [[spoiler: he willingly sacrifices himself so that Emiko and Ogata would be together. (Also to prevent his knowledge of the Oxygen Destroyer from falling into the wrong hands)]].
* LastOfHisKind: Dr. Yamane believes Godzilla is the last of his kind. Then he revises this statement and says that another one will appear again. Unfortunately, he was right.
* {{Leitmotif}}:
** The theme for the opening credits was ''not'' meant for Godzilla, but for the military. Both Godzilla and the JSDF have two themes.
** It can be hard to hear at first, but the sailor's harmonica tune in the opening scene can be heard later as the Oxygen Destroyer's theme in Emiko's flashback (which is later used as its theme in ''Film/GodzillaVsDestoroyah'')
* LittlestCancerPatient: After Godzilla devastates Tokyo, there's a closeup of a little boy with a Geiger counter waved around his face, clicking rapidly.
* LoveTriangle: This is the first monster film (albeit a rather ''tragic [[{{Kaiju}} giant monster film]]'') to use such a trope. Serizawa's obviously in love with Emiko, while she herself is in love with Ogata. This is further complicated when Ogata ''asks'' Serizawa to use the Oxygen Destroyer rather than Emiko, and thus proving his point that humans want to use any one superweapon, despite a living nuclear weapon practically '''destroying''' their hometown. Serizawa relents after the destruction of Tokyo, and the love triangle shifted to him going to the "I want my beloved to be happy" phase.
* MadScientist: Inverted. Serizawa's not a mad scientist despite his appearance and lab equipment. In fact, he's horrified by the weapon he's accidentally created. Kyohei Yamane, however, was originally gonna be one.
* ManlyTears: Both Ogata and Shinkichi cry when Serizawa made his HeroicSacrifice at the climax of the film.
* MeaningfulBackgroundEvent: During the typhoon scene as Shinkichi shouts to his brother, you can see the lower half of Godzilla on the upper left side of the screen as he destroys Masaji's house.
* MightyGlacier: Just look at that suit. In production, it's the heaviest and stiffest suit ever made (the prototype suit is ''200 pounds''). This works well with the plot, as Godzilla's attack in the second act serves as a rolling nuclear explosion slowly killing everything in his path. Future suits would be made for Godzilla to become a LightningBruiser.
* MightyRoar: Godzilla introduces himself to the Odo Island reseach team with that (soon to be) iconic monster roar.
* MissingMom: Emiko's mother is not mentioned. We are assumed that Kyohei Yamane is widowed in this film, since Emiko lives with her father.
* MonumentalDamage: The first film of its kind, with the destruction of the Wako Clocktower and the Diet Building. Later films will do this a lot. Interestingly though, the Diet Building scene was filmed first. However, the damage to the building did not crumble correctly, so it had to be reshot.
* NationalGeographicNudity: In an early beach scene a couple of older fisherwomen are seen casually topless. Japan hadn't yet adopted Western attitudes towards that kind of nudity.
* NextSundayAD: The film takes place in summer 1955 (specifically August) according to the original English sales brochure. However, unlike the Heisei series which always takes place a year than the release date, every film afterwards dates the movie in 1954.
* NoHuggingNoKissing: Even though Emiko and Ogata is the film's OfficialCouple (in the eyes of the audience), they don't try to do both in this film. Ogata ''does'' indicate that he intends to ask Dr. Yamane for Emiko's hand, but this is quickly forgotten and in any case, there is no fiancé level affection.
* NoPlansNoPrototypeNoBackup: {{Invoked|Trope}} by Serizawa, who is afraid of his Oxygen Destroyer being used as a weapon. He clearly has hundreds of research documents and notes for creating the Oxygen Destroyer, but he destroys all of it to prevent the device from ever being used again, and just to be safe, [[spoiler:he kills himself immediately after using it]].
* NoSell: This is where Godzilla's GiantEqualsInvincible comes into play. Military weapons has no effect on the guy whatsoever.
* NothingIsScarier: Used in the first act. You know something is destroying those boats, but the monster is nowhere to be seen. In the typhoon scene, you can hear the footsteps of the monster, then his lower half is shown, followed by crushed buildings, then a crushed helicopter ending with a DramaticWind. ''In that order''.
* NotSoDifferent: If you think the Japanese are heavily afflicted by the atomic bombs, then Godzilla isn't so different. In the climax, Godzilla looks peaceful and it's apparent that he just want to be left alone. Cue the fact that Godzilla ends up a ''TragicMonster''.
* NuclearWeaponsTaboo: The whole point of this movie is that not only nuclear weapons, but weapons of mass destruction in general. Dr. Yamane stated using said nuclear weapons could bring another Godzilla.
* OhCrap:
** In the Odo Island scene, the villagers were scurrying to fight off the monster (apparently, they don't know how huge the thing is). While Dr. Yamane saw the monster, the whole village ran back down after seeing Godzilla.
** While the people on a partyboat are in a celebration, Godzilla [[spoiler: appears unscathed, and scares the hell out of everyone in the boat]].
** While blasting Godzilla to death (or attempting to), Godzilla melts the electrical wires, of course, it means ''run like hell!!''
* OffModel: Several close-ups of Godzilla's head are used by a hand puppet, with varying degrees of success. For instance, in a few scenes where he shoots his atomic breath, his eyes were... weird to say the least. Other times, they ''would'' (sorta) match the up with the suit footage.
* OutOfFocus: Hagiwara is very important in the first half of the film, but has a lot less to do toward the end.
* PhysicalGod: Godzilla was worshipped as a malevolent sea god by the people of Odo Island, who once sent {{virgin sacrifice}}s out on rafts to appease his wrath. When ships start being torn to shreds offshore and survivors wash up with strange burns, the islanders conduct a ritual to appease him. It doesn't work.
* PlatonicLifePartners: This is what Emiko initally believes regarding Serizawa. Unfortunately, he [[AllLoveIsUnrequited thinks otherwise]].
* PlayedForDrama: ''Everything'' in this film is played for drama. Including the climax, where you'd expect the film to end on a high note. [[BittersweetEnding It doesn't]].
* PosthumousCharacter: Both Godzilla and Serizawa are this. Godzilla especially (except ''Film/GodzillaVsMegaguirus''), considering it's his actions in the film that makes him TheDreaded that any character will bring up the events of this film in all three series. Serizawa especially is one as well as he is the man who defeated Godzilla.
* {{Recut}}: Germany's cut was a simple dubbed and edited edition (running 82 minutes), while France got a unique hybrid edit of the original cut and ''King of the Monsters'' (running about 90 minutes).
* ReluctantMadScientist: Though not necessarily "mad", Serizawa relunctantly decided to use the Oxygen Destroyer afer seeing the destruction Godzilla caused. Though he intends to use the Oxygen Destroyer once, his [[HeroicSacrifice heroic sacrifice]] is foreshadowed in an eariler scene when [[spoiler: he clearly states that he'd burn his notes at the event of his death]].
* ReverseCerebusSyndrome: For anyone who has seen the sillier DenserAndWackier and LighterAndSofter entries, this ''not'' such a film. This film is based on real-life tragedy and Creator/IshiroHonda's traumatizing experience of the aftermath of the Little Boy atom bomb that desolated Hiroshima. The film also possess one of the most tragic monsters in an age where atomic monsters were a thing.
* SaveTheVillain: Played with. Kyohei Yamane does not want Godzilla to be killed because he survived the H-Bomb testing in the Pacific. As mentioned above, Yamane wants to study Godzilla because he's a paleontologist. However, he ends up having to agree to kill Godzilla after what he did to Tokyo.
* SceneryGorn: Tokyo after Godzilla nukes the place, intentionally evocative of the real atomic bombings.
* SeaMonster: Godzilla is revealed to be an amphibious prehistoric reptile that was living in deep-sea trenches before H-Bomb tests irradiated it.
* SequelHook: Though unintentional, Dr. Yamane's final line suggests there may be another Godzilla somewhere in the world. Three series later (except ''Godzilla vs. Megaguiurus''), it ended up happening.
* SlasherSmile: The look of Godzilla facial expression looks like he has one.
%%* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism: Leans ''very'' hard on the cynicism.
* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: Treated directional and in-universe. In case you don't know, it's Serizawa's and the ''director's'' point of the film. Since Honda's experience in the World War II and haunted by experience of Hiroshima's destruction by the first atomic bomb, Serizawa's line tells us humans can be and are destructive to the point we would use any kind of weapon and most likely to use it in a war. If someone has accidentally make a superweapon of some sort, it's ''your'' responsibility to never reveal its existence.
* SpellMyNameWithAThe: Der Godzilla is referred to with an integral article the way an animal would be in the German dub.
* StrippedToTheBone: What the Oxygen Destroyer does to living things.
* SuperNotDrowningSkills: Since this is the first film, Godzilla appears sleeping underwater when the climax starts. Justified as Godzilla is considered to be an intermediate dinosaur, capable of surviving underwater as long as he wants.
* SympatheticMurderer: Monster example. You know that 50-metered giant radioactive monster that is hell-bent on attacking humanity and looks like he has a SlasherSmile? Not only is he a main villain, but the climax disturbingly treated him in a sympathetic light, compared to his JerkassWoobie successors.
* TakeAThirdOption: Serizawa is faced with either allowing Godzilla to destroy Japan (and then the world), or using a weapon that he knows will spark another deadly arms race that could lead to the destruction of Earth by warring governments. [[spoiler:In the end, he opts to use the weapon on himself and Godzilla, ensuring all research goes with him to his watery grave.]]
* TemptingFate: So you'd think by now Dr. Yamane says that Godzilla survived an H-Bomb testing, and nothing could stop him. Yet the military bombards the thing when he crosses the high-tension electrical towers and he uses his atomic breath. They ''still'' attack him after he blows up and crushes every building in his way.
* TokenRomance: A ''tragic'' example in a {{horror}} film, and of a LoveTriangle version. It's one of the rare important subplots where it's another focus of the story, because writing it out wouldn't be as powerful as it than in the final product.
* TooDumbToLive: The army and anyone else that tried to kill Godzilla. They tried, then [[CurbStompBattle they got blasted by the thing]].
** Arguably, ''the government''. They want to get rid of Godzilla as soon as possible despite Dr. Yamane's warnings. Trying to kill Godzilla not only pisses him off, but several deaths would have been avoided if they had listened. As of result, Tokyo is utterly destroyed, the Diet Building is crumbled, and thousands of people had lost their lives or dying. And you know why by the time in the first sequel, they stopped trying to kill him and listened to Yamane.
* ToServeMan: During his rampage Godzilla bites down on a tower to get at the people on it, and gnaws on a train. According to the myths of Odo Island, he would come ashore to feast on mankind unless appeased by sacrifices and ritual dances.
* {{Tragedy}}: Aside {{Horror}}, this fits the bill as well. [[spoiler: The de-factor hero dies killing the tragic monster.]]
* TragicMonster: Godzilla ''himself''. Mentioned before, Godzilla is also treated as a victim due to the aftermath of his horrible experience. No wonder Creator/IshiroHonda felt so strongly that nuclear weapons would be mankind's undoing.
* UnbuiltTrope: A monster awakened by a nuclear weapon and attacking innocent people and devastates a major city? Haven't seen that before. A giant monster awaken and mutated to the point of scarring it for life, blames humanity, ''annihilates'' a major city, dies in a TearJerker manner, but no epic fanfare celebrating its' defeat? Holy ''crap''...
* VillainProtagonist: Godzilla, who is the central character and a ''tragic'' example.
* VirginSacrifice: When explaining the significance behind the ritual dance, one of the Odo Islanders casually remarks they used to send young girls out on rafts for Godzilla to eat.
* WarIsHell: Godzilla is basically the consequence of nuclear war; wide spread destruction, poisoning the water in his wake, militaries dying like flies. It's not glorious at all. The film was made during post-war Japan, 9 years since the first [[UsefulNotes/AtomicBombingsOfHiroshimaAndNagasaki atomic bombing on Hiroshima]], but now Japan had to contend with the Cold War since the nuclear incident with Castle Bravo and ''Lucky Dragon 5'', and we're not kidding, since it ''[[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory actually happened]]''. Creator/IshiroHonda, the man behind the film, saw what the aftermath of Hiroshima to him, and it [[ShellShockedVeteran haunted him for the rest of his life]]. The climax illustrates this very well, and it shows.
* WatchingTroyBurn: Tokyo is utterly destroyed by Godzilla while its survivors literally watch it burn. It would make you cringe since it would remind you of what happened to Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Whatever happened to the military platoons attacking Godzilla in the second act? The first platoon was busy shooting Godzilla as he surfaces, then before his destruction starts, a whole platoon tries to annihiliate him when he uses his atomic breath.
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: ''Godzilla and Daisuke Serizawa''.
** There's already enough scenes to show how much of a woobie Serizawa is, and he literally ''is'' a destoryer of worlds (accidentally). He's a ShellShockedVeteran, he's horrified by the creation of his Oxygen Destroyer, and he never intended its use as a weapon. Yet, he created a weapon by accident which severely damaged Tokyo Bay's ecosystem when he used it in the climax.
** Godzilla's as much as a woobie as well. He survived a nuke, he is horribly disfigured (yes, some of Godzilla's facial close-ups look like radiation burns), hates lights, and really wants to be left alone. The footnote on the 2006 Classic Media book even calls them "innocent victims of the nuclear age".
* UsefulNotes/WorldWarII: The aftermath of the Second World War weighs heavily on the film even in-universe: Daisuke is missing his eye and despises war so much due to being a ShellShockedVeteran, and is insulted when Ogata suggests he might be working with German scientists; a passenger on the train complains about the possibility of having to go to the bomb shelters ''again''; and a delegate at the conference elects to make Godzilla's existence secret due to international relations still being fragile.
[[caption-width-right:220: The original horror...]]
->''"Bombs vs. bombs. Missiles vs. missiles. And now a new superweapon to throw upon us all. As a scientist, no, as a human being, I cannot allow that to happen."''
-->-- '''Dr. Daisuke Serizawa''' after his Oxygen Destroyer is revealed to Ogata
->''"I can't believe Godzilla was the [[LastOfHisKind last member of his species]]. [[SubvertedTrope But]] if we continue to conduct nuclear tests, [[ThereIsAnother another Godzilla]] may appear, somewhere in the world again."''
-->-- '''Dr. Kyohei Yamane''', closing the film
In TheFifties, UsefulNotes/ColdWar tensions were high, movie monsters [[NuclearNasty created or awakened by nuclear explosions]] were a thing, and the monster could be defeated in a scientific way. ''Gojira[=/=]Godzilla'' introduces a new type of radioactive monstrosity in a new, darker way...
''Gojira'' (or ''Godzilla'' for English-speaking viewers), is a black and white {{kaiju}} {{tokusatsu}} film directed by Creator/IshiroHonda in 1954 and the first film of the ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' franchise.
The story is written by Shigeru Kayama. The film is roughly based on Honda's wartime experience as well as seeing the wasteland of Hiroshima caused by the atomic bombing. It had a profound effect on his outlook, leading to a strong dislike of nuclear weapons. Thus, the film is a metaphor for their destructive power. The opening scene is a direct reference to the Castle Bravo test, and Godzilla's rampage in the second act symbolizes the atomic bombings.
The film also has an ensemble cast of characters, Ogata (Akira Takarada), Emiko Yamane (Momoko Koichi), Dr. Yamane (Takashi Shimura), and Dr. Daisuke Serizawa (Akihiko Hirata). A summary of the film's story can be found on the franchise's main page.
While set up originally as a ''horror film'', this film sets up the landmark of {{Kaiju}} being a genre on its own, and the legacy of this film is what would make one of the greatest franchises in the world.
Despite debuting to poor reception in Japan initially, ([[VindicatedByHistory in subsequent years, Japanese film scholars and fans of the series have come to consider it one of the best Japanese films ever made]]), ''Gojira'' (or ''Godzilla'', take your pick), was praised by American viewers after the original film was made available outside of Japan with two DVD releases, by Classic Media and Creator/TheCriterionCollection. The English version, ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters'' was edited to add American reporter Steve Martin ([[Franchise/PerryMason Raymond]] [[Series/{{Ironside 1967}} Burr]]), and remove some of the slower scenes. (Despite the edits, it still has merit.) There is also the Italian version, ''Film/{{Cozzilla}}'', a much stranger recut that includes colorization and StockFootage from UsefulNotes/WorldWarII.
''Godzilla'' is a much more grounded, bleak film than its successors, so viewers visiting the film after a bout with the more fantastical later installments may be surprised at its somber tone and unsubtle allegories.
Not to be confused with the French [[TechnicalDeathMetal progressive death metal]] band [[{{Music/Gojira}} of the same name]].
----
!!! This film shows the examples of:
* ATeamFiring: The military brings out fighter jets to attack Godzilla as a last-ditch effort. Too bad the missiles keep missing him, even as he submerges into the ocean.
* AdaptationDyeJob: The American version's poster depicted him green.
* AdultFear:
** A woman during Godzilla's rampage holds her children, telling them they'll see their father soon.
** Dr. Tanabe shakes his head in regret after examining a child with a Geiger counter, signifying he'll die from radiation poisoning.
* ApocalypseWow: We see what happened in the second act and the aftermath of the third.
* AlasPoorVillain: You'd wouldn't ''think so'' towards Godzilla. But when you consider he survived a hydrogen bomb test, you know Ishiro Honda goes out of his way to show that, yes, this gigantic radioactive monstrosity, is a victim to the nuclear age.
* AntagonistTitle: Godzilla, who's the villain here.
* ArtMajorBiology: Godzilla is supposedly from the Jurassic Era of dinosaurs (the era itself being 201.3± 0.6 Ma). Shigeru Kayama purposely date the Jurassic Era later than that to tie Godzilla's origins to man.
* ArtisticLicensePaleontology: Dr. Yamane's description of the Mesozoic Era is woefully inaccurate.
* ArtisticLicensePhysics: Having the oxygen atoms in your body spontaneously destroyed[[note]]We'll just ignore all the scientific laws this violates in and of itself[[/note]] would be ''nasty'' and most likely fatal, but probably would not strip the flesh from your bones and disintegrate you.
* AttackOfThe50FootWhatever: Godzilla is exactly 50 meters in the Japanese version. The dub overshot this with him being 400 feet tall, which is 121.92 meters. The latter is rather inconsistent, due to him being barely taller than a couple of buildings that would be over his height.
* AvoidTheDreadedGRating: Averted. While there was a special event for children where Momoko Koichi and Haruo Nakajima (in the suit) in Hawaii uniforms (Godzilla even had a ''guitar'' around his neck), the film is still classified as a horror film.
* BadVibrations: An early example. It usually signifies an OhCrap for everyone, including the audience. However, the special effect used for other scenes is rather... odd. Since in the party boat scene, we can hear the stomping ''before'' Godzilla surfaces(it would made sense, but sound is usually not heard underwater), then again when it can be heard before Godzilla puts his head out of the water in his first rampage. In fact, Akira Ifukube accidentally stepped on a sound system, and it was used in the film.
* BerserkButton: Dr. Yamane urges the JSDF not to shine lights on Godzilla during the monster's rampage in Shinagawa. It's explained in the second film, when Yamane speculates Godzilla doesn't like bright lights because they remind him of the glare of the atomic bomb, which turned him into what he is today.
* BadassNormal: Daisuke Serizawa, a brilliant, yet otherwise ordinary human, is responsible for one of the few times that the King of Monsters has been defeated.
* BigBad: Aside from the pun, Godzilla's actions kick-started the plot, and his death has cast his shadow over the entire franchise in all 3 entire series, Showa, Heisei, and Millennium. However, his Showa successor went from a villain to a hero, Heisei successor from villain to antihero, and multiple ones who are villains and antiheroes in the Millennium series.
* BreathWeapon: Godzilla's Atomic Breath, a stream of radioactive plasma which he uses to blow up the ships at the films beginning, melt the high-tension power lines, and burn Tokyo to the ground.
* CentralTheme: '''Tragedy''' and '''Consequences'''. What, you thought we were kidding? Even the central characters are not immune for the latter, which triggered the trope of the former. And then there's the cleverly hidden WarIsHell theme.
* ContrivedCoincidence: Godzilla seems to know where to go in this film. He lands on Odo Island (where Masaji happens to be), Came to Tokyo twice on separate nights. But since this is an Creator/IshiroHonda film, it's PlayedForDrama. And he's damn good at it. Until ''Film/DestroyAllMonsters'', FridgeHorror kicks in 'cause the monsters are aware of their target's location.
* CruelAndUnusualDeath: [[spoiler: Godzilla and Dr. Daisuke Serizawa being disintegrated by the Oxygen Destroyer.]]
* CurbStompBattle: Godzilla against the electrical blockade and a squad of tanks as he moves inward on Tokyo's wards.
* DeadlineNews: A radio crew reporting the attack on Tokyo realize they have no way out. Accepting it, they announce this fact to their listeners and continue reporting until Godzilla destroys the tower from which they're broadcasting.
* DarkerAndEdgier: It's a very dark film of its time. Before its ReverseCerebusSyndrome and LighterAndSofter sequels (barring its first direct sequel ''Film/GodzillaRaidsAgain''), it is much darker than the radioactive monsters of the 50's and this is the ''first film'' of the film's overall chronology.
* DeathByIrony: Masaji, the fisherman who survived Godzilla's third attack in the ocean, has an OhCrap when Godzilla comes to Odo Island during a typhoon.
* DecoyProtagonist: In the opening, Ogata seemingly shown as the protagonist of the film. He's not.
* DigitalDestruction: The Classic Media Blu-ray of Gojira used a mediocre, rough looking print hit with excessive grain smoothing (which didn't even get rid of much of it to begin with). Fortunately, the CriterionCollection Blu-ray gave the film a proper restoration.
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Considering Creator/IshiroHonda directed this film and its screenplay, there are several references to Japan's experience in the aftermath World War II and the incoming UsefulNotes/ColdWar:
**The Eiko Maru blowing up in the beginning is a direct reference to the nuclear incident that occurred earlier in the year, when the US "Castle Bravo" test detonated a hydrogen bomb in the Pacific and the ''Lucky Dragon 5'' fishing boat got caught in the radiation burst by ''accident''.
** Godzilla himself is not just a metaphor of the atomic bomb (or nuclear weapons in general), but also a living nuclear weapon. A rather sad part, Godzilla in the climax is treated as the monster itself is innocent, since it experienced the aftershock of the nuclear weapons that gave the monster its powers. How it went to "[[KillAllHumans kill every single human that stands in my way]]", we will never know.
** The exchange with Ogata and Dr. Yamane when Ogata agrees with the army to kill Godzilla because of him being a reminder of the atomic bombings. Unfortunately, Yamane doesn't take it well, and kicks Ogata out of his house.
** The fire raids. Those of you don't know about the fire raids, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Tokyo look it up]].
** A couple complains about using bomb shelters should Godzilla come again. The majority of the generation of that era would most likely be survivors during the time when US air raids were common during World War II.
* DownerEnding: Godzilla is killed, but at the cost of Serizawa's life. He destroyed his notes, so there's no more Oxygen Destroyer option if another Godzilla were to come around.
* DyingMomentOfAwesome: Serizawa's final moments and words. He is canonically the first human to have ever defeated Godzilla by himself.
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Unlike the later sequels, there's a very clear anti-war and anti-nuclear message written over it. This is made by the man who saw the aftermath of Hiroshima, and considered to be the ''best'' film of the franchise.
* EyePatchOfPower: Again, Serizawa, the brilliant scientist who made the Oxygen Destroyer, wears an eye patch.
* FilmNoir: While this movie isn't a crime drama, it nevertheless makes use of ''Noir''-style lighting.
* ForeignRemake: Has 2 under its belt by the US. The much-maligned ''Film/{{Godzilla 1998}}'' and the [[Film/{{Godzilla2014}} 2014 remake]] for its [[MilestoneCelebration 60th anniversary]].
* {{Foreshadowing}}: In the beginning of the film, we see the fishing boats explode, and earlier, a blinding flash of light. In Godzilla's second raid in Tokyo, they are revealed to be the result of his [[BreathWeapon Atomic Breath]]
* FromBadToWorse: People find out Godzilla is a giant radiation-mutated dinosaur. Said mutant dinosaur can ''use'' a radioactive BreathWeapon, and proximity towards him can make people suffer from radiation poisoning.
* GiantEqualsInvincible: Godzilla. The big guy set the stage for "giant monster ignores heavy artillery".
* GodzillaThreshold: The Japanese government is willing to go to any lengths to eliminate Godzilla, including using an untested superweapon that will cause drastic long-term damage to Japan's own marine-based economy. The entire point of the film, in fact, is to examine how humanity is willing to develop and deploy ever more powerful weapons without regard for the consequences, making this an UnbuiltTrope.
* GoneHorriblyWrong: The JSDF sends ships out to depth charge Godzilla. Not only does that not work, the creature follows the ships back to Tokyo Bay and lays waste to the city.
* GreyAndGrayMorality: As the DVD commentary says, the crux of the film is its moral ambiguity that Serizawa is wrestling with. If he does nothing, Godzilla will surely destroy his people, putting his inaction as culpable to the extinction of the Japanese. However if he uses the Oxygen Destroyer, it creates the danger of a new arms race, and one that has the power to cause ''the utter destruction of all mankind''. It's because there is no third option in this film that Serizawa is so tortured by the decision he has to make.
* HappilyAdopted: Godzilla killed Shinkichi's mother and brother. Now he's Emiko's adopted brother, and doesn't mind being their new son. In ''Godzilla vs. Destoroyah'', he really does seemed to get along with his adopted father in his picture with Dr. Yamane.
* HellIsThatNoise: Would you believe that Godzilla's roar was a result of a rubber glove used against a string instrument? It's damn chilling too.
* TheHeroDies: [[spoiler:Daisuke Serizawa cuts the rope tethering him to the boat so that the secret of the Oxygen Destroyer dies with him.]]
* HeroicBSOD: Serizawa has one after realizing the full weight that rests on his shoulders. One must wonder how Akihiko Hirata felt when playing the guy. As mentioned in the BittersweetEnding entry, Yamane laments that Godzilla was the last of his kind, but if nuclear tests are continued to be conducted, another Godzilla will appear again in the world. Cue FridgeHorror for that part.
* HopeSpot: The military are throwing everything they can, including electrical wires, at Godzilla. Cue Atomic Breath and ensuing death that follows.
* {{Horror}}: This is technically a ''horror'' film. Unlike most giant monster films and its later sequels (except ''Film/GodzillaRaidsAgain'') that weren't, this one sets it apart differently. The black and white nature of the film lampshades this, and it is actually meant to scare the shit out of you. Not just the picture format, but the music has its level of creepiness.
* IgnoredExpert: Guess how Tokyo ended up when Dr. Yamane told them to never use lights on Godzilla? In ''Film/GodzillaRaidsAgain'', the military were wise enough to listen to him.
* InfantImmortality: Played with. Shinkichi survives (which is played straight). The children on the second act survives the attack from Godzilla, but their mother dies. Then one of Yamane's colleague uses the Geiger Counter on a boy who has the counter crackle near him.
* IntrepidReporter: Though not a main character, Hagiwara tries to get the story as much as he can. Throughout the whole movie, he survives the ''entire'' film.
* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: Daisuke Serizawa, one of the scientists involved in the story, is aware that Emiko Yamane is with Ogata the whole time. Even he knows she's inseparable with the man. During the climax, [[spoiler: he willingly sacrifices himself so that Emiko and Ogata would be together. (Also to prevent his knowledge of the Oxygen Destroyer from falling into the wrong hands)]].
* LastOfHisKind: Dr. Yamane believes Godzilla is the last of his kind. Then he revises this statement and says that another one will appear again. Unfortunately, he was right.
* {{Leitmotif}}:
** The theme for the opening credits was ''not'' meant for Godzilla, but for the military. Both Godzilla and the JSDF have two themes.
** It can be hard to hear at first, but the sailor's harmonica tune in the opening scene can be heard later as the Oxygen Destroyer's theme in Emiko's flashback (which is later used as its theme in ''Film/GodzillaVsDestoroyah'')
* LittlestCancerPatient: After Godzilla devastates Tokyo, there's a closeup of a little boy with a Geiger counter waved around his face, clicking rapidly.
* LoveTriangle: This is the first monster film (albeit a rather ''tragic [[{{Kaiju}} giant monster film]]'') to use such a trope. Serizawa's obviously in love with Emiko, while she herself is in love with Ogata. This is further complicated when Ogata ''asks'' Serizawa to use the Oxygen Destroyer rather than Emiko, and thus proving his point that humans want to use any one superweapon, despite a living nuclear weapon practically '''destroying''' their hometown. Serizawa relents after the destruction of Tokyo, and the love triangle shifted to him going to the "I want my beloved to be happy" phase.
* MadScientist: Inverted. Serizawa's not a mad scientist despite his appearance and lab equipment. In fact, he's horrified by the weapon he's accidentally created. Kyohei Yamane, however, was originally gonna be one.
* ManlyTears: Both Ogata and Shinkichi cry when Serizawa made his HeroicSacrifice at the climax of the film.
* MeaningfulBackgroundEvent: During the typhoon scene as Shinkichi shouts to his brother, you can see the lower half of Godzilla on the upper left side of the screen as he destroys Masaji's house.
* MightyGlacier: Just look at that suit. In production, it's the heaviest and stiffest suit ever made (the prototype suit is ''200 pounds''). This works well with the plot, as Godzilla's attack in the second act serves as a rolling nuclear explosion slowly killing everything in his path. Future suits would be made for Godzilla to become a LightningBruiser.
* MightyRoar: Godzilla introduces himself to the Odo Island reseach team with that (soon to be) iconic monster roar.
* MissingMom: Emiko's mother is not mentioned. We are assumed that Kyohei Yamane is widowed in this film, since Emiko lives with her father.
* MonumentalDamage: The first film of its kind, with the destruction of the Wako Clocktower and the Diet Building. Later films will do this a lot. Interestingly though, the Diet Building scene was filmed first. However, the damage to the building did not crumble correctly, so it had to be reshot.
* NationalGeographicNudity: In an early beach scene a couple of older fisherwomen are seen casually topless. Japan hadn't yet adopted Western attitudes towards that kind of nudity.
* NextSundayAD: The film takes place in summer 1955 (specifically August) according to the original English sales brochure. However, unlike the Heisei series which always takes place a year than the release date, every film afterwards dates the movie in 1954.
* NoHuggingNoKissing: Even though Emiko and Ogata is the film's OfficialCouple (in the eyes of the audience), they don't try to do both in this film. Ogata ''does'' indicate that he intends to ask Dr. Yamane for Emiko's hand, but this is quickly forgotten and in any case, there is no fiancé level affection.
* NoPlansNoPrototypeNoBackup: {{Invoked|Trope}} by Serizawa, who is afraid of his Oxygen Destroyer being used as a weapon. He clearly has hundreds of research documents and notes for creating the Oxygen Destroyer, but he destroys all of it to prevent the device from ever being used again, and just to be safe, [[spoiler:he kills himself immediately after using it]].
* NoSell: This is where Godzilla's GiantEqualsInvincible comes into play. Military weapons has no effect on the guy whatsoever.
* NothingIsScarier: Used in the first act. You know something is destroying those boats, but the monster is nowhere to be seen. In the typhoon scene, you can hear the footsteps of the monster, then his lower half is shown, followed by crushed buildings, then a crushed helicopter ending with a DramaticWind. ''In that order''.
* NotSoDifferent: If you think the Japanese are heavily afflicted by the atomic bombs, then Godzilla isn't so different. In the climax, Godzilla looks peaceful and it's apparent that he just want to be left alone. Cue the fact that Godzilla ends up a ''TragicMonster''.
* NuclearWeaponsTaboo: The whole point of this movie is that not only nuclear weapons, but weapons of mass destruction in general. Dr. Yamane stated using said nuclear weapons could bring another Godzilla.
* OhCrap:
** In the Odo Island scene, the villagers were scurrying to fight off the monster (apparently, they don't know how huge the thing is). While Dr. Yamane saw the monster, the whole village ran back down after seeing Godzilla.
** While the people on a partyboat are in a celebration, Godzilla [[spoiler: appears unscathed, and scares the hell out of everyone in the boat]].
** While blasting Godzilla to death (or attempting to), Godzilla melts the electrical wires, of course, it means ''run like hell!!''
* OffModel: Several close-ups of Godzilla's head are used by a hand puppet, with varying degrees of success. For instance, in a few scenes where he shoots his atomic breath, his eyes were... weird to say the least. Other times, they ''would'' (sorta) match the up with the suit footage.
* OutOfFocus: Hagiwara is very important in the first half of the film, but has a lot less to do toward the end.
* PhysicalGod: Godzilla was worshipped as a malevolent sea god by the people of Odo Island, who once sent {{virgin sacrifice}}s out on rafts to appease his wrath. When ships start being torn to shreds offshore and survivors wash up with strange burns, the islanders conduct a ritual to appease him. It doesn't work.
* PlatonicLifePartners: This is what Emiko initally believes regarding Serizawa. Unfortunately, he [[AllLoveIsUnrequited thinks otherwise]].
* PlayedForDrama: ''Everything'' in this film is played for drama. Including the climax, where you'd expect the film to end on a high note. [[BittersweetEnding It doesn't]].
* PosthumousCharacter: Both Godzilla and Serizawa are this. Godzilla especially (except ''Film/GodzillaVsMegaguirus''), considering it's his actions in the film that makes him TheDreaded that any character will bring up the events of this film in all three series. Serizawa especially is one as well as he is the man who defeated Godzilla.
* {{Recut}}: Germany's cut was a simple dubbed and edited edition (running 82 minutes), while France got a unique hybrid edit of the original cut and ''King of the Monsters'' (running about 90 minutes).
* ReluctantMadScientist: Though not necessarily "mad", Serizawa relunctantly decided to use the Oxygen Destroyer afer seeing the destruction Godzilla caused. Though he intends to use the Oxygen Destroyer once, his [[HeroicSacrifice heroic sacrifice]] is foreshadowed in an eariler scene when [[spoiler: he clearly states that he'd burn his notes at the event of his death]].
* ReverseCerebusSyndrome: For anyone who has seen the sillier DenserAndWackier and LighterAndSofter entries, this ''not'' such a film. This film is based on real-life tragedy and Creator/IshiroHonda's traumatizing experience of the aftermath of the Little Boy atom bomb that desolated Hiroshima. The film also possess one of the most tragic monsters in an age where atomic monsters were a thing.
* SaveTheVillain: Played with. Kyohei Yamane does not want Godzilla to be killed because he survived the H-Bomb testing in the Pacific. As mentioned above, Yamane wants to study Godzilla because he's a paleontologist. However, he ends up having to agree to kill Godzilla after what he did to Tokyo.
* SceneryGorn: Tokyo after Godzilla nukes the place, intentionally evocative of the real atomic bombings.
* SeaMonster: Godzilla is revealed to be an amphibious prehistoric reptile that was living in deep-sea trenches before H-Bomb tests irradiated it.
* SequelHook: Though unintentional, Dr. Yamane's final line suggests there may be another Godzilla somewhere in the world. Three series later (except ''Godzilla vs. Megaguiurus''), it ended up happening.
* SlasherSmile: The look of Godzilla facial expression looks like he has one.
%%* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism: Leans ''very'' hard on the cynicism.
* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: Treated directional and in-universe. In case you don't know, it's Serizawa's and the ''director's'' point of the film. Since Honda's experience in the World War II and haunted by experience of Hiroshima's destruction by the first atomic bomb, Serizawa's line tells us humans can be and are destructive to the point we would use any kind of weapon and most likely to use it in a war. If someone has accidentally make a superweapon of some sort, it's ''your'' responsibility to never reveal its existence.
* SpellMyNameWithAThe: Der Godzilla is referred to with an integral article the way an animal would be in the German dub.
* StrippedToTheBone: What the Oxygen Destroyer does to living things.
* SuperNotDrowningSkills: Since this is the first film, Godzilla appears sleeping underwater when the climax starts. Justified as Godzilla is considered to be an intermediate dinosaur, capable of surviving underwater as long as he wants.
* SympatheticMurderer: Monster example. You know that 50-metered giant radioactive monster that is hell-bent on attacking humanity and looks like he has a SlasherSmile? Not only is he a main villain, but the climax disturbingly treated him in a sympathetic light, compared to his JerkassWoobie successors.
* TakeAThirdOption: Serizawa is faced with either allowing Godzilla to destroy Japan (and then the world), or using a weapon that he knows will spark another deadly arms race that could lead to the destruction of Earth by warring governments. [[spoiler:In the end, he opts to use the weapon on himself and Godzilla, ensuring all research goes with him to his watery grave.]]
* TemptingFate: So you'd think by now Dr. Yamane says that Godzilla survived an H-Bomb testing, and nothing could stop him. Yet the military bombards the thing when he crosses the high-tension electrical towers and he uses his atomic breath. They ''still'' attack him after he blows up and crushes every building in his way.
* TokenRomance: A ''tragic'' example in a {{horror}} film, and of a LoveTriangle version. It's one of the rare important subplots where it's another focus of the story, because writing it out wouldn't be as powerful as it than in the final product.
* TooDumbToLive: The army and anyone else that tried to kill Godzilla. They tried, then [[CurbStompBattle they got blasted by the thing]].
** Arguably, ''the government''. They want to get rid of Godzilla as soon as possible despite Dr. Yamane's warnings. Trying to kill Godzilla not only pisses him off, but several deaths would have been avoided if they had listened. As of result, Tokyo is utterly destroyed, the Diet Building is crumbled, and thousands of people had lost their lives or dying. And you know why by the time in the first sequel, they stopped trying to kill him and listened to Yamane.
* ToServeMan: During his rampage Godzilla bites down on a tower to get at the people on it, and gnaws on a train. According to the myths of Odo Island, he would come ashore to feast on mankind unless appeased by sacrifices and ritual dances.
* {{Tragedy}}: Aside {{Horror}}, this fits the bill as well. [[spoiler: The de-factor hero dies killing the tragic monster.]]
* TragicMonster: Godzilla ''himself''. Mentioned before, Godzilla is also treated as a victim due to the aftermath of his horrible experience. No wonder Creator/IshiroHonda felt so strongly that nuclear weapons would be mankind's undoing.
* UnbuiltTrope: A monster awakened by a nuclear weapon and attacking innocent people and devastates a major city? Haven't seen that before. A giant monster awaken and mutated to the point of scarring it for life, blames humanity, ''annihilates'' a major city, dies in a TearJerker manner, but no epic fanfare celebrating its' defeat? Holy ''crap''...
* VillainProtagonist: Godzilla, who is the central character and a ''tragic'' example.
* VirginSacrifice: When explaining the significance behind the ritual dance, one of the Odo Islanders casually remarks they used to send young girls out on rafts for Godzilla to eat.
* WarIsHell: Godzilla is basically the consequence of nuclear war; wide spread destruction, poisoning the water in his wake, militaries dying like flies. It's not glorious at all. The film was made during post-war Japan, 9 years since the first [[UsefulNotes/AtomicBombingsOfHiroshimaAndNagasaki atomic bombing on Hiroshima]], but now Japan had to contend with the Cold War since the nuclear incident with Castle Bravo and ''Lucky Dragon 5'', and we're not kidding, since it ''[[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory actually happened]]''. Creator/IshiroHonda, the man behind the film, saw what the aftermath of Hiroshima to him, and it [[ShellShockedVeteran haunted him for the rest of his life]]. The climax illustrates this very well, and it shows.
* WatchingTroyBurn: Tokyo is utterly destroyed by Godzilla while its survivors literally watch it burn. It would make you cringe since it would remind you of what happened to Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Whatever happened to the military platoons attacking Godzilla in the second act? The first platoon was busy shooting Godzilla as he surfaces, then before his destruction starts, a whole platoon tries to annihiliate him when he uses his atomic breath.
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: ''Godzilla and Daisuke Serizawa''.
** There's already enough scenes to show how much of a woobie Serizawa is, and he literally ''is'' a destoryer of worlds (accidentally). He's a ShellShockedVeteran, he's horrified by the creation of his Oxygen Destroyer, and he never intended its use as a weapon. Yet, he created a weapon by accident which severely damaged Tokyo Bay's ecosystem when he used it in the climax.
** Godzilla's as much as a woobie as well. He survived a nuke, he is horribly disfigured (yes, some of Godzilla's facial close-ups look like radiation burns), hates lights, and really wants to be left alone. The footnote on the 2006 Classic Media book even calls them "innocent victims of the nuclear age".
* UsefulNotes/WorldWarII: The aftermath of the Second World War weighs heavily on the film even in-universe: Daisuke is missing his eye and despises war so much due to being a ShellShockedVeteran, and is insulted when Ogata suggests he might be working with German scientists; a passenger on the train complains about the possibility of having to go to the bomb shelters ''again''; and a delegate at the conference elects to make Godzilla's existence secret due to international relations still being fragile.
to:
[[caption-width-right:220: The original horror...]]
->''"Bombs vs. bombs. Missiles vs. missiles. And now a new superweapon to throw upon us all. As a scientist, no, as a human being, I cannot allow that to happen."''
-->-- '''Dr. Daisuke Serizawa''' after his Oxygen Destroyer is revealed to Ogata
->''"I can't believe Godzilla was the [[LastOfHisKind last member of his species]]. [[SubvertedTrope But]] if we continue to conduct nuclear tests, [[ThereIsAnother another Godzilla]] may appear, somewhere in the world again."''
-->-- '''Dr. Kyohei Yamane''', closing the film
In TheFifties, UsefulNotes/ColdWar tensions were high, movie monsters [[NuclearNasty created or awakened by nuclear explosions]] were a thing, and the monster could be defeated in a scientific way. ''Gojira[=/=]Godzilla'' introduces a new type of radioactive monstrosity in a new, darker way...
''Gojira'' (or ''Godzilla'' for English-speaking viewers), is a black and white {{kaiju}} {{tokusatsu}} film directed by Creator/IshiroHonda in 1954 and the first film of the ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' franchise.
The story is written by Shigeru Kayama. The film is roughly based on Honda's wartime experience as well as seeing the wasteland of Hiroshima caused by the atomic bombing. It had a profound effect on his outlook, leading to a strong dislike of nuclear weapons. Thus, the film is a metaphor for their destructive power. The opening scene is a direct reference to the Castle Bravo test, and Godzilla's rampage in the second act symbolizes the atomic bombings.
The film also has an ensemble cast of characters, Ogata (Akira Takarada), Emiko Yamane (Momoko Koichi), Dr. Yamane (Takashi Shimura), and Dr. Daisuke Serizawa (Akihiko Hirata). A summary of the film's story can be found on the franchise's main page.
While set up originally as a ''horror film'', this film sets up the landmark of {{Kaiju}} being a genre on its own, and the legacy of this film is what would make one of the greatest franchises in the world.
Despite debuting to poor reception in Japan initially, ([[VindicatedByHistory in subsequent years, Japanese film scholars and fans of the series have come to consider it one of the best Japanese films ever made]]), ''Gojira'' (or ''Godzilla'', take your pick), was praised by American viewers after the original film was made available outside of Japan with two DVD releases, by Classic Media and Creator/TheCriterionCollection. The English version, ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters'' was edited to add American reporter Steve Martin ([[Franchise/PerryMason Raymond]] [[Series/{{Ironside 1967}} Burr]]), and remove some of the slower scenes. (Despite the edits, it still has merit.) There is also the Italian version, ''Film/{{Cozzilla}}'', a much stranger recut that includes colorization and StockFootage from UsefulNotes/WorldWarII.
''Godzilla'' is a much more grounded, bleak film than its successors, so viewers visiting the film after a bout with the more fantastical later installments may be surprised at its somber tone and unsubtle allegories.
Not to be confused with the French [[TechnicalDeathMetal progressive death metal]] band [[{{Music/Gojira}} of the same name]].
----
!!! This film shows the examples of:
* ATeamFiring: The military brings out fighter jets to attack Godzilla as a last-ditch effort. Too bad the missiles keep missing him, even as he submerges into the ocean.
* AdaptationDyeJob: The American version's poster depicted him green.
* AdultFear:
** A woman during Godzilla's rampage holds her children, telling them they'll see their father soon.
** Dr. Tanabe shakes his head in regret after examining a child with a Geiger counter, signifying he'll die from radiation poisoning.
* ApocalypseWow: We see what happened in the second act and the aftermath of the third.
* AlasPoorVillain: You'd wouldn't ''think so'' towards Godzilla. But when you consider he survived a hydrogen bomb test, you know Ishiro Honda goes out of his way to show that, yes, this gigantic radioactive monstrosity, is a victim to the nuclear age.
* AntagonistTitle: Godzilla, who's the villain here.
* ArtMajorBiology: Godzilla is supposedly from the Jurassic Era of dinosaurs (the era itself being 201.3± 0.6 Ma). Shigeru Kayama purposely date the Jurassic Era later than that to tie Godzilla's origins to man.
* ArtisticLicensePaleontology: Dr. Yamane's description of the Mesozoic Era is woefully inaccurate.
* ArtisticLicensePhysics: Having the oxygen atoms in your body spontaneously destroyed[[note]]We'll just ignore all the scientific laws this violates in and of itself[[/note]] would be ''nasty'' and most likely fatal, but probably would not strip the flesh from your bones and disintegrate you.
* AttackOfThe50FootWhatever: Godzilla is exactly 50 meters in the Japanese version. The dub overshot this with him being 400 feet tall, which is 121.92 meters. The latter is rather inconsistent, due to him being barely taller than a couple of buildings that would be over his height.
* AvoidTheDreadedGRating: Averted. While there was a special event for children where Momoko Koichi and Haruo Nakajima (in the suit) in Hawaii uniforms (Godzilla even had a ''guitar'' around his neck), the film is still classified as a horror film.
* BadVibrations: An early example. It usually signifies an OhCrap for everyone, including the audience. However, the special effect used for other scenes is rather... odd. Since in the party boat scene, we can hear the stomping ''before'' Godzilla surfaces(it would made sense, but sound is usually not heard underwater), then again when it can be heard before Godzilla puts his head out of the water in his first rampage. In fact, Akira Ifukube accidentally stepped on a sound system, and it was used in the film.
* BerserkButton: Dr. Yamane urges the JSDF not to shine lights on Godzilla during the monster's rampage in Shinagawa. It's explained in the second film, when Yamane speculates Godzilla doesn't like bright lights because they remind him of the glare of the atomic bomb, which turned him into what he is today.
* BadassNormal: Daisuke Serizawa, a brilliant, yet otherwise ordinary human, is responsible for one of the few times that the King of Monsters has been defeated.
* BigBad: Aside from the pun, Godzilla's actions kick-started the plot, and his death has cast his shadow over the entire franchise in all 3 entire series, Showa, Heisei, and Millennium. However, his Showa successor went from a villain to a hero, Heisei successor from villain to antihero, and multiple ones who are villains and antiheroes in the Millennium series.
* BreathWeapon: Godzilla's Atomic Breath, a stream of radioactive plasma which he uses to blow up the ships at the films beginning, melt the high-tension power lines, and burn Tokyo to the ground.
* CentralTheme: '''Tragedy''' and '''Consequences'''. What, you thought we were kidding? Even the central characters are not immune for the latter, which triggered the trope of the former. And then there's the cleverly hidden WarIsHell theme.
* ContrivedCoincidence: Godzilla seems to know where to go in this film. He lands on Odo Island (where Masaji happens to be), Came to Tokyo twice on separate nights. But since this is an Creator/IshiroHonda film, it's PlayedForDrama. And he's damn good at it. Until ''Film/DestroyAllMonsters'', FridgeHorror kicks in 'cause the monsters are aware of their target's location.
* CruelAndUnusualDeath: [[spoiler: Godzilla and Dr. Daisuke Serizawa being disintegrated by the Oxygen Destroyer.]]
* CurbStompBattle: Godzilla against the electrical blockade and a squad of tanks as he moves inward on Tokyo's wards.
* DeadlineNews: A radio crew reporting the attack on Tokyo realize they have no way out. Accepting it, they announce this fact to their listeners and continue reporting until Godzilla destroys the tower from which they're broadcasting.
* DarkerAndEdgier: It's a very dark film of its time. Before its ReverseCerebusSyndrome and LighterAndSofter sequels (barring its first direct sequel ''Film/GodzillaRaidsAgain''), it is much darker than the radioactive monsters of the 50's and this is the ''first film'' of the film's overall chronology.
* DeathByIrony: Masaji, the fisherman who survived Godzilla's third attack in the ocean, has an OhCrap when Godzilla comes to Odo Island during a typhoon.
* DecoyProtagonist: In the opening, Ogata seemingly shown as the protagonist of the film. He's not.
* DigitalDestruction: The Classic Media Blu-ray of Gojira used a mediocre, rough looking print hit with excessive grain smoothing (which didn't even get rid of much of it to begin with). Fortunately, the CriterionCollection Blu-ray gave the film a proper restoration.
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Considering Creator/IshiroHonda directed this film and its screenplay, there are several references to Japan's experience in the aftermath World War II and the incoming UsefulNotes/ColdWar:
**The Eiko Maru blowing up in the beginning is a direct reference to the nuclear incident that occurred earlier in the year, when the US "Castle Bravo" test detonated a hydrogen bomb in the Pacific and the ''Lucky Dragon 5'' fishing boat got caught in the radiation burst by ''accident''.
** Godzilla himself is not just a metaphor of the atomic bomb (or nuclear weapons in general), but also a living nuclear weapon. A rather sad part, Godzilla in the climax is treated as the monster itself is innocent, since it experienced the aftershock of the nuclear weapons that gave the monster its powers. How it went to "[[KillAllHumans kill every single human that stands in my way]]", we will never know.
** The exchange with Ogata and Dr. Yamane when Ogata agrees with the army to kill Godzilla because of him being a reminder of the atomic bombings. Unfortunately, Yamane doesn't take it well, and kicks Ogata out of his house.
** The fire raids. Those of you don't know about the fire raids, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Tokyo look it up]].
** A couple complains about using bomb shelters should Godzilla come again. The majority of the generation of that era would most likely be survivors during the time when US air raids were common during World War II.
* DownerEnding: Godzilla is killed, but at the cost of Serizawa's life. He destroyed his notes, so there's no more Oxygen Destroyer option if another Godzilla were to come around.
* DyingMomentOfAwesome: Serizawa's final moments and words. He is canonically the first human to have ever defeated Godzilla by himself.
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Unlike the later sequels, there's a very clear anti-war and anti-nuclear message written over it. This is made by the man who saw the aftermath of Hiroshima, and considered to be the ''best'' film of the franchise.
* EyePatchOfPower: Again, Serizawa, the brilliant scientist who made the Oxygen Destroyer, wears an eye patch.
* FilmNoir: While this movie isn't a crime drama, it nevertheless makes use of ''Noir''-style lighting.
* ForeignRemake: Has 2 under its belt by the US. The much-maligned ''Film/{{Godzilla 1998}}'' and the [[Film/{{Godzilla2014}} 2014 remake]] for its [[MilestoneCelebration 60th anniversary]].
* {{Foreshadowing}}: In the beginning of the film, we see the fishing boats explode, and earlier, a blinding flash of light. In Godzilla's second raid in Tokyo, they are revealed to be the result of his [[BreathWeapon Atomic Breath]]
* FromBadToWorse: People find out Godzilla is a giant radiation-mutated dinosaur. Said mutant dinosaur can ''use'' a radioactive BreathWeapon, and proximity towards him can make people suffer from radiation poisoning.
* GiantEqualsInvincible: Godzilla. The big guy set the stage for "giant monster ignores heavy artillery".
* GodzillaThreshold: The Japanese government is willing to go to any lengths to eliminate Godzilla, including using an untested superweapon that will cause drastic long-term damage to Japan's own marine-based economy. The entire point of the film, in fact, is to examine how humanity is willing to develop and deploy ever more powerful weapons without regard for the consequences, making this an UnbuiltTrope.
* GoneHorriblyWrong: The JSDF sends ships out to depth charge Godzilla. Not only does that not work, the creature follows the ships back to Tokyo Bay and lays waste to the city.
* GreyAndGrayMorality: As the DVD commentary says, the crux of the film is its moral ambiguity that Serizawa is wrestling with. If he does nothing, Godzilla will surely destroy his people, putting his inaction as culpable to the extinction of the Japanese. However if he uses the Oxygen Destroyer, it creates the danger of a new arms race, and one that has the power to cause ''the utter destruction of all mankind''. It's because there is no third option in this film that Serizawa is so tortured by the decision he has to make.
* HappilyAdopted: Godzilla killed Shinkichi's mother and brother. Now he's Emiko's adopted brother, and doesn't mind being their new son. In ''Godzilla vs. Destoroyah'', he really does seemed to get along with his adopted father in his picture with Dr. Yamane.
* HellIsThatNoise: Would you believe that Godzilla's roar was a result of a rubber glove used against a string instrument? It's damn chilling too.
* TheHeroDies: [[spoiler:Daisuke Serizawa cuts the rope tethering him to the boat so that the secret of the Oxygen Destroyer dies with him.]]
* HeroicBSOD: Serizawa has one after realizing the full weight that rests on his shoulders. One must wonder how Akihiko Hirata felt when playing the guy. As mentioned in the BittersweetEnding entry, Yamane laments that Godzilla was the last of his kind, but if nuclear tests are continued to be conducted, another Godzilla will appear again in the world. Cue FridgeHorror for that part.
* HopeSpot: The military are throwing everything they can, including electrical wires, at Godzilla. Cue Atomic Breath and ensuing death that follows.
* {{Horror}}: This is technically a ''horror'' film. Unlike most giant monster films and its later sequels (except ''Film/GodzillaRaidsAgain'') that weren't, this one sets it apart differently. The black and white nature of the film lampshades this, and it is actually meant to scare the shit out of you. Not just the picture format, but the music has its level of creepiness.
* IgnoredExpert: Guess how Tokyo ended up when Dr. Yamane told them to never use lights on Godzilla? In ''Film/GodzillaRaidsAgain'', the military were wise enough to listen to him.
* InfantImmortality: Played with. Shinkichi survives (which is played straight). The children on the second act survives the attack from Godzilla, but their mother dies. Then one of Yamane's colleague uses the Geiger Counter on a boy who has the counter crackle near him.
* IntrepidReporter: Though not a main character, Hagiwara tries to get the story as much as he can. Throughout the whole movie, he survives the ''entire'' film.
* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: Daisuke Serizawa, one of the scientists involved in the story, is aware that Emiko Yamane is with Ogata the whole time. Even he knows she's inseparable with the man. During the climax, [[spoiler: he willingly sacrifices himself so that Emiko and Ogata would be together. (Also to prevent his knowledge of the Oxygen Destroyer from falling into the wrong hands)]].
* LastOfHisKind: Dr. Yamane believes Godzilla is the last of his kind. Then he revises this statement and says that another one will appear again. Unfortunately, he was right.
* {{Leitmotif}}:
** The theme for the opening credits was ''not'' meant for Godzilla, but for the military. Both Godzilla and the JSDF have two themes.
** It can be hard to hear at first, but the sailor's harmonica tune in the opening scene can be heard later as the Oxygen Destroyer's theme in Emiko's flashback (which is later used as its theme in ''Film/GodzillaVsDestoroyah'')
* LittlestCancerPatient: After Godzilla devastates Tokyo, there's a closeup of a little boy with a Geiger counter waved around his face, clicking rapidly.
* LoveTriangle: This is the first monster film (albeit a rather ''tragic [[{{Kaiju}} giant monster film]]'') to use such a trope. Serizawa's obviously in love with Emiko, while she herself is in love with Ogata. This is further complicated when Ogata ''asks'' Serizawa to use the Oxygen Destroyer rather than Emiko, and thus proving his point that humans want to use any one superweapon, despite a living nuclear weapon practically '''destroying''' their hometown. Serizawa relents after the destruction of Tokyo, and the love triangle shifted to him going to the "I want my beloved to be happy" phase.
* MadScientist: Inverted. Serizawa's not a mad scientist despite his appearance and lab equipment. In fact, he's horrified by the weapon he's accidentally created. Kyohei Yamane, however, was originally gonna be one.
* ManlyTears: Both Ogata and Shinkichi cry when Serizawa made his HeroicSacrifice at the climax of the film.
* MeaningfulBackgroundEvent: During the typhoon scene as Shinkichi shouts to his brother, you can see the lower half of Godzilla on the upper left side of the screen as he destroys Masaji's house.
* MightyGlacier: Just look at that suit. In production, it's the heaviest and stiffest suit ever made (the prototype suit is ''200 pounds''). This works well with the plot, as Godzilla's attack in the second act serves as a rolling nuclear explosion slowly killing everything in his path. Future suits would be made for Godzilla to become a LightningBruiser.
* MightyRoar: Godzilla introduces himself to the Odo Island reseach team with that (soon to be) iconic monster roar.
* MissingMom: Emiko's mother is not mentioned. We are assumed that Kyohei Yamane is widowed in this film, since Emiko lives with her father.
* MonumentalDamage: The first film of its kind, with the destruction of the Wako Clocktower and the Diet Building. Later films will do this a lot. Interestingly though, the Diet Building scene was filmed first. However, the damage to the building did not crumble correctly, so it had to be reshot.
* NationalGeographicNudity: In an early beach scene a couple of older fisherwomen are seen casually topless. Japan hadn't yet adopted Western attitudes towards that kind of nudity.
* NextSundayAD: The film takes place in summer 1955 (specifically August) according to the original English sales brochure. However, unlike the Heisei series which always takes place a year than the release date, every film afterwards dates the movie in 1954.
* NoHuggingNoKissing: Even though Emiko and Ogata is the film's OfficialCouple (in the eyes of the audience), they don't try to do both in this film. Ogata ''does'' indicate that he intends to ask Dr. Yamane for Emiko's hand, but this is quickly forgotten and in any case, there is no fiancé level affection.
* NoPlansNoPrototypeNoBackup: {{Invoked|Trope}} by Serizawa, who is afraid of his Oxygen Destroyer being used as a weapon. He clearly has hundreds of research documents and notes for creating the Oxygen Destroyer, but he destroys all of it to prevent the device from ever being used again, and just to be safe, [[spoiler:he kills himself immediately after using it]].
* NoSell: This is where Godzilla's GiantEqualsInvincible comes into play. Military weapons has no effect on the guy whatsoever.
* NothingIsScarier: Used in the first act. You know something is destroying those boats, but the monster is nowhere to be seen. In the typhoon scene, you can hear the footsteps of the monster, then his lower half is shown, followed by crushed buildings, then a crushed helicopter ending with a DramaticWind. ''In that order''.
* NotSoDifferent: If you think the Japanese are heavily afflicted by the atomic bombs, then Godzilla isn't so different. In the climax, Godzilla looks peaceful and it's apparent that he just want to be left alone. Cue the fact that Godzilla ends up a ''TragicMonster''.
* NuclearWeaponsTaboo: The whole point of this movie is that not only nuclear weapons, but weapons of mass destruction in general. Dr. Yamane stated using said nuclear weapons could bring another Godzilla.
* OhCrap:
** In the Odo Island scene, the villagers were scurrying to fight off the monster (apparently, they don't know how huge the thing is). While Dr. Yamane saw the monster, the whole village ran back down after seeing Godzilla.
** While the people on a partyboat are in a celebration, Godzilla [[spoiler: appears unscathed, and scares the hell out of everyone in the boat]].
** While blasting Godzilla to death (or attempting to), Godzilla melts the electrical wires, of course, it means ''run like hell!!''
* OffModel: Several close-ups of Godzilla's head are used by a hand puppet, with varying degrees of success. For instance, in a few scenes where he shoots his atomic breath, his eyes were... weird to say the least. Other times, they ''would'' (sorta) match the up with the suit footage.
* OutOfFocus: Hagiwara is very important in the first half of the film, but has a lot less to do toward the end.
* PhysicalGod: Godzilla was worshipped as a malevolent sea god by the people of Odo Island, who once sent {{virgin sacrifice}}s out on rafts to appease his wrath. When ships start being torn to shreds offshore and survivors wash up with strange burns, the islanders conduct a ritual to appease him. It doesn't work.
* PlatonicLifePartners: This is what Emiko initally believes regarding Serizawa. Unfortunately, he [[AllLoveIsUnrequited thinks otherwise]].
* PlayedForDrama: ''Everything'' in this film is played for drama. Including the climax, where you'd expect the film to end on a high note. [[BittersweetEnding It doesn't]].
* PosthumousCharacter: Both Godzilla and Serizawa are this. Godzilla especially (except ''Film/GodzillaVsMegaguirus''), considering it's his actions in the film that makes him TheDreaded that any character will bring up the events of this film in all three series. Serizawa especially is one as well as he is the man who defeated Godzilla.
* {{Recut}}: Germany's cut was a simple dubbed and edited edition (running 82 minutes), while France got a unique hybrid edit of the original cut and ''King of the Monsters'' (running about 90 minutes).
* ReluctantMadScientist: Though not necessarily "mad", Serizawa relunctantly decided to use the Oxygen Destroyer afer seeing the destruction Godzilla caused. Though he intends to use the Oxygen Destroyer once, his [[HeroicSacrifice heroic sacrifice]] is foreshadowed in an eariler scene when [[spoiler: he clearly states that he'd burn his notes at the event of his death]].
* ReverseCerebusSyndrome: For anyone who has seen the sillier DenserAndWackier and LighterAndSofter entries, this ''not'' such a film. This film is based on real-life tragedy and Creator/IshiroHonda's traumatizing experience of the aftermath of the Little Boy atom bomb that desolated Hiroshima. The film also possess one of the most tragic monsters in an age where atomic monsters were a thing.
* SaveTheVillain: Played with. Kyohei Yamane does not want Godzilla to be killed because he survived the H-Bomb testing in the Pacific. As mentioned above, Yamane wants to study Godzilla because he's a paleontologist. However, he ends up having to agree to kill Godzilla after what he did to Tokyo.
* SceneryGorn: Tokyo after Godzilla nukes the place, intentionally evocative of the real atomic bombings.
* SeaMonster: Godzilla is revealed to be an amphibious prehistoric reptile that was living in deep-sea trenches before H-Bomb tests irradiated it.
* SequelHook: Though unintentional, Dr. Yamane's final line suggests there may be another Godzilla somewhere in the world. Three series later (except ''Godzilla vs. Megaguiurus''), it ended up happening.
* SlasherSmile: The look of Godzilla facial expression looks like he has one.
%%* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism: Leans ''very'' hard on the cynicism.
* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: Treated directional and in-universe. In case you don't know, it's Serizawa's and the ''director's'' point of the film. Since Honda's experience in the World War II and haunted by experience of Hiroshima's destruction by the first atomic bomb, Serizawa's line tells us humans can be and are destructive to the point we would use any kind of weapon and most likely to use it in a war. If someone has accidentally make a superweapon of some sort, it's ''your'' responsibility to never reveal its existence.
* SpellMyNameWithAThe: Der Godzilla is referred to with an integral article the way an animal would be in the German dub.
* StrippedToTheBone: What the Oxygen Destroyer does to living things.
* SuperNotDrowningSkills: Since this is the first film, Godzilla appears sleeping underwater when the climax starts. Justified as Godzilla is considered to be an intermediate dinosaur, capable of surviving underwater as long as he wants.
* SympatheticMurderer: Monster example. You know that 50-metered giant radioactive monster that is hell-bent on attacking humanity and looks like he has a SlasherSmile? Not only is he a main villain, but the climax disturbingly treated him in a sympathetic light, compared to his JerkassWoobie successors.
* TakeAThirdOption: Serizawa is faced with either allowing Godzilla to destroy Japan (and then the world), or using a weapon that he knows will spark another deadly arms race that could lead to the destruction of Earth by warring governments. [[spoiler:In the end, he opts to use the weapon on himself and Godzilla, ensuring all research goes with him to his watery grave.]]
* TemptingFate: So you'd think by now Dr. Yamane says that Godzilla survived an H-Bomb testing, and nothing could stop him. Yet the military bombards the thing when he crosses the high-tension electrical towers and he uses his atomic breath. They ''still'' attack him after he blows up and crushes every building in his way.
* TokenRomance: A ''tragic'' example in a {{horror}} film, and of a LoveTriangle version. It's one of the rare important subplots where it's another focus of the story, because writing it out wouldn't be as powerful as it than in the final product.
* TooDumbToLive: The army and anyone else that tried to kill Godzilla. They tried, then [[CurbStompBattle they got blasted by the thing]].
** Arguably, ''the government''. They want to get rid of Godzilla as soon as possible despite Dr. Yamane's warnings. Trying to kill Godzilla not only pisses him off, but several deaths would have been avoided if they had listened. As of result, Tokyo is utterly destroyed, the Diet Building is crumbled, and thousands of people had lost their lives or dying. And you know why by the time in the first sequel, they stopped trying to kill him and listened to Yamane.
* ToServeMan: During his rampage Godzilla bites down on a tower to get at the people on it, and gnaws on a train. According to the myths of Odo Island, he would come ashore to feast on mankind unless appeased by sacrifices and ritual dances.
* {{Tragedy}}: Aside {{Horror}}, this fits the bill as well. [[spoiler: The de-factor hero dies killing the tragic monster.]]
* TragicMonster: Godzilla ''himself''. Mentioned before, Godzilla is also treated as a victim due to the aftermath of his horrible experience. No wonder Creator/IshiroHonda felt so strongly that nuclear weapons would be mankind's undoing.
* UnbuiltTrope: A monster awakened by a nuclear weapon and attacking innocent people and devastates a major city? Haven't seen that before. A giant monster awaken and mutated to the point of scarring it for life, blames humanity, ''annihilates'' a major city, dies in a TearJerker manner, but no epic fanfare celebrating its' defeat? Holy ''crap''...
* VillainProtagonist: Godzilla, who is the central character and a ''tragic'' example.
* VirginSacrifice: When explaining the significance behind the ritual dance, one of the Odo Islanders casually remarks they used to send young girls out on rafts for Godzilla to eat.
* WarIsHell: Godzilla is basically the consequence of nuclear war; wide spread destruction, poisoning the water in his wake, militaries dying like flies. It's not glorious at all. The film was made during post-war Japan, 9 years since the first [[UsefulNotes/AtomicBombingsOfHiroshimaAndNagasaki atomic bombing on Hiroshima]], but now Japan had to contend with the Cold War since the nuclear incident with Castle Bravo and ''Lucky Dragon 5'', and we're not kidding, since it ''[[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory actually happened]]''. Creator/IshiroHonda, the man behind the film, saw what the aftermath of Hiroshima to him, and it [[ShellShockedVeteran haunted him for the rest of his life]]. The climax illustrates this very well, and it shows.
* WatchingTroyBurn: Tokyo is utterly destroyed by Godzilla while its survivors literally watch it burn. It would make you cringe since it would remind you of what happened to Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Whatever happened to the military platoons attacking Godzilla in the second act? The first platoon was busy shooting Godzilla as he surfaces, then before his destruction starts, a whole platoon tries to annihiliate him when he uses his atomic breath.
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: ''Godzilla and Daisuke Serizawa''.
** There's already enough scenes to show how much of a woobie Serizawa is, and he literally ''is'' a destoryer of worlds (accidentally). He's a ShellShockedVeteran, he's horrified by the creation of his Oxygen Destroyer, and he never intended its use as a weapon. Yet, he created a weapon by accident which severely damaged Tokyo Bay's ecosystem when he used it in the climax.
** Godzilla's as much as a woobie as well. He survived a nuke, he is horribly disfigured (yes, some of Godzilla's facial close-ups look like radiation burns), hates lights, and really wants to be left alone. The footnote on the 2006 Classic Media book even calls them "innocent victims of the nuclear age".
* UsefulNotes/WorldWarII: The aftermath of the Second World War weighs heavily on the film even in-universe: Daisuke is missing his eye and despises war so much due to being a ShellShockedVeteran, and is insulted when Ogata suggests he might be working with German scientists; a passenger on the train complains about the possibility of having to go to the bomb shelters ''again''; and a delegate at the conference elects to make Godzilla's existence secret due to international relations still being fragile.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 119 (click to see context) from:
* SceneryGorn: Tokyo after Godzilla nuked the place. In a chilling way, it looks like the town has been nuked by an atomic bomb. Which, in reality, was the real intent.
to:
* SceneryGorn: Tokyo after Godzilla nuked nukes the place. In a chilling way, it looks like the town has been nuked by an atomic bomb. Which, in reality, was place, intentionally evocative of the real intent.atomic bombings.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
more talk up clean up
Changed line(s) 32,33 (click to see context) from:
** A woman holding her children, telling them they will see their father soon... wow...
** The child having a Geiger counter used on him, signifying he'll die from radiation poisoning.
** The child having a Geiger counter used on him, signifying he'll die from radiation poisoning.
to:
** A woman holding during Godzilla's rampage holds her children, telling them they will they'll see their father soon... wow...
soon.
**The Dr. Tanabe shakes his head in regret after examining a child having with a Geiger counter used on him, counter, signifying he'll die from radiation poisoning.
**
Changed line(s) 36 (click to see context) from:
* AntagonistTitle: ''Gojira'' refers to Godzilla, who's the villain here.
to:
* AntagonistTitle: ''Gojira'' refers to Godzilla, who's the villain here.
Changed line(s) 43,44 (click to see context) from:
* BerserkButton: Shine lights in Godzilla's face, he [[IllKillYou will absolutely kill you]]. Dr. Yamane even suggests not to use lights on Godzilla during the monster's short rampage. It's explained in the second film when Yamane says Godzilla doesn't like bright lights because they remind him of the glare of the atomic bomb which turned him into what he is today.
* BadassNormal: Daisuke Serizawa, a brilliant yet otherwise ordinary human, is responsible for one of the few times that the King of Monsters has been defeated.
* BadassNormal: Daisuke Serizawa, a brilliant yet otherwise ordinary human, is responsible for one of the few times that the King of Monsters has been defeated.
to:
* BerserkButton: Shine lights in Godzilla's face, he [[IllKillYou will absolutely kill you]]. Dr. Yamane even suggests urges the JSDF not to use shine lights on Godzilla during the monster's short rampage. rampage in Shinagawa. It's explained in the second film film, when Yamane says speculates Godzilla doesn't like bright lights because they remind him of the glare of the atomic bomb bomb, which turned him into what he is today.
* BadassNormal: Daisuke Serizawa, abrilliant brilliant, yet otherwise ordinary human, is responsible for one of the few times that the King of Monsters has been defeated. defeated.
* BadassNormal: Daisuke Serizawa, a
Changed line(s) 50 (click to see context) from:
* CurbStompBattle: Godzilla vs. the army. Godzilla's like "What army?" as he steps on them.
to:
* CurbStompBattle: Godzilla vs. against the army. Godzilla's like "What army?" electrical blockade and a squad of tanks as he steps moves inward on them. Tokyo's wards.
Changed line(s) 62,64 (click to see context) from:
* DownerEnding: The most famous one in Japanese cinema. Godzilla is killed, but at the cost of Serizawa's life. He destroyed his notes, so there's no more Oxygen Destroyer option if another Godzilla were to come around.
* DyingMomentOfAwesome: Serizawa's final moments and words. He is forever canonically the first human to have ever defeated Godzilla by himself.
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: In contrast to the later films, ''Godzilla'' is perhaps the most depressing piece of work ever written in Japanese cinema, to the point of cynicism. Unlike the later sequels, there's a very clear anti-war and anti-nuclear message written over it. This is made by the man who saw the aftermath of Hiroshima, and considered to be the ''best'' film of the franchise.
* DyingMomentOfAwesome: Serizawa's final moments and words. He is forever canonically the first human to have ever defeated Godzilla by himself.
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: In contrast to the later films, ''Godzilla'' is perhaps the most depressing piece of work ever written in Japanese cinema, to the point of cynicism. Unlike the later sequels, there's a very clear anti-war and anti-nuclear message written over it. This is made by the man who saw the aftermath of Hiroshima, and considered to be the ''best'' film of the franchise.
to:
* DownerEnding: The most famous one in Japanese cinema. Godzilla is killed, but at the cost of Serizawa's life. He destroyed his notes, so there's no more Oxygen Destroyer option if another Godzilla were to come around.
* DyingMomentOfAwesome: Serizawa's final moments and words. He isforever canonically the first human to have ever defeated Godzilla by himself.
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness:In contrast to the later films, ''Godzilla'' is perhaps the most depressing piece of work ever written in Japanese cinema, to the point of cynicism. Unlike the later sequels, there's a very clear anti-war and anti-nuclear message written over it. This is made by the man who saw the aftermath of Hiroshima, and considered to be the ''best'' film of the franchise.
* DyingMomentOfAwesome: Serizawa's final moments and words. He is
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness:
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
trying to clean up the page to make it sound less like a person who just went through a goth phase wrote it
Changed line(s) 20,23 (click to see context) from:
Despite debuting to poor reception in Japan initially, ([[VindicatedByHistory in subsequent years, Japanese film scholars and fans of the series have come to consider it one of the best Japanese films ever made]]), ''Gojira'' (or ''Godzilla'', take your pick), was praised by American viewers after the original film was made available outside of Japan with two DVD releases, by Classic Media and Creator/TheCriterionCollection. The English version, ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters'' was edited to add American reporter Steve Martin ([[Franchise/PerryMason Raymond]] [[Series/{{Ironside 1967}} Burr]]), and remove some of the slower scenes. (Despite the edits, it still has merit.) There is also the Italian version, ''Film/ItalianGodzillaKingOfTheMonsters'', a much stranger recut that includes colorization and StockFootage from UsefulNotes/WorldWarII.
Something very important to note is that despite the infamous "[[{{Narm}} cheese]]" factor of its later sequels, for this film, ''[[ReverseCerebusSyndrome not so much]]''. ''Gojira'', its first sequel, ''Film/GodzillaRaidsAgain'', and their American counterparts are horror films. It's amazingly dark and [[TearJerker depressing]], and this is the ''first'' film of the series.
Something very important to note is that despite the infamous "[[{{Narm}} cheese]]" factor of its later sequels, for this film, ''[[ReverseCerebusSyndrome not so much]]''. ''Gojira'', its first sequel, ''Film/GodzillaRaidsAgain'', and their American counterparts are horror films. It's amazingly dark and [[TearJerker depressing]], and this is the ''first'' film of the series.
to:
Despite debuting to poor reception in Japan initially, ([[VindicatedByHistory in subsequent years, Japanese film scholars and fans of the series have come to consider it one of the best Japanese films ever made]]), ''Gojira'' (or ''Godzilla'', take your pick), was praised by American viewers after the original film was made available outside of Japan with two DVD releases, by Classic Media and Creator/TheCriterionCollection. The English version, ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters'' was edited to add American reporter Steve Martin ([[Franchise/PerryMason Raymond]] [[Series/{{Ironside 1967}} Burr]]), and remove some of the slower scenes. (Despite the edits, it still has merit.) There is also the Italian version, ''Film/ItalianGodzillaKingOfTheMonsters'', ''Film/{{Cozzilla}}'', a much stranger recut that includes colorization and StockFootage from UsefulNotes/WorldWarII.
Something very important to note ''Godzilla'' is that despite a much more grounded, bleak film than its successors, so viewers visiting the infamous "[[{{Narm}} cheese]]" factor of its film after a bout with the more fantastical later sequels, for this film, ''[[ReverseCerebusSyndrome not so much]]''. ''Gojira'', installments may be surprised at its first sequel, ''Film/GodzillaRaidsAgain'', somber tone and their American counterparts are horror films. It's amazingly dark and [[TearJerker depressing]], and this is the ''first'' film of the series.
unsubtle allegories.
Changed line(s) 30 (click to see context) from:
* AdaptationDyeJob: According to other sources, Godzilla is actually brown. The American version's poster depicted him green while merchandize depicted him charcoal-gray like his other successors.
to:
* AdaptationDyeJob: According to other sources, Godzilla is actually brown. The American version's poster depicted him green while merchandize depicted him charcoal-gray like his other successors.green.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
** Arguably, ''the government''. They want to get rid of Godzilla as soon as possible despite Dr. Yamane's warnings. Trying to kill Godzilla not only pisses him off, but several deaths would have been avoided if they had listened. As of result, Tokyo is utterly destroyed, the Diet Building is crumbled, and thousands of people had lost their lives or dying. And you know why by the time in the first sequel, they stopped trying to kill him and listened to Yamane.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* DyingMomentOfAwesome: Serizawa's final moments and words. He is forever canonically the first human to have ever defeated Godzilla by himself.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 10,13 (click to see context) from:
In TheFifties, UsefulNotes/ColdWar tensions were high, monsters created or awakening a monster by nuclear explosions was a thing, and the monster could be defeated in a scientific way. ''Gojira[=/=]Godzilla'' introduces a new type of radioactive monstrosity in a new, darker way...
'''''Gojira''''' (or '''''Godzilla''''' for English-speaking viewers), is a black and white {{kaiju}} {{tokusatsu}} film directed by Creator/IshiroHonda in 1954 and the first film of the ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' franchise.
'''''Gojira''''' (or '''''Godzilla''''' for English-speaking viewers), is a black and white {{kaiju}} {{tokusatsu}} film directed by Creator/IshiroHonda in 1954 and the first film of the ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' franchise.
to:
In TheFifties, UsefulNotes/ColdWar tensions were high, movie monsters [[NuclearNasty created or awakening a monster awakened by nuclear explosions was explosions]] were a thing, and the monster could be defeated in a scientific way. ''Gojira[=/=]Godzilla'' introduces a new type of radioactive monstrosity in a new, darker way...
'''''Gojira''''' ''Gojira'' (or '''''Godzilla''''' ''Godzilla'' for English-speaking viewers), is a black and white {{kaiju}} {{tokusatsu}} film directed by Creator/IshiroHonda in 1954 and the first film of the ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' franchise.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 4 (click to see context) from:
->''Bombs vs. bombs. Missiles vs. missiles. And now a new superweapon to throw upon us all. As a scientist, no, as a human being, I cannot allow that to happen.''
to:
Changed line(s) 7 (click to see context) from:
->''I can't believe Godzilla was the [[LastOfHisKind last member of his species]]. [[SubvertedTrope But]] if we continue to conduct nuclear tests, [[ThereIsAnother another Godzilla]] may appear, somewhere in the world again.''
to:
Changed line(s) 10,11 (click to see context) from:
In the 1950's, UsefulNotes/ColdWar tensions were high, monsters created or awakening a monster by nuclear explosions was a thing, and the monster could be defeated in a scientific way. ''Gojira[=/=]Godzilla'' introduces a new type of radioactive monstrosity in a new, darker way...
to:
In the 1950's, TheFifties, UsefulNotes/ColdWar tensions were high, monsters created or awakening a monster by nuclear explosions was a thing, and the monster could be defeated in a scientific way. ''Gojira[=/=]Godzilla'' introduces a new type of radioactive monstrosity in a new, darker way...
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 7,9 (click to see context) from:
->"I can't believe Godzilla was the [[LastOfHisKind last member of his species]]. [[SubvertedTrope But]] if we continue to conduct nuclear tests, [[ThereIsAnother another Godzilla]] may appear, somewhere in the world again."
-->-- '''Dr. Kyohei Yamane, closing the film
-->-- '''Dr. Kyohei Yamane, closing the film
to:
-->-- '''Dr. Kyohei
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 5,6 (click to see context) from:
-->-- '''Dr. Serizawa''' after his Oxygen Destroyer ends up being revealed to Ogata
to:
-->-- '''Dr. Daisuke Serizawa''' after his Oxygen Destroyer ends up being is revealed to Ogata
Ogata
->"I can't believe Godzilla was the [[LastOfHisKind last member of his species]]. [[SubvertedTrope But]] if we continue to conduct nuclear tests, [[ThereIsAnother another Godzilla]] may appear, somewhere in the world again."
-->-- '''Dr. Kyohei Yamane, closing the film
->"I can't believe Godzilla was the [[LastOfHisKind last member of his species]]. [[SubvertedTrope But]] if we continue to conduct nuclear tests, [[ThereIsAnother another Godzilla]] may appear, somewhere in the world again."
-->-- '''Dr. Kyohei Yamane, closing the film
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 33 (click to see context) from:
* AntagonistTitle: ''Gojira''
to:
* AntagonistTitle: ''Gojira'' refers to Godzilla, who's the villain here.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 2,3 (click to see context) from:
[[caption-width-right:220: The original horror...]]]]
to:
[[caption-width-right:220: The original horror...]]]]
]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 2,3 (click to see context) from:
[[caption-width-right:220: [[OhCrap And... we're screwed...]]]]
to:
[[caption-width-right:220: [[OhCrap And... we're screwed...The original horror...]]]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
At this point, it\'s common knowledge that this particular Heroic Sacrifice happened.
Changed line(s) 59 (click to see context) from:
* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Godzilla is killed, but at the cost of Dr. Serizawa's life. He destroyed his notes, so there's no more Oxygen Destroyer option if another Godzilla were to come around.]]
to:
* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Godzilla The most famous one in Japanese cinema. Godzilla is killed, but at the cost of Dr. Serizawa's life. He destroyed his notes, so there's no more Oxygen Destroyer option if another Godzilla were to come around.]]
