History Film / GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters1956

Interestingly enough, ''Godzilla: King of the Monsters'' was so successful that it would later be released in ''Japan'' as ''Kaiju-Oh Gojira'' or ''Monster King Godzilla''. Raymond Burr's character, Steve Martin, would become an influence on reporter characters in later movies, and the success of this film paved the way for future releases of Godzilla movies in not only the United States, but around the world.

* ExcitedShowTitle: The key difference between the names of this movie and the 2019 film is that the latter lacks the exclamation point at the end.

** In the Odo island sequence, Tomo says the villagers are running up the hills so it would be safe. We see a closer shot seeing they're holding weapons on their hands. In the Japanese version, the villagers arm themselves to fight off the creature.

* ContrivedCoincidence: Unlike the Japanese version, the contrived coincidences are really blatant. Steve Martin somehow conveniently knew where to be at.

''Godzilla: King of the Monsters!'' (''Kaiju-Oh Gojira'' in Japan) is the 1956 Americanized version of the original ''Film/Godzilla1954''. New footage featuring Creator/RaymondBurr was shot by Terry Morse, and dubbing was done only for scenes where the Japanese characters appear without Burr's character. While the film downplayed the symbolism of the original, it still retains some of Dr. Yamane's lines about the Hydrogen Bomb being responsible for Godzilla's existence. Despite the fact that it runs at twenty minutes shorter than its Japanese counterpart, ''Godzilla: King of the Monsters'' is typically considered one of the more tastefully done Americanizations of a Godzilla film, especially in regards to the fact that this was the first one. If it weren't for this film, then Godzilla would never have become popular in the west, and this page probably wouldn't exist.

* ApocalypticLog: Subverted. Steve Martin keeps recording his }}'|observations of Godzilla's attack on Tokyo until the monster is about to destroy the building that he [Steve] is in. "This is it, George. Steve Martin, signing off!" It's subverted because Steve survives to provide the FramingDevice.

* AttackOfThe50FootWhatever: While Godzilla is 50 meters in the Japanese version, this version ''overshot'' his height to 400 feet (120 meters) for whatever reason. Probably to make Godzilla sound even more intimidating.

''Godzilla: King of the Monsters'' itself is roughly the same story as ''Gojira'', but told from the perspective of American reporter Steve Martin (no, not [[Creator/Steve Martin that one]], this one is played by Raymond Burr). Because of this, a full plot description is unnecessary. However, there are some key differences. In the Japanese version, the story opens and plays out much like a film Noir, slowly building up to the destruction of Tokyo, while the American version opens with the aftermath of Godzilla's attack, and the rest of the movie is told as a flashback, except for the scenes which take place after the attack, as those scenes are left relatively intact with the only major changes being that the dialogue was dubbed into English, and Steve Martin interacts with one or two characters.

''Godzilla: King of the Monsters'' itself is roughly the same story as ''Gojira'', but told from the perspective of American reporter Steve Martin (played by Raymond Burr). Because of this, a full plot description is unnecessary. However, there are some key differences. In the Japanese version, the story opens and plays out much like a film Noir, slowly building up to the destruction of Tokyo, while the American version opens with the aftermath of Godzilla's attack, and the rest of the movie is told as a flashback, except for the scenes which take place after the attack, as those scenes are left relatively intact with the only major changes being that the dialogue was dubbed into English, and Steve Martin interacts with one or two characters.

[[caption-width-right:220:You have your fear, which might become reality, and you have Godzilla, which ''is'' reality.]]

* ApocalypticLog: Subverted. Steve Martin keeps recording his observations of Godzilla's attack on Tokyo until the monster is about to destroy the building that he [Steve] is in. "This is it, George. Steve Martin, signing off!" It's subverted because Steve survives to provide the FramingDevice.

** While the film was dubbed for its American release, only a handful of dialogue was actually dubbed over a few of the Japanese actors. For the most part it’s reporter [=Steve Martin=] who narrates over the Japanese dialogue. Later Americanized edits would dub over almost all the dialogue completely. It’s also one of [[Film/KingKongVsGodzilla few]] [[Film/TheReturnOfGodzilla Godzilla]] movies to integrate scenes shot in America to be inserted in the Japanese footage, whereas [[Film/InvasionOfAstroMonster later]] [[Film/DestroyAllMonsters entries]] [[Film/GodzillaFinalWars had]] American actors star in the movies.

* ApocalypticLog: Subverted. Steve Martin keeps recording Godzilla's attack on Tokyo until the monster destroys the building that he [Steve] is in. It's subverted because Steve survives.

--> '''Dr. Serizawa''': And what will become of us if a weapon such as that I now have, falls into the wrong hands?
* ArmorPiercingResponse: ...which is followed by one of the most famous lines in the entire ''Godzilla'' franchise:
-->'''Ogata''': Then you have a responsibility no man has ever faced. You have your fear, which might become reality, and then you have Godzilla, which is reality.

* ThisIsGonnaSuck: Steve Martin has this reaction when he sees Godzilla tear through the JSDF:

''Godzilla: King of the Monsters!'' (''Kaiju-Oh Gojira'' in Japan) is the 1956 Americanized version of the original ''Film/Godzilla1954''. New footage featuring Creator/RaymondBurr was shot by Terry Morse, and dubbing was done only for scenes where the Japanese characters appear without Burr's character. While the film downplayed the symbolism of the original, it still retains some of Dr. Yamane's lines about the Hydrogen Bomb being responsible for Godzilla's existence. Despite the fact that it runs at twenty minutes shorter than its Japanese counterpart, ''Godzilla: King of the Monsters'' is actually one of the more tastefully done Americanizations of a Godzilla film, especially in regards to the fact that this was the first one. If it weren't for this film, then Godzilla would never have become popular in the west, and this page probably wouldn't exist.

* PinballProtagonist: Steve Martin. Understandable, of course; given the way Raymond Burr had to be inserted wholesale into the existing footage, they were extremely limited with the ways he could interact with the other characters, and so he spends most of his time [[GreekChorus commenting from the sidelines.]]

''Godzilla: King of the Monsters'' itself is roughly the same story as ''Godzilla'', but told from the perspective of American reporter Steve Martin (played by Raymond Burr). Because of this, a full plot description is unnecessary. However, there are some key differences. In the Japanese version, the story opens and plays out much like a film Noir, slowly building up to the destruction of Tokyo, while the American version opens with the aftermath of Godzilla's attack, and the rest of the movie is told as a flashback, except for the scenes which take place after the attack, as those scenes are left relatively intact with the only major changes being that the dialogue was dubbed into English, and Steve Martin interacts with one or two characters.

!!!'''[[SimilarlyNamedWorks For the original]] Japanese version, see ''Film/{{Godzilla|1954}}''. || For the third film in the Franchise/MonsterVerse series, see ''[[Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019 Godzilla: King of the Monsters]]''.'''