Godzilla Reads Again!

Before I get into my thoughts on the book Godzilla and Godzilla Raids Again by Shigeru Kayama, indulge me in a little cinematic history. When they made King Kong in 1933 it was a revolutionary film, a movie that pure cinema with a star that did really exist in the real world save as a tiny model, and despite that handicap thanks to stop-motion magic made many in the audience cry when he tumbled from atop the Empire State Building.

King Kong was such a success that they made a sequel, Son of Kong, in six months-time but while still impressive it lacked the emotional potency of its predecessor. And that was it for giant monster movies for quite some time because the movies were so labor intensive. In fact, it was the 1950's when King Kong was released again that folks saw just how popular it was. 

Beast from 20,000 Fathoms arrived, powered by stop-motion and Toho Studios had an idea. But they couldn't do it in stop-motion, but they could put a man in a monster suit. and they did. So was born Godzilla. 

A great many talents worked on Godzilla. Ishiro Honda directed the movie, Ikira Ifukube created a masterful score, but it was Shigeru Kayama who wrote the story treatment. And it's that same Shirgeru Kayama who went on to write novelizations of the story, the first titled Monster Godzilla based on his own radio adaptation, a comic book version known as Monster Picture Story: Godzilla, and most importantly for this review two novels adapting the debut film and its sequel. The sequel story treatment Godzilla Raids Again (released in the United States as Gigantis the Fire Monster) was also written by Kayama. So, he's an expert on all things early Godzilla, though he'd not write another Godzilla movie until 1971's Godzilla vs. Hedorah.  

The novel version of Godzilla has now been translated after all these decades. It is basically the same story, an unknown dinosaur is exposed to radiation thanks to atomic testing and rises from the depths to wreak havoc on ships and eventually on land as well. A scientist named Yamane is torn between dealing with the threat and saving the creature so that mankind might benefit. He has a daughter named Emiko, but she's not engaged to another scientist named Serizawa. There is not romantic angle at all in this story. The hero is Shinkichi Yamada who fans of the movie will know as the young boy who survives the attack by Godzilla on Odo Island and comes to live with Yamane in Tokyo after his brother and mother are killed. In this story he is older and already working in Tokyo when the story starts. Another big change is that Godzilla glows pretty much all the time, evidence of his radioactive nature. Other than that, the story rumbles along pretty much the same. One critical difference in the ending is that Serizawa says point blank that he will kill himself to keep the secret of the Oxygen Destroyer out of evil hands, so few should be surprised by the ending. 

Not at all unlike King Kong, the success of Godzilla prompted a hectically produced sequel titled Godzilla Raids Again. It was with the release of the sequel in 1955 that Kayama adapted both stories to novel form. 

The original Japanese title to the movie Godzilla Raids Again literally translates to "Godzilla Counterattacks". Int he sequel we get two kaiju with the introduction of Anguirus. Notably in the novel Anguirus also has the same atomic breath ability as Godzilla, which is not the case in the movies. This second novel follows along with the movie quite well with only a few changes of any consequence. Godzilla is discovered by an airplane pilot working for a fishing company and soon enough so is his rival the new monster Anguirus. Osaka is the city picked for destruction this time and both monsters end up there soon enough. The sequel lacks the thematic depth of the original, possibly due to the director, but also one can see that the scenario designed by Kayama is much simpler as well. Eventually Godzilla defeats his rival and soon after that the military buries him under a mountain of ice. (It should be noted that this is a second animal named Godzilla, but as fans know this Godzilla will break out of his icy dungeon just in time to battle the might King Kong in the third movie in the series.)

Shigeru Kayama also wrote the scenario for another Toho monster flick titled Half-Human. (You can catch that one at this Internet Archive link. I'll have to do a review sometime.) Kayama was quite a well-respected author when he was tapped to devise the scenarios to these two movies, so it's perhaps not that unusual that he stepped away from the franchise. He was not happy to see Godzilla become so kid friendly, and as we all know that's just what happened when the popularity of the mighty monster overwhelmed his dangerous nature.  When he did come back to the franchise, it was to highlight another world crisis, this time pollution instead of atomic weaponry. These are light novels written for younger audiences, but I found them a fun way to revisit the classic story in a new way. 

Tomorrow is my review of Godzilla Minus One. 

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