Rating: 
Summary: Ick....
Review: I rented this movie, and the quality was horrible. I have the Simitar release, and that was way better. Now I have the R2 uncut Japanese version of this movie, and that is far superior than any release here of this version. It was remastered, so there are hardly any scratch marks on the print, which is what it should be when released for dvd. It was worth the price I paid. While the original version wasn't made with a widescreen format, the US release was, and only the Simitar release is widescreen, this isn't. Classic Media should be punished by all us Godzilla fans for this blasphemy!!
Rating: 
Summary: G's First Appearance.
Review: GODZILLA, KING OF THE MONSTERS! was the first film to feature the legendary beast of destruction who wipes out Tokyo, Japan. I've only seen a handfull of the Godzilla movies, and this one is by far the best. It shows Godzilla as a terrible beast who is awakened and partly created by man's destructive technology. In the later films, Godzilla is often portrayed as an almost cartoony, giant monster hero, who instead of terrorizing Japan tries to save it.The added scenes with Raymond Burr make the film more understandable for we dumb Americans, almost totally preventing any jokes to be made about bad dubbing. The special effects on the film are pretty good for a mid-1950's film, let alone a mid-1950's Japanese film. This is the only film where Godzilla actually looks real and not like a man walking around in a rubber suit on a set of minitures. Overall, this film isn't too bad. If you're a Godzilla film, it is a must have and if you have any interest at all in Godzilla or movie history, it's worth watching to see how this grand monster franchise began.
Rating:
Summary: This movie stinks.
Review: Burr's performance is wooden and shallow. The effects look cheap, and the black and white photography looks absolutely terrible.
It's a B-movie, that's why it stinks.
Rating: 
Summary: The Other Godzilla
Review: This movie is alright. But I saw the original 98 minute version
with sub-titles. That was better. Does anyone know if its available anywhere. Last version was dubbed.
Rating: 
Summary: Movie only edition, but a good print
Review: Bare bones movie only edition, with no extras, but fortunately, a nice clear print of the film. A much darker tone than we've become accustomed to in a Godzilla film. Still waiting for the DVD treatment this film deserves, a Special Edition that includes not only the American cut with Raymond Burr, but the original Japanese version as well.
Rating:
Summary: A Cult Classic Rises Up From Tokyo Bay
Review: GODZILLA's chances for American distribution were nil until a savvy Hollywood company snapped up the rights, chopped out a chunk, and replaced the edited footage with new scenes starring Raymond Burr. The resulting film was a mix of bad acting, static cinematography, and expensive but essentially "B" level special effects--but when Godzilla stomped up from Tokyo Bay with the worst breath this side of Osaka, the American public took him to heart, and he's been a cult icon ever since. In theory, the film is a serious and subtle commentary on the dangers of nuclear warfare. In practice, it doesn't quite work out that way. The Japanese and American scenes blend very badly; the Japanese cast either overplays or underplays to a ridiculous degree; and Raymond Burr is about as expressive as Mount Rushmore. What with fainting lab assistants, boiling fish, hysterical sailors, and Burr's clenched lips, "serious and subtle" don't stand a chance. And then there's the monster. This was actually one of the most expensive films made in Japan up to that time--but even so, Japan was light years away from Hollywood when it came to special effects. Godzilla is very clearly a man in a rubber suit. Tokyo is very clearly a miniture set. But the surprising thing about this is that it's a darned good rubber suit and a darned good miniture set. And it proves extremely entertaining. The DVD is "good as it gets" quality with your choice of widescreen or pan-and-scan; frankly, there's not much difference between the two. There are also a number of cheesy extras that are kinda fun as well. Kids raised on computer graphics will probably hate the whole thing--but for a true Godzilla fan or a classic "B" movie collector, this DVD is the way to go. Tell Tokyo I said hello!
Rating: 
Summary: GODZILLA!
Review: GODZILLA!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE this movie. Sure Godzilla dies in the movie, but he comes back!
Rating:
Summary: Godzilla: Rules By Sound As Well As By Sight
Review: The first Godzilla film in what has proven to be an immensely popular and profitable series is totally unlike its sequels. The viewing public has seen so many of these sequels that it tends to forget that the original Tokyo-bashing creature was no fun-loving overgrown house pet whose primary job it was to battle other and equally juvenile monsters. This Godzilla was a serious-minded throwback to the Jurassic that somehow had imbibed our twentieth century nuclear fires to lay waste a country that just ten years earlier had two of its cities serve as holocaustic predecessors for Godzilla's rampages.
As with many movies, one can interpret GODZILLA on a literal or symbolic level. Symbolically, one can see in the crushed city remains a stark reminder of the consequences of the lethality of nuclear bombs,not so much on the military, but on the scarred bodies of dead and dying women and children. Literally, the movie is a surprisingly effective feast for the eye and the ear. You would think that a rampaging outsized Tyrannosaurus Rex would be little more than a creature to behold in all its fury and then run from that sight. And certainly the fear-drenched residents of Tokyo see it and run, only to find that there is no place for them to run. But what is often overlooked in analyses of the movie is director Inoshiro Honda's innovative wedding of sound to sight. The opening scene as the credits flash on the screen radiate a strange howling shriek of a creature that has since been caricatured to the point that it now seems worthy of note only as the bubbling babbling of some disrespecting and disrespected guy in a cheap rubber suit. But if the viewer can somehow disassociate himself from these pathetic future wailings, then the banshee shriek of the monster can be appreciated for what it is: a warning cry to an unsuspecting world that an old enemy with new power is about to make an unexpected entrance. This focus on noise allied with sight can now be seen as the movie's central metaphor. In the initial destruction of the freighter to the later demolition of the pleasure boat in Tokyo harbor the viewer can hear but cannot see Godzilla. On Odo Island itself, as the creature smashes his way from one end of the island to the other, all you can see of it is a fragmentary glimpse of its trailing tail, all the while your ears are being hammered with a cacophony of storm winds and a warning bell rung by a panic-stricken islander. Later as Steven Martin, played by Raymond Burr with as near an absence of facial expression as I have ever seen from any actor, and a band of curious villagers climb the hill on Odo Island, director Honda wisely continues to build suspense, first by letting us hear the creature, then permitting us to see only its oversized head. Godzilla's retreating footsteps punctuate a cadence of future city stomping resonances that will be repeated each time it appears on screen.
The middle part of the movie shows how helpless man is to defeat this lumbering leviathan. The chosen weapons of the city's defender's are as loud as they are useless. The ra-ta-ta-ting of machine guns merely hurts the viewer more than the creature. The snapping and crackling of the half-million volts of electricity ringing the city do little more than play a funeral dirge. One of the most graphic combinations of sight and sound that I have ever seen in any monster movie occurs when Godzilla is approaching an iron tower as tall as he is. On the tower is a Japanese news reporter excitedly shouting into his microphone, trying desperately to report to the world the advance of this creature. As it approaches, his voice rises several octaves to a crescendo of panic. Then, in a startling display of photographic camera bulb flashing and popping, Godzilla faces what seems nothing less than a fusillade of paparazzi collectively taking his picture, with each pop of the camera accompanied by what sounds like gunshots. Godzilla does not hesitate, he attacks the tower, biting it in two. As the tower collapses, the viewer witnesses the collapse from the perspective of the reporter, with the ground rushing up to meet him in a death call.
The final third of the movie details the destruction of Godzilla, using the oxygen destroyer. As one of the two Japanese divers triggers the mechanism underwater, you not only can see Godzilla get ripped apart you can actually hear his death knell as he surfaces one more time to roar out his defiance for a last time.
GODZILLA is an often overlooked masterpiece of cinematic monster-making, more so despite the cheesy and primitive special effects then avaliable. The movie succeeds in reaching the inner core of audience that has been long conditioned to view a menace using only the sense of sight. When that audience can hear the violence, the result is a series of images that persists long after the future ridiculous antics of sequels that pathetically try to capture the essence of a creature that resists taming.
Rating:
Summary: THE KING OF THE MONSTERS IN HIS FIRST AND BEST!!!
Review: This film is considered by many to be the best Godzilla film there is. Filled with great SPFX (for the time), awesome but somber music, great acting and a good plot. When mentioning the big-G to people you usually receive the expected response. Thats right, the,"those movies are so old fasioned" or the even more popular,"those movies are so fake".
That just proves those people aren't familar with GKOTM. What Toho managed to create was a classic Sci-Fi monster film.
The music is one thing about it that just sets the mood for when Godzilla does arrive in Tokyo.
Rating:
Summary: Godzilla King of the Monsters
Review: One of the most awesome films ever made, this is the original and very best Godzilla movie! If you think of Godzilla as something for little kids you should get this movie. It shows that the disgrace that appaered in later films whos boss! This and the Heisi (Godzilla 1985 through Godzilla vs. Destroyah) are the very best Godzsilla films!
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