Godzilla

Hiroshima 6 August 1945

Stereophonic version featuring the incredible vibrating effect of FUTURSOUND

Based on the black and white film GOJIRA

A Tomoyuki Tanaka production from Toho in Tokyo

and the elaborated version from Avco Embassy and Joe Levine

GODZILLA, KING OF THE MONSTERS for Paramount

Starring Raymond Burr

and Akira Takarada, Akihiko Hirata Takashi Shimura, Momoko Kochi

Original Japanese version scripted by Takeo Murata and Ishiro Honda

Art Direction by Satoshi Chuko

Cinematography by Masao Tamai

Cinematography of additional scenes for American version by Guy Roe

Original Music by Akira Ifukube

Special effects creation and direction by Eiji Tsubaraya

With the assistance of Akira Watanabe, Hiroshi Mukouyama Kuichiro Kishida

Original Japanese version directed by Ishiro Honda

Director of the assembly and insertion of scenes

featuring Raymond Burr into the American version Terry Morse

New Italian version produced by COZZILLA s.r.l for BBC and Renato Barbieri

Prints by AUGUSTUSCOLOR

The soundtrack for GODZILLA recorded and available...

...from Cinevox Records by the group Magnetic System

New assembly by Alberto Moro

New special effect colorization by Armando Valcauda

New Direction by Luigi Cozzi

Tokyo, 6 August 1954 This is Tokyo - once a city of over 6 million people.

...now transformed into a smoldering memorial to the unknown.

The force that caused it was, up until recently,

completely beyond the limits of man's imagination...

...a force lying in wait, ready to lash out against an unsuspecting world.

There were many people here... but now only a few survive...

My name is Steve Martin. I'm a foreign corespondent for United World News.

I was on layover in Tokyo, en route to Cairo, and hoped to visit a friend.

It turned out to be a visit in a living hell.

Emergency hospitals were overflowing with the injured and dead...

...and there was a lingering fear that the events of the previous night...

...could happen again at any time.

Everyone who had survived and was able was helping to care for the human casualties...

Emiko Yamane, daughter of a famous Japanese paleontologist, was one of those helping.

For some there was hope, but for others there would be no tomorrow...

I can't remember how long it was before one of the hospital units found me...

I knew it was day out... and that I was lucky to be alive...

Emiko, Emiko!

Steve, Steve! So you survived...

I'm very fortunate considering what happened last night.

It's a miracle that any of us made it through.

Steve, what did we do to deserve this?

I don't know, Emiko... I don't know.

And your father, is he all right?

Yes. He's in a meeting of the political leaders now...

Just rest, Steve. I'll try to get you medical attention.

It's still unbelievable that I'm alive...

...when I think of the hundreds of thousands...

...who are surely dead or dying in the ruins around me.

Just a few days before I had been on my way...

...to meet up with a university friend of mine...

Serizawa... a scientist who was gaining great respect...

...in the Far East for his unique experiments...

Though it was unknown to me at the time,

three thousand meters below an event was about to take place...

...that would shake the very foundations of civiization.

After what's happened since,

it's impossible for me to believe that I'll ever see Tokyo like this again.

Are you Mr. Steve Martin? - Yes

I'm Shigeri, Dr. Serizawa's assistant. - It's very nice to meet you. How is the doctor?

He's fine but he regrets not being able to meet you personally. - Is anything wrong?

No, but he's away working for the Department of the Interior.

He's conducting some experiments that are most important.

He's very sorry he couldn't be here.

That's okay. Did he say when he'd be finished?

Yes. He hopes to be before your flight to Cairo. Until then I'm at your service.

I appreciate that.

Excuse my interruption but I must ask you to come with me for questioning, Mr. Martin.

Is this a gentle way of telling me I'm under arrest?

No, no, you're not under arrest.

- It's just imperative that you come wth me for questioning. - Of course!

I'll take these... going to the Mikasa? - Nope! Hotel Imperial.

Permit me... I'm Iwanaga. - Nice to meet you.

Mr. Martin, do you remember anything out of the ordinary happening...

...while you were on your flight last night?

I read a bit, spent some time writing, and the rest of the time I was sleeping. - I see.

I see you're questioning everyone on my flight.

I'm interested in why. I work for United World News.

I don't know what's going on, Mr. Martin... I just don't know.

Or... if the public should know at all...

I don't understand...

Early this morning a fishing trawler...

...was swept from the face of the Earth in a matter of seconds.

Was there any communication?

Yes. They reported a blinding flash... and that the ship burst into flame...

Could it have been a mine or a collision?

If it had they would have reported a mine or a collision...

Point taken...

Well, I'd like to know whatever is being done about it. - All right. Come this way.

This is the chart room of the Nanking shipping company...

It was their ship that was reported missing...

Do you mind telling me what they're saying?

They're at a loss for what could have caused the disappearence.

Any survivors? - None have been reported...

A search ship is on the way now - it should the ship's last known whereabouts soon...

This is a message for George Lawrence. Care of United World News, in Chicago.

Whole world stunned by Japanese ship disasters.

Eight ships destroyed by a mysterious blinding flash of fire.

No survivors. Radio reports give same message.

Exactly. Terrible sea of fire engulfs all.

Enormous death toll forces all shipping schedules be cancelled.

Will remain in Tokyo unless word from you. Sign it Steve Martin. Right. Thanks.

Like an illness panic crept across Japan...

The Nanking Shipping Company was soon deluged with people...

...demanding information about relatives lost in the shipping disasters.

The few survivors who were found were suffering from shock and horrible injuries.

With disaster following disaster...

...the terrified people began to demand that the government take action.

Security officials in the government called a special meeting.

Consulting would be Dr. Yamane, Japan's foremost paleontologist.

Excuse me...

Dr. Yamane... - It's good to see you again.

Do you really think that a monster might be behind these disasters?

Heh, who can say for sure?

I heard you are heading an expedition to Odo island...

That's right, we leave this afternoon...

I was wondering if it would be possible for me to go along...

Of course you can! You can meet us at the port at 2.

Thank you very much.

The port was full of well wishers for Dr. Yamane...

...and the rest of his investigating team.

But a feeling of dread was in everyone's mind...

Every ship that had followed our course had met with a tragic end...

Yes, we were all afraid...

With the possible exception of Emiko and Ogata, a young naval officer...

For the moment they were more interested in each other...

When I had last seen Emiko she had just become engaged to Dr. Serizawa.

It was the usual triangle.

Most knew that, though engaged,

she was having a secret relationship with Ogata.

Odo Island, a small speck of land in the Pacific...

It was home to a small population of natives...

...who were the only witness to the disasters...

It was decided that we would stay the night... It gave us an opportunity to be witnesses to a rare ritual...

The islanders are surrounded by many dangers - some real and others imagined.

This ceremony is dedicated to one of them...

There is a legend here that, somewhere off the island shores,

there exists a monster too terrible for any mortal to imagine...

Long ago they used to send a young girl to the sea on a raft...

...as sacrifice to the monster...

And what did they call this monster?

Did you hear that? Godzilla.

Do they believe that this Godzilla is responsible for the recent ship disasters?

Yes. They're certain of it...

It was more than just a storm in the night... much more...

But just what exactly was unknown to most...

The natives of the island knew, though. They said it was Godzilla...

This well is contaminated. It's dangerous drink from it...

Look at this... These indentions seem to be the footprints of some living thing!

They're also radioactive... - This area is dangerous, please stand back!

Emiko! It's a trilobyte - a three lobed worm that's supposed to be extinct!

Don't hold it in your bare hands, doctor...

What does it mean? - It's a fantastic discovery!

Trilobyte... isn't that a...

What is it? - It's safer in the hills...

Look at the size of those footprints...

Two million years ago this Brontosaurus and other giant reptiles...

...roamed the Earth in a period known as the Jurassic age...

At this time an intermediary reptile evolved...

...as well - a cross between the terrestrial and marine animals of the time...

This creature is called Godzilla...

...in accordance with the legend of the people of Odo Island.

Judging by this photograph he is over 150 meters tall...

So... what could have caused this creature to appear...

...after so many centuries and so closely to the shores of Japan?

One idea is that some miracle of nature allowed this animal to reproduce itself and,

for centuries it lived peacefully with no reason to appear to us...

but Geiger counter readings taken in the monsters footprints...