Tokyo, 13 November, /AJMEDIA/
The original “King of the Monsters” graced the big screen like never before during a recent world premiere of the 4K restoration of the first “Godzilla” film in Los Angeles.
The highly anticipated remaster debuted to celebrate the 67th birthday of the pop culture icon, the star of the world’s longest-running movie franchise. Similar screenings were held at over two dozen locations across the United States, including San Francisco and New York City.
Directed by Ishiro Honda, a pioneer of Japan’s “kaiju” (strange beast) genre of films and television, and released by Toho Co., “Godzilla” tells the story of a giant prehistoric monster that rampages throughout Japan after being driven out of the ocean depths by underwater hydrogen bomb testing.
When first released in 1954, the motion picture immediately resonated with Japanese audiences with its symbolic depiction of the destructive power of nuclear weapons and showcasing of the threat of radioactive fallout from hydrogen bomb tests such as the ones conducted by the United States over the Marshal Islands in the early years of the Cold War.
Godzilla historian Steve Ryfle explained to the Los Angeles crowd that the film’s opening scene is an “unmistakable reference” to the tragedy known as the Lucky Dragon incident, in which an American thermonuclear test irradiated a Japanese tuna fishing boat at Bikini Atoll in March 1954. It also spoke to the destruction experienced by Japan during World War II.
“The experiences of the people in this movie, they mirror the experiences during wartime. Mass evacuations, daily life disrupted, people fleeing to the hills and watching helplessly as their city burns,” said Ryfle, who was introduced by Toho and gave a short speech ahead of the Nov. 3 premiere at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in downtown Los Angeles.
“Godzilla is the unmistakable stand-in for the atomic bomb in this movie. It moves slowly across the city, destroying everything in its path and shows no mercy…The issue of nuclear weapons is at the heart of this movie.”
