"Godzilla" The first work that stands out as the origin [Mizumaru Kawahara's CINEMONOLOGUE Vol.57]

Index

• The first scene that conveys the enormity
• The invincible monster and the “foghorn” dinosaur
• There are no Monster without humans

The first scene that conveys the enormity

While the Japanese release of `` Godzilla vs. Kong '' is eagerly awaited, my interest in Godzilla has increased again, so I'm revisiting my favorite first movie. The original ``Godzilla'' had a very different feel from the subsequent series. Since the monster movie genre has yet to be established, it feels more like a companion to the special effects films that influenced Godzilla, such as `` King Kong '' and `` The Lost World .'' Initially, it was considered to film using stop-motion animation, similar to when Kong scaled the New York skyscrapers, but this method would have required a huge amount of time, and in the end, the actors would have to step into costumes to perform the scenes, making the film non-existent. I was able to breathe life into living things. As you know, this method will cause all kinds of monsters to go on rampage.

However, ``Godzilla'' does not only feature costumed scenes. Hand puppets (also known as guignols), which are used to open and close the mouth by inserting a hand from below, are used especially in scenes where the face is shown in close-up, and are used in scenes that show detailed movements such as roaring or spitting out incandescent rays. ing. All of these scenes are impressive, but my personal favorite is the scene in which Godzilla first appears.

Oto Island in the Ogasawara Islands has been hit by disasters such as a series of fishing boats sinking in nearby waters and houses collapsing during storms. When a research team including paleontologist Dr. Yamane and physicist Dr. Tanabe arrived and were chasing the traces of the giant creature that the islanders claimed, Godzilla's head suddenly appeared from the other side of the mountain, and people falls into a panic. In the chaos, Dr. Yamane's daughter Emiko falls and sees Godzilla directly in front of her, opening its mouth and roaring at her.

This was the first time in history that Godzilla appeared in front of people. The scene in which it first appears may be rather plain compared to the typical image of a monster, in which it shakes its spiny dorsal fin and spits out heat rays, turning Tokyo into a sea of ​​fire, but its plainness is vivid. The fact that only parts of the statue are visible, rather than the entire body, conveys the sense of scale that cannot be completely contained within the human field of vision, and it is shocking that the head can be seen even though it is over the mountain. I wanted to have the experience of seeing this scene for the first time in the theater.

Guignol's shape is slightly different from that of the costumed one, but the way it moves smoothly while still being doll-like makes it more like a Monster than a living thing. It was rather eerie that something that felt like a foreign body appeared in broad daylight. Rather than using darkness to disguise it, the scene clearly shows the person's face, making it a scene that fully conveys that something extraordinary has appeared.

The invincible monster and the “foghorn” dinosaur