Godzilla: The Japanese Original

Dir. Ishiro Honda. 1954, 98 mins. Restored DCP. With Takashi Shimura, Akira Takarada, Momoko Kochi, Akihiko Hirata. The horrors of nuclear destruction were rendered B-movie poetry in this landmark Japanese mega-hit. Awakened by the blasts of H-bomb tests, the primordial, flame-spewing Gojira rises from the ocean floor for an epic rampage through the streets of Tokyo. Though it has spawned dozens of sequels and remakes, the original Godzilla remains unmatched in its urgency and poignancy. Its now iconic images of mass destruction and chaos inevitably echoed the atomic devastation of World War II.

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