Godzilla is one of the great movie franchises of our time. But how many people know about the 1955 novella written by Shigeru Kayama, the Japanese science fiction writer who produced the original Godzilla screenplay?
Godzilla and Godzilla Raids Again are works translated by Jeffrey Angles, a professor of Japanese literature at Western Michigan University, that were published in 2023 by the University of Minnesota Press.
The stories include an extensive afterword written by Angles who details how the Godzilla story came to be.
Angles noted that Tomoyuki Tanaka, the producer at Toho Studios in Japan, learned that Beast From 20,000 Fathoms, the 1953 film about a dinosaur revived by an atomic test, was a hit in the United States.
"Tanaka realized that if he were to create a film about an ancient monster awakened by a nuclear blast, he might capitalize on the tremendous fears and concerns surrounding nuclear weapons and radioactivity in Japan--the same country that had suffered the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki less than a decade before," stated Angles.
Kayama's original screenplay made several pointed references to nuclear bombs and nuclear testing that the U.S. military was carrying out in the Pacific in the 1950s but Tanaka toned down the anti-nuke sentiment.
Kayama's strident message about the danger of nuclear weapons was included in an 11-part radio series on Godzilla that aired in Japan before the film's release in 1954.
Godzilla opened in November 1954 and was a huge hit in Japan.
The following year, an American studio bought the rights and inserted Raymond Burr (who completed his part for the film in one day of shooting) into a U.S. version of the film. The rest is history.
Dozens of Godzilla movies have followed over the years including Godzilla Minus One, a 2023 Japanese production (also from Toho Studios).
Angles applauds the new production, comparing it favorably with the somber original.
In 2024, the 70th anniversary year for Godzilla, another Godzilla vs. King Kong film is slated to be released.