The Weekly Planet - Godzilla 1954 - Caravan Of Garbage

Episode Date: March 21, 2024

It seems unlikely that the creators behind the 1954 original Japanese Godzilla movie could anticipated it not only remaining culturally relevant at least 70 years but also would eventually feature Godzilla and King King (sans metal gauntlet) travelling into the hollow earth to fight a race of giant orang utans or whatever happens in Godzilla V Kong. And yet here we are. Anyways, lets all take a look at where it all started. Thanks for watching our Caravan Of Garbage reviewSUBSCRIBE HERE ►► http://goo.gl/pQ39jNHelp support the show and get early episodes ► https://bigsandwich.co/Patreon ► https://patreon.com/mrsundaymoviesJames' Twitter ► http://twitter.com/mrsundaymoviesMaso's Twitter ► http://twitter.com/wikipediabrownPatreon ► https://patreon.com/mrsundaymoviesT-Shirts/Merch ► https://www.teepublic.com/stores/mr-sunday-movies The Weekly Planet iTunes ► https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-weekly-planet/id718158767?mt=2&ign-mpt=uo%3D4 The Weekly Planet Direct Download ► https://play.acast.com/s/theweeklyplanetAmazon Affiliate Link ► https://amzn.to/2nc12P4 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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It's fine. Everything's fine. I should have told you there was a hot line. No, I can tell from concept. Okay, cool. Context. Context. Because the red light. As women, our life stages come with unique risk factors. Like when our estrogen levels drop during menopause, causing the risk of heart disease to go up.

Know your risks. Visit heartandstroke.ca. disease to go up. Know your risks. Visit heartandstroke.ca. FX's The Veil explores the surprising and fraught relationship between two women who play a deadly game of truth and lies on the road from Istanbul to Paris and London. One woman has a secret, the other a mission to reveal it before thousands of lives are lost. FX's The Veil, starring Elizabeth Moss, is now streaming on Disney+. Will you rise with the sun to help change mental health care forever? Join the Sunrise Challenge to raise funds for CAMH,

the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, to support life-saving progress in mental health care. From May 27th to 31st, people across Canada will rise together and show those living with mental illness and addiction that they're not alone. Help CAMH build a future where no one is left behind. So, who will you rise for? Register today at sunrisechallenge.ca. That's sunrisechallenge.ca. Welcome back, everybody, to Caravan of Garbage, where we're going to be taking a look at some classic monster movies over this week and next week.

I love that. Shut up. This is... I was talking. I was talking. Well, now I don't love it. Now, I'm not going to cover any classics over this week and next week. I don't want to.

Can you at least do this one because you watched it? Otherwise, you watch something for nothing. I don't want to do that. I don't watch anything for my own enjoyment. I only watch things for content. You know that. Exactly. Not to be content. No. something for nothing. I don't want to do that. I don't watch anything for my own enjoyment. I only watch things for content. You know that. Exactly. Not to be content.

No. Not for content. Absolutely. Now I believe this is the oldest Fillmore property that we've looked at on Caravan of Garbage. Whoa. Would you say that's right? That's not a good sign. Because as you know, the quality of content drops off significantly the further back in time you go.

Very true. Cave paintings? Boring. Yuck. Boring. Can't sell an action, boring. Yuck. Boring. Can't sell an action figure off a cave painting. Boring. That is boring, yeah.

And then something, something, The Matrix, and everything's cool. Everything's cool, exactly. Yeah, yeah. Man, I tell you what, though. The original Godzilla movie. Yes. Which obviously launched a thousand ships. 1954.

That's it. 70 years old. Yeah, yeah. This very day. This is the anniversary right now. That's right. Today,000 ships. 1954. That's it. 70 years old. Yeah, yeah. This very day. This is the anniversary right now. That's right. Today, when this comes out. When you're watching it, whenever that is. I'll leave a like on this video.

Yeah, it got me thinking watching this. A couple of things. I love that they took this so seriously. It's so earnest. Yes. It's not at that tongue-in-cheek point where, you know, King Kong's riding Godzilla to fight another thing or whatever, which I also love. That's cool too.

Which I also love. Right, there's no, well, that just happened. No. Nobody's invented that yet. I think also- I think that was the Matrix 1999. It might have been, yeah. He's beginning to believe, well, that just happened.

I think also it made me like Godzilla minus one more because that is such a great kind of reboot of this really, isn't it? Yeah, it's not quite a remake, but there is certainly a lot of shared elements to it. Yeah, it's a real... Godzilla's mean and rude for no reason. He is. It's a real loving homage.

But yeah, I went into this. Look, the last time I saw this would have been, I would have taped it off the TV in the 90s. In 1954. That's exactly right. I got my building-sized VHS recorder and I taped it off the telly. And, yeah, I was wondering how it was going to hold up. And, look, it takes a minute to get going.

Definitely. But what's interesting is how many elements were there from the beginning. Oh, my God. You're not wrong. The famous Godzilla theme, the one that goes, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. The Godzilla scream, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Exactly.

Well, all of that. So that's Akira Ifukube. And he not only did the music, he also came up with Godzilla's roar. Yes. Which is apparently just rubbing coarse resin-coated rubber gloves together. Let's try that now. And also he came up with the thunderous footstep sound using a kettle drum and a knotted rope, much like James Bond's balls, no doubt.

Oh, sure, yeah. It's like that kind of situation. Yeah, I mean, even if you look at, like, the atomic breath is here. I mean, it's more of a fine aerosol can mist. Yes. But it's here. It's here. And, again, I went into this fully expecting we wouldn't see that

or if we did, you know, maybe that would be a later edition or something like that. But, I mean, again, it's not the laser beam of kind of present-day versions, but it's there. And there's like a five-minute sequence where he just lays waste to the city and just poisons people to death and blows up buildings. You see those electricity towers just melt. Yeah.

Just really good stuff. Good miniature work in this. I agree, yeah. Because a lot of this, they were flying blind. Like they didn't really know. Well, this was the first guy in a suit movie, really. Oh, no. At the very least, yeah.

So this came- Size 12 Angry Man. Oh, yeah, that's true. A lot of men in suits. 12, specifically. So these, in terms of cost, we'll talk more about that at the end. But during the 50s and 60s, these were Toho's most ambitious projects and most expensive and they were only able to do that

because they managed to sell these overseas because most of the other properties that they make, they don't necessarily translate well. Japanese art house, black and white cinema, people weren't loving that necessarily. Some made it across, of course. I know you probably saw them. You're watching this and you're like,

I saw a lot of that. Great, that's good for you. But I'm saying in terms of appealing to a mass audience. Yeah, cool stuff. Cool stuff, you know. I love also in this how they attempt to explain everything scientifically. Sure. You know, where does Godzilla come from?

Probably under the ocean. Yeah. They've changed it multiple times over the years. This one, it's kind of implied that he looks the way he does because he's been burnt by nuclear explosions. He was very handsome before this. He was so handsome. He was Gaston in Beauty and the Beast.

Was he really? Yep. As played by James Van Der Beek, I'm thinking of the two most handsome things. Absolutely, that's right. Does that work for you? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cool, I love that.

And they bring in the oxygen destroyer to get rid of him. Again, like still being used to this day. Exactly, yeah. Cool, I love that. Yeah, yeah. And they bring in, like, the oxygen destroyer to get rid of him, you know? Again, like, still being used to this day. Exactly, yeah. Just all of that stuff is really, really good. And there's so much amazing imagery in this. I mean, there's a funny moment where they're trying to hit him with missiles from a plane and they cannot hit the fucking broadside of a barn, mate. That's right.

What are you doing? Well, I mean, it would have also been really hard to put explosive squibs on the Godzilla suit, I imagine. Because you'd kill the man in it. You'd the man oh he had a real rough time i want to talk about that mason so according to suit actor haru haruo spin it around fuck it up nakajima haruo nakajima and i'm so sorry by. Okay. This accent does me no favours other than ordering a beer at the RSL. Then I mail it. People are like, look at this fella.

Come on. One Haruo Nakajimo, please. That's what I say. The suit was made from ready-mixed concrete. That sounds too heavy already. That's right. Due to a limited supply of latex. I would have used anything else.

Yeah, well, it was post-war Japan. You couldn't just get anything, right? That's true. And the original suit weighed... Oh, this is a metaphor. It's a metaphor, Mason. You didn't think it was about anything, but it's a metaphor. There's politics in this.

The original suit weighed 104 kilograms and was nearly impossible to use. But luckily, they made a second suit from a liquid plastic polymer, and that only weighed 91 kilograms. Oh, shave off a couple of kilos there, wow. Yeah. It gives it weight, certainly. Oh, boy, does it. Yeah.

Godzilla's not wobbling in the wind, is he? No. So one of the ideas initially was they thought, could we do this like King Kong, which came like 20 years prior? Do we use stop motion? And they realised, well, we don't really have the skill set for that in Japan at this point. Also, it's very time consuming.

Also, when you use miniatures, like you've got to get the scale right. It's a very specific skill set, which they didn't go with. And that way, if you put a big guy in a suit, then you can build bigger miniatures. That's so true. Bigger miniatures, if you will. So they went with something called suitmation, or really just a guy in a big suit. Absolutely. Would probably be the more technical term.

Yeah, apparently the actor in it used to faint frequently, obviously. Wouldn't matter, though, because the suit would stay up. Because it's set solid concrete. Yeah, and it got up to like 60 degrees Celsius inside it. That's too hot. Which is just absolutely insane. I think the only thing that's not quite right on it, I know the scale varies like scene to scene. I don't really care

about that. I think you kind of do what works best dramatically. Sure. You could say it's the radiation. Yeah, exactly. Say it's the radiation. The eyes are a bit kind of like, boom, boom, you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like he's looking in opposite directions. But there's some amazing imagery in this. Some of my favourite moments,

there's the one where he gets caught in power lines. I think that's really good. The rampage sequences are all a lot of fun. And there's a moment where he puts his head over the mountain. You see him. He's like, hello, I'm Godzilla. And then they go over the mountain to see him. And he's gone. He's gone. He's Michael Myers in Halloween did. He's run away. And you see the

footsteps in the sand and there's just like a tail line that's been dragged through. I love that. I think that's so cool. Oh, that's just reminded me. We said this was an era before. Well, that just happened. But there is a line in this movie where somebody goes,

this isn't a movie. It is, though. It is a movie. It is a movie. Don't lie to us. Yeah, don't lie. We know. We can tell.

I'm in a movie theater right now. And by that, I mean I'm on my phone. Absolutely. I found the ending a little bit anticlimactic because they defeat him, well, they think, for a time and he goes for a little swim. Yeah, it is. It's not the classic Hollywood ending

where it's like the two forces finally collide. Godzilla's having a little nap and they just go down and they poison him, which I think is rude, quite frankly. I'd wake him up and be like, come on, mate, you throw the first punch and then I'll hit you with my oxygen destroyer. But I do think there's something to be said. you don't have the cement balls to come at me

but i do think there is something to be said that like there is this like ever looming threat and we know he's not really gone if it's not him that returns it'll be another variation that's right on him so it doesn't end like we got him it ends like, this will probably happen again. Sure. We'll be seeing this guy or something similar, probably in 1956, the sequel movie. Do you want to do some trivia? Yes. Or as I call it, trivia 1954. I love that.

Great. So director Akira Kurosawa, you might know from various films. I do. Yeah. He was a lifelong friend of fellow director Ishiro Honda and included this film among his all-time favourite films. That's nice. Other directors have said kind things as well.

George Lucas cites this film's miniatures as an inspiration for the special effects that he used in Star Wars. He also used miniatures. He did every special effect by himself. A lot of people don't know that. George Lucas single-handedly did every effect. And including all the practical effects in the prequels. It's all practical.

Do people know that? People don't know that, but it's true. So when Christopher Lee did that flip, that was George Lucas. That's right. Oh, my God. That part where Dooku loses his arms, that's Lucas. What? Cut his own arms off.

Did he really? Yep. Amazing. Steven Spielberg also cites this movie as inspiration for Jurassic Park. Scorsese is a huge fan. But there is one person I found who is not. Is it Roger Ebert? God, you reckon?

I'm sure he hated it. Really? Yeah. Was he reviewing movies in 1954? No, but I think he came back to it. Because there's also an American version of this. Oh, what, like a re-edit kind of? It's a re-edit.

It's got Raymond Burr, Canadian actor Raymond Burr. They put him in sort of new scenes with a lot of Japanese extras, and he's a reporter. He's reporting on it. Wow, look at that. Yeah, it's with a lot of Japanese extras and he's a reporter. He's reporting on it. Wow, look at that. Yeah, it's just a lot of reaction shots. And mopping his brow. Yeah, you go, whoa, I can't believe this.

I should leave. But I won't. I can't. Yeah. Because there's nothing really here. It's fine. I'm completely safe. That's right.

Who were you going to say? Ray Harryhausen. Oh, what? He apparently harbored a deep- Oh, well, he's a Mr. Stop Motion. Yeah, he harbored a deep resentment for Godzilla for most of his life. Because he lived in fear of him. Yeah, that's right.

Yeah, he thought there was a lot... He thought specifically his film, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, like, inspired this. And the creators of Godzilla have been very open about their love for his work, you know? So I don't... If anything, it was a homage and not like, we're going to stick this to Ray Harryhausen.

That's right. This will show him. Nobody's ever going to think of the beast from Over the Block or whatever you said. Nobody's ever going to think about it again. No. Why? Because the beast from 20,000 Fathoms wasn't like,

ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. And he was mostly 20,000 Fathoms down. We didn't even know what he was up to. It's just people going, God, this is good, isn't it? It's nice to be at the beach, isn't it? God, at sea level? Oh, so calm. Apparently the film also does use stop motion animation

to enhance a few brief scenes in which vehicles crash into Godzilla's tail and it twitches. I don't specifically remember that. Ben and Lawrence, if you can find that here, if you can't, that's fine also. And here's a couple of incredible model shots where a helicopter is tipped over by a slight breeze there's one and there's a car that's these aren't real are they no they look they look awful really really bad it's 1954 mason yeah i know

it's 70 years to the day and it's true it's true uh and also in the year 2004 on the year of its 50th anniversary godzilla was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Did Godzilla show up? We couldn't have, Mason. He's too big. He would have stepped on all the stars, including Patrick Dempsey. Is that what you want? No.

Not Patrick Dempsey. It's McDreamy. It's McDreamy, Mason. Not McSteamy. Yeah. Not McStompdon. That'd be rude. That's right.

I guess we could talk box office because it's actually pretty interesting I think So the budget of this was 60 million yen Which is about 400,000 US dollars at the time Which equates to about 4.5 million today It's not bad No

And the box office return Because this did have a bit of an international release Was 2.5 million Which is about 28.6 million today That's not bad Pretty bloody good mate mate. So there were three successful movies from this year, Japanese releases. Seven Samurai.

Samurai. Is that Kurosawa as well? Yep. Well, you had a bloody banny here, didn't you? I agree. What is he? An American director that is also prolific? Yeah. Is he that guy? Yeah, it's him. The guy I'm thinking of? Yeah, that's him. Wow. Ray Harryhausen? No, absolutely not. George Lucas? Yeah, it's him. The guy I'm thinking of? Yeah, that's him. Wow. Yeah. Ray Harryhausen?

No, absolutely not. George Lucas? Sure, that's one. Prolific. Yeah. Yeah. The Wachowskis that one year? Yep. Guy Ritchie?

Yeah. Oh, he's... Three movies a year, whatever he's doing. Wow, too many some would say. Just lads. Yeah. Just lads Aladdin about. And Aladdin.

He also did Aladdin. Well, that's also lads, isn't it? It very much so. Yeah, yeah. Samurai Eye and Godzilla. They were one, two, three in the Japanese box office that year. Good for them. But of course, this was the real success story.

Since 1954, there's been around and this will probably change by the time this goes out, 68 feature films released. This property is valued between 4.5 and 5 billion dollars. So much. I know. And it's just started from this. And what Seven Samurai had.

They've had Seven Samurai, Magnificent Seven, that Magnificent Seven remake, S Club Seven. Yep. That's about it, really. Battle Beyond the Stars. Sure. And I guess Star Wars sort of, I guess, I guess, I guess. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So, yeah, and they reckon also there's been about $2 billion in toy sales and tie-in bits and pieces over the years. Huge property. Again, just the thing that they went, let's have a big smashy monster that's going to tell us a story about the horrors of nuclear war and also post-war Japan, etc. And everybody went, whoa. Everyone went, whoa. That's blowing stuff up. That's cool.

Exactly. Above sea level as well. That's interesting. It is interesting. No judgment, but that's quite interesting. Unlike things that are happening several thousand fathoms below. Sure, yeah, yeah, yeah. Which would be boring.

It would be a bit boring, wouldn't it? Yeah, yeah. Harry Snoozenhausen. Whoa. Harry. Knappenhausen. Knappenhausen, yep. Yep.

Ray Haversnoozen. That's great. That's really good. Thank you. We got there in the end. Did we? The best thing anyone's ever said. Tell you what, Mason.

We're going to come back and check out another monster movie next week do you want to know what it is? is it another Godzilla movie? no Mason here's a hint what is it? it's King Kong

it's the original King Kong we're going back even further oh that's so old sometimes you've got to eat your vegetables you know what I mean? I don't want to no Mason

we're looking at classic movies does anybody shoot a laser? probably not someone probably throws a spear. Is this pre-laser media? I don't like it. You don't know. You love it and you probably respect it. Does Godzilla

leap in the air and fire two guns at once? No, probably not in that one. As far as I'm aware, he wasn't invented. That was like 20 years prior, yeah. But is this the origin of his iconic big yellow gauntlet? Robot gauntlet? Yes yes it is in that okay that's good that's great okay all right then i'm okay don't panic everyone if you do want to say that earlier you can actually head over to big sandwich.co where all the videos go up there

early but that's not the only thing there's bonus movie commentaries there's bonus podcasts we also do video game let's play let's play also we have a podcast called the weekly planet where we talk movies and comics and tv shows that comes out there early on Sunday as opposed to Monday all of that is ad free if you do want to check it out

leave a comment leave a comment leave a comment okay do you like lasers do you like lasers yeah what's the best

King Kong Godzilla movie yeah is it Godzilla X Kong versus the new Empire might be might be yeah alright bye everyone

bye grab that jam we'll see you next time bye from the world of sonic the hedgehog a new hero arrives i am ready is there anyone stronger no tougher no funnier i do not make jokes i make warriors knuckles now streaming only on paramount plus yes fx is Veil explores the surprising and fraught relationship between two women who play a deadly game of truth and lies on the road from Istanbul to Paris and London.

One woman has a secret. The other, a mission to reveal it before thousands of lives are lost. FX's The Veil, starring Elizabeth Moss, is now streaming on Disney+.