How Godzilla Became King of the Monsters
The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms. Them! Tarantula. It Came From Beneath The Sea. 20 Million Miles To Earth. The Black Scorpion. The Deadly Mantis. The Giant Claw. Attack of the 50 Foot Woman. Earth vs. the Spider. The Blob. The Giant Behemoth. The Giant Gila Monster.
And then, in the midst of them, Godzilla: King of the Monsters!
While we usually acknowledge Godzilla as the founding father of Japan’s kaiju-obsessed era, he arrived smack-dab in the middle of the American monster boom. Burgeoned by a 1952 re-release of King Kong that had performed even better than its original 1933 debut, there was an immediate arms race for big creature supremacy. Less of a concentrated effort and more of a dart board effect (“Ummm, what about a large bird this time? Or a preying mantis?!?”), it would devour the atomic 50s, rising powerfully and then, by the end, petering out into pure B-movie schlock. Heck, by the time Godzilla arrived in theaters in America in 1956, imported and heavily localized by a team of producers and distributors eager to cash in, the monster rush was already half over.
Only it wouldn’t be Godzilla that audiences went to see, but Godzilla: King of the Monsters! Exclamation point absolutely included in the title, by the way. This added portion would set it apart from the cavalcade of bugs and lizards already menacing sets and stuntmen alike - This wasn’t just another monsters, but the be-all, end-all of them. This wasn’t just a brooding film from Japan soaked in post-war anxiety and nuclear nightmare (something the producers of King of the Monsters! were eager to get away from, feeling that Americans would find those high-falutin’ themes and its overbearing sense of melancholy off-putting,) but a rampage like they’d never seen before. Plus, through filming additional scenes and an extensive use of body doubles, they’d been able to remix the film so that Raymond Burr was now the lead. The deep-voiced star of Rear Window would play reporter Steve Martin, a man that serves as both lead, narrator and American ambassador.
It was a success and it would be this film, not the Japanese original (Did you know that it wasn’t widely available in the US until 2004? That’s FIFTY years after its premiere) that would become the international face of Godzilla. The title of King of the Monsters! would also be adopted at large by the entire franchise, in Japan and abroad. And why not? Godzilla’s presence in America outlasted its own giant monster fixation. The trend would calm down in the early 60s, leaving Godzilla as a sort of last monster standing. Toho, the Japanese studio behind Godzilla, had begun to ramp up Godzilla production as a near-annual event after the enormous success of 1962’s King Kong vs Godzilla. And thanks to a relatively cheap dubbing process, every new Godzilla film in Japan meant a new American version the following year.
The King of the Monsters! status had even predated Godzilla actually becoming that in his own films. Though he’d wrestled with (and executed) Anguirus in 1955’s quick sequel Godzilla Raids Again, it wouldn’t be until the mid 60s that Godzilla was treated like a hero. Before then, whether he was facing King Kong or Mothra (He ends up sort of losing both battles,) he was a definitive threat. As such, his evolution and the monster team-ups that came with it were fairly swift. When Ghidorah appeared in 1964, a three-headed space dragon with an indefinite appetite for destruction, the template was set: Godzilla was heavyweight champion, ready to take on all challenges and emerge victorious.
Since then, whether portrayed as a good guy, a bad guy, or somewhere in between (and even during droughts for movie releases,) the crown has remained atop Godzilla’s scaly head. His reign remains untouchable.