Godzilla (1954) 4K UHD Review (2024)

Unlucky Dragon

It’s difficult to express what a meaningful, gutsy film Godzilla was upon its release. Produced during the post-war American occupation of Japan, with Japan banned from producing materials on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Toho Studios stood defiant and created a monster that didn’t just embody Japanese suffering, but a monster that was their suffering.

More than a derivative allegory of modern warfare, Godzilla’s initial attacks at sea reflected another American atrocity – Lucky Dragon No. 5, which saw a Japanese fishing vessel veering too close to a US nuclear test, bathing the occupants in radiation. Godzilla’s flame is the blinding light of nuclear war, his dark visage trampling what remains of Tokyo.

Godzilla tells a story of inescapable human tragedy caused by human decision making

While often cited as remake of Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (a sea beast awakens due to nuclear tests, spreads radiation, and destroys a city), it’s a shallow, surface level reading of Godzilla – but not entirely incorrect. Where Beast used nuclear war as mere exposition, a loose scientific explanation for why the title monster exists, Godzilla is wholly enveloped by the fear and reality of what occurred. It shows children setting off Geiger counters, mothers dying in front of their daughters, and Japanese people trying to live their lives while another atomic threat lingers in the headlines.

Godzilla is also an engrossing character study, including Dr. Yamane (Takashi Shimura), who mourns the immediate military response to kill rather than a scientific approach to study Godzilla and the possibilities this monster’s survival represents to cure disease. Dr. Serizawa (Akihiko Hirata) chooses personal sacrifice rather than unleash another devastating weapon on mankind, a decision based in real world trauma.

Of the most memorable, both for their pop value and startling horror, are those shots of Godzilla trampling Tokyo, marching forward, unstoppable, and setting it ablaze. Every fire, every scream, and every death brings with it haunting imagery. Representing the bomb itself, Godzilla’s devastation captures an anger at his own pain and creation, and equally so, a dark force that cannot be controlled once unleashed. Seeing human beings give up at the sight of this force – notably, a woman cradling her children before nuclear flames engulf them – is relentlessly real, even if the sometimes uneven visual effects show the seams. In the end, those on-screen flubs don’t matter, because Godzilla tells a story of inescapable human tragedy caused by human decision making, which is the most terrifying thought of them all.

Video

Criterion’s Blu-ray for Godzilla rates as one of the premiere vintage restorations on the format when compared to worn, flat home video releases beforehand. This UHD, without HDR, is somehow bested by that Blu-ray, using Toho’s own 4K scan rather than Criterion’s.

Resolution does make a difference. In tight, close-ups show increases in fine texture. Grain resolves wonderfully, certainly bettering the Blu-ray in this way. There’s also less print damage than before, a sign the restoration team worked overtime to reduce the number of visible scratches.

And yet, Godzilla shows clear signs of filtering, particularly in the medium and long shots, where mild ringing and smoothness take over. The filtering isn’t aggressive (clearly, as natural grain does remain in the image). However, fine detail on hair turns to mush, and skin looks almost airbrushed at the worst. It’s not an obvious case, but when placed side-by-side, the difference is clear. Also worth noting, the highlights turn to blobs, clipping detail at their brightest points. The benefits, notably the limited source damage, are not worth it as this decision to aggressively restore the material reduced any gains.

Audio

Godzilla opens on a series of footsteps, demanding the viewer’s attention and building suspense. Gone is the warble and total breakdown of the sound at its peak as heard in previous releases. It’s mastered here, in a PCM mono restoration copied from the Blu-ray release, with a grungy reverberation. It’s hard to imagine it was supposed to sound like anything else.

Akira Ifubuke’s score is plentiful in terms of fidelity too, drums during an Odo Island ceremony precise and clean. There’s no distortion. Within the midst of action, including the mayhem during a typhoon with crushing buildings and screaming islanders, the music maintains focus. The elements have never blended with such purity. Screechy highs, especially those when the oxygen destroyer is displayed, are brilliantly refined.

Everything here sounds brighter, cleaner, and richer, the three elemental improvements that will define a restoration like this. Dialogue is never a victim of popping or static, fidelity preserved during the clean-up. Few scenes exhibit any type of audible artifact, likely spots where aggressive restorative techniques would have diluted quality. What’s left is still miles ahead of where Godzilla’s audio was before.

Extras

Author David Kalat works overtime on this disc, supplying two commentaries, one for the Japanese version, and one for the US edition, Godzilla: King of the Monsters (presented only in HD). Nearly 100 minutes of cast & crew interviews include quips from five people involved with the film: Star Akira Takarada, suit actor Haruo Nakajima, composer Akira Ifukube, and special effect technicians Yohio Irie & Eizo Kaimai.

Photographic Effects is a featurette with some short deleted scene snippets as Koichi Kawakita and Motoyoshi Tomoka dissect the visual effect processes of the day. Japanese film critic Tadao Sato delivers his thoughts on the piece, even recounting the first time he ever viewed it. The Unluckiest Dragon is an essay on Lucky Dragon No. 5, the fishing vessel that was bathed in radioactive fallout, an event that would inspire the creation of Godzilla. Criterion also includes trailers for each feature.

The following six screen shots serve as samples for our subscription-exclusive set of 55 full resolution, uncompressed 4K screen shots ripped directly from the UHD: