Okay, it’s no secret I’m a Godzilla fan. Here’s a fun fact most of you aren’t aware of.
Japanese monster movies are often ridiculed in America for low budgets and bad acting. Guess what? I’m going to argue the second part.
What’s bad is the voice overs. Very often, a heavier set individual intended as comic relief tends to have a sing-song baritone voice. So, voice talent would see a Japnese character who’s heavier set and automatically assume…
No, it’s not that way! The two characters in “Godzilla Raids Again”, which is a poor title since it was a DIFFERENT Godzilla, and it wasn’t technically a raid, but a battle that wipes out a city.
The thinner character we see in that movie is actually a coward, by his own admission, and fairly disrespectful to his fiance’. He’s motivated by how others see him. He’s not the hero.
The heavy-set guy whom the voice over talent made to look like a buffoon, is actually the smarter and braver of the two. When he sees Godzilla is about to leave the Island, he begins buzzing Godzilla’s head with an airplane that has malfunctioned in the past. When he sees the battle is going wrong, he joins in… flying an unarmed plane.
He doesn’t care what people think of him, and he willingly joins in on the mocking of the fact he’s not engaged, seeing anyone, or married. He turns the joke around to show that he is married to his job.
When the lead actress realizes the thin hero-looking man is actually kind of s jerk, her heart turns to the heavier set man. He’s gruff voiced, funny, brave, and treats her nicely.
All this is lost in the dubbed version. Watch the Japanese original, and suddenly it’s a MUCH better movie! The original Godzilla, panned as being a low budget classic with Raymond Burr awkwardly edited in. When the Japanese original was released in America for the 50th anniversary, people were actually surprised how GOOD it was. Some scenes that were edited out (a Henry Saperstein decision, I’m guessing) were actually exceptionally sad.
If you’ve made a habit of mocking the old Japanese Monster movies, try watching them in Japanese. Turn the subtitles on, and go! You’ll actually be surprised how much better they are than what you thought.
By the way, you’ll learn a lot of Japanese that way, too.
