Son of Godzilla

Son of Godzilla
Original Japanese poster
Directed by	Jun Fukuda
Produced by	Tomoyuki Tanaka
Written by	Shinichi Sekizawa Kazue Shiba
Starring	Tadao Takashima Akira Kubo Bibari Maeda Akihiko Hirata Yu Sekida, Seiji Onaka and Haruo Nakajima as Godzilla
Music by	Masaru Satô
Cinematography	Kazuo Yamada
Distributed by	Toho Walter Reade Organization (USA)
Release date(s)	1967 December 16, 1967 (Japan)
Running time	86 min (orig.), 84 min (USA)
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese English
Budget	$900,000[citation needed]

Son of Godzilla, released in Japan as Monster Island's Decisive Battle: Godzilla's Son (怪獣島の決戦 ゴジラの息子, Kaijū-shima no Kessen Gojira no Musuko), is a 1967 science fiction kaiju film. The eighth part of the Toho studio's Godzilla series, it was directed by Jun Fukuda with special effects by Sadamasa Arikawa (supervised by Eiji Tsuburaya.) It is the first film to feature Kamacuras, Kumonga, and Minilla.

Plot

A team of scientists are trying to perfect a weather-controlling system. Their efforts are hampered by the arrival of a nosy reporter and by the sudden presence of 2-meter tall giant praying mantises. The first test of the weather control system goes awry when the remote control for a radioactive balloon is jammed by an unexplained signal coming from the center of the island. The balloon detonates prematurely, creating a radioactive storm that causes the giant mantises to grow to enormous sizes. Investigating the mantises, which are named Kamacuras, the scientists find the monstrous insects digging an egg out from under a pile of earth. The egg hatches, revealing a baby Godzilla. The scientists realize that the baby's telepathic cries for help were the cause of the interference that ruined their experiment. Shortly afterwards, Godzilla himself arrives on the island, demolishing the scientist's base as he rushes to defend the baby. Godzilla kills two of the Kamacuras during the battle while one manages to fly away to safety, Godzilla then adopts the baby.

The baby Godzilla, named Minilla, quickly grows to about half the size of his father, and Godzilla instructs him on the important monster skills of roaring and using his atomic ray. At first, Minilla has difficulty producing anything more than atomic smoke rings, but Godzilla discovers that stressful conditions (i.e. stomping on his tail,) or motivation produces a true radioactive blast. Minilla comes to the aid of Reiko when she is attacked by a Kamacuras, but inadvertently awakens Kumonga (Spiga in the English-dubbed version), a giant spider that was sleeping in a valley. Kumonga attacks the caves where the scientists are hiding, and Minilla stumbles into the fray.

Kumonga traps Minilla and the final Kamacuras with his webbing, but as Kumonga begins to feed on the deceased Kamacuras, Godzilla arrives to save the day. Godzilla saves his son and they work together to defeat Kumonga by using their atomic rays on the giant spider. The scientists finally use their perfected weather altering device on the island and the once tropical island becomes buried in snow and ice. As the scientists are saved by an American submarine, Godzilla and Minilla begin to hibernate as they wait for the island to become tropical again.

Cast

• Akira Kubo - Goro Maki

• Tadao Takashima - Dr. Tsunezou Kusumi

• Akihiko Hirata - Dr. Hujisaki

• Bibari "Beverly" Maeda - Saeko (Reiko) Matsumiya

• Yoshio Tsuchiya - Hurukawa

• Kenji Sahara - Morio

• Ken'ichiro Maruyama - Ozawa

• Seishiro Kuno Tashiro

• Yasuhiko Saijo - Suzuki

• Susumu Kurobe - Weather observation airplane captain

• Kazuo Suzuki - Weather observation aeronaut

• Wataru Oomae - Weather observation airplane radio operator

• Tyoutarou Tougin - Weather observation airplane crewman

• Ousmane Yusef - Submarine captain

• Haruo Nakajima - Godzilla (Water scenes only)

• Yū Sekida and Seiji Onaka - Godzilla

• Little Man Machan - Minilla

Box office

In Japan, the film sold approximately 2,480,000 tickets.

Reception

Son of Godzilla received mixed to positive reviews. The film currently holds a 71% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

English version

Like the previous Godzilla film, Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster, Son of Godzilla was distributed directly to television by the Walter Reade Organization in 1969. This film was also dubbed by Titra Studios.

There were several alterations in this version:

• Dialogue was dubbed to English

• Saeko's name was changed to Reiko, Kumonga's name was changed to Spiga, and Kamacuras' name was changed to Gimantis.

• Deleted: the pre-credits sequence, where Godzilla is sighted at sea. This was cut down to Godzilla simply walking to the camera.
• Heavy narraration was added throughout the movie

The American version runs 79 minutes, shorter than the 86-minute Japanese version. Sony's DVD features the uncut Japanese version, and the optional English dub track is from Toho's international version.

DVD release

Sony Pictures

• Released: December 14, 2004

• Aspect Ratio: Anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1)

• Sound: Japanese (2.0), English (2.0)

• Supplements: Trailers for Godzilla: Tokyo SOS, Steamboy, and Kaena: The Prophecy.

• Region 1

• Note: English dub track is Toho's International Version

• Rated PG for some sci-fi monster violence.

External links

• Godzilla on the web(Japan)

• Son of Godzilla at the Internet Movie Database

• Son of Godzilla at Rotten Tomatoes
• Son of Godzilla film review
• Special Effects Director Sadamasa Arikiawa Interview

• "怪獣島の決戦 ゴジラの息子 (Kaijū-shima no Kessen Gojira no Musuko)" (in Japanese). Japanese Movie Database. http://www.jmdb.ne.jp/1967/cq003660.htm. Retrieved 2007-07-17. 

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