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Directed by Ishiro Honda

Godzilla

1h 36m

Directed by Ishiro Honda • 1954 • Japan
Starring Akira Takarada, Momoko Kōchi, Akihiko Hirata

GODZILLA (a.k.a. GOJIRA) is the roaring granddaddy of all monster movies. It’s also a remarkably humane and melancholy drama, made in Japan at a time when the country was reeling from nuclear attack and H-bomb testing in the Pacific. Its rampaging radioactive beast, the poignant embodiment of an entire population’s fears, became a beloved international icon of destruction, spawning almost thirty sequels.

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