GODZILLA (1977) **

In 1954, Toho Studios released Godzilla and the world was never the same.  In 1956, some American producers re-edited the film, inserted Raymond Burr into the narrative, and created a new version tailored specifically for American audiences.  In 1977, 21 years after the Americanized version of Godzilla was released, Italian schlock filmmaker Luigi (Hercules) Cozzi made his own Italianized version of the Americanized version of the original Japanese version.  (Got all that?)  

Since two full decades had passed since the last time audiences saw this footage, Cozzi knew he had to spice it up a bit.  First off, he knew the then-modern audience wouldn’t sit still for an old black and white film, so he colorized it to make it look new.  Since this is a cheapskate Italian director we’re talking about here, he used what’s probably the most rinky-dink colorization process imaginable.  Seriously, it looks worse than some tinted moldy oldie silent films I’ve seen.  Most of the time, the screen is only tinted with one or two colors, so Godzilla often appears blue, red, or even purple (a precursor to Barney, perhaps?), but rarely his traditional green.  Most of the time, it all looks like a pop art student film or something.  There are a few instances however in which it looks as if Cozzi spent a little more time or money on the process and the footage looks surprisingly cool (especially the scene where Godzilla uses his fire breath for the first time).  By the end though, there are just a bunch of scenes that look black and white, as if they shot their wad on the color budget by the time the final reel came around.

If Cozzi had just tinkered with the color, I don’t think this would even warrant mentioning in the pantheon of Godzilla movies.  What makes this version reprehensible is that he uses real war atrocity footage of the Hiroshima bombing to substitute as stock footage of Godzilla’s wrath.  I can see using the aerial shots of the damage to buildings and the landscape and such, but did we really need up close and personal shots of horribly mangled, hideously burned women and children?  Not cool, Luigi.  Not cool.  That said, the new soundtrack by Magnetic System is THUMPING.  I mean, it will never replace the iconic Godzilla theme by Akira Ifukube, but I’ll be damned if that track wouldn’t get the dancefloor jumping.

So that’s about it.  Do you really want to see an Italian version of a beloved classic needlessly colorized (Cozzi was ahead of the Ted Turner curve, you have to give him that) with disturbing war footage callously inserted?  If you’re a dumbass like me, you probably already know the answer to that one.

AKA:  Cozzilla.  AKA:  Codzilla.  AKA:  Godzilla:  The Euro-Trash Version.