April 26, 1956 —
Godzilla: King of the Monsters debuted in America on this day (with Gojira originally premiering in Japan on November 3, 1954).
With the ashes of World War II still cooling, Japan is suddenly plagued by a wave of mysterious maritime disasters: ships burst into flames and sink without warning. Survivors are few — and those who do make it back quickly succumb to strange burns and radiation sickness. (Sound familiar?) A team of investigators, including renowned paleontologist Dr. Yamane and American reporter Steve Martin (detoured from covering the Suez Crisis), are dispatched to Odo Island to get to the bottom of it. The locals blame Gojira (Godzilla), a legendary sea monster. Their fears are confirmed when a gigantic, dinosaur-like creature emerges from the ocean and demolishes the village. Dr. Yamane concludes that Godzilla is a prehistoric creature, awakened — and mutated — by atomic bomb tests. It’s the only reasonable conclusion, really, when you’re standing in the ruins of a fishing village.
The military, following its typical playbook, decides the best solution is depth charges. Naturally, this does nothing except seriously annoy the giant radioactive lizard. Godzilla follows the ships back to Tokyo Bay, where he comes ashore at night and razes the city. The devastation left in his wake looks eerily like the aftermath of an atomic bomb. Conventional weaponry proves useless. It quickly becomes clear: if Godzilla isn’t stopped, he could destroy not just Japan, but the world.
The solution rests with Emiko Yamane, Dr. Yamane’s daughter, who must convince her former fiancé, Dr. Serizawa, to unleash his secret weapon — the Oxygen Destroyer. Serizawa is reluctant, fearing his invention could be an even greater threat to humanity than Godzilla himself. In the end, he makes the ultimate sacrifice to eliminate the monster.
In short: Godzilla is the greatest fever dream movie ever — a legitimately good sci-fi story, re-edited for American audiences and intercut with the undisputed king of deadpan delivery and entrepreneurial nipple rouge.
(We take Godzilla very seriously in our home.)
The Haus of Dcaligari 
