Godzilla, King of the Monsters is a 1956 kaiju film directed by Terry O. Morse and Ishirō Honda, with special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya. This is the English dubbed American cinema release version, the Hollywood edit and re release with the American nuclear friendly ending and plot changes. During an assignment, foreign correspondent Steve Martin spends a layover in Tokyo and is caught amid the rampage of an unstoppable prehistoric monster the Japanese call 'Godzilla'. The only hope for both Japan and the world lies on a secret weapon, which may prove more destructive than the monster itself! An atomic explosion off the coast of Japan awakens a monstrous beast that was previously hibernating under the sea. Eventually, the monster embarks on a rampage across the city of Tokyo. Here are the major differences between this and the original 1954 movie Godzilla (Gojira 1954) 1. The complete absence of reporter Steve Martin in the '54 version. 2. Godzilla has a different and harsher sounding roar in earlier version(why?). 3. Emiko originally very much begged Serizawa his forgiveness and not to reject her into horrible shame when the young, fine lady broke her vow and she told someone else about his formula that could rob water of all oxygen and turn lifeforms in that water to skeletons. Not as much in the later version did she do this (as far as I remember). 4. I think there was an army guy (or someone like that) following Steve Martin around in the '56 version. I believe he too was all missing from the earlier version. 5. There was a bit in the '56 film when Emiko appears to be quietly looking right at Steve. I could not quite find this shot of her in the '54 film, maybe it was an outtake shot of the actress? Alterations and new footage with Burr interacting with body doubles were produced to appeal to American audiences, as foreign films held no appeal to the mainstream public at the time. Morse viewed the original Japanese cut, with an English translation of the script, to find key scenes in which Burr could be inserted. Rather than dub the entire film, Morse chose to retain most of the original Japanese dialogue and have Frank Iwanaga translate, albeit inaccurately, those scenes and alternate with Burr narrating. Burr worked with body doubles, who were filmed over their shoulder to conceal their faces. Editing techniques were also used to mask the body doubles and the original Japanese actors. Asian-American extras were hired to play minor roles. The new footage was filmed in three days on a rented soundstage at Visual Drama Inc. Burr shot his footage over six days although he later said it was one day and he worked twenty-four hours. Set decorator George Rohr provided mock-up sets that resembled the sets in the original Japanese cut. Overt references to the atom bomb and hydrogen bomb, such as the bombing of Nagasaki, the Bikini Island tests, radioactive contamination of tuna by American and Russian bomb tests, were omitted. The dubbing required for the entire film was recorded in under five hours. James Hong and the other voice actors have not given any details of the film's production. The voice actors were locked in a room with Morse and were told to read for every role. Each line was recorded at different speeds and the best one was chosen to match the footage. The voice actors never saw the film as they recorded their lines. The voice actors dubbed the entire film sitting at a table with a microphone before them. Hong confirmed that several Japanese actors auditioned for the voice-over job. However, Hong and Sammee Tong were hired due to their versatility. Tong recorded voices for six older characters, while Hong recorded for seven younger characters.