Unmade Films Discussion: The Volcano Monsters (1957)

[SonOfGorgo]

This thread's for anyone who wish to discuss about the intended American edit of Godzilla Raids Again, titled The Volcano Monsters. Please your thoughts and opinions about such via comments down below. Thank you.

Link: http://godzilla.wikia.com/wiki/The_Volcano_Monsters

[Bigdog]

I thought it was a cool idea. Though honestly, it makes zero sense they would've passed the star power from Raymond Burr's first outing for to do a completely unrelated movie. Or maybe the original King of the Monsters wasn't as popular to justify it? Either way, it would've been better had they wrote Steven Martin into the plot and tried to reunite a few voice actors, alongside employing the same techniques as the first adaptation.

Even if they didn't write it in, it's still a relatively interesting film, even if it's not exactly Godzilla as the character.

[Space Hunter M]

I still wanna give the script a read, but everyone who has a copy is a hoarder.

[Great Hierophant]

Fascinating though this treatment was, we should be grateful that what we actually got was not The Volcano Monsters. The Gigantis rename aside, the Americanization of Godzilla Raids Again did tie into the first film. Even though the first Godzilla was retconned as the first Gigantis for Gigantis the Fire Monster, it is still clear that there is some continuity between the two films. Imagine the film that would have been the Volcano Monsters. Relocated to San Francisco, no Japanese actors, probably Varan the Unbelievable level of acting and directing, no atomic breath for Godzilla, nothing to suggest a connection with any other film. It would almost certainly have been the worst Americanization of a Godzilla film ever. As it stands, GRA/GFM is still slightly superior to KKvG in terms of the Americanization, not that that is saying much.

[edgaguirus]

The Volcano Monsters would have been interesting, but Gigantis makes more sense as a Godzilla flick. I'm not sure about quality, but TVM would probably have been just another 50s sci fi flick. With Gigantis, at least some realized this was a Godzilla sequel.

[Pkmatrix]

I've always been fascinated with The Volcano Monsters and will always be sad that it never came to be, as I feel like I would've really enjoyed it. Is it true that copies of the script still exist? I'd love to get a .PDF of that someday!

[SpaceG92]

At long last, a color photo of the Godzilla suit surfaced! Apparently found in the United States!

Big, big credit to Takahashi Hyouri @twitter

朝から歴史的ニュースを聞いて感動。
1957年頃、『ゴジラの逆襲』のアメリカ追撮用に作られた着ぐるみ・通称「ジャイガンティス」。日本での3枚の白黒写真だけを残して行方不明だったが、4枚目の写真、しかもカラーがアメリカで発見されたそうだ！
アメリカ渡ってたー！真相の究明が待たれる。

[GigaBowserG]

At long last, a color photo of the Godzilla suit surfaced! Apparently found in the United States!

Big, big credit to Takahashi Hyouri @twitter
[]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DFJ4vgPVoAIrwLF.jpg[/]

朝から歴史的ニュースを聞いて感動。
1957年頃、『ゴジラの逆襲』のアメリカ追撮用に作られた着ぐるみ・通称「ジャイガンティス」。日本での3枚の白黒写真だけを残して行方不明だったが、4枚目の写真、しかもカラーがアメリカで発見されたそうだ！
アメリカ渡ってたー！真相の究明が待たれる。

Only saw a real small version of that and worried it may've been colored in via Photoshop. Glad to see that's not the case! Interesting how the suit's brown.

[MechaGoji Bro7503]

So its brown like 1954! Thats awesome.

[Great Hierophant]

I don't see much brown in the suit, I see some color lighter than charcoal gray. Is there any information about when this photograph was taken? Is the Phantom in the photo a real person or a mannequin? The recreation of Lon Chaney's Phantom makeup is very well-done.

[UltramanGoji]

Is there any information about when this photograph was taken? Is the Phantom in the photo a real person or a mannequin? The recreation of Lon Chaney's Phantom makeup is very well-done.

I'm suspecting it's a photo from a private collector, as the Phantom "makeup" is actually a Don Post mask from the late 60's/70's. The costume appears to be homemade and you can see the skin of the person wearing it near the gloves.

I've emailed Bob Burns, who was reportedly the last person to see the 1957 suits, and asked if he knows anything about the photo. If I get a response, I'll post it here.

[ArchdukeSquidlyIII]

I think the above photo is a mockup/photoshop, combining separate pictures of the Phantom and Godzilla. Look at Godzilla's right hand, surely his fingers would be leaving a shadow on the Phantom's shoulder?

[Zarm]

I think the above photo is a mockup/photoshop, combining separate pictures of the Phantom and Godzilla. Look at Godzilla's right hand, surely his fingers would be leaving a shadow on the Phantom's shoulder?

Shadow angles are tricky things.

I do see some areas around the Phantom's head that look a bit suspicious (possibly explainable by some of the hair, or the soft-focus effect that the glare of bright surfaces is creating?). On the other hand, the cape up against Godzilla's arm looks pretty darn real/pinned in place; the kind of effect that would be pretty hard to replicate if that fabric wasn't physically up against the surface. I'm not going to say it's beyond the shadow of a doubt- but that piece suggests to me that it's a real photo rather than a composite.

[UltramanGoji]

Look at Godzilla's right hand, surely his fingers would be leaving a shadow on the Phantom's shoulder?

Godzilla's holding the Phantom's shoulder, not hovering above it.

Even if it was Photoshopped, that would still leave the question of where they got that angle of the suit from.

[ArchdukeSquidlyIII]

Yeah, both of you have pretty valid points. Hopefully Bob will provide some insight if he's got any!

[MechaGoji Bro7503]

So glad this never got made. It really isn't a Godzilla film at that point.

[Magmavision2000]

At long last, a color photo of the Godzilla suit surfaced! Apparently found in the United States!

Big, big credit to Takahashi Hyouri @twitter

朝から歴史的ニュースを聞いて感動。
1957年頃、『ゴジラの逆襲』のアメリカ追撮用に作られた着ぐるみ・通称「ジャイガンティス」。日本での3枚の白黒写真だけを残して行方不明だったが、4枚目の写真、しかもカラーがアメリカで発見されたそうだ！
アメリカ渡ってたー！真相の究明が待たれる。

I don't think that this is the original suit. Just because the suits for most movies in general don't last that long







and i know I'm replying on a old post

[Pkmatrix]

At long last, a color photo of the Godzilla suit surfaced! Apparently found in the United States!

Big, big credit to Takahashi Hyouri @twitter

朝から歴史的ニュースを聞いて感動。
1957年頃、『ゴジラの逆襲』のアメリカ追撮用に作られた着ぐるみ・通称「ジャイガンティス」。日本での3枚の白黒写真だけを残して行方不明だったが、4枚目の写真、しかもカラーがアメリカで発見されたそうだ！
アメリカ渡ってたー！真相の究明が待たれる。

I don't think that this is the original suit. Just because the suits for most movies in general don't last that long







and i know I'm replying on a old post

That depends on when the photo was taken. If I recall from when this circulated last summer, wasn't the photo determined to have been from the late '60s/early '70s? If it were taken last year that'd be one thing, but for the suit to still exist in reasonable condition only 10 to 15 years after it was made isn't unbelievable. The '70s Mechagodzilla suit is still around, after all.

[UltramanGoji]

That depends on when the photo was taken. If I recall from when this circulated last summer, wasn't the photo determined to have been from the late '60s/early '70s? If it were taken last year that'd be one thing, but for the suit to still exist in reasonable condition only 10 to 15 years after it was made isn't unbelievable. The '70s Mechagodzilla suit is still around, after all.

The 70's Mechagodzilla suit was made from a different material than other kaiju suits, which is why its survived.

But, I still agree with your assessment regardless. I think its perfectly logical that the suit in that photo is from the early/mid sixties and that it could've survived that long.

The reason Toho suits seem to deteriorate quickly is because of the conditions the suits are placed in. You have explosives attached to every nook and cranny, constant thrashing and wrestling about with other suits, water scenes, and more. The suits for Volcano Monsters were 100% brand new suits made for the US production but ultimately went unused. It's not unlikely that they survived considerably longer than other suits at the time. It's also possible whoever took that picture also restored the suits, should there be any wear to them.

[Terasawa]

The first few Godzilla suits were far more primitive than even those built and used in the ‘60s. I can’t imagine they probably lasted very long.