“Every lesson we’ve ever learned has told us this; horrors in the world of science is part of natures plan.”
Shoichi Tsukioka (Hiroshi Koizumi) is a spotter for a fishing fleet looking for tuna. His friend Koji Kobayashi (Minoru Chiaki) is also a spotter. When his plane has engine trouble, Kobayashi crashes near an uninhabited island. Tsukioka lands near-by. While on the ground they hear an awful roar. They look to see two huge dinosaurs fighting. The dinosaurs end up rolling over a cliff and crashing into the sea.
Tsukioka and Kobayashi take off and report what they saw to the authorities. The dinosaurs are identified as, one being a Godzilla and the other an Ankylosaurus. The two monsters make their way to Japan. Godzilla reaches there first. They try to lure him back into the sea using flares, however, criminals trying to make an escape during the evacuation of Japan, crash their stolen truck causing a huge file. The fire attracts Godzilla back on land. Soon Anguirus emerges from the water and attacks Godzilla. They destroy Osaka. Godzilla kills Anguirus. Eventually Godzilla heads out into the sea.
Kobayashi is transferred to a Hokkaido plant. While there Godzilla destroys one of the company’s fishing boats. A massive search ensues as the military combs the area for Godzilla. Tsukioka also searches in his plane. Tsukioka spots Godzilla on the shore of a small, icy island. He radios in his location. Kobayashi takes off in his plane to switch shifts with Tsukioka. Tsukioka reports to the military. They need a plan to destroy Godzilla before he can escape and create more devastation.
“Godzilla Raids Again” was released in 1955 in Japan and was directed by Motoyoshi Oda. The American version of the film, re-titled “Gigantis: The Fire Monster” was released theatrically in 1959. This is TOHO’s second Godzilla movie from the first series.
The English dubbing, also supervised and directed by Grimaldi, was recorded at Ryder Sound Service Inc. in Hollywood. The voice cast featured veteran performers Keye Luke, Marvin Miller, and Paul Frees, as well as George Takei. Luke was cast as Tsukioka, whose character also does some narration. In addition to voicing Kobayashi, Miller narrated a pre-credit stock footage montage detailing man's scientific progress.
There weren’t a lot of changes made for the American version of the film. Some pieces of the original were cut and a bunch of stock footage put in. American producers just love stock footage. Even the music was removed and stock music was used. The stock footage added was from various films, such as “Unknown Island” and the first Godzilla film, as well as news reels, military footage, the space program, and educational films. Godzilla Raids Again was the first Godzilla film to feature two monsters and is the only Godzilla movie where Godzilla's spines do not glow before he releases his radioactive flame.
There are two stories surrounding the reason for the name change on the American release of the film. One is that Warner Brothers couldn’t get permission to use Godzilla from Joseph E. Levine and had to change the name to "Gigantis". This theory has been debunked on the grounds that the people in charge of promoting the film were part of the original deal to obtain the rights for Godzilla's name. Paul Schreibman, the producer of the American version, said that he changed Godzilla's name to "Gigantis" to give the audience the impression that they were seeing a new monster. He says he has since regretted that decision. As well he should.
Japanese subtitled
English dubbed