You have your fear which might become reality, and you have Godzilla which is reality.
Not only is “Godzilla King of the Monsters” darker than subsequent TOHO Godzilla movies, most of it is told as a flashback. At least the American version of the story. The original Godzilla was done in 1954 and played for Japanese audiences. The American version with added and deleted scenes and reediting was done in 1956.
The 1956 American movie starts with Steve Martin (Raymond Burr) reporting as a victim about the devastation after Godzilla has attacked. Since Burr’s character was never in the movie originally his voice is used in documentary fashion as if he is reporting on the devastation he is seeing.
There are a series of sea disasters happening off the coast of Japan. Steve Martin hears about them and wants to investigate. There are rumors of a sea monster. Godzilla. The monster appears and devastates Odo Island before it heads to Japan and stomps all over it. Researches find that Godzilla was resurrected by nuclear tests from H bombs.
"Godzilla: King of the Monsters" was released in 1956 US and was directed by Ishiro Honda and subsequent scenes were directed by Terry O. Morse. A lot of people have panned the American version of the story sighting that the Japanese version is better produced has deeper meaning and shows a more sympathetic side of Godzilla and the American version is sub par etc. etc.
The original 1954 version, whether better or not, enjoyed only a limited release. In the US it was only shown subtitled in Japanese community theaters and was virtually unknown in Europe. It wasn’t until the American version was released in 1956 that Godzilla became a household name world wide. So even though the US version may be less than what Godzilla aficionados may think of as a better movie, it is the movie that brought Godzilla to the world. Without it there would be no Godzilla.
Although Edmond Goldman bought the international rights to the original Godzilla, TOHO retained production credit. All future Godzilla movies have either been produced by TOHO or are in cooperation with TOHO studios. This includes any American produced Godzilla movies.
As for “Godzilla” vs “Godzilla King of the Monsters” The Criterion Collection of Godzilla contains both the 1954 original and the 1956 American remake of the movie. You can make up your own mind as which one you like best but remember the roots run deep for both.
Raymond Burr did all of his scenes in a Hollywood studio.
English dubbed