P 12
ゴジラ
Godzilla
東製
作配給
3日 ~ 9日
Production & Distribution
3rd – 9th
日本映画始まつて以来の試みで、ある特殊撮影を存分に駆使した「ゴジラ」に二百万年以前の侏羅紀に棲息したといわれる海棲爬虫類の巨大な怪獣を想像創作したもの。水爆実験によつて海底数千呎に二百万年の眠りをさまされ、日本に上陸、丸ビルほどの巨体をもつて放射能を吐き散らし、人間に挑戦するという一大スペクタクル映画である。原作を科学冒険小説の権威香山滋に依嘱、製作は田中友幸で、村田武雄と本多猪四郎が共同脚色し、本多猪四郎が監督する。又この映画の成否を左右する特殊技術は「太平洋の翼」の円谷英二、向山宏、渡辺明が中心に伝読を誇る特殊撮影隊を総動員、半談の準備をとのえて万全の自信をもつてあたり、撮影玉井正夫、美術中古智、録音下永尚、照明石井長四郎、音楽伊福部昭のペストスタッフで臨んでいる。出演者は怪獣ゴジラに学者的良心で向う山根博士に志村喬、その娘を河内桃子、その恋人で熱血のサルベージ青年所長に宝田明、水素酸素破壞剤を完成し遂にゴジラと運命を共にする悲恋の青年化学者に平田昭彥、その他上村冬樹、小川虎之助、堺左千夫、高堂国典、山本廠らが活躍する。
Marking an unprecedented endeavor in Japanese cinema, “Godzilla” features a massive monster—an imaginary creature based on marine reptiles from the Jurassic period—brought to life through extensive use of special effects. It is a grand spectacle film in which a hydrogen bomb test rouses the beast from a two-million-year slumber thousands of feet beneath the ocean; it comes ashore in Japan, spewing radiation from a body as massive as the Marunouchi Building and challenging humanity itself. The original story was commissioned from Shigeru Kayama, an authority on science-adventure fiction; Tomoyuki Tanaka produced the film; Takeo Murata and Ishiro Honda co-wrote the screenplay; and Honda directed. The special effects—crucial to the film’s success—were handled by a top-tier team led by Eiji Tsuburaya, Hiroshi Mukoyama, and Akira Watanabe (known for “Eagle of the Pacific”), who mobilized their full resources and prepared meticulously with absolute confidence. The production also boasts a stellar crew, including cinematographer Masao Tamai, art director Satoshi Chuko, sound engineer Hisashi Shimonaga, lighting director Choshiro Ishii, and composer Akira Ifukube. The cast features Takashi Shimura as Dr. Yamane, a scientist who confronts the monster with a sense of moral responsibility; Momoko Kochi as his daughter; Akira Takarada as her boyfriend, a passionate young salvage company manager; and Akihiko Hirata as a tragic young chemist who perfects a hydrogen-oxygen destructive agent and ultimately shares Godzilla’s fate. Other key roles are played by Fuyuki Murakami, Toranosuke Ogawa, Sachio Sakai, Kuninori Kodo, and Ren Yamamoto.
水爆・原爆の実験が続けられている太平洋上でのこと、北緯二十四度、東経百四十一度の地点で、栄光丸、備後丸、そして大戸島の漁船と相継いで原因不明の沈没事件が起った。
In the Pacific Ocean—where hydrogen and atomic bomb tests were being conducted—the “Eikō-maru,” the “Bingo-maru,” and a fishing boat from Odo Island sank one after another due to unexplained causes at a location 24 degrees north latitude and 141 degrees east longitude.
東京湾サルベージの青年所長尾形秀人も本社からの急報に、恋人恵美子との約束もなげうつて海上保安庁へ駆けつけた。保安庁詰の新聞記者萩原は遭難地点に近い大戸島へ行けば何か情報が得られるかもしれぬと、社のヘリコプターで急拠大戸島へ向つた。
Hideto Ogata, the young manager of Tokyo Bay Salvage, received an urgent message from headquarters and rushed to the Japan Coast Guard, abandoning plans he had made with his girlfriend, Emiko. Meanwhile, Hagiwara—a newspaper reporter assigned to the Coast Guard—hurried to Odo Island by company helicopter, thinking he might gather information there, as the island was close to the site of the distress incident.
島では奇蹟的に命を助かった漁の政治が、海から出て来た巨大な怪物に火を吐きかけられ宝て遭難したのだと言っても誰も信用しなかった。たい昔からの言い伝えを信じる老漁夫のみは、近頃の不漁続きもその怪物のせいだと言うのだった。海の魚を喰い足すと陸へ上つて家畜や人間まで喰う巨大な怪物、ゴジラ。萩原は信じかねた。しかし、厄払いの神楽が舞われた、夜暴風雨と共に島を襲った怪物に、家々を破壊され、政治もその母も一瞬のうちに踏み潰されてしまつた。
No one believed the fisherman when he claimed that—after miraculously surviving a disaster at sea—he had been shipwrecked because a colossal monster emerging from the ocean had breathed fire upon his boat. Only the old fishermen, who held fast to ancient legends, insisted that the recent run of poor catches was also the work of this creature. Godzilla—a gargantuan monster that, having devoured the fish of the sea, would come ashore to prey upon livestock and even human beings. Hagiwara found the story hard to believe. Yet, the monster struck the island amidst a violent storm on the very night a “kagura” dance was performed to ward off evil; it demolished homes and, in a single instant, trampled Seiji and his mother to death.
国会は大戸島の被害と原因を確かめるために調査団を派遣させることにした。古生物学者の山根博士を団長にその娘で助手役の恵美子、サルページの尾形、原子物理学の田畑博士、それに新聞記者の萩原や政治の弟新吉少年なども加わつていた。
The Diet decided to dispatch an investigative team to ascertain the extent and cause of the damage on Odo Island. Led by the paleontologist Dr. Yamane, the team included his daughter and assistant Emiko, Ogata from the salvage company, the nuclear physicist Dr. Tabata, the newspaper reporter Hagiwara, and Shinkichi—the younger brother of a local fisherman.
調査の結果は驚くべきものであつた。伝説の怪物は実在する! そして、海中へ悠々と役してゆくその巨大な姿を見たのだった。怪獣ゴジラの姿を!
The results of the investigation were astonishing. The legendary monster was real! And then, they beheld its colossal form as it leisurely descended into the depths of the sea—the form of the monster Godzilla!
国会の専門委員会での山根博士の調査報告は、恐竜やブロントサウルス等の巨獣が棲息した二百万年前、侏羅紀から白亜紀にかけて海棲爬虫類から陸上獣類に進化する過程にあつた生物――ゴジラが底洞窟にでもひそんで現代まで生存を全うしていたのが、度々の水爆実験に生活環境を破壞され、あまつさえその水爆のエネルギーを全身に蓄積して恐るべき放射能を吐き出し、船を瞬時にして沈没させ、大戸島を荒したのであると結論したとき、議場は轟々たる大混乱におちいつた。ゴジラの存在そのものよりも、水爆実験と関係があるということが、日本の国際問題を難しくするというのである。
When Dr. Yamane presented his findings to the Diet’s expert committee—concluding that Godzilla was a creature from the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods (two million years ago) that had evolved from marine reptiles into land-dwelling beasts and survived into the modern era by hiding in deep-sea caverns; that its habitat had been destroyed by repeated hydrogen bomb tests; and that, having absorbed the bomb’s energy into its body, it was now spewing terrifying radiation, instantly sinking ships, and ravaging Odo Island—the assembly hall erupted in tumultuous chaos. The concern was not merely Godzilla’s existence itself, but the fact that its origins were linked to hydrogen bomb testing—a connection that threatened to complicate Japan’s international relations.
P 13
国民は原子マグロ、放射能雨、その上ゴジラと脅かされすつかり憂鬱になつた。政府はゴジラ退治にフリーゲート艦から爆雷攻撃を行つた。ラジオ、テレビは実況を伝えて、国民は安堵した。だが、水爆にも死ぬことなく放射能を吐くゴジラが爆雷くらいで参ってしまうだろうか?はたしてゴジラは再び姿を現わした。仇でも討つように洋上遙かから東京目指してやつて来るのだ。ゴジラ対策本部が設けられ、山根博士も招かれた。
The public was plunged into gloom, threatened by “atomic tuna,” radioactive rain, and—on top of that—Godzilla. The government launched a depth-charge attack against the monster using frigates. As radio and television broadcast live coverage of the operation, the people felt a sense of relief. Yet, would a creature that had survived a hydrogen bomb and spewed radiation truly be defeated by mere depth charges? Sure enough, Godzilla reappeared. It was making its way toward Tokyo from far out at sea, as if bent on revenge. A Godzilla Countermeasures Headquarters was established, and Dr. Yamane was invited to join the effort.
博士には芹沢大助という、尾形とは中学からの友だちで、今は化学者の愛弟子がいた。恵美子に愛情を抱いていたが、戦争に片目を失い、顔も醜くなつた彼は、自ら孤独を守り実験室に閉じこもつて秘密の研究をしていた。ある日、新聞記者の萩原が彼を訪ねたことから、彼は恵美子にだけその秘密の実験室を見せた。誰にも他言しない約束のもとに——。
The professor had a devoted protégé named Daisuke Serizawa—a chemist and a friend of Ogata’s since their junior high school days. Although he harbored feelings for Emiko, he had lost an eye and suffered facial disfigurement during the war; consequently, he chose a solitary life, secluding himself in his laboratory to conduct secret research. One day, after being visited by a newspaper reporter named Hagiwara, he revealed his secret laboratory to Emiko alone—on the condition that she tell no one.
ゴジラは遂に東京へ上陸した。数百名の武装警官が撃ち出す機銃弾もものかは、品川駅を押し倒し列車をひきちぎり、鉄橋を踏み潰して海へ去って行つた。対策本部は遂に海岸線へ五万ボルトの鉄条網を張りめぐらし、都民は疎開を始めた。自衛隊も動員され防備についた。ゴジラは再び東京へ上陸した。五万ボルトの高圧電流ももののかずではなく、鉄条網を寸断したゴジラは、口から強烈な白熱光を吐きながらあらゆる建物を踏み倒し、押しつぶし、戦車や重砲の攻撃にもびくともせず東京都内へ侵してきた。議事堂を破壊し、テレビ塔をへし折り、その底知れぬ力と放射能をもつて、勝鬨橋を叩き落して海へ去っていつた。人々はたゞ茫然とゴジラの暴れるにまかせるだけだった。一夜にして大東京は変貌した焦土と化した。なかに人々は住むに家なく、傷つき放射能を身に受け惨憺たる有様であつた。
Godzilla finally made landfall in Tokyo. Unfazed by the machine-gun fire of hundreds of armed police officers, the monster toppled Shinagawa Station, tore apart trains, and crushed a railway bridge underfoot before returning to the sea. The emergency headquarters strung up a 50,000-volt barbed-wire barrier along the coast, and Tokyo residents began to evacuate. The Self-Defense Forces were mobilized to take up defensive positions. Godzilla landed in Tokyo once more. Paying no heed to the 50,000-volt current, the monster snapped the barbed-wire barrier; spewing an intense white-hot beam from its maw, it trampled and crushed every building in its path. Unfazed by attacks from tanks and heavy artillery, it advanced into the city, destroying the Diet Building and snapping the TV tower in two. With its unfathomable strength and radioactive power, it smashed the Kachidoki Bridge before retreating to the sea. People could only stand in stunned helplessness as Godzilla rampaged. In a single night, the great metropolis of Tokyo was transformed into a scorched wasteland; the people were left homeless, injured, and exposed to radiation—a scene of utter devastation.
恵美子は尾形に芹沢の秘密を打ち明けた。ゴジラを征服する唯一の方法―それは、芹沢が完成した、水中の酸素を一瞬に破壊しつくし凡ゆる生物を窒息死させ、液化してしまうオキシジエンデストロイヤーの使用以外になかつた。尾形と恵美子にそれを要請された芹沢は苦しんだ。彼が秘密に研究をした理由は、現代の人間に対する不信からであつた。一度公開すればこの恐るべき発明はたちまち破壞兵器として用いられるだけでう。恵美子でさえその秘たではないか。だが、彼は遂に秘密の資料を火中に投じ、上のオキシジエンデストローたずさえて、ゴジラのひ山根博士や尾形等と共に行くをした。彼は潜水服に身をつみ帯へ入つていつた。抱えたオエンデストロイヤーの安全弁を扱いた彼は、なおも海中にあつてての効果を確かめると、自ら命網も送気管も断つてしまった。
Emiko confided Serizawa’s secret to Ogata. There was only one way to defeat Godzilla: the use of the “Oxygen Destroyer”—a device Serizawa had perfected that instantly consumed all dissolved oxygen in the water, causing every living creature to suffocate and liquefy. Serizawa was tormented when Ogata and Emiko asked him to use it. He had conducted his research in secret out of a deep distrust of modern humanity; he knew that once revealed, this terrifying invention would inevitably be used as a weapon of mass destruction. Even Emiko had been kept in the dark about it. Yet, in the end, he cast his secret research notes into the fire and set out with Dr. Yamane and Ogata to confront Godzilla, taking the Oxygen Destroyer with him. Clad in a diving suit, he descended into the depths. After activating the device’s safety valve and confirming its devastating effect while underwater, he severed both his lifeline and his air hose, taking his own life.
船上にあつて目のあたりゴジラの断末魔を見て歓喜した人々も、秘かな恋を捨て、人間を信じきれず、その発明を自分だけのものとして死んで行った芹沢に敬虔な黙疇を捧げるのであつた。
Even those who had rejoiced at the sight of Godzilla’s death throes from the deck of the ship now offered a reverent, silent tribute to Serizawa—a man who had forsaken a secret love, lost faith in humanity, and died taking his invention with him.
