The Story of Godzilla’s Birth – Pt 36

P 81

Caption

▲ 和光時計台を破壊するゴジラ3度目にやっと、生き物としての自然な演技ができた。ゴジラを見上げる人間の目線(「アオリ」のショット)が、その大きさを実感させる。

▲ Only the third time Godzilla destroys the Wako Clock Tower is he finally able to act naturally as a living creature. The perspective of a person looking up at Godzilla (a shot of the “tilt”) makes you realize how big Godzilla is.

P 82

そのため、ここは合成だという説もある。

Therefore, there is a theory that this is a synthesis.

燃えさかる街の炎をバックに、議事堂に迫るゴジラは、正面右側(画面では左側)の衆議院の建物に足をかけ、なんなく突破する。円谷の提案した縮尺の変更は大成功だった。議事堂を見おろすゴジラの巨大さは、観客の呼吸をも止めてしまうほどだ。くずれ落ちるレンガの破片も、本物とほとんはくりょくはかいど区別がつかない。こうして、コマ撮りなどではとうてい表現できない迫力の破壊シーンが生み出されたのだった。

With the city’s blazing flames in the background, Godzilla approaches the House of Representatives building. He sets his foot on the House of Representatives building on the right side (on the left side of the screen) and somehow breaks through. Tsuburaya’s proposed change in scale was a huge success. The hugeness of Godzilla overlooking the Capitol building is enough to make the audience stop breathing. It is almost impossible to tell the pieces of falling bricks apart from the real thing. In this way, a powerful scene of destruction was created that could hardly be expressed through stop-motion photography.

このあとゴジラは実況放送中のテレビ塔を破壊するが、このとき鉄塔に手をかけ、かみつくゴジもけいラは、「ギニョール」と呼ばれる、上半身だけの指人形のような模型が使われた(23ページ、148ページの写真参照)。この造形もやはり利光貞三だ。粘土原型を石こうで型どりし、ゴムで抜いたもので、口や手が動かしやすかった。

After this, Godzilla destroys the TV tower where the live broadcast is being broadcast, but at this time, a finger puppet-like model with only the upper body called “Guignol” is used to put his hand on the steel tower and bite Godzilla (23 page, see photo on page 148). This model was also created by Teizo Toshimitsu. The clay model was molded with plaster and then cut out with rubber, making it easy to move the mouth and hands.

このギニョールの操作は最初、人形芝居の人形つかいを使ったが、やはり人形の動きと怪獣の動きとはかなりちがう。どうしても動きのイメージが合わないため、頭を下げて帰ってもらうことにした。最終的にギニョールを動かしたのは、「ゴジラのしっぽ」を担当した中代文雄だった。

Guignol was first operated using a puppeteer in a puppet show, but the movements of the puppets and the movements of the monsters are quite different. Since he couldn’t get the image of his movements right, he decided to bow my head and ask him to go home. In the end, the person who moved Guignol was Fumio Nakadai, who was in charge of “Godzilla’s Tail.”

こうしてゴジラは東京の街並みを巨大な足で踏みつけ、しっぽでたたき、白熱光で火の海にして多くの犠牲者を出すが、不思議なことに、特撮の画面で血を見ることは一度もない。円谷は「子どもが見るんだ。だめだよ、血なんか見せたら。」と言っていたというが、円谷自身、血を見るのがきらいだったという証言もある。

In this way, Godzilla stomps the streets of Tokyo with his giant feet, smacks them with his tail, and turns the streets of Tokyo into a sea of fire with incandescent light, inflicting many casualties, but strangely, we never see blood on the special effects screen. Tsuburaya is said to have said, “Children are going to see it. Don’t show them blood.” However, there is also evidence that Tsuburaya himself hated seeing blood.