EDITORIAL
Fun facts...
The cat held by Marlon Brando in the opening scene of The Godfather was a stray that Coppola found while on the lot at Paramount, and was not originally called for in the script. So content was the cat that its purring muffled some of Brando's dialogue, and, as a result, most of his lines had to be looped...
Have a pleasant Friday night at the movies,
Jean Constant
In 1959, the Godzilla sequel received a North America release where it was given the title, Gigantis, the Fire Monster. The story was consistent with the title, with the English-dubbed characters calling Godzilla “Gigantis” throughout the film. Made for marketing reasons, this decision to switch from Godzilla Raids Again to Gigantis, the Fire Monster came from Paul Schreibman, one of the movie producers who worked on the American releases of Godzilla and Godzilla Raids Again. According to The Big Book Of Japanese Giant Monster Movies by John LeMay, Shriebman explained that the point was to distinguish the second version of Godzilla from the first. After all, Godzilla died at the end of the 1954 movie. Apparently, it was determined that audiences would be confused by Godzilla’s return. Since he had already been killed off, Schreibman felt it necessary to make it clear to viewers that the two monsters were not the same creature. To that end, “Godziilla” was abandoned in favor of “Gigantis.” Of course, it didn’t stick, with all subsequent American releases of Godzilla movies being handled by producers who didn’t share the same logic as Schreibman. As Godzilla’s fame grew, it didn’t make sense to use any other name than the original. That left the 1955 movie as the outlier of the franchise until it eventually reverted back to its original working title, Godzilla Raids Again. 