Godzilla Movie Poster Collection (part two)

Time now for part 2 of my gallery of original American Godzilla movie posters!

Pardon the string bass, but here is the stunning artwork for what I daily refer to as my favorite film of all time, 1968's monster slug-fest, DESTROY ALL MONSTERS. Where else can you see eleven, count them, ELEVEN of Toho's finest in one place? One interesting thing about this poster is how some of the monsters are spot-on, and some are sort of improvised--namely Godzilla and Minya! Squint, and you will notice blood dripping from Angilas' claws!

I always knew this film as GODZILLA vs. GIGAN (1972), but here in the U.S. it was released as GODZILLA ON MONSTER ISLAND, which is actually now the rarer title card. I like the comic-book-paradigm of making one character huge and grabbing others, but as the movie features an amusement park with a giant observation tower in the shape of Godzilla, this art works both ways!

And here we have the much-maligned GODZILLA vs. MEGALON from 1973. Here each monster is perched atop one of the Twin Towers, which is a complete misleading of anyone heading into the movie theater. Helicopters swarm around the foes like flies, and the air is filled with explosions. I am not ashamed to say it, I love this film, and I love this poster.

Yes, there are better Godzilla films, but it's fun! And that's what's missing from many of the later films.

Skipping all the way up to GODZILLA 2000, we find the last Godzilla film to play in American theaters, and the first poster in my collection that is double-sided (with a reverse image on the other side, since posters are intended to be displayed in light boxes.)

Next time around, we'll look at some various lobby cards from all over the place.

Godzilla Movie Poster Collection (part one)

And now for another article on the various Godzilla collectibles I have found over the years. I have several original, theatrical Godzilla movie posters framed throughout my house. Not only are they historical, very cool, and full of great art and graphics, but I love the thought that these actually were used in movie theaters across the US when these films were released.

This 1959 poster for GIGANTIS, THE FIRE MONSTER is the oldest one I own. Sure, it's a far cry (and four years) from GODZILLA RAIDS AGAIN, but it's the only way we got the film in the United States. I love the red-on-black, almost woodcut imagery. Sure, they would be the best of friends later, but when they first met, Godzilla and Angilas went to the mat!

Another stark image, this time black-on-yellow, is this poster for 1964's GHIDRAH THE THREE-HEADED MONSTER. Ah, the first appearance of my very favorite Toho monster. At least, my favorite of Godzilla's foes. This is one of the all-time great Toho films, the best part being where Mothra convinces Godzilla and Rodan that they should work together to defeat Ghidrah. The defeat was so humiliating that Ghidrah had to change his name from the shame of it, although all he did was add a letter "O," as if no one would notice.

And then there was the summer of love in 1967, and the psychedellic, pop-art feel of the times was perfectly expressed in the poster for SON OF GODZILLA. ("Roar!") This one is really a conversation piece, and everyone that sees it can't help but really like it. Godzilla's hands are huge, and the jungle girl swinging on the vine is almost invisible because of the interesting layout--as you are looking at the poster, she just emerges all of the sudden. Movie posters as a rule are 27"x41", but this one was an inch or so bigger all the way around and had to be custom-framed.  This one is actually Toho's International poster for the film, as this film went straight to TV in the USA.

More sloppy photographs of great posters to come!