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With the plans to film in Milwaukee abandoned, Mueller was allowed to keep the model buildings he created. “I think that cultural legacy conflicted with their image of post-war America, and made them concerned about forming another partnership involving Germans.” “When the small Japanese film crew met with Milwaukee property owners to scout locations, they did not realized how prominent the German language was still spoken in the city,” said Shelby. Toho Studios withdrew its American distribution rights to make the 1956 sequel “Godzilla in Habomai,” which went on to break box office records that year.īut Shelby felt another issue was at play, that sabotaged Milwaukee from playing host to the “King of Monsters.” “Trade publications at the time attributed the change of plans to the Soviet–Japanese Joint Declaration of 1956, which returned the Shikotan and Habomai islands to Japan,” said Shelby. Plans for the 36-story tall Godzilla to stomp across Milwaukee landmarks, however, were abandoned shortly after the financial pitch started in 1956. Elaborate dioramas and storyboards were designed around his work to help secure the financing needed to finish filming the American version, and to also settle distribution rights with theaters. Mueller had retired in early 1955, and was initially commissioned later that year by Tanaka to meticulously create 16 scale model buildings of Milwaukee landmarks. A similar scenario was planned along the shores of Lake Michigan, foreshadowing an amphibious invasion by Russian troops,” said Shelby. “Godzilla’s Tokyo rampage was designed by Ishirō Honda to mirror the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. By centering the American version in Milwaukee, the altered storyline played into the growing fears of a military strike by a nuclear armed Soviet Union.
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In the original film, Godzilla symbolized a nuclear holocaust from Japan’s perspective. So it was reasonable to expect that the city could defend against an attack.” “Milwaukee had been contributing weapons and machines to the national stockpile even before the United States entered the war. “Milwaukee’s manufacturing base and industrial infrastructure had converted to war production in the early 1940s, and was responsible for significant output for the war effort,” said Shelby. The established military deployment supported Schreibman’s idea of using atomic rockets against Godzilla as the kaiju emerged from Lake Michigan and rampaged directly into downtown. Also in 1954, AJAX Nike Missiles were installed at sites in and around Milwaukee.
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The remaining Japanese dialog would be dubbed into English. Schreibman settled on Milwaukee because of its industrial history and recognition as the ‘brew city.’ The Lake Michigan location also offered a plot explanation that linked events in Tokyo via water.”įilmmakers felt that transferring the original film’s setting would better appeal to an American audience. “Producer Peter Schreibman planned to take footage from the original Japanese motion picture and film new scenes with English-speaking actors.
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“A North American version of the movie “Godzilla Raids Again” (ゴジラの逆襲) began development in 1955,” said Shelby. It was an unorthodox concept at the time, to help visualize a plan for bringing Japan’s original “kaiju” to the industrial manufacturing city. Japanese filmmaker Tomoyuki Tanaka enlisted Milwaukee native Hernando Mueller to build small scale replicas of the area’s historic architecture.