Quote:
Quote:
Arnold : "You have some affection for Godzilla?

Ray: "I wouldn’t go quite that far. He looks like a refugee from a costume ball. Even a five year-old would know it was a man in a suit."

It's unfortunate Ray and Eiji Tsuburaya never met... they probably would have ended up hitting it off.


I wouldn't be surprised if they did hit it off, since both of their lives were changed by seeing KING KONG in 1933. Tsuburaya was already a respected cinematographer, and after KING KONG, decided to shift his interest towards the study and creation of special photographic effects. While they were quiet disparate in age, they were both inspired and excelled in the field of visual effects because of this one film.

It's really too bad that Harryhausen is so adamant to continue with his vitriol against "Godzilla" (he never names Tsuburaya; I guess he's being "professional"). It has something to do with BEAST, but that's artists for you. They could have easily met at some point, Tsuburaya visited the US (and Europe) several times on business, visited all of the major studios, and became pals with George Pal (among others). Many legendary American special effects men also trekked to Japan and visited Toho Studios.

There was a great 21-page comic in a Japanese publication on special visual effects (published in 1979), which has Japan and America arming themselves for a Visual Effects War. The MAD-like parody opens with Willis O'Brien and Eiji Tsuburaya, dressed in Greek robes, playing chess in an Parthenon-like structure on a high peak, not unlike Mt. Olympus. When O'Brien's Knight animates, runs across the board and smashes Tsuburaya's rook, he calls foul.

"You can't use Dynamation in this game!" Tsuburaya bellows. The two get into a heated argument, and like the Gods of Olympus, "inspire" their respective successors (Ray Harryhausen and Nobuo Yajima) to declare a Visual Effects War between the US and Japan. After tremendous GORATH/WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE efforts, the results backfire on both sides, and Tsuburaya and O'Brien cut their losses, dismiss their descendants, and go back to their chess game.

It's very funny, even without translation, and I'd like to think that O'bie and Tsuburaya are playing chess somewhere right now...
August Ragone
Author, EIJI TSUBURAYA: MASTER OF MONSTERS
Coming September 1st from Chronicle Books

Director, SHOCK IT TO ME! Classic Horror Film Festival
October 2007 • Castro Theatre • San Francisco