Levine reshot sequences with Canadian actor Raymond Burr and interspersed those with scenes of the rampaging monster stomping through a miniature papier-mâché Tokyo. Burr, who had recently appeared as a creepy murderer in Hitchcock’s 1954’s Rear Window, would soon go on to television stardom as defense attorney Perry Mason.)
Retitled Godzilla, the film was a smash, appearing at the same time as Ray Harryhausen’s seminal monster pic It Came From Beneath the Sea and Earth vs. the Flying Saucers, all dealing with our paranoia about unwieldy atomic power. The original Gojira — happily sans interference from Levine and Burr — has been rampaging through America since April as a prelude to the new CGI-laden remake by Gareth Edwards due this month.
7 p.m. May 24 and 27, and 5 p.m. May 25. The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 1001 Bissonnet. For information, visit mfah.org or call 713-639-7515. $9.
Sat., May 24, 7 p.m.; Sun., May 25, 5 p.m.; Tue., May 27, 7 p.m., 2014
