Best horror movie questions of 1956

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Godzilla, King of The Monsters! picture

Question: Maybe I'm missing something here, but why does Dr. Serizawa kill himself at the end by cutting the oxygen cord to his diving suit after activating the oxygen destroyer? What does ending his life accomplish? It seems to me the mission to kill Godzilla still would have been successful if Serizawa had returned to the surface alive.

Answer: I don't remember if that line was in the KOTM American cut as well, but in the Japanese Gojira cut, Serizawa, as he is talking about why the capabilities of microoxygen and the Oxygen Destroyer horrify him, mentions that he fears that "perhaps one day he might have to create the Oxygen Destroyer again," and that horrified him. The reason he allowed himself to die didn't have anything to do with stopping Godzilla; it was to ensure that no-one, including himself, would be able to create the Oxygen Destroyer ever again. That was his entire arc in the movie. He has previous scenes in the movie where he explains why his discovery of microoxygen and its destructive capabilities horrified him, and before he went to unleash the Oxygen Destroyer for its first and final time, he had ensured to destroy all the research in his lab that could be used to recreate the Oxygen Destroyer. Finally, he allowed himself to die so that he would erase the possibility of himself recreating that weapon as well.

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Rodan picture

Question: How is it that Rodan flew supersonic speeds but you only see him flap his wings to take off? Also how did he leave a vapor trail at high altitude?

Answer: The movie was made in the 1950s when special effects barely existed and were primitive at best. This is also a Japanese-made movie, and their film industry, at that time, was far less sophisticated than Western movies. Audiences then were expected to employ a "suspension of disbelief" while watching a Sci-fi movie, accepting that what they were seeing was implausible or crudely done, but it told the story. Audiences know that Rodan could not have taken off at supersonic speeds merely by flapping its wings or left a vapor trail at high altitude, but just accept that it adds to the overall illusion of what is supposed to be happening.

raywest

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