TCM’s “Summer of Darkness” film noir festival ended this past Friday, and wow, Raymond Burr sure was the villain/heavy in a lot of the movies they showed. Apparently Raymond Burr was the go-to bad guy in the noir days, but after the noir cycle died down, he was out of work. But then he starred in Godzilla: King of the Monsters, the American dubbed and edited version of Gojira. And then, after getting attention for his performance, he got to audition for TV’s Perry Mason, he got the role, and the rest is history.
So seeing as how Godzilla revitalized his career, and led him to play Perry Mason for decades, I think Raymond Burr, as Perry Mason, really should have defended Godzilla in court for all the lives and property the monster allegedly destroyed in Japan. Don’t you think he owed it to the giant monster?
So in his defense of Godzilla, Perry Mason would say that Godzilla had been awakened by atomic bombs, and that it was hardly the monster’s fault he was radioactive, grown to gigantic size, and extremely annoyed. And while the Americans may have dropped the atomic bombs, Japan started the war with the United States, and the atomic bomb likely would never have been used in the Pacific theater otherwise. And so, with it really being society’s fault, Godzilla is exonerated! Of course, it helped that Godzilla was judged by a jury of his peers: all giant monsters: Gorgo, the Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, King Kong, Mothra, Battra, Ghidrah, Rodan, Gamera, Baragon, Hedorah, Manda, and Anguirus. (Minilla {a.k.a.: Godzuki} is related to Godzilla, so was thought to be unlikely to be impartial.)
And, of course, after the not guilty verdict is read, the giant monsters go on a celebratory rampage, destroying civilization. (Oh, the humanity!)
