Japanese actor Katsumi Tezuka, best known for playing several monsters in most Toho-helmed films (including Anguirus in “Godzilla Raids Again”), was brought in first to enact the rampage after Tsuburaya built a 1:25 scale model of Tokyo. Although miniature cities or backdrops were not rare at the time, the portrayal of city-wide destruction (by a kaiju) had never been attempted before. As a result, Tsuburaya’s instructions for Tezuka were rather blunt, per the “LIFE” issue:
“All right, all you have to do is just walk in a straight line. Remember that we built a channel behind the platform in the middle, so just walk from the back of the platform right straight through the building. Don’t stop unless I tell you to. Any questions? No. Good. All right, places everybody!”
As a slow-motion effect had to be created, the camera ran faster than usual while Tezuka carried out the enaction. Although he did a good job, he unfortunately tripped and fell, causing some of the miniature structures to break. Creating them the first time was pretty time-consuming, but Tsuburaya and his crew had no option but to mend the broken parts and reshoot the scene with Nakajima. However, the suit donned by both actors was clunky, uncomfortable, and seemed artificial (having been cobbled together with bamboo, wires, and latex among other things), which meant most of the movie magic unfolded during the editing stage.
To preserve time and everyone’s sanity, the amateur aspects of the scene were smartly tweaked by Tsuburaya, where he intercut “the suitmation footage with puppet versions of the monster” to inject depth and realism into a scene of massive gravity. The efforts paid off, setting a precedent for monsters rampaging cities on the big screen.
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