Godzilla

Made in 1954, Godzilla was Japan's first foray into big budget sci-fi. The film created a monster that would enter the lexicon of popular culture, spawn fifty years of sequels and inspire a new genre: the kaiju eiga or Japanese monster movie. Directed by Ishiro Honda, the film stars Takashi Shimura (Seven Samurai) as the revered palaeontologist who uncovers the horrible secret at the heart of the monster. Now regarded as one of the great classics of cinema and still rated amongst the top twenty Japanese movies of all time, the original Godzilla is perhaps the definitive monster movie.