Godzilla (1954) | Keeping the Score Series

Schedule

Thu, 23 Oct, 2025 at 07:00 pm

UTC-04:00

Location

Princeton Garden Theatre | Princeton, NJ

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Be it a gentle piano interlude or a glorious orchestral fanfare, no element of filmcraft sets a movieโ€™s tone and identity quite like the musical score. Film music has the power to underline a filmmakerโ€™s narrative ideas, forge our bond to a heroic character, and move us to the point of tears. Join us all year long as we showcase cinemaโ€™s iconic composers whose musical talents enrich the images we see on screen and have us humming their unforgettable melodies as we exit the auditorium. The series continues in October with the iconic monster flick GODZILLA! ๐—š๐—ฒ๐˜ ๐—ง๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ธ๐—ฒ๐˜๐˜€: princetongardentheatre.org/specials
๐—”๐—ฏ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐— ๐—ผ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ฒ: The roaring granddaddy of all monster movies. A 400-foot fire-breathing kaiju comes to life in the wake of nuclear testing and makes a beeline for an unsuspecting Tokyo, causing unwanted destruction along its path. Presented in its original Japanese version, this undisputed classic is a remarkably humane and poignant film, made at a time when Japan was still recovering from WWII. Presented in a new restoration with subtitles.
๐—”๐—ฏ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฆ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ: In some ways, composer Akira Ifukubeโ€™s GODZILLA score feels like a piece with many other scores from mid-century Japanese cinema; in that historical sense, it is worthy of inclusion in our series. But it is that banner theme for the great prehistoric monster, which accompanies this movieโ€™s opening credits with such grandeur, that truly sets this score apart. The Godzilla theme relies heavily on menacingly low-octave brass and woodwinds. There is a steady drumbeat, suggestive of the Godzillaโ€™s footsteps. The result is no less than a musical personification of the King of the Monsters. There is a relentless, lumbering, droning quality, suggesting impeccably that a city-ending cataclysm is nigh. The main theme of GODZILLA has proven so iconic in its seventy years, it has been repurposed for a more triumphant context as recently as the 2023 international hit Godzilla: Minus One, proving why this timeless movie monster will never go extinct.
๐—ฆ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ ๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜† ๐—บ๐—ผ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ฒ ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐˜€๐—ฐ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ป ๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐—ป๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐˜ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐—น๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—ป $๐Ÿญ๐Ÿฌ!Become a member of our nonprofit theater for as little as $40 a year. Learn more at princetongardentheatre.org/membership
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Where is it happening?

Princeton Garden Theatre, 160 Nassau St, Princeton, NJ 08542-7006, United States

Event Location & Nearby Stays:

Princeton Garden Theatre

Host or Publisher Princeton Garden Theatre

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