Son of Godzilla (1967)

Son of Godzilla (1967)

Plot Summary

A group of scientists are on tropical Solgel Island in the Pacific to conduct weather control experiments. Just before they begin, they find giant preying mantises measuring 25 feet tall called Kamakaras. They decide to go ahead with the experiments, but a malfunction in one of the devices and as a result a radioactive storm that pushes the temperature up to two hundred degrees. The storm also causes the mantises to grow even bigger to 100 feet tall. The mantises then make their way to a huge mound where they uncover a giant egg which contains a young Godzilla, later named Minilla. Eventually, Godzilla shows up and saves his offspring. The rest of the movie features Godzilla taking care of and teaching his young son the skills that will eventually help him to become the new "King of Monsters" as well as fighting the Kamakaras and a giant spider named Kumonga

Kaiju Friday: Godzilla Vs. The Sea Monster (1966)

Ebirah, Horror of the Deep AKA Godzilla Vs. The Sea Monster (1966)


Plot Summary

A fisherman named Yata winds up missing after the boat he is working on sinks. His younger brother Ryota decides to search for him, but when the authorities refuse to help him he tries to enter a dance contest to win a boat to go search for Yata. When Ryota arrives at the contest he finds out he is too late by a few days, but meets up with two contestants who had already been eliminated named Nita and Ichino. The three youths then head for the marina to look at different boats. After they board one, they meet a rifle toting man named Yoshimura, whom they assume is the owner. However, he is a bank robber who is using the boat to hide out. After a few minutes, Yoshimura decides to let the youths stay the night. The next morning they wake up to find out that Ryota has set sail with them on it to search for his brother. A few days into their trip they are caught in a storm and as the boys try to keep the boat from sinking they see a giant claw emerge from the water. The next morning they wake up on Lechti Island, which serves as the base for a group of international terrorists called Red Bamboo, who have a heavy water factory on the island. They also observe as a boat belonging to the group arrive with slaves from Infant Island, the home of Mothra. Some of the natives try to make a break for it, but they are caught and eaten by the same monster that wrecked the boys boat, a giant lobster named Ebirah. During the commotion, a slave girl named Daiyo manages to sneak away and runs into the boys. They then find a cave where they hide out. But also in the cave is Godzilla, who is hibernating. They then try to head for the base to see if they can save the slaves, but their plans are thwarted and Ichino becomes a prisoner while Ryota gets caught in an observation balloon and drifts towards Infant Island where he is reunited with Yata. In the meantime, Nita gets an idea to awaken Godzilla with lightning to not only distract the soldiers but to fight Ebirah

Kaiju Friday! Invasion of Astro-Monster (1965)

That's just too precious not to put on the Blog rather than the movie poster LOL

Invasion of the Astro-Monster (1965)


Plot Summary

Astronauts Glen and Fuji travel to Planet X, a newly discovered moon of Jupiter, which for some reason has been transmitting radio waves to Earth. While there the two astronauts are then ordered to go down to the the caverns where the people of the planet are forced to go, allegedly because they are now being attacked on a regular basis by Ghidorah, who moved there after being defeated by Godzilla, Rodan and Mothra several months earlier. The aliens then request that they be allowed to "borrow" Godzilla and Rodan (sans Mothra) as a means of repelling Ghidorah and that in exchange they would be given a formula for a "miracle drug" to combat all forms of cancer. In the meantime, Fuji's sister Haruno is dating inventor Tetsuo Torii, who has just invented a high frequency transmitter to ward off muggers. A few weeks later the aliens take Godzilla and Rodan back to their planet and they seemingly defeat Ghidorah. The astronauts then get a tape recording supposedly containing the formula. The tape actually contains an ultimatum for the people of Earth to surrender or else face destruction from the combined strengths of Godzilla, Rodan and Ghidorah. Will the nations of the world give in to the demands of the aliens or will they be destroyed? And what role does Tetsuo's invention play in the upcoming battle?

Slave Ship (1937)

Slave Ship (1937)


Plot Summary

This period adventure drama was directed by Tay Garnett and adapted from a story by William Faulkner. The skipper of a slave trading vessel operating along the West African coast in 1860, Captain Jim Lovett (Warner Baxter) is troubled by his flesh-peddling trade. He's marrying the beautiful Nancy Marlowe (Elizabeth Allan) and wants to replace his morally-indefensible business with a more respectable foray into standard goods shipping. So he orders his first mate, Jack Thompson (Wallace Beery) to fire most of the crew and replace them with new hands. However, the ship's swabbies are accustomed to their lucrative line of work and, under the sway of the greedy Lefty (George Sanders), they mutiny, resulting in high seas histrionics with a nuanced performance provided by Mickey Rooney as Swifty the cabin boy.

An Announcement and Special Investigator (1937)

Before we get into the review i'd like to make an announcement for a semi-regular feature that'll turn up on Sundays where I just talk about movie stuff (mostly the old time stuff) as it'll give a glimpse into my perspective on cinema history and whatnot. Another event that'll happen pretty soon is a week where i'll be reviewing recent films rather than the stuff from the vaults. Hopefully that'll be a good change up.

Anywho off to the review!

Special Investigator (1937)


Plot Summary

Bill Fenwick, (Richard Dix) criminal lawyer, is becoming a mouthpiece for mobsters, when his brother George, a Justice Department investigator, is killed by mob chief Edward Selton. (J. Carroll Naish) In atonement, Bill leaves his practice and his venal girlfriend and goes undercover in Nevada to investigate a scheme for "laundering" stolen gold bullion. He starts making progress when he pursues attractive Virginia, (Margaret Callahan) who's somehow involved with the gang; in fact, unknown to Bill, she's Selton's sister.

Kaiju Friday Double Shot

Time to make up for last week's omission. I'm actually glad I did so because the two films while not completely tied to each other are at least close enough thematically that it wouldn't make sense to review them out of order. Rather than posting the details of the first movie and doing the review after the jump we'll just go make the jump now.

The Last Challenge (1967)

The Last Challenge (1967)


Plot Summary

In this western, a town marshal (Ford) contends with his reputation as the "fastest gun in the West." When a young gunslinger (Everett) calls him out for a showdown, the sheriff is struck by the fellow's resemblance to himself and unsuccessfully attempts to talk him out of his foolish career choice.

Godzilla/Kaiju Friday will be delayed for a week

Well folks, I made a bit of a boo boo by watching a Godzilla movie out of order by accident so the Godzilla project will be taking a one week hiatus and instead of one review there will be TWO! Maybe it's all for the best as these were two movies with Godzilla that came out in the same year which is the only time it's happened in the Godzilla series.

Town Tamer (1965)

Town Tamer (1965)

Plot Summary

The life of Tom Rosser a town-taming gunman-for-hire, takes a turn when a bullet meant for him kills Rosser's wife Carol instead. The killer had been sent by the ruthless Kansas gang leader, Riley Condor to kill Rosser. The latter goes to Great Plains after being hired to clean up the town but his agenda is to kill Condor. Word gets around that Rosser is in town and Condor realizes that his gunslinging henchmen, Horsinger, Tavenner, Slim Akins, Flon and Ring, are no match for Rosser and he sets in motion a plan that will use the law to eliminate him.