Mothra vs Godzilla (1964)
Plot Summary
A hurricane blows Mothra's egg off Infant Island and causes it to drift to Japan. Banzo Torhata sees an opportunity to make money off the egg but Mothra's twin priestesses show up and plead with him to return the egg or else the larva will hatch and cause great damage in search of food. Torahata refuses and tries to kidnap the fairies. They then go to reporters Ichiro Sakai and Junko Nakanishi to try to persuade Torahata to return the egg. Torahata still refuses and the girls leave with the adult Mothra. In the meantime Godzilla reawakens and begins another rampage. Japan's only hope is for Mothra to return and not only save her unhatched offspring, but Japan as well.
I'm not a Godzilla expert but i've seen a few movies in the past and i've shown great interest in the series (hence this project) but I had no clue that Mothra was a character with its own history as it turns out Mothra was one of several monsters that Toho introduced between 1955-1962 when they seemingly retired Godzilla for good. So this ISN'T an introduction to Mothra but it does introduce her to the Godzilla films. Interestingly out of the handful of monsters introduced in that interregnum period it would be her and Rodan that would have major roles in the Godzilla movies. (Gamera had his own series and never interacted with Godzilla as far as I know)
The summary above pretty much sums it up so let's talk about how this ties in with the next film that was released later that same year. The lead female actress in this movie would appear in an almost indistinguishable role in the next film. Seemingly the only difference is her name between the two films. It can lead to some confusion and I wonder if the US dub made her the same character. The other connection would be the professor in this movie who would appear in the next movie.
The story is a little outlandish though not as silly and harebrained as some of the later Godzilla movies would be there is however, one point that stretches credulity and that's the ownership of the egg that washes ashore. You'd think that some big honkin' strange egg washing ashore would immediately become government property but instead the locals claim it as their own and sell it to a guy working for Torahata. Torahata plans to make the egg the centerpiece for an amusement park. I gotta say the depiction of Torahata as the young, unscrupulous businessman, while stereotypical was pulled off quite well by Kenji Sahara who was smarmy, arrogant and full of himself. His comeuppance towards the end of the film is well justified.
The others do their jobs competently and I must say Yuriko Hoshi was cute as a button as the news photographer Junko 'Yoka' Nakanishi she'd be just as cute in the follow up film. Thankfully unlike other Godzilla flicks this one eschewed any semblance of romance and stuck to the main plot. Said plot lent itself to some heavy handed preaching at times but it's nice to see them return to talking about issues through the plot like they had in the past. One major point was Man's destruction of the world in relation to nature. At one point, they go to Infant Island where the priestesses live and it's a complete wasteland thanks to the nuclear tests in the area. They try to enlist Mothra's help to defeat the rampaging Godzilla but the king of the island rebuffs them. The main character (a news reporter) tries to appeal to their better senses but it's the plea of Junko who talks about how she understands the mistrust between the people of Infant Island and humanity and she says that there are lots of good people who are in harm's way and how even the bad people deserve to be saved in the face of the calamity. That plea works and we see a dying Mothra in her last days fly to Japan to save them AND her egg.
This leads up to the fight and I must say Godzilla looks a lot more menacing. In fact, the suit worn in this movie and the next is a particular favorite of fans. The snout is shorter, the pupils are now white instead of yellow and the Big G is less reptilian in look with a longer tail. In the lead up to the fight with Godzilla going crazy on Japan you really get a sense of his menace. It's amazing how they can pack so much personality into a big suit like that.
The actual fight is short and sweet but that's to be expected with the dying Mothra trying her best to stop Godzilla. She's clearly no match for him in a lot of ways but she'll do anything to protect her egg including grabbing Godzilla by the tail and pulling him away from the egg. In the end the egg hatches and two larvae come out. Eventually they subdue Godzilla in a pretty smart and effective manner.
All in all I give this about *** out of ***** stars. This would also be the last time Godzilla would be a totally malevolent creature until Godzilla 1985.
Ghidorah, The Three-Headed Monster (1964)
Plot Summary
A princess from a small Himalayan country becomes possessed by the spirit of a Venusian (a Martian in the American version) and escapes a plane just as it explodes. As this happens a meteorite falls from the sky containing Ghidorah, the monster responsible for her planet's destruction. At the same time, Godzilla and Rodan emerge from hibernation and not only attack Japan, but each other as well. Mothra, along with its twin priestesses, attempt to convince Godzilla and Rodan to stop their fighting each other and to team up to fight the new monster. At the same time, the princess is being hunted by a group of assassins who want to kill her so that her enemies can take over her homeland.
That pretty much sums it up right there and I realize i'm going long so i'm going to make this short and sweet. This is the first movie that is extremely plot driven and it's actually not a bad plot if you take the monster stuff out of it. Okay, it's a bit cheesy but I did like the whole "princess think she's a Venusian and warning of impending planetary doom" premise. The guy that plays the main assassin is quite menacing and pretty good in his role while everyone else are also good at their roles. The thing that makes this work IMO is that they're all earnest about it and don't try to play this off as schlock but rather in a serious manner.
King Ghdorah is a pretty mean looking space monster what with the three heads and wings. It looks very much like the winged dragons you'd see in Chinese lore. King Ghidorah would go on to be one of the more formidable Godzilla foes. The fight scenes between Godzilla, Rodan and Mothra vs King Ghidorah is well done and really shows just how formidable he is as it took the might of all three monsters to take him down.
I know i'm scrimping on the details a lot but maybe in the future i'll do a re-do of this review. I give this about *** stars out of *****.
Now the cheeseball era of Godzilla is about to begin in earnest.
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