Godzilla Month: Mothra vs Godzilla
A review by Forrest Humphrey
As the follow up to Gojira in my 4-film long dive into the Godzilla franchise comes 1964's Mothra vs Godzilla, a beloved entry in the franchise as well as my personal favorite entry. After the huge success of 1962's King Kong vs. Godzilla (a film that I find a great deal of fun, but I wish the Japanese version was available on the global market both to avoid the terrible dubbing work and to restore Akira Ifukube's score which was removed for the English cut), Toho felt emboldened to continue the franchise, following up with this film to pit Gozilla against another monster once more. This time Tis opponent was Mothra, who had already recieved her own solo film and would go on to be one of the most seminal kaiju both in the franchise, and the world of cinema in general.
Once again directed by Ishiro Honda, with special effects by Eiji Tsurubaya and music by Akira Ifukube, Mothra vs Godzilla is a nice middle ground between the somber depression of the first two films and the hilarity of the later entries of the 60's and 70's. Our premise this time? A typhoon hits Japan and washes a mysterious, massive egg ashore near a small fishing villiage. Investigating the egg are our protagonists, a trio of newspaper employees and a science professor. However, during their initial examination of the egg, they are halted by one of the human antagonists: a wealthy businessman who agreed to pay the fishing villiage for the egg with plans to display it for profit.
Here we run into one of the major themes of the film: corporate greed. The two businessmen (The other making his appearance a little later in the film) are almost cartoonishly evil. But given the current landscape, it’s pretty hard to argue the lack of relevance as rich corperations extort their staff and swindle both from the public and each other. There are also lesser themes explored, such as the power of the press and public opinion's ability to influence these corporate giants, as well as themes regarding the neccesity of unity in the face of a big enough threat.
The big enough threat is, of course, Gozilla, who was also tossed about by the typhoon and washed ashore. He’s buried in a factory yard under a layer of mud and water. Once the factory pumps out the water, Godzilla rises out of the ground in a generally bad mood, moving to destroy nearby Nagoya and anything else in his path, with the army powerless to stop him.
However, rich businessmen and the Japanese public are not the only ones interested in the mysterious giant egg. As one might imagine, Mothra herself wants it back, and so comes to Japan with her two caretakers, the Shobijin. The Shojibin, are played by real life twin sister pop idols, The Peanuts. These two fairies are merely inches tall, and one of the most recogniable elements of the series. Nearly any time Mothra is around, her singing fairy caretakers are usually along for the ride. First they plead with the evil businessmen to return the egg only to flee as the men try to capture the tiny women for display as well. Then they plead with our heroes to try and find a way to return the egg, only to leave disappointed when our heroes have to admit that, as much as they want to help Mothra, there is no legal way to get the egg back.
This is actually pretty important thematically. Mothra attempts a purely peaceful solution to the problem, not being a violent monster like Godzilla. Later in the film, with Godzilla rampaging and no way to stop him, our heroes decide to plead with Mothra to stop him. Mothra (and the tribe of natives who worship her on their home of Infant Island) are initially not willing to help, both because Mothra's egg was not returned, and because the nuclear tests (the same ones that made Godzilla) turned most of Mothra's home into a wasteland, ruining the lives of the natives.
The threat of nuclear backlash was still a strogn theme in Godzilla at this time, and the bone-strewn wasteland of Infant Island is the main showcase for that here thanks to the continuing work of director Honda. While not as soul-crushing as in the original Gojira, Infant Island's ruins are a haunting reminder of what the atom bomb was capable of. But, a plea from our heroes about how good people were losing their lives to Godzilla convinces Mothra to help. So Mothra travels to Japan once more and battles Godzilla. The catch? Mothra is already old and near death, this will almost surely be her last act. After a rather fantastic battle sequence, Mothra looses. But the egg finally hatches, and the twin larva within chase Godzilla down and defeat him in the finale, forcing the Big G out to sea again and saving Japan.
Effects were once again handled by Tsurubaya, and for the most part, they are excellent. The Godzilla suit, once again worn by Haruo Nakajima, is one of the best in the entire franchise, highly flexible and allowing the actor to convey a much wider and more energetic range of motion. Another combination of detailed miniatures, excellent camera work and subtly slowed footage conveys Godzilla's size and power. The puppets used for Mothra and her babies are also excellent, and the battle scenes are mostly a treat because of it. Unfortunately, there are a couple of issues here that are hard to ignore. Several scenes were not composited correctly. What this means is that, for instance, in many shots the tiny Shobijin are almost transluscent when they are in shots with normal people and objects, and other shots used to insert Godzilla into cityscapes or into shots with people fleeing also have him very obviously not part of the shot due to his off-color and the lack of blending. But, considering this film was from the early 60’s, I find this relatively easy to forgive, even though it is noticable and may take you out of the film. Also, while the human element is acted competently and contains timeless themes, the lighter nature of the film and lack of intense focus on the larger issues have them landing less hard…but that was more the intent, and as I noted previously, this film still has plenty of meat to it.
Ifukube's score once again deserves a great deal of praise, with the variations on the main theme being highly memorable, along with the now famous Mothra theme. While many like to poke fun, the vocals provided by the twins are excellent and lend Mothra an air of elegance to oppose Godzilla's brutality. Music from this film would go on to appear frequently in the series, with even the most recent King of the Monsters letting composer Bear McCreary put his own spin on Mothra's famous theme.
This is my favorite film in the entire series. It has a good sense of pacing, relevant thematic punch, excellent effects with some forgivable errors, a fantstic score, and enough lighthearted elements to keep it more enjoyable than its more somber precursers while not going full cartoon character like later entries would fall into. Of the fourteen films between the original and my next film of interest (to drop a hint for where I’m going next), this is easily the one I recommend most enthusiastically!
A review by Forrest Humphrey
As the follow up to Gojira in my 4-film long dive into the Godzilla franchise comes 1964's Mothra vs Godzilla, a beloved entry in the franchise as well as my personal favorite entry. After the huge success of 1962's King Kong vs. Godzilla (a film that I find a great deal of fun, but I wish the Japanese version was available on the global market both to avoid the terrible dubbing work and to restore Akira Ifukube's score which was removed for the English cut), Toho felt emboldened to continue the franchise, following up with this film to pit Gozilla against another monster once more. This time Tis opponent was Mothra, who had already recieved her own solo film and would go on to be one of the most seminal kaiju both in the franchise, and the world of cinema in general.
Once again directed by Ishiro Honda, with special effects by Eiji Tsurubaya and music by Akira Ifukube, Mothra vs Godzilla is a nice middle ground between the somber depression of the first two films and the hilarity of the later entries of the 60's and 70's. Our premise this time? A typhoon hits Japan and washes a mysterious, massive egg ashore near a small fishing villiage. Investigating the egg are our protagonists, a trio of newspaper employees and a science professor. However, during their initial examination of the egg, they are halted by one of the human antagonists: a wealthy businessman who agreed to pay the fishing villiage for the egg with plans to display it for profit.
Here we run into one of the major themes of the film: corporate greed. The two businessmen (The other making his appearance a little later in the film) are almost cartoonishly evil. But given the current landscape, it’s pretty hard to argue the lack of relevance as rich corperations extort their staff and swindle both from the public and each other. There are also lesser themes explored, such as the power of the press and public opinion's ability to influence these corporate giants, as well as themes regarding the neccesity of unity in the face of a big enough threat.
The big enough threat is, of course, Gozilla, who was also tossed about by the typhoon and washed ashore. He’s buried in a factory yard under a layer of mud and water. Once the factory pumps out the water, Godzilla rises out of the ground in a generally bad mood, moving to destroy nearby Nagoya and anything else in his path, with the army powerless to stop him.
However, rich businessmen and the Japanese public are not the only ones interested in the mysterious giant egg. As one might imagine, Mothra herself wants it back, and so comes to Japan with her two caretakers, the Shobijin. The Shojibin, are played by real life twin sister pop idols, The Peanuts. These two fairies are merely inches tall, and one of the most recogniable elements of the series. Nearly any time Mothra is around, her singing fairy caretakers are usually along for the ride. First they plead with the evil businessmen to return the egg only to flee as the men try to capture the tiny women for display as well. Then they plead with our heroes to try and find a way to return the egg, only to leave disappointed when our heroes have to admit that, as much as they want to help Mothra, there is no legal way to get the egg back.
This is actually pretty important thematically. Mothra attempts a purely peaceful solution to the problem, not being a violent monster like Godzilla. Later in the film, with Godzilla rampaging and no way to stop him, our heroes decide to plead with Mothra to stop him. Mothra (and the tribe of natives who worship her on their home of Infant Island) are initially not willing to help, both because Mothra's egg was not returned, and because the nuclear tests (the same ones that made Godzilla) turned most of Mothra's home into a wasteland, ruining the lives of the natives.
The threat of nuclear backlash was still a strogn theme in Godzilla at this time, and the bone-strewn wasteland of Infant Island is the main showcase for that here thanks to the continuing work of director Honda. While not as soul-crushing as in the original Gojira, Infant Island's ruins are a haunting reminder of what the atom bomb was capable of. But, a plea from our heroes about how good people were losing their lives to Godzilla convinces Mothra to help. So Mothra travels to Japan once more and battles Godzilla. The catch? Mothra is already old and near death, this will almost surely be her last act. After a rather fantastic battle sequence, Mothra looses. But the egg finally hatches, and the twin larva within chase Godzilla down and defeat him in the finale, forcing the Big G out to sea again and saving Japan.
Effects were once again handled by Tsurubaya, and for the most part, they are excellent. The Godzilla suit, once again worn by Haruo Nakajima, is one of the best in the entire franchise, highly flexible and allowing the actor to convey a much wider and more energetic range of motion. Another combination of detailed miniatures, excellent camera work and subtly slowed footage conveys Godzilla's size and power. The puppets used for Mothra and her babies are also excellent, and the battle scenes are mostly a treat because of it. Unfortunately, there are a couple of issues here that are hard to ignore. Several scenes were not composited correctly. What this means is that, for instance, in many shots the tiny Shobijin are almost transluscent when they are in shots with normal people and objects, and other shots used to insert Godzilla into cityscapes or into shots with people fleeing also have him very obviously not part of the shot due to his off-color and the lack of blending. But, considering this film was from the early 60’s, I find this relatively easy to forgive, even though it is noticable and may take you out of the film. Also, while the human element is acted competently and contains timeless themes, the lighter nature of the film and lack of intense focus on the larger issues have them landing less hard…but that was more the intent, and as I noted previously, this film still has plenty of meat to it.
Ifukube's score once again deserves a great deal of praise, with the variations on the main theme being highly memorable, along with the now famous Mothra theme. While many like to poke fun, the vocals provided by the twins are excellent and lend Mothra an air of elegance to oppose Godzilla's brutality. Music from this film would go on to appear frequently in the series, with even the most recent King of the Monsters letting composer Bear McCreary put his own spin on Mothra's famous theme.
This is my favorite film in the entire series. It has a good sense of pacing, relevant thematic punch, excellent effects with some forgivable errors, a fantstic score, and enough lighthearted elements to keep it more enjoyable than its more somber precursers while not going full cartoon character like later entries would fall into. Of the fourteen films between the original and my next film of interest (to drop a hint for where I’m going next), this is easily the one I recommend most enthusiastically!
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