The Wrath of Godzilla, Part 2: Gathering of the Flock

After the successes of "Gojira" and "Godzilla Raids Again", Toho Studios gave their star monster a break from the spotlight and attempted to replicate his popularity with some new, original beasties.  "Varan the Unbelievable" was one such beastie.  He failed to become a hit, but two other monsters from this period of time managed to break out and forge identities of their own.  This is their story. 

Are their stories. 

Whatever.  Here they are. . .


Rodan (1956)

The coal mines of Mt. Aso are damn treacherous.  It's a dangerous job to begin with, but after tunnels begin mysteriously flooding and miners begin disappearing, well, that's when the grit really starts to hit the fan.  Bodies begin to pile up, hacked to pieces, and local authorities think that a serial killer might be on the loose.  Eh, not exactly.  Ten foot long prehistoric dragonfly larvae, also known as Meganulon, are roaming the corridors and chomping up the local workforce.  Worker's comp, worker's comp!  Insert 'cruelty to miners' joke here. . .

Soon after, the Meganulons disappear and missing worker Shigeru (Kenji Sahara) shows up with a slight case of memory loss.  Now planes are disappearing all over Japan, being swatted out of the skies by an unknown attacker.  It turns out that two giant prehistoric reptiles, Rodans, are loose in the world, possibly set loose by atomic testing or global warming, take your pick.  Shigeru saw them hatch from giant eggs deep within the mines.  After eating up all the Meganulons, they break free and take to the skies, knocking Shigeru's noggin in the process and causing his memory lapse.

The Rodans are quite formidable.  Able to fly at supersonic speeds, they have spiky undersides, giant wings with which to cause massive wind damage, and giant peckers which they use to whack airplanes out of the sky with.  -Spoiler Alert -  After the beasts attack and decimate Fukuoka, the military hatches a plan - bombard their nest at Mt. Aso and cause the volcano to erupt, which they do and it does.  In a scene that's actually kind of moving, one of the Rodans gets caught in the eruption and overcome.  It's mate, seeing it's companion go down, dives into the lava after it and 'dies' also.  'Sniff'.  At least one of the Rodans lives, though, so it's not all that tragic.  Cheer up.

"Rodan" was directed by Ishiro Honda, Eiji Tsuburya provided the effects, and Akira Ifukube created the score.  In other words, the same people who made "Gojira".  Heck, even Akihiko Hirata (Dr. Serizawa from "Gojira") makes another appearance here, as a scientist.  "Rodan" lacks the pathos and the superior creature design that "Gojira" has, but it's still a fun monster movie.  And it's the first kaiju (giant monster) movie to be made in color, even though the color scheme is rather drab - mostly blacks, whites, grays and browns.

One of the Rodans would return a couple more times in the Showa series ('54-'79).  It would also get new incarnations in both the Heisei ('84-'95) and Millenium ('98-'04) Godzilla series.  Meganulon would not return in Showa, but would get a starring role and a makeover in "Godzilla vs. Megaguirus" (2000).

Rodan was never really one of my favorite Japanese movie monsters, anyway.  The star of the next movie, however, is. . .


Mothra (1961)

Made by the same team who assembled "Gojira" and "Rodan" (Honda, Tsuburya and Ifukube), "Mothra" was THE breakout monster character from Toho.  After Godzilla, of course.

This time, they injected a lot more humor, adventure and plain ol' fun into the mix.  The story begins with a ship capsizing during a fierce hurricane.  It runs aground on Infant Island, which is located in an area of the ocean where atomic bombs were once tested.  Rescue crews arrive to find that there are survivors of the shipwreck - and they're not dead from radiation poisoning!  It turns out that there are natives living on the island, and they helped the survivors to live with the help of a strange red juice harvested from the local fauna.  Curiosity peaked, a joint expedition is formed consisting of scientists from Japan and Rolisica (the fictional country which is responsible for the A-bomb tests, and which suspiciously resembles America).  Led by Rolisican prick Nelson (played with maximum slime by Jerry Ito), the expedition also includes reclusive scientist Chujo (Toho regular Hiroshi Koizumi) and plucky stowaway reporter, "Snapping Turtle" Fukuda (comedian Frankie Sakai).  On the island, they discover man eating plants, hostile locals, and tiny telepathic twin native girls referred to as the "Tiny Beauties" (pop star sisters Emi and Yumi Ito).

Nelson, who is an illegal antiquities dealer on the side, kills some of the natives and kidnaps the Tiny Beauties (NELSOOOOON!!!).  He puts the girls in a gaudy stage show, exploiting the hell out of them for profit, while our heroes attempt to persuade the prick to set them free.  Nelson ain't havin' none of it.

Guess what?  The natives of Infant Island have a god.  Her name's Mothra, bitch.  When the Tiny Beauties sing her theme song, Mothra, a giant caterpillar, hatches from an egg and swims to Japan to rescue them.  After tearing through Tokyo and knocking over Tokyo Tower, Mothra spins a cocoon and hibernates.  Rolisica brings in some powerful heat beam weapons and fries Mothra in her cocoon.  Yay, time to celebrate!  Whoops, jumped the gun.  Mothra hatches from her burnt cocoon as a fully grown giant moth.  She chases Nelson all the way to Rolisica, whipping up deadly windstorms with her wings.  - Spoiler Alert -  Nelson gets shot by the Rolisican police for being a prick.  Our heroes concoct a way to lure Mothra peacefully to the ground, where they return the Tiny Beauties.  Mothra and the girls fly home to leave in peace, waving to our heroes as they leave.  Um, sorry for the billions in property damage and the massive loss of life, take care!

This movie is fun.  The ever present anti-nuke theme is here, but it takes a backseat to the adventure.  Mothra isn't a product of nuclear testing - it's suggested that Infant Island is part of what used to be a continent that sank into the sea, an "Atlantis" or "Mu", and that Mothra herself may be a product of that civilization, making her more of a fantasy character than any of the monsters than have come before.

The cast is great.  Nelson is a great villain, as played by Ito, and Chujo (Koizumi) is fun, in an eccentric leading man sort of way.  The Tiny Beauties are quite endearing, even though they are fundamentally weird.  But it's Fukuda (Sakai) who steals the show, whether he's fast talking his way through a sticky situation or taking on a group of Rolisican thugs in a fistfight.  Amusing dude.  Akihiko Hirata (Dr. Serizawa) appears again, playing yet another scientist.  And there's a fat, annoying Japanese kid in a baseball cap.  What more could you want?

This movie was a major hit and made Mothra nearly as famous as the Big G.  She would return a few more times in this series and have several incarnations in the future Godzilla revivals.  Heck, she even got to star in her own movie trilogy in the late '90s!  More on that later.

Mothra also spawned a smash hit single, sung by the stars from the movie.  This song would become a hit once again when an updated version appeared in the '90s movies, and would be a hit yet again in the mid '00s when "Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S." was released.  "Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S." is a direct sequel to the 1961 "Mothra", skipping over all the intervening movies, and features a couple of returning human cast members, along with the big big herself.

I suppose I should mention the American versions of these movies.  They're not all that different, actually.  There are some editorial nips and tucks here and there, some names have been altered, and the cheesy English dubbing is present, but they're pretty much the same as the originals.  Not nearly as altered as the previous three movies I've reviewed.

See you next time for more monster mayhem - this time, FROM SPACE!