Mothra (film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This article is about the 1961 film. For the 1996 film, see Rebirth of Mothra.
| Mothra | |
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| Directed by | Ishirō Honda |
| Produced by | Tomoyuki Tanaka |
| Written by | Shinichi Sekizawa |
| Starring | Frankie Sakai Kyoko Kagawa Hiroshi Koizumi |
| Music by | Yuji Koseki |
| Cinematography | Hajime Koizumi |
| Editing by | Kazuji Taira |
| Distributed by | Toho |
| Release date(s) | July 30, 1961 (Japan) May 10, 1962 (USA) |
| Running time | 101 min |
| Language | Japanese English |
| Followed by | Mothra vs. Godzilla, Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. |
| IMDb profile | |
Mothra (モスラ Mosura?) is a 1961 daikaiju eiga (giant-monster movie) from Toho Studios, directed by genre regular Ishirō Honda with special effects by legend Eiji Tsuburaya. It is the kaiju eiga debut of screenwriter Shinichi Sekizawa, whose fantastic yet intelligent approach to the genre grew to prominence during the 1960s. The film stars Frankie Sakai, a popular comedian in Japan at the time, and Hiroshi Koizumi, in the first of many academic roles he would adopt in tokusatsu. Jerry Ito (translated as "Jelly Ito" in the U.S. release) delivers a fiendish performance, his only contribution to the genre. The score by Yuji Koseki includes probably the most enduring song in kaiju eiga, "Mosura No Uta" ("Mothra's Song"), performed by The Peanuts.
The film did well at the box office but was panned by U.S. critics upon its stateside release as a typical B-grade monster-on-the-loose flick. Its basic plot was recycled in King Kong vs. Godzilla and Mothra vs. Godzilla (1962 and 1964, both also written by Sekizawa), and the daikaiju Mothra would become one of Toho's most popular, appearing in seven more Godzilla films and her own trilogy in the 1990s.
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[edit] Plot
An expedition to an irradiated island brings civilization in contact with a primitive native culture. When one sensationalist entrepreneur tries to exploit the islanders, their ancient deity arises in retaliation.
In waters off Infant Island, a presumedly uninhabited site for Rolisican atomic tests, the Genjin maru is caught and run aground in the turbulence of a typhoon. A rescue party following the storm finds four sailors alive and strangely unafflicted with radiation sickness, which they attribute to the juice provided them by island natives. The story is broken by tenacious reporter Senichiro "Bulldog" Fukuda (Sakai) and photographer Michi Hanamura (Kagawa), who infiltrate the hospital examining the survivors.
The Rolisican Embassy responds by co-sponsoring a joint Japanese–Rolisican scientific expediction to Infant Island, led by capitalist Clark Nelson (Ito). Also on the expedition are radiation specialist Dr. Harada (Ken Uehara), linguist Shin'ichi Chūjō (Koizumi), and stowaway reporter Fukuda. There the team discover a vast jungle of mutated flora, a fleeting native tribe, and two minuscule girls (the Peanuts). These "small beauties", as Fukuda calls them, wish their island to be spared further atomic testing. Acknowledging this message, the team returns and conceals these events from the public.
Nelson, however, returns to the island with a crew of henchmen and abducts the girls, gunning down several natives who try to save them. While Nelson profits off a "Secret Fairies Show" in Tokyo featuring the girls singing, both they and the island natives beseech their god Mothra, a giant egg, for help. Fukuda, Hanamura, and Chūjō communicate with the girls via their telepathic ability; they express conviction that Mothra will come to their aid. Meanwhile, Fukuda's newspaper has accused Nelson of holding the girls against their will; Nelson denies the charge and files a libel suit against the paper. Meanwhile, the island egg hatches to reveal a gigantic caterpillar, which begins swimming the Pacific Ocean toward Japan. The caterpillar destroys a cruise ship and survives a napalm attack on a beeline path for Tokyo. The Rolisican Embassy, however, defends Nelson's property rights over the girls, ignoring any connection to the monster.
Mothra finally arrives on the Japanese mainland, impervious to the barrage of weaponry directed at it, ultimately building a cocoon in the ruins of Tokyo Tower. Public feeling turns against Nelson, and he is ordered to release the girls. He flees incognito to Rolisica, where Mothra, newly hatched in an imago form, immediately resumes her search. Police scour New Kirk City for Nelson as Mothra lays waste to the metropolis. Ultimately Nelson is killed in a shootout with police, and the girls are assigned to Chūjō's care. Observing a religious significance in Mothra's unique symbol, Chūjō hits upon a novel way to attract Mothra to an airport runway. The girls are returned amid salutations of "sayōnara", and Mothra flies back to Infant Island.
[edit] Themes
Mothra was the first of the kaiju eiga to distance itself from the genre of horror. Unlike Godzilla (1954), Godzilla Raids Again (1955), and Rodan (1956), thematically and visually darker films full of allegory and scenes of death, Mothra is vibrant, colorful (like Mothra herself), and at times jovial. Even the scenes of destruction in Mothra are depicted with an air of fantasty: rather unlike actual automobiles, cars and trucks caught in Mothra's gusts are tossed and bounced about the cityscape of New Kirk like leaves in a dust devil.
As a daikaiju Mothra is assigned an unprecedented level of personality, imbued as the shobijin's guardian with loyalty and nobility. The film ends not with Mothra's death or incapacitation but with her success at retrieving the shobijin and returning—in peace and on good terms with Japan—to Infant Island. The true antagonist of the film is instead the greedy sensationalist Clark Nelson, whose role lends itself to broad interpretation. Fukuda describes him as an "art dealer", of the type who raid historic sites for riches. The film was conceived and released at the outset of the Japanese post-war economic miracle, amid the liberalization of business from government regulation; by placing an (occidental) capitalist in such a villainous role, the film propounds a strong critique of the western model of capitalism itself.
The ending of the film alludes heavily to Christianity: Mothra's symbol is revealed to bear a likeness to the Christian cross—though it more specifically resembles the Celtic cross—and its image, joined by the sound of ringing church bells, is used to summon Mothra. Remarkably, whereas the propagation of western capitalism is to blame for Mothra's destructive onslaught, it is western religion which appeases it.
[edit] Rolisica
The fictional country in the movie is cleary a substitute for America. Rolisica is combination of both America and Russia. Its capital, New Kirk City, shares a uncanny resemblance to that of New York City and for obvious reasons. The people that live in Rolisica are clearly of the European descent. The Rolisican village (were Nelson is killed) has great European influence for that matter. The matte scenes that show Rolisican civilians looking at Mothra in the sky were filmed in Los Angeles. Toho had done some filming there in early 1961 and the footage have found its way in Mothra.
[edit] U.S. release
Mothra was released in the United States in May of 1962 on a double-bill with The Three Stooges in Orbit. New York Times film critic A.H. Weiler gave the film a generally positive review, singling out the color and special effects for praise. "There's that color, as pretty as can be, that now and then smites the eye with some genuinely artistic panoramas and décor designs."
Some plot points, also, were favorably mentioned: "Fantastic though the plot may be, there are some genuinely penetrating moments, such as the contrast of the approaching terror and those patient, silvery-voiced little 'dolls,' serenely awaiting rescue. Several of the special effects shots are brilliant, such as the sight of a giant cocoon nestling against a large city's power station tower."
[edit] Cast
- Frankie Sakai - Journalist Senichiro "Bulldog" Fukuda
- Kyoko Kagawa - Photographer Michi Hanamura
- Hiroshi Koizumi - Dr. Shin'ichi Chūjō
- Ken Uehara - Dr. Harada
- Jerry Ito - Clark Nelson
- The Peanuts - The Shobijin
- Takashi Shimura - Newspaper Editor
- Akihiro Tayama - Shinji Chūjō
- Tetsuo Nakamura - Nelson's Henchman
- Johnny Yuseph - Nelson's Henchman
- Obel Wyatt - Dr. Roff
- Akihiko Hirata - Doctor
- Haruo Nakajima - Mothra Larva (head)
- Katsumi Tezuka - Mothra Larva (neck)
[edit] References
- Kalat, David. A Critical History and Filmography of Toho's Godzilla Series, McFarland, 1997. ISBN 0-7864-0300-4
- Weiler, A. H. (1962). "Screen: 'Hatari!' Captures the Drama of Tanganyika Wildlife:Howard Hawks Film Opens at DeMille Neighborhood Houses Offer 2 Twin Bills". New York Times. Retrieved January 25, 2006.
- In the children's TV show, Kappa Mikey, there is an episode about a man who creates monsters for movie. Among them is Megamoth, an obvious spoof of Mothra.
[edit] External links
- Mothra at Rotten Tomatoes
- Review at Toho Kingdom by Miles Imhoff
- Mothra review at 1000 Misspent Hours
- Mothra movie review
