Mothra vs. Godzilla

****

I think Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964) could be one of my personal favorites of the 60s Toho era, and further continues a run of Mothra entries that I quite like. I told a friend at work whose husband loves Godzilla that I had really liked almost every Toho Mothra film, and this entry impressed me even more than other uses of the beautiful winged creature. In this entry, Mothra is elegantly and affectionately written with an impressive “last gasp” in trying to stop Godzilla before she dies, trying (and sadly failing due to her age) to protect her offspring, still encased in a giant egg. I even liked the story arc with the characters on the ground and how both Mothra’s storyline and Godzilla’s were intertwined as Japan faces further destruction. The efforts of the characters to stop Godzilla and return the offspring of Mothra to infant island (a giant typhoon storm shook a great swath of area, including Infant Island and Nagoya’s nearest beachfront)—which includes a news reporter, his photographer sister, and a professor scientist wanting to study the egg, as well as, the military, and the twin miniature girls who are Mothra’s emissaries—are thwarted by the likes of fishermen (finding the egg in “their ocean”) and entrepreneurs (of “Happy Enterprises”, hoping to capitalize on its notoriety with an amusement park and fun center!). Many viewers might consider the message on the use of nuclear power to be heavy-handed (Infant island’s surface was once a lush paradise, now barren, desolate, with scattered bones of dead animal life, Godzilla’s re-emergence causes the military plenty of fits and civilization further damage to renovate), but I think it fits within the narrative rather well. It is only 1963, too, so the topical use of nuclear power and its testing was still quite fresh. Godzilla, in fact, lays waste to a power plant with smoke stacks. I thought Godzilla tripping off a sidewalk into a building, just trying to balance itself as the structure crumbles, is a brilliant example of how much of a nuisance (and how it doesn’t belong anywhere near the encroachment) it can be. While I think Mothra is an aesthetically striking creature, all she can really do is flap her wings and stir up yellow “poison pollen”, and grab Godzilla’s tail (and claw at his head). The end of Mothra’s life, as she lays to rest with a wing on her egg, actually tugged on my heartstrings quite a bit!

Akira Takarada (as the reporter), Yuriko Hoshi (as his sister), and Hiroshi Koizumi (as the professor) are a likable trio who appeal to the Infant Island’s “little civilization” for help due to Godzilla’s rampage. Their hearts are in the right place and  they mean well. Kenjira (as a “power broker” who offers “funds” with strings attached to Happy Enterprises) and Yoshifumi Tajima (as the Happy Enterprises operations manager) make for easily detestable figures for how they exploit an egg that doesn’t belong to them. Good casting, I think. The creative division behind the cast really put forth an effort to really involve them into stopping Godzilla beyond just standing by and looking on helplessly. By trying to enlist the aid of Mothra, admitting that the Infant Island suffered because of their people’s negligence, our trio of heroes isn’t just gazing at Godzilla wrecking the place. And the rescue of the teacher and children on Iwa Island, which moves Godzilla away from Inland Japan where it is perhaps more vulnerable and the twins from Mothra can use cover while covering it with silk, provides a satisfying conclusion. The military give Godzilla everything they have, including electric-current generators, tanks, missiles from planes, the works…still, they can’t stop it from continuing its rampage.

Ishirō Honda and his team obviously had a good production behind them as evidenced by that impressive typhoon opening where the raging waves leave quite an attack on Nagoya, and Godzilla might not be introduced until halfway through, but he goes for quite a while once he rises from the earth, its tail signaling to citizens much trouble ahead. Although it’s a score that is quite familiar to Godzilla fans, for whatever reason Akira Ifukube’s music sure really stands out as the giant lizard moves through Nagoya, giving the rampage serious chops.