Mothra (1961)

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eabaker
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Re: Mothra (1961)

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Yeah, as much as I love Mothra vs. Godzilla, I maybe find Mothra's colorful production design, fantastical fairy tale tone, and more streamlined conflict a little more satisfying. I dunno, it's a close one.

Consider, for example, the movies' respective villains.

On the one hand, you've got Jerry Ito delightfully chewing the scenery as the overtly sleazy Nelson, who travels around with an entourage of one-dimensional heavies, and isn't above endangering children. He's a very broadly sketched character, but a perfect foil for the lovable trio of Sen-chan, Michi and Chujo. And he represents a consistent threat; the narrative climax of the movie is really Nelson's death, while the return of the Shobijin to Mothra is more of a denouement.

On the other hand, you have Kenji Sahara's more restrained - though hardly devoid of dramatic flourish - Torahata. He's defined primarily through his interactions with the equally dishonest and manipulative but less clever Kumayama, which provides an interesting perspective on the different faces of greed and exploitation, as well as providing a lot of the movie's best character moments. But both characters ultimately run out of narrative purpose before the third act, and are more-or-less forgotten by the climax.

Some similar points could be made about the movies' handling of their respective trios of heroes. Mothra's leads are charming and comical, but also thoughtful and decisive; while Mothra vs. Godzilla gives us more naturalistic leads, less pleasant but more believable, but also running out of narrative function well before the conclusion (hence the tacked-on, clunky "we've got to rescue the children sub-plot).

In the end, they're two near-perfect movies that succeed in different ways, but on paper Mothra mostly reads as the stronger narrative.
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Re: Mothra (1961)

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eabaker wrote:Yeah, as much as I love Mothra vs. Godzilla, I maybe find Mothra's colorful production design, fantastical fairy tale tone, and more streamlined conflict a little more satisfying. I dunno, it's a close one.

Some similar points could be made about the movies' handling of their respective trios of heroes. Mothra's leads are charming and comical, but also thoughtful and decisive; while Mothra vs. Godzilla gives us more naturalistic leads, less pleasant but more believable, but also running out of narrative function well before the conclusion (hence the tacked-on, clunky "we've got to rescue the children sub-plot).
I just rewatched the film and all your points are super valid. But also, it’s interesting to see Mothra 1961 as a foil to Godzilla 1954. Following Godzilla 1954 there were so many different attempts on variations on the Godzilla formula, and I realized how identical, yet super different Mothra is.

Both start out with an accident on a boat at sea. The survivors wind up on an island, and radioactivity is present/involved. The islands natives/mythos warn of a monster that might appear. The monster appears at sea, and capsizes a ship. The military is at first confident to defeat the monster. The monster is defeated by something that isn’t military might. Obviously, there’s deviations of the formula, but I want to make mention of a line that leads me to believe this is partially intentional.

The snapping turtle guy, says,”the natives warmed us of a dinosaur on the island “(more or less). However, 100% the word on Japanese dinosaur is used. Not monster. This might have been a nod to Godzilla.

Another interesting thing, is that while this film does not share any direct references/continuity with Godzilla or any other Toho films (until it’s slew of partial sequels) a lot of the dialogue is ambiguous and implies that Mothra isn’t the first monster to ever appear.

Also, I have a feeling that later iterations made the larval form much smaller, to make it less intimidating. The OG Mothra larva is massive, and actually looks really intimidating. It tends to jerk upwards more, and additionally has a lot of gross veins. The shot of it attacking the Orion Maru, lit up underneath is great.

I don’t think Mothra 61 is as good as 54, but it’s definitely up there and a very important film.
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Re: Mothra (1961)

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Frankie Sakai is terrific in this movie.
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Re: Mothra (1961)

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LSD Jellyfish wrote:I just rewatched the film and all your points are super valid. But also, it’s interesting to see Mothra 1961 as a foil to Godzilla 1954. Following Godzilla 1954 there were so many different attempts on variations on the Godzilla formula, and I realized how identical, yet super different Mothra is.

Both start out with an accident on a boat at sea. The survivors wind up on an island, and radioactivity is present/involved. The islands natives/mythos warn of a monster that might appear. The monster appears at sea, and capsizes a ship. The military is at first confident to defeat the monster. The monster is defeated by something that isn’t military might. Obviously, there’s deviations of the formula, but I want to make mention of a line that leads me to believe this is partially intentional.

The snapping turtle guy, says,”the natives warmed us of a dinosaur on the island “(more or less). However, 100% the word on Japanese dinosaur is used. Not monster. This might have been a nod to Godzilla.

Another interesting thing, is that while this film does not share any direct references/continuity with Godzilla or any other Toho films (until it’s slew of partial sequels) a lot of the dialogue is ambiguous and implies that Mothra isn’t the first monster to ever appear.

Also, I have a feeling that later iterations made the larval form much smaller, to make it less intimidating. The OG Mothra larva is massive, and actually looks really intimidating. It tends to jerk upwards more, and additionally has a lot of gross veins. The shot of it attacking the Orion Maru, lit up underneath is great.

I don’t think Mothra 61 is as good as 54, but it’s definitely up there and a very important film.
Great observations! And the thing about the word "dinosaur" (do they use "kyoryu," or is there a different word that applies?) is very interesting!

I have a hard time imagining the larval form as it appears in this movie facing off against another kaiju. Being portrayed by two actors together in such a giant suit, it would have just dwarfed any standard Toho monster.
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Re: Mothra (1961)

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Terasawa wrote:Frankie Sakai is terrific in this movie.
Yeah. I like the scene with him awkwardly interacting with Nelson a lot. It’s also interesting that in universe, he’s the one that names the Shobijin. What’s especially funny, is that in the scene prior, Nelson and his cronies debate/talk about what to call them, which all essentially mean the same thing chisaii ningen(small people) and it’s Zen/Frankie that comes up with Shobijin or “Small beauties”.

Speaking of the Shobijin, it’s interesting to see how later Godzilla films (64/65/Ebirah) would greatly flesh out their characters and characterize them. Not that they don’t have their moments here, but they have much less to work with and are more traditional damsels.
eabaker wrote:Great observations! And the thing about the word "dinosaur" (do they use "kyoryu," or is there a different word that applies?) is very interesting!

I have a hard time imagining the larval form as it appears in this movie facing off against another kaiju. Being portrayed by two actors together in such a giant suit, it would have just dwarfed any standard Toho monster.
Yeah Kyoryu is explicitly used. That’s not a type of word that could be ambiguous(like ancient creature or something). It’s dinosaur. While I don’t doubt that Mothra was always intended to be a big moth monster (it’s in the name), it’s interesting to me how no one ever points out or really makes note of how strange it is.

Also I think the concept of the film is really unique for the time. Like having the main antagonist/creature radically change appearance and abilities in the final act. We get a lot of larva Mothra and then the adult. Film is also good in that once Mothra appears there’s a steady pace of different scenes delivered with it.
Spirit Ghidorah 2010 wrote: Sun Dec 03, 2023 4:54 pm Anno-san pleasures me more than Yamasaki-san.

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Re: Mothra (1961)

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Just rewatched the film for the first time in ages, and I must say...
Spoiler:
I think it’s a wonderful and beautiful film, top of the genre with Gojira, GMK, Heisei Gamera Trilogy, Shin Gojira and Mothra vs Godzilla. It made me very ‘sensitive’. I’m an emotional guy, ok. Don’t judge.
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Re: Mothra (1961)

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VoyagerGoji wrote:Just rewatched the film for the first time in ages, and I must say...
Spoiler:
I think it’s a wonderful and beautiful film, top of the genre with Gojira, GMK, Heisei Gamera Trilogy, Shin Gojira and Mothra vs Godzilla. It made me very ‘sensitive’. I’m an emotional guy, ok. Don’t judge.
See's Rodan is not in that list, cries in lava.

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Re: Mothra (1961)

Post by Terasawa »

I like it but I don't think Rodan is one of the top tokusatsu movies either. Mothra, however, is absolutely in the top five.
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Re: Mothra (1961)

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I'd go as far as to stick it in the top two.
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Re: Mothra (1961)

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Kaiju-King42 wrote:I'd go as far as to stick it in the top two.
I wouldn't argue with that. But I'd listen to arguments on some other films. For example, I think you could make a solid case for G3 at second.
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Re: Mothra (1961)

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shadowgigan wrote:I need to rewatch this. Its been almost a decade for me.
Yeah, seven years for me. I have the new Blu-ray, I'm just waiting until I feel like giving it a watch.
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Re: Mothra (1961)

Post by Destoroyah of Worlds »

JAGzilla wrote:
shadowgigan wrote:I need to rewatch this. Its been almost a decade for me.
Yeah, seven years for me. I have the new Blu-ray, I'm just waiting until I feel like giving it a watch.
I still have never seen it. Maybe i should finally open that steel book this weekend..
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Re: Mothra (1961)

Post by edgaguirus »

It's a good film. It has a different feel to it, but you will enjoy it.
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Re: Mothra (1961)

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Eureka is a UK company right?

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Re: Mothra (1961)

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LegendZilla wrote:Eureka is a UK company right?
That is correct. As far as I know, it would be region locked to Region B.
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Re: Mothra (1961)

Post by gomezm6 »

I think Mothra (61) is a great Toho kaiju film and certainly represented a unique type compared to those before (i.e. Gojira, Varan, or Rodan), with much more fantasy/religious aspects. I think the model work for the time was done well (particularly the New Kirk City and Tokyo Tower scenes), and though the costumes of Mothra (both types) were not the best, I think they did a good job. As some have mentioned as well, I also agree of the great work Frank Sakai did, as well as Jerry Ito and Hiroshi Koizumi as well (I've read in a couple of places they actually became very good friends after working on Mothra), and you just gotta love the name Shobijin as it just fits.

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Re: Mothra (1961)

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To think that Mothra actually kills people in this film...

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Re: Mothra (1961)

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LegendZilla wrote: Thu Apr 15, 2021 7:37 pm To think that Mothra actually kills people in this film...
Oh cmon, you’re making a big deal out of it. Of course if you make a giant monster mad, someone’s gonna get hurt.
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Re: Mothra (1961)

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Voyager wrote: Thu Apr 15, 2021 8:13 pm
LegendZilla wrote: Thu Apr 15, 2021 7:37 pm To think that Mothra actually kills people in this film...
Oh cmon, you’re making a big deal out of it. Of course if you make a giant monster mad, someone’s gonna get hurt.
The thing is that ever since her debut film, Mothra as a character has been classified in a different category then most of her kaiju cohorts. That being that she's an agent of peace and divinity rather than destruction.

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