Mothra (1961)

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Terasawa
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Re: Mothra (1961)

Post by Terasawa »

Great Hierophant wrote:I have a question about the credits for the English Language version as found on the Icons of Sci-Fi Toho Collection. The credits are very comprehensive, but they completely omit the actors (Frankie Sakai, Hiroshi Koizumi, Kyoko Kagawa) who play the three lead characters. It did not look like there were any missing sections to the opening credits, the fade from credit to credit is smooth. Was it just an oversight when Columbia Pictures added English credits back in the day?
Yep, that was Columbia's mistake back in 1962. I think it might be mentioned in the commentary track.
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Justinmc
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Re: Mothra (1961)

Post by Justinmc »

Hi,

Quick question:

I wondered if anyone had english subs for the original Japanese version?

thanks!

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Re: Mothra (1961)

Post by GodzillaBurgh »

Ah, Mothra. One of Toho's most unique and memorable of their kaiju films. While there are sci-fi elements in the film, I consider this a fantasy kaiju film.
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Re: Mothra (1961)

Post by Lain Of The Wired »

So what's Mothra's origins in this? A mutation from the bomb?
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Re: Mothra (1961)

Post by Ivo-goji »

Lain Of The Wired wrote:So what's Mothra's origins in this? A mutation from the bomb?
I'm still ticked nobody paid attention when I brought this up.
Ivo-goji wrote:Bumping since I don't know where else to pose the question, but does anyone in the community know anything about the serial novel this film is based on, The Luminous Fairies and Mothra? The only way I've heard anything about it is from the commentary published with the Icons of Sci Fi Toho Collection DVD. They talk about how the novel was more political than the film and how it included elements about the Infant Island people's mythology that was cut from ShinIchi Sekizawa's script because of time constraints.

Supposedly the inhabitants of Infant Island had a six-day creation story similar to that of the Bible, which they relate to "Bulldog" Fukuda. In this story, two deities, Ajima the God of Eternal Night and Ajiko the Goddess of Day Light are responsible for creating the island. Ajima and Ajiko conceived a giant egg, containing Mothra, and two human beings, who populated Infant Island. They then conceived a clutch of small eggs, which hatched into caterpillers, which became moths and flew away. Ajima became infuriated for some reason and tore his own body into four pieces. Ajiko was grieved by this and commited suicide, breaking her own body into four pieces, which then became the Shobijin (reduced to just two Shobijin in the film).

I've never been able to dig up more on The Luminous Fairies and Mothra, and searches only turn up a summary like this I made on another forum in 2012, so I'm guessing not much is known about the novel outside of what's mentioned in the DVD commentary.
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Lain Of The Wired
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Re: Mothra (1961)

Post by Lain Of The Wired »

Makes Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla even more dumb since it claims Mothra was spawned by radiation
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Re: Mothra (1961)

Post by The Octopus »

^ I know. They also said that Godzilla's skeleton didn't disintegrate in 1954 when it clearly did. They took liberties with what came before I suppose for storyline sake.
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Re: Mothra (1961)

Post by King of the Monsters »

The English subtitles for the Sony Blu-ray of Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla also claim Mothra was killed by the atomic heat ray guns. Not sure if that's a translation error or not, because Tokyo S.O.S. makes it clear the events of Mothra still transpired as shown in the film itself.
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Re: Mothra (1961)

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King of the Monsters wrote:The English subtitles for the Sony Blu-ray of Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla also claim Mothra was killed by the atomic heat ray guns. Not sure if that's a translation error or not, because Tokyo S.O.S. makes it clear the events of Mothra still transpired as shown in the film itself.
That's a great question, actually. I always just assumed it was an error, because they didn't realize they'd want to make a sequel... but I wonder if it could be a translation error instead. Any Japanese speakers able to clarify?
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Re: Mothra (1961)

Post by Godzillian »

Never liked this one much as a kid but love it now that I'm older. I really love the design of the Larva in this film
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Re: Mothra (1961)

Post by Mr_Goji_and_Watch »

Man the score to this one is leagues ahead of Ifukube's usual work.
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Re: Mothra (1961)

Post by KaijuCanuck »

Considering that Roliscia is an obvious satire of the US, but also that this film is canon with the Godzilla films which make several overt reverences to the actual US - would you guys say that in-universe Roliscia remains a distinct nation, or should we just consider it to be the actual US?
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Re: Mothra (1961)

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KaijuCanuck wrote:Considering that Roliscia is an obvious satire of the US, but also that this film is canon with the Godzilla films which make several overt reverences to the actual US - would you guys say that in-universe Roliscia remains a distinct nation, or should we just consider it to be the actual US?
Rolisica was a stand in for America/Russia
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Re: Mothra (1961)

Post by KaijuCanuck »

PitchBlackProgress wrote:
KaijuCanuck wrote:Considering that Roliscia is an obvious satire of the US, but also that this film is canon with the Godzilla films which make several overt reverences to the actual US - would you guys say that in-universe Roliscia remains a distinct nation, or should we just consider it to be the actual US?
Rolisica was a stand in for America/Russia
Yes. What I'm asking is, how does that work in a canon where the US is confirmed to exist?
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Godzillian
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Re: Mothra (1961)

Post by Godzillian »

KaijuCanuck wrote:Considering that Roliscia is an obvious satire of the US, but also that this film is canon with the Godzilla films which make several overt reverences to the actual US - would you guys say that in-universe Roliscia remains a distinct nation, or should we just consider it to be the actual US?
It's a separate nation from the US
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Re: Mothra (1961)

Post by Ivo-goji »

KaijuCanuck wrote:Considering that Roliscia is an obvious satire of the US, but also that this film is canon with the Godzilla films which make several overt reverences to the actual US - would you guys say that in-universe Roliscia remains a distinct nation, or should we just consider it to be the actual US?
Well, presumably Selgina coexists with Nepal and Saradia coexists with Saudi-Arabia in the Heisei series, so I'd assume the same is true of Rolisica and the United States.

The GURPS Godzilla RP page suggests Rolisica as an island nation located in the Bismarck archipelago with a culture and history similar to New Zealand.
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Re: Mothra (1961)

Post by Gojira-Fan »

Just recently rewatched this with my girlfriend. She really likes it (she thinks Mothra is cute). I am always impressed by the budget of this film. The visuals are very appealing and the colors just pop. The special effects are top notch and some of the best in the Showa era. Plus, this movie feels like it has a sort of prestige picture style that most movies in this genre don't seem to have. Honda is even quoted as saying in his biography that "We wanted to do something that was new, for the whole family, like a Disney or Hollywood type of picture."

I feel that it succeeds at being a visually beautiful and enchanting fantasy kaiju film that also really goes with Mothra's character very well.

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Re: Mothra (1961)

Post by edgaguirus »

It certainly does differ in feel and theme to its predecessors. The fantasy element fits Mothra well, though.
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Re: Mothra (1961)

Post by Grievous »

While I understand this film is a Toho Classic...it has never really clicked for me.

I mean I understand the legacy it has & how important it was for Toho...but I've
never been able to really, truly, fully get into it.

Does that make me a bad person?
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Re: Mothra (1961)

Post by eabaker »

Grievous wrote:While I understand this film is a Toho Classic...it has never really clicked for me.

I mean I understand the legacy it has & how important it was for Toho...but I've
never been able to really, truly, fully get into it.

Does that make me a bad person?
I'm not sure this board is the right place to discuss whether one is necessarily a "bad person" simply because of not having a soul...
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