| Welcome to Mothra's Universe. We hope you enjoy your visit. You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free. Join our community! If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features: |
- Pages:
- 1
- 2
| Mothra(1961); A classic Toho film | |
|---|---|
| Topic Started: Sep 11 2008, 11:35 PM (110 Views) | |
| packmule | Sep 11 2008, 11:35 PM Post #1 |
Resident jackass
  ![]](http://209.85.12.237/static/1/pip_r.png)
|
As a kid I was delighted by the fact my father was also a fan of giant monster movies. Among his favorites were War Of The Gargantuas(1966), Godzilla King Of The Monsters(1956) and Godzilla Vs The Thing(1964). My father actually saw "Godzilla vs Thing" in a NYC movie theater in 1964 while he was on business there. My father's favorite kaiju film of all time was Mothra, a film he also saw in a theater. It took me, admittedly, some time to "warm up" to this gigantic, lepidopteral monster. Mothra is widely considered the second most popular kaiju, after Godzilla. I'm certain this is a debatable issue. I've seen great debate about who gets second place in popularity after Godzilla at many message boards. What isn't subject to debate is that Mothra has appeared in over a half dozen other kaiju films and has a trilogy of films, released theatrically in the 1990's, that also showcase the winged creature. The first film this monster appeared in is still, IMO, the best, overall. Mothra was released theatrically in Japan on July 30, 1961. It would reach American theaters later in May, 1962, released by Columbia Pictures, which had bought the North American rights to the Toho film. The film's story: a ship called the Daini Genyo Maru runs aground in a typhoon in the waters near Biru Island, located in an area of lingering radioactive fallout from repeated atomic tests conducted by the country of Rolisica. Four survivors from the wrecked ship are found by a search and rescue effort, curiously unaffected by the radiation in the area. To investigate the mystery further, the Rolisican government sponsors a Rolisican-Japanese expedition to study the island. There they find an isolated area of lush green vegetation, natives indigenous to the island, and two six inch tall girls. Deciding to leave the tiny girls and the island alone, the expedition departs Biru Island and returns to Japan. Unfortunately, entrepreneur Clark Nelson, in charge of the expedition, returns to the island and,with the help of his thugs, kidnap the tiny girls, cutting down the natives in a barrage of gunfire. Nelson immediately puts the tiny girls on a vaudevillian-like display as part of his "Secret Fairies" show, much to the disdain of other expedition members Shinichi Chujo, a linguist/anthropologist, Zenichiro Fukuda, a reporter, and Michi Hanamura, Fukuda's photographer and colleague. This trio implore Clark Nelson to relinquish the tiny girls. Nelson refuses. Result: a gigantic egg on Biru Island hatches, loosing an enormous caterpillar called "Mothra", which swims towards Japan, to "rescue" the two girls. The giant caterpillar, surviving an at sea napalm attack, and plowing through an ocean liner that happens to be in its way, reaches the Japanese mainland and begins it's search for the two little girls. (no other spoilers). Observations: this film has a decidedly "fantasy" feel about it, the story driven by the performance of (the late) Jerry Ito, who masterfully portrays vile, ego maniacal and greedy entrepreneur Clark Nelson. His performance makes it easy to despise him and cheer for Mothra to come and rescue the two island "fairies". The score, by Yuki Koseki, is sweeping and grand, at times. The special effects, courtesy of Eiji Tsuburaya, are good. Not his best, IMO, but still very good where it counts. The rendering of the larval Mothra is done through people inside a prop, Haruo Nakajima manning the "head" portion of the suit. The adult(flying) form is rendered through a large prop which is maneuvered via a system of overhead wires. Mattes are used quite a bit for Mothra's attack on the Rolisican metropolis called "New Kirk City". Other Toho actors in this movie include Hiroshi Koizumi as the linguist Shinichi Chujo, Frankie Sakai as Zenichiro Fukuda(nicknamed "Snapping Turtle" in the original film and "Bulldog" in the English dubbed version). Kyouko Kagawa, who played "Michi Hanamura", was very cute. Kenji Sahara has a small role as a helo pilot, Harold Conway portrays the Rolisican Ambassador, and Robert Dunham a Rolisican police detective. The film, which did very well at the box office both in Japan and in the United States, was shot in color and 2:35.1 widescreen aspect ratio. It is available on Region 2 DVD and can be purchased via online order at either Yesasia.com or CDJapan, though in Japanese language only(no English subtitles). The movie has not been released on Region 1 DVD. There has been rampant speculation as to when Sony(which owns Columbia Pictures) will get around to releasing this movie on R1 disc. From what I have read from those privy to such information, Mothra(1961) is on Sony's "radar" for a R1 DVD release-Sony does have a stellar widescreen print of the movie and this film may make it to R1 DVD within the next 1-2 years. It was posted last year at two websites that track DVD releases that DDHome Entertainment was planning a Region 2/PAL format DVD release of Mothra(1961), and by the end of April, 2008. I have seen no updates of any kind since regarding this. Mothra(1961) can be purchased at several online vendors, as a DVD-R, and in its OAR with English subtitles. The film has appeared a few times on Turner Classic Movies, though not recently, in full frame format and in English dubbed audio. Anyone with questions and/or comments regarding this film please post them here. The original theatrical trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=524OaWqVNtE The R2 DVD for sale at CDJapan: http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=TDV-2751D |
 Packmule's Pen | |
 |
 
|
| Moonlight Mothra | Sep 12 2008, 02:37 AM Post #2 |
Administrator
|
^Nice commentary there.
 While I honestly don't really care for this Mothra movie, I admit however, Mothra is my fovorite kaiju. I did see this movie on tv and did find it interesting. |
|
|
|
| packmule | Sep 12 2008, 04:54 AM Post #3 |
|
Resident jackass
|
You may be interested to know that Mothra(1961) will be released by Sony in 2009 as part of a three movie R1 DVD release, along with The H-Man(1958) and Battle In Outer Space(1959). 
|
|
Packmule's Pen | |
|
|
|
| Moonlight Mothra | Sep 12 2008, 05:01 AM Post #4 |
|
Administrator
|
Sweet! Thank you. I did not know that. |
|
|
|
| packmule | Sep 12 2008, 05:03 AM Post #5 |
|
Resident jackass
|
August Ragone broke the news recently at his Google blog page. There's no specific date yet(in 2009) but when one is announced I'll be sure and post it here. Trivia: in the 1961 film Mothra the winged monster's wingspan was a colossal 500 feet. In the 90's "Rebirth Of Mothra" films Mothra's wingspan was about 170 feet. |
|
Packmule's Pen | |
|
|
|
| Moonlight Mothra | Sep 12 2008, 05:12 AM Post #6 |
|
Administrator
|
True. No date is really set this far ahead. Woah. I knew the scaled it down, but I just didn't know it was by that much. lol |
|
|
|
| packmule | Sep 12 2008, 05:15 AM Post #7 |
|
Resident jackass
|
Mothra's size was halved for her appearance in Mothra Vs Godzilla(1964). |
|
Packmule's Pen | |
|
|
|
| Moonlight Mothra | Sep 12 2008, 05:53 AM Post #8 |
|
Administrator
|
That's interesting. |
|
|
|
| packmule | Sep 21 2008, 03:04 PM Post #9 |
|
Resident jackass
|
August Ragone posted a great retrospective of this film back in March of this year: http://augustragone.blogspot.com/2008/03/mothra-1961.html |
|
Packmule's Pen | |
|
|
|
| Moonlight Mothra | Sep 21 2008, 09:38 PM Post #10 |
|
Administrator
|
That's cool. |
|
|
|
| packmule | Sep 22 2008, 02:19 AM Post #11 |
|
Resident jackass
|
Here's a cool video of "The Peanuts", Emi and Yumi Ito: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CzFppQFcKs |
|
Packmule's Pen | |
|
|
|
| Moonlight Mothra | Sep 22 2008, 04:08 AM Post #12 |
|
Administrator
|
Nice vid. |
|
|
|
| packmule | Sep 23 2008, 11:30 PM Post #13 |
|
Resident jackass
|
Here's a wallpaper(click the thumbnail for a full size view and download) from the Columbia Pictures promo poster for the original Mothra film:  After clicking to see the full size of the image you can right click to use it as your desktop wallpaper. |
|
Packmule's Pen | |
|
|
|
| Moonlight Mothra | Oct 6 2008, 03:08 AM Post #14 |
|
Administrator
|
Nice poster. |
|
|
|
| packmule | Dec 12 2008, 04:59 AM Post #15 |
|
Resident jackass
|
I have seen it posted at a couple of message boards that Sony's R1 DVD set which will include the original "Mothra" film will tentatively release in October of next year. |
|
Packmule's Pen | |
|
|
|
| 1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous) | |
| Go to Next Page | |
| « Previous Topic · Mothra(1961) · Next Topic » |
- Pages:
- 1
- 2
1:21 PM Nov 26
