Mosura tai Gojira (1964)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

Ishirô Honda

Writer:

Shinichi Sekizawa (writer)

Release Date:

17 September 1964 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Horror | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Nothing Like This Ever On the Screen!

Plot:

A greedy developer unwittingly hatches a gigantic baby moth upon Tokyo, while Godzilla strikes once again.

Plot Keywords:

Egg | Godzilla | Moth | Twins | Reporter

Cast

Akira Takarada	...	News Reporter Ichiro Sakai
Yuriko Hoshi	...	News Photographer Junko 'Yoka' Nakanishi
Hiroshi Koizumi	...	Prof. Miura
Yu Fujiki	...	Reporter Jiro Nakamura (with egg and frying pan)
Emi Ito	...	Shobijin (Twin Fairy)
Yûmi Ito	...	Shobijin (Twin Fairy)
Yoshifumi Tajima	...	Kumayama
Kenji Sahara	...	Banzo Torahata - U.S.:Shiro Torahata
Jun Tazaki	...	Editor Arota
Kenzo Tabu	...	Mayor
Yutaka Sada	...	Old Man
Akira Tani	...	Village Headman
Susumu Fujita	...	General
Ikio Sawamura	...	Priest
Ren Yamamoto	...	Sailor

Also Known As:

Godzilla Against Mothra (Japan: English title)
Godzilla Fights the Giant Moth
Godzilla vs. Mothra
Godzilla vs. the Giant Moth
Godzilla vs. the Thing (USA)
Mothra vs. Godzilla (International: English title) (literal title)

Runtime:

Germany:87 min | USA:89 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:M | Australia:PG (DVD rating) | USA:Unrated | West Germany:12 (nf)

Company:

Toho Company

Trivia:

When the sequence of Godzilla being firebombed was being shot, during one of the takes the flaming liquid splashed up onto Godzilla's head. The fuel quickly burned away and the flames went out. Inside the suit, performer Haruo Nakajima was unaware of the accident, since the head of the suit is well above Nakajima's own head. Godzilla's head aflame became an unplanned bonus to the effects shot and it was included in the final cut.

Goofs:

Continuity: After Professor Miura scrapes part of the Mothra egg into a culture disc, he answered News Reporter Ichiro Sakai's question. In the next scene when Kumayama appears, Miura is scrapping the egg again.

Quotes:

Reporter Jiro Nakamura: "I'm not as afraid of Godzilla as I am of the editor... he's meaner."

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Chowder: The B.L.T.'s/The Trouble with Truffles (#2.11)" (2009)

Soundtrack:

The Prayer of the Fairies

Another one of Ishiro Honda's classic monster movies

As a major fan of the original dark, haunting kaiju movies, I very much enjoy watching "Godzilla vs. Mothra" even though I still can't understand why they call Mothra "the Thing" (maybe it's just in the Americanized dubbed version).

Godzilla's appearance in this movie is very good, however, there are some problems with his mouth in this movie. They are very wobbly and that's because in the sequence where Godzilla emerges from underground, the suit got damaged and the mouth got loose. And later on, the head caught on fire, although if you ask me, that was pretty cool and showed how invincible and invulnerable Godzilla really is.

The music's superior with legendary composer Akira Ifukube campusing the score. Eiji Tsuburaya handles the great special effects and Ishiro Honda's talents as a director come through in this movie.