Mothra

During a deadly storm, a large container ship runs aground near Infant Island. During a search and rescue for the sailors, four of them are found on the coast of Infant Island, and state that the natives on the island helped them. This baffles everyone, as it had long been assumed that the island was uninhabited. So an expedition is launched to investigate, where they discover two tiny fairies!

Released in 1961 and directed by Ishirô Honda; Mothra is a Japanese Monster Movie, which marks the first ever appearance of the monster also known as Mothra. The film stars Furankî Sakai, Hiroshi Koizumi, Kyôko Kagawa, Jerry Itô, and The Peanuts (Yumi Itô and Emi Itô), with Ken Uehara, Takashi Shimura, Tetsu Nakamura, Masamitsu Tayama, and Akihiko Hirata in supporting roles. The film is largely set in Japan, with some early scenes taking place on Infant Island, and a large part of the final act in the ‘fictional’ ‘Rolisican‘ capital of ‘New Kirk City‘, which looks strangely, and accurately simillar to New York City?!

In most cases, especialy in Japanese productions, there’s usually more than one monster per film. Most Monster movies usually feature the appearance of a giant monster, which leads to city wide destruction. But in quite a large number of cases, it’s not merely limited to just one single monster. Frequently you would either see 2, or more, which then leads to a climactic showdown, which causes further destruction.

Solo monster movie outings aren’t all that rare. Most monster movies in the early days just featured one monster. The monster would take the name of the film’s title (unless it was an American production, in which case it didn’t have a name, but a description beginning with the word ‘The’…or ‘It’), and then go on the rampage. Classic films in this vein include (but are not limited to): The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, 20 Million Miles to Earth, and It Came from Beneath the Sea.

There were some though like the 1925 film The Lost World, and of course the original King Kong which did feature more than one large monster, which innevitably led to a big fight. Something which became more common-place, after the release of Godzilla Raids Again; which was the first film in the Godzilla series to feature a fight. As time has passed, it has more or less become a trait of the genre to feature more than one monster, duking it out over some reason, such as being in the same place at the same time. Even more modern giant monster movies, produced outside of Japan have featured a fight between two or more monsters; such as Rampage, Pacific Rim, and Jurassic World.

Solo monster movie outings aren’t all that rare, and some still get produced (like Colossal, The Host, and Cloverfield); but in the realm of the Godzilla series (and others), they are very rare. Most monsters in the Godzilla series have debuted, as a rival to attack the titular monster, with key creatures including King Ghidorah, Mechagodzilla, and Gigan to name but a few. Some monsters however are slightly more lucky. Godzilla for instance has had five solo movie outings, (four of which are fantastic). But when you consider all the other monsters in the series, there are only two left, which had the honour of a solo outing. The first was Rodan (whose film I haven’t seen, as it’s difficult to get hold of, but it is the film’s 70th anniversary next year, so maybe there will be a re-release…?) in 1956. And then in 1961, there was Mothra.

Mothra is something of a mini-epic, in both content, and quality. The film tells a rather simple story, that is easy to follow, but still allowing enough room for huge levels of action. The plot is pretty simillar to the classic British monster movie Gorgo (which was also released in 1961). In Gorgo, greedy sailors capture a gaint creature, which invokes the wrath of it’s even larger mother. Now whilst the Shobijin are not the children of Mothra, it’s still very simillar, as a greedy businessman captures the two tiny fairies to make money, only for the fairies much larger guardian to come rescue them. It’s a very simple story, which has been used since (like Peter Benchley‘s Beast for example), and also an easy one to explain.

But that’s merely the foundation that the whole film is built upon. The story uses this to create a simple villain, who is easy to despise, as he is motivated entirely by wealth, than any desire for political gain. It also helps to keep the film moving along, as the businessman’s desperation to hold onto the possibility of wealth, makes the situation worse and worse, as he cares more about himself, than those getting hurt, by a giant moth which is just looking out for it’s friends.

This solid foundation means the story is easy to follow, which provides the producers the scope of what they could add on top in the realms of monster movie action. And in this extent, we get one of the most detailed monster movies ever made. Mothra is packed to the brim with small subtlties, which you don’t get in other monster movies, not even Godzilla movies made less than four years later did stuff like this. These range from close-up shots of Mothra’s head, close-ups of military vehicles racing around the streets, and even the large aerial moving shots of Mothra plodding along. Even some of the later city destruction scenes, and the destruction of the dam look epic in scale, for a film that many would consider cheap. But it’s these images that visually stand out the most from this film, and the one thing you’ll most likely remember thereafter.

In the realm of the Japanese Monster movie, solo movie outings are very rare, as for the most part the film chooses to build-up to a mega fight. It’s the same with modern American Superhero movies, as the fight is the film’s big climax. But when a solo monster movie comes along, they can be things of sheer beauty, which makes you wonder, why there can’t be more of them?

Mothra easily fits into this category. Sure, the monster would later gain more fame as it became a regular in the Godzilla series, but instead of simply getting introduced as a secondary monster, Mothra was introduced in a more mega monster movie, which allowed the creature’s existence to be better explained. This then led to a highly destructive film, with fine details to enrich the full vision, as well as tell a simple story, to make it easy for anyone to watch it. Don’t just think of this as another Godzilla Movie; think of it more as a Mothra Movie (because neither are very simillar)!