So at last we get to the good stuff, and after a few rough patches the series began to approach its 1960s zenith on the path to Ghidorah, The Three-Headed Monster and Destroy All Monsters. There are a few odd moments in between of course, and there would be plenty more to come... but overall these three represent the major peaks in quality during the original run that followed the 1954 movie. They're nothing like that first foray into the monstrous power of atomic fission, but that's okay. Toho was hitting its stride in other ways by delivering light entertainment instead of dark symbolism. But still this would mark the final appearance of Godzilla as a malevolent force until his rebirth in the 1980s.
The big guy himself is at his most cantankerous here after being washed ashore during a typhoon and being buried under a lot debris and sand. It's a weird introduction, but it's different I guess. As a result he's clumsy and irritable, staggering around and knocking things over sometimes without trying just with his tail. In one instance he just trips over part of the city's architecture causing a lot of destruction. So much for urban renovation. The design of the suit is slightly different to many of the other versions before and after this, lending the creature a more obvious attitude problem. It's a rather hung over look with a permanently angry frown and glassy eyes. We've all had mornings like this, so I can understand.
Meanwhile the same weather front has dislodged a giant egg from Infant Island and brought it over to a rural beach on the Japanese mainland. Fishing has been poor lately and the locals quickly claim it for themselves. However it's not long before a sinister corporation tricks them into selling their discovery so they can exploit it and turn the area into a tourist attraction. They're called Happiness Enterprises, what could possibly go wrong? Of course there are several immediate problems, and it's obvious that Kumayama (Yoshifumi Tajima) is up to no good. It's also very apparent that this egg is housing another giant monster which makes him a complete idiot.
Despite the fact that a lot of this was done already in Mothra, it's still good to see effective human villains. Greedy business tycoons that care more about huge stacks of money than mass destruction and the loss of lives are always a good inclusion. One of the best scenes in the film involves Kumayama and his shady partner Torahata (Kenji Sahara) fighting in a hotel room over a stash of bills even as Godzilla is seconds away from the building. It's ridiculous and darkly comedic as two monsters of another kind clash. As a result this remains one of the most memorable non-Kaiju related sequences in the whole series.
However I digress, everyone is here for the showdown between Godzilla and Mothra. It's a pretty good one, even if Godzilla's motivation for attacking the giant egg isn't ever explained. He's just drawn to it for some reason, and he's already mad as hell. The big green house that the corporation built to house their star attraction isn't stopping him from getting in and cracking the thing. Of course it's up to the original Mothra to protect her offspring even if it uses the last of her energy. The initial showdown is hectic as a lot of wind power is produced and Godzilla is thrown around and covered in poisonous dust.
It's a futile effort but it's kind of melancholy in a giant creature wrestling kind of way. One of the more interesting elements is that this is still a fairly straightforward Godzilla feature in between the titular battle. All the same old military vehicles are rolled out despite their usual lack of effectiveness, and there's a great set piece involving them trying to electrocute the big guy. Elsewhere it's kind of twee as another story about journalists and tiny fairies plays out (including yet more Mothra musical numbers) but on the the whole it's a classic example of the genre. Continuity quickly goes out the window (Infant Island's mutated jungle is replaced by an irradiated wasteland) but it's not really something that warrants any concern.
Like the sequel which went into production the same year, this is a good example of consolidating what had come before and merging it all into an entertaining feature. There are more messages about greed, another naive photographer, a handful of island interludes and of course plenty of monster destruction. They only mention the whole radioactivity thing as a quick aside, but by this stage the series was firmly established as a genre blending mixtape where monsters, gangsters and space aliens could happily collide. It wouldn't always be this good, but it's nice while it lasts.
4/5
BONUS REVIEW
GODZILLA VS. MECHAGODZILLA (1974)
Another decade, another grudge match. This is certainly the best of the 1970s releases in the series (which admittedly isn't saying much) and while it's kind of shaky at times it's easy to see why fans remember it. Plus it's nice to see director Jun Fukuda hit the mark after a few dodgy instalments. There are more aliens in disguise and more tag team battle scenes, and there are more weird musical numbers that go on for way too long. The plot for what it's worth mixes up a tale of Interpol agents trying to track down the extra-terrestrial villains, while a Professor and his friends are inadvertently caught in a plot involving robot engineers and ancient prophecies.
It's a pretty weird movie but I guess this isn't saying a lot in a franchise this unwieldy. Early on there's a portent of doom by a priestess in Okinawa (though she foresees Ghidorah attacking... who's not even close to being in this) and images painted on the walls of an ancient temple begin to appear in real life. Elsewhere creepy guys in sunglasses want to get their hands on a sacred relic - the statue of 'King Caesar' which holds some significance in all of this. I think they mean King Shisa since it's clearly a mythical half lion half dog creature and not a Roman Emperor, but that's weird English dubbing for you.
It's better to enjoy the silly evil lair sets and the hilarious twist when the aliens reveal their true form. After a few fun battle sequences the invaders decide that they can't be bothered to fix the robot themselves and kidnap our heroes to coerce the Professor into helping. There's a brief line about this being so their superiors don't know about the problem, but it's such a quick explanation and they just look like idiots most of the time. There are too many meandering romantic subplots and a few repetitive human fight scenes, but at least there are no baseball cap wearing children. Some of the spy stuff is pretty awful, and there are hand to hand fights that could end much sooner if bystanders would just pick up guns lying nearby.
There's also the mystifying inclusion of a priest who actually wants the monsters to destroy Japan because of some kind of resentment he holds towards the mainlanders. It's something to do with colonial invaders in the feudal era but it never comes up again after his tirade. Maybe old age has got the best of him. Still, the whole thing moves along at a good pace and it includes all the rainbow laser eye beams and fingernail rockets you could ask for. The finale is a fun spectacle delivering what the title promises, and the rest isn't worth scrutinising too much. After all this is a story where someone calmly declares that they could never have guessed that a prophecy about giant monsters would have included Godzilla...
3/5
