Mothra (1961)

Mothra (Mosura)
Directed by Ishiro Honda
Written by Shinichi Sekizawa from a novel by Shinichiro Nakamura et al
1961/Japan
Toho Company
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Shobijin, Shobijin: Mothra, she’ll rescue us, and return us to our island![/box]

Here’s our first giant mutant hero.  A destructive hero to be sure, but his heart is in the right place.

A fishing ship runs aground on Infant Island, the supposedly uninhabited location of Rolisican atomic tests.  None of the sailors is suffering from radiation poisoning.  They attribute this to some juice prescribed by the local people.

A joint Japanese-Rolisican expedition sets out to explore the island.  The team includes two snoopy Japanese investigative reporters and the evil Rolisican who demands to be in charge of the entire mission.  It turns out this man is a notorious collector of ancient artifacts.  When the group discovers two one-foot high beauties living on the island, the villain promptly kidnaps them and puts them on display on the main land.  Their “act” mostly consists of a song in their own language begging “Mosura” to rescue them.

The girls’ plea does not go unanswered for long.  An egg undergoes its metamorphosis from caterpillar to pupa to moth in short order.  Mosura is single-minded in his quest.  No amount of persuasion will persuade the bad guy to release his captives.  He merely smuggles them out of Japan to Rolisican.  The moth changes course, but not before destroying the Tokyo Tower.

This is a fun film.  Even the obligatory comic relief is somehow endearing.  You need to accept it for what it is – a vehicle for the teen idol identical twin singing group who play the tiny beauties.

The DVD contained both the Japanese and American versions and a commentary.

American Trailer