Mosura tai Gojira (1964)

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
Yû 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:

It's not generally known among non-Godzilla enthusiasts, but "Mothra" had her own movie in 1961. Mosura (1961) was one of the major monster films Toho made during Godzilla's rest from the silver screen from 1955-1962. Other Toho monsters that originally had their own separate movie would take the same path as Mothra. Rodan, Manda, Baragon, and Varan would appear in future Godzilla movies, but Rodan though would be the only monster out of these four that would take on any major roles.

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:

[the natives of Infant Island refuse to assist Japan after Godzilla attacks because their island had been ravaged by man's atomic bomb testings]
News Photographer Junko 'Yoka' Nakanishi: Please listen, we all understand. But do not blame every one of us of what has happened. The monster is killing everyone. The good are being killed, as well as the evil. Are you going to let innocent men died along side guilty men. You have no right to decide that, that right is sacred. My friends and I appeal to you with the utmost humility. Our people are unable to stop Godzilla. We truly like to help you, but we need your help first. Refuse us then, and everyone will die!
[...]

Movie Connections:

Featured in Gojira: Fainaru uôzu (2004)

Soundtrack:

The Song of Mothra

Really good up to a point. Though Godzilla seems groggy in it.

Yes, this Godzilla film was not even supposed to have Godzilla in it. It was going to be strictly a Mothra movie and she was supposed to fight a monster whose name I think was Baigon or something. The movie makers wisely though changed it to Godzilla as they thought he would be a better draw. So we basically have an egg washing up on the shoreline after a typhoon. A greedy owner of some sort of amusement park or something buys up the egg and of course wants to hatch it. The fairy twins come along and try and get the egg back, but of course the greedy people are not going to listen which means the eggs could hatch and a Mothra larvae could go on the rampage at any time. Add to this the fact Godzilla is back again fresh off his fight with King Kong, proving that he didn't get killed by the big ape after all. Still, he is not himself as he gets his tail caught in something and it falls down and he stumbles into a building. Just not himself and then he must face the moth form of Mothra and he gets hammered a bit. This is the same Godzilla that would go on to defeat much more powerful foes, but here he just has not gained that level of skill. Well the fight with the moth form of Mothra is the highlight, after this the movie just is not up to par as it is mainly Godzilla walking through barren country side instead of stomping through cities and a pointless school teacher and her missing students on an island that seems like it is there to pad the film a bit. Still it is a rather good and well developed Godzilla movie though I guess technically it is a Mothra movie more.