Dec 251961
 
three reels

A shipwreck reveals that an irradiated island has a surviving tribe that has juice that counters radiation poisoning. A scientific expedition to the island, financed by an evil businessman from the pushy country of Rolisica, discovers two twin fairies, who the businessmen kidnaps for use in a stage show. The native’s god, a giant caterpillar, heads to Japan to retrieve its priestesses.

Ishirô Honda had already created Godzilla and Rodan, and here he finishes the trinity of Japanese giant monsters. He was shifting what “monsters” were. Godzilla started as pure evil (or a representation of man’s stupidity and cruelty) while Rodan was an animal out of time and one could sympathized with him, but Mothra took it a further step. She’s the good guy, a protecting spirit, and soon Japan would be filled with films of good guy monsters, including a re-tooled Godzilla. Those later films would be purely for kids, but Mothra sits at the crossroads. Everything is more arch than in 1954’s Godzilla, with the villain sneering and using his evil laugh. And there is a kid in a notable role, but things haven’t drifted purely into the juvenile. Call it a family adventure film instead of a children’s flick.

As was true in all of the early daikaiju films, there’s a strong theme. While nuclear weapons are still pertinent, they are a secondary issue. The focus is on foreign governments throwing their weight around inside Japan and the Japanese government being so weak and obedient as to let it happen. Rolisica is a combination of the United States and the Soviet Union, two countries that just couldn’t keep their mitts off of Japan. Except for the evil businessman and his henchmen, Rolisicans are White. (in the non-dubbed version, the Rolisicans speak English). These foreigners do whatever they please inside Japan (and outside it as the island is not in Japanese waters and, depending on the subtitles, may be in Rolisican waters). The Rolisicans care nothing about what is happening until it effects them directly, and their only way of dealing with things is with newer and bigger weapons, which the Japanese government meekly goes along with installing. “Yankee (and Ruskee) go home” is not a subtle message, but I imagine it was a popular one in ’61 Japan.

While an early daikaiju movie, it looks better than most of what came later. The general cinematography is good, and the moth and slug puppets are shot with a care that they haven’t seen since. Mothra has never looked as good again. Sure, the special effects are primitive, but except for a few moments when the fairies are clearly swapped for dolls, Honda manages to keep it from becoming embarrassing, even fifty years later.

The plot and character material is fine, which puts it above many similar films (there are a lot of daikaiju films where the characters are painful and the plot is best ignored), but Mothra excels in the fantasy native bits. The island is King Kong on acid. The native dances, drum and vocal music, lush colors, and odd sets create a surrealistic wonderland. Yumi & Emi Itô (as the fairies) have lovely voices and their rendition of the “Mosura” song is haunting and memorable.

The American release does far less to damage the film than occurred with many of the Japanese films of the time. The dubbing isn’t bad and I wasn’t distracted by it. There are around 10 minutes of cuts, the worst being much of the fairies second performance. Otherwise, the only noticeable trims are to religious moments. For some reason the U.S. distributers didn’t like the Rolisicans praying, or the Japanese making the sign of the cross. This mystifies me, but slicing out these moments doesn’t harm anything. I’d recommend the Japanese cut over the U.S. one, but this isn’t a case like Godzilla, King of the Monsters. If only the American is available, that’s fine.

Mothra would return in Rebirth of Mothra I/II/III (1996/1997/1998). She’d play a secondary part in multiple Godzilla films: Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964), Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster (1964), Ebirah, Horror of the Deep (1966), Destroy All Monsters (1968), Godzilla and Mothra : The Battle for Earth (1992), Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla (1994), Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001), Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. (2003), Godzilla: Final Wars (2004). She is scheduled to appear in the American-made Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019).