Mothra (1961)

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Re: Mothra (1961)

Post by Dawsbfiremind »

eabaker wrote:
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I mean I understand the legacy it has & how important it was for Toho...but I've
never been able to really, truly, fully get into it.

Does that make me a bad person?
I'm not sure this board is the right place to discuss whether one is necessarily a "bad person" simply because of not having a soul...
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Re: Mothra (1961)

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eabaker wrote:I'm not sure this board is the right place to discuss whether one is necessarily a "bad person" simply because of not having a soul...
I guess you make a fair point.

I do miss my soul.
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Re: Mothra (1961)

Post by Mr_Goji_and_Watch »

I just wanna say real quickly that this might have my favorite ending out of all of Toho's kaiju films. Peace is restored back on Infant Island, you have these beautiful matte paintings of it on the horizon contrasting the huge clouds and blue water, the wide shot with the natives and some of their silhouettes, the narrator's voice rising with that statue, the shobijin essentially bidding farewell to the audience and it's all backed by Koseki's wonderful score. Such a grand and fitting finale for one of Honda's finest films.
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Re: Mothra (1961)

Post by _JNavs_ »

Mr_Goji_and_Watch wrote:I just wanna say real quickly that this might have my favorite ending out of all of Toho's kaiju films. Peace is restored back on Infant Island, you have these beautiful matte paintings of it on the horizon contrasting the huge clouds and blue water, the wide shot with the natives and some of their silhouettes, the narrator's voice rising with that statue, the shobijin essentially bidding farewell to the audience and it's all backed by Koseki's wonderful score. Such a grand and fitting finale for one of Honda's finest films.
I think the big 3 Toho solo films from back then, really explored the depth a monster film could deliver. Each one conveying a different theme with similar yet unique occurrences. Mothra can hold her own film quite well when explored correctly.
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Re: Mothra (1961)

Post by GodzillaXGomoraFight »

Just rewatched this film for the first time in almost 6-8 years and in Japanese for the first time. Although Mothra is one of my least favorite kaiju, I was quite impressed by this movie. The visual effects as many have said are very good and I was very pleased to see that this film had a large cast of foreigners who weren't all dubbed to speak Japanese. It definitely gives the film a larger world view than most Godzilla flicks which I appreciate. This film very much has it's own identity and is a good contrast to previous stand-alone monster films like Godzilla, Rodan, and Varan. Now to see if I will finally warm up to Mothra vs. Godzilla.
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Re: Mothra (1961)

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It's a great film, and mainly because it takes a slightly different route to the kaiju.
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Re: Mothra (1961)

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The one kaiju film where the monster is offered an invitation to come back and visit Japan.
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Re: Mothra (1961)

Post by GodzillaFanatic2001 »

During the scenes in New Kirk City, there are some background plates of what looks like a US city. I'm curious, does anyone know where these shots were filmed?
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Re: Mothra (1961)

Post by Mr_Goji_and_Watch »

Just saw this again, fucking kino. Slows down a tiny bit and some of the back and forth between effects and drama footage in Tokyo feels haphazard but as a whole it's a grandiose experience. Wish the photographer and editor did more though
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Re: Mothra (1961)

Post by GodzillaFan1990's »

I picked up the film last weekend at my local movie store at the mall. Intend to watch it this week.

Which would you guys recommend? The original Japanese version or the English?

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Re: Mothra (1961)

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I really dig the Japanese original; I highly recommend it, myself.
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Re: Mothra (1961)

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GodzillaFan1990's wrote:I picked up the film last weekend at my local movie store at the mall. Intend to watch it this week.

Which would you guys recommend? The original Japanese version or the English?
Japanese version. Aside from the obvious dub vs sub reasons, the Japanese version has a fantastic song not present in the American version.
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Re: Mothra (1961)

Post by GodzillaFan1990's »

Its settled then. The original Japanese sub it is. ;)

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Re: Mothra (1961)

Post by Terasawa »

The U.S. version is a nice alternative as an abbreviated version of the film but the Japanese version is definitely better. I think the most unfortunate deletion -which Kaiju-King alluded to- was the Shobijin's second song, although I can understand that since it's a Japanese musical number and Columbia's intended audience was Americans.

Speaking of Columbia, it was their distribution deal with Toho that allowed Toho to shoot the New Kirk City climax. The original ending, which had Mothra following and killing Nelson and his henchmen on a mountain while Chujo rescues his brother, probably would have been a tidier ending. Unfortunately I don't think any of the footage that was shot survives. :(
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Re: Mothra (1961)

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GodzillaFanatic2001 wrote:During the scenes in New Kirk City, there are some background plates of what looks like a US city. I'm curious, does anyone know where these shots were filmed?
Los Angeles, presumably, considering the brief shot showing the exit for the Harbor Freeway.

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Re: Mothra (1961)

Post by The Octopus »

I read an interview with Ishiro Honda where he said the reason Mothra survives at the end (unlike Godzilla in 1954, Rodan in 1956 and Varan in 1958) was because he felt sorry for King Kong. So he wanted the film to have a happy ending.
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Re: Mothra (1961)

Post by Spuro »

Godzilla Fans: "Mothra sucks because she always loses and dies!"

Mothra: *Is the second Toho monster ever to not die at the end of the film, and the first one ever to actually emerge from a film victorious.*
Last edited by Spuro on Thu Jul 18, 2019 6:56 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Mothra (1961)

Post by Maritonic »

Kaiju-King42 wrote:Godzilla Fans: "Mothra sucks because she always loses and dies!"
In my 20+ years as a Godzilla fan, I don't think I've ever once heard a Godzilla fan say this.
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Re: Mothra (1961)

Post by Spuro »

Maritonic wrote:
Kaiju-King42 wrote:Godzilla Fans: "Mothra sucks because she always loses and dies!"
In my 20+ years as a Godzilla fan, I don't think I've ever once heard a Godzilla fan say this.
I hear it all the time...
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Re: Mothra (1961)

Post by Maritonic »

Kaiju-King42 wrote:
Maritonic wrote:
Kaiju-King42 wrote:Godzilla Fans: "Mothra sucks because she always loses and dies!"
In my 20+ years as a Godzilla fan, I don't think I've ever once heard a Godzilla fan say this.
I hear it all the time...
I've heard people endlessly complaining about Mothra beating Godzilla, but "Mothra sucks because she always loses" is definitely not something I've heard.

Added in 5 minutes 54 seconds:
And to be specific: I'm not saying it's never said, I'm just saying I myself have never heard that sentiment.
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