Talkback Thread #4: Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964)

[he-ba]

I agree it can be VERY slow. I played it for my friends a few days ago, and they seemed pretty bored in the beginning. Then, once Godzilla was on the screen, their eyes got huge and they had grins on their faces! They loved it! Of course, they didn't care for the story or anything like we geeks do, but man, did they love the action in this movie!

[Kaiser]

If the movie has one slow spot, it'd be the Infant Island sequence. The scene stretches out a few minutes longer than it needs to and is sandwiched in-between Godzilla's first appearance and the conflicts with the military, so it makes the slower pace really noticeable.

I don't mind the pacing at the beginning because the characters are so likeable and well-acted, it takes it's time and allows gives the frantic pace of the rest of the movie more relevance.

[Gojira1963]

Mothra vs Godzilla is one of my top favorite movies. Love the suit, the story and the acting. It truly is a Showa Classic!

[three]

i love how Godzilla is entirely unstoppable through this one, and he's not even trying. he just happens to lumber through military bombardments and that's that.

[Kaiser]

Fun bit of trivia, the JSDF General is played by Susumu Fujita, famous for his collaborations with Akira Kurosawa in Sanshiro Sugata and the Hidden Fortress most notably.

[mschenk]

Watched this last night for the first time since I was a kid, and for the first time in Japanese. I loved it, it's now one of my favorites of the Showa series, but not my favorite. I still like King Kong vs. Godzilla, Ghidorah the Three Headed Monster, and Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla better. The other monsters are better opponents, and I felt they made Godzilla a little weaker in this one (he's always falling down) so Mothra could beat him. In real life one blast of his breath would roast her, but it was the same with King Kong vs. Godzilla. This movie had a good story, the music was good, the humans were interesting, and the action and special effects (for their time) were all great. Funny that everyone says this has one of the best dubs, as I saw the English version years back and turned it off after 15 minutes because I thought it was cheesy. Maybe I just don't like dubbing at all?

[toho_guy01]

Good movie. Awesome suit and very good effects.

[seamus]

I'm watching this right now (haven't seen it in many years)…not only one of the best Godzilla intro scenes, but amongst all the dated kitsch (I'm watching the dub on VHS), the pacing and directing are really good and make the movie insanely interesting and watchable. All the reasons this is one of the best Godzilla movies are flooding back into my consciousness. It's a damn fine cup of coffee.

[shippersdreamer]

and hate Godzilla's Revenge, Godzilla vs Megalon, and GINO.

Really? 'Cos here, you are pretty much expected to like the former 2, and people are warming up to GINO.

Mothra vs Godzilla is a pretty good G movie. The best bit is the score, which is pretty much the best in any Godzilla film and one fo my all-time favourtie scores.

Mothra v Godzilla is a fantastic Godzilla movie and the score is simply one of the best. Hands down. Also if Zilla was a bit more like it's animated series counterpart/offspring, people would likely like it more.

[Godzilla The King]

This was the Godzilla film I'd watch the most as a kid next to TOMG and it still is in my top 3 Godzilla films. I feel like this film acheieved things that films before and after this sorely lack like a very nice and entertaining fight, human characters that are more than exposition machines. The music was also great but what else do you expect from Ifukube.
I always liked the ending with Godzilla being defeated by the Mothra twins, I could go on about what I view that as but that might be reaching a bit too far.

[three]

^ no, man. Do go on. I wanna know what you're thinking here.

[Godzilla The King]

I don't know if it's said or not but I always viewed that as a symbol for the next generation achieving things the one before them couldn't. It probably doesn't go with the movie itself but I kind of read it that way.

[three]

I don't know if it's said or not but I always viewed that as a symbol for the next generation achieving things the one before them couldn't. It probably doesn't go with the movie itself but I kind of read it that way.

Makes sense; Mothra herself makes a decent metaphor for the next generation in her appearances. If you think about it, she represents strong idealism and fights for a long term investment in the environment, so the connection is there if you want to make it. You happened to take it one step further and say the next gen isn't just shown, but is doing things the last gen couldn't.
Considering they also take down the nuclear mistake of the older generation, your case becomes stronger.

[Godzilla The King]

I suppose when you put it like that it fits perfectly with the themes and ideas of the character of Mothra.

[three]

I suppose when you put it like that it fits perfectly with the themes and ideas of the character of Mothra.

I do what I can, man...I do what I can.

[Kaiser]

I just realized that this might be the only Godzilla film to take place in Nagoya and the surrounding area. Considering it's Japan's third largest city, you'd think more movies would be set there.

[Pkmatrix]

I just realized that this might be the only Godzilla film to take place in Nagoya and the surrounding area. Considering it's Japan's third largest city, you'd think more movies would be set there.

Wasn't part of GvM set in Nagoya? I could've sworn that was the city Battra attacked. That aside, yeah, it's a little odd. Then again, there aren't a whole lot of disaster or action movies set in Chicago either. I can't even think of any Giant Monster movies set there at all - the third city tends to get overlooked. ^_^()

[Fifth]

I think this is a very good film. The only thing that confused me a bit is this: After Mothra is badly hurt and flies to protect her egg, Godzilla finally manages to get up and starts walking towards the egg, but the military attacks and minutes later we see him swimming towards an island where ten children and their teacher were left stranded.
The use of puppets is a bit notorious in the fight sequence at about the one hour mark of the film. There's a couple scenes there that could have benefited from using slow motion. We can see are some wonderful close ups during that sequence too.
I wouldn't go as far as placing it second to Gojira, but it's a very good film, very well done.

[The Godzilla Camp]

I might have posted mentioned this before BUT with Godzilla 1964 (well Mosu-Goji) and I might sound crazy in what I'm about to post BUT wouldn't one argue that Mosu-Goji 1964 is arguably one of the most 'durable' versions of Showa Godzilla - whilst he may not have then in 1964 displayed feats like what the late 1970s Showa Godzilla did but considering where Mosu-Goji 1964 he was able to endure (albeit uncomfortably) up to 1 MILLION VOLTS of Electricity from the Artificial Lightning Generators and true he might have down for the count BUT considering he was able to endure it - and probably that was enough to fry out Hedorah 1971 ... but the fact he then - when the Artificial Lightning Generators shorted out he pretty much just made a work of a moment frying one of the towers and then frying some JSDF tanks and continued his business of rampaging around until the twin Mosura Larvae 1964 intercepted him ...

Still - I was abit bummered out how he got defeated - I was hoping he'd put up a much longer fight and even perhaps really nearly kill the Mosura 1964 Twin-Larvae but perhaps then ... given he killed Mosura 1964 (then again she was dying already anyhow) ...

[edgaguirus]

Godzilla's defeat by the larvae shows brawn vs brains. Godzilla is clearly the stronger and tougher foe here. One of the larvae tried to physically attack Godzilla, and was getting tail slapped around for it. Then the silk bombardment begins. Using the terrain to their advantage, they showed strategy and quick thinking in dealing with Godzilla. They outwitted Godzilla.