Toho Kingdom

edgaguirus wrote: ↑Tue Feb 02, 2021 11:04 pm One of the interesting things about this movie is that it has you rooting for a criminal. He's a bank robber, but his leadership and experience prove vital to our group of heroes.

Movies with criminals at their heart - "honor among thieves" yakuza movies and such - were pretty big in Japan in the 60s, although they were never Toho's stock in trade. Even internationally, this was the era when the anti-hero was really emerging as a major pop culture figure.

eabaker wrote: ↑Wed Feb 03, 2021 10:04 am

edgaguirus wrote: ↑Tue Feb 02, 2021 11:04 pm One of the interesting things about this movie is that it has you rooting for a criminal. He's a bank robber, but his leadership and experience prove vital to our group of heroes.

Movies with criminals at their heart - "honor among thieves" yakuza movies and such - were pretty big in Japan in the 60s, although they were never Toho's stock in trade.

And one of the more notable films of that type to come out of Toho in the '60s was 1965's Ironfinger/100 Shot, 100 Killed. Like Ebirah, that was directed by Jun Fukuda (also with much of the same crew) and starred Akira Takarada as a good-natured criminal. Ragone wrote in his book that Ebirah was reworked from not only the "Operation Robinson Crusoe" (King Kong vs. Ebirah) screenplay but also a treatment for a proposed sequel to 100 Shot, 100 Killed. Whether that's actually the case or not, it's likely no coincidence that Fukuda's next assignment to star Takarada (this movie) would tread some of that same ground.

I like this movie. Yeah it has some quirks resulting from Kong being the original intended protagonist but it still works and is fairly entertaining. Now a favorite of mine but I certainly don't dislike it or anything.

An odd thought; With Godzilla, we got baked shrimp. Given kong's electric touch, would that be grilled or slow roasted?

edgaguirus wrote: ↑Sat Feb 06, 2021 1:24 pm An odd thought; With Godzilla, we got baked shrimp. Given kong's electric touch, would that be grilled or slow roasted?

Shrimp cocktail with condor wings on the side!

Rewatching this for my GVk marathon and noticed that while the common fanon is Ebirah is a mutant made by pollution from the heavy water plant, the film seems to imply he's a natural creature of the South Seas, given the Infant Islanders know him well enough to have named him, fear him and know the perfect formula to keep him away from boats at sea.

This movie is sure underrated. I love how it ties Mothra and Godzilla again with Infant Island natives and of course Mothra hersellf. While Ebirah is not really a memorable villain he works well with the Red Bamboo for what the plot needs him for. That Giant Condor is also not a very memorable villain but certainly makes for a very entertaining and brief fight. I think the only fight faster than that was Godzilla fighting the first American Godzilla in Final Wars. Anyways I love the fights against Ebirah! We got to see Godzilla fight underwater which almost never is shown on screen and of course give Ebirah a fiery and watery death at the same time. The classic blow everything up ending also gives this a nice finish even if it is brief and predictable.

SoggyNoodles2016 wrote: ↑Sun Mar 21, 2021 6:21 pm Rewatching this for my GVk marathon and noticed that while the common fanon is Ebirah is a mutant made by pollution from the heavy water plant, the film seems to imply he's a natural creature of the South Seas, given the Infant Islanders know him well enough to have named him, fear him and know the perfect formula to keep him away from boats at sea.

There were large arthropods living in the ocean millions of years ago. Some grew quite large. I could see Ebirah as a species that was driven to extreme size due to predation from massive sea reptiles, or that grew to feed on them.

I love this one, especially the first half. Once Godzilla gets involved things go downhill a bit - the movie lacks any meaningful payoffs. But it's still a damn good time overall.

I remember reading somewhere that someone made this statement about this film and Son of Godzilla:

"This is what Godzilla does when he's not destroying cities."

mikelcho wrote: ↑Tue Mar 23, 2021 3:44 pm I remember reading somewhere that someone made this statement about this film and Son of Godzilla:

"This is what Godzilla does when he's not destroying cities."

Yeah, it was cool to see that side of the character. We need more island films!

I love this movie. It was one of the first Godzilla films I owned on VHS way back. I remember being so excited by Godzilla's fights with Ebirah. Mothra was a nice touch; heck, even the addition of a condor kaiju was entertaining to me, as a kid and now.

I like the human characters and find their interaction and story fun to follow. The little mythology (world-building) bits behind Ebirah, what with the Infant Island natives having a name for the beast and how to repel him was cool. Lastly, that surf guitar, man. This movie is a good time.

I read that Fukuda did not like this movie. That's a shame, it's always been one of my favorites.

Where did you read that?

edgaguirus wrote: ↑Fri Jun 10, 2022 10:17 pm Where did you read that?

I believe Fukuda famously did not like most of the Godzilla films he directed.

The source is this interview (assuming it's real/what his final beliefs on Godzilla were before dying):

https://web.archive.org/web/20150123035 ... fukuda.htm

If you read it in full, you get the impression he wanted to make more human oriented stories, and make more SF films, but couldn't thanks to Godzilla. A problem of working in a tight studio setting. It makes sense. For those who haven't seen it, Secret of the Telegian is a really great SF movie. Iron Finger, while often labeled as a James Bond "rip-off" is a really fun adventure/spy film.

Ironically, I disagree with Fukuda's assessment of his own works. Despite what he sees as monsters taking over, I think EHOTD/Son of Godzilla, and Godzilla vs. Gigan, have a lot of memorable characters and moments, that clearly are somewhat inspired by his interests in action, adventure and SF.

Weird, I was just thinking about that interview the other day, and wondering about the veracity of it. Nothing funnier than "You don't have to mention that!" re, Zone Fighter.

I enjoyed Fukuda's The War in Space quite a bit, since we're on the topic of his work.

LSD Jellyfish wrote: ↑Sat Jun 11, 2022 2:28 am

Ironically, I disagree with Fukuda's assessment of his own works. Despite what he sees as monsters taking over, I think EHOTD/Son of Godzilla, and Godzilla vs. Gigan, have a lot of memorable characters and moments, that clearly are somewhat inspired by his interests in action, adventure and SF.

I would consider G vs Gigan and EHotD to be quite human centered stories. The characters are the force that drives the plot, and the kaiju are there for the spectacle.

I could definitely understand thinking that the kaiju had overshadowed the human stories while looking back on stuff like Godzilla vs Megalon and Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla. Particularly in the latter movie the non-kaiju characters are awfully forgettable, excepting Nanbara and the alien commander.

Even vs Gigan, which I agree has a good human centered narrative, also has one of the longest, most drawn out kaiju fights in the whole series.