Talkback Thread #5: Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster(1964)

[mikelcho]

I've always thought that the Rodan in this film was one of the two Rodans from Rodan and that the two of them were a male and a female (the latter of which I've personally (and unofficially) named "Rodana" after a fan fiction story titled Rodana, Queen of the Sky by Neil Riebe (it can be read on www.fanfiction.net on pg. 23 of the Godzilla category of the Movies section under the name Neil Riebe)). As I see it, the female was the one that was first trapped by molten lave during the eruption of Mt. Aso that was caused by the JSDF firing on it while the two of them were resting inside it and the male tried to fly away to safety, but he looked back at his dying mate and decided to join her in death. It was the male, therefore, that was resurrected in this film.

[Voyager]

Favourite portrayal of the King of Terror in any piece of media. Fantastic. I just wish he wasn’t wasted in subsequent media.

[edgaguirus]

To be fair, in G vs Gigan, the suit was starting to show some wear. That's why it was more focused on Gigan.

[Legion1979]

I gotta say, for a film that was rushed into production in late 1964 for a New Year's release, there is way too much talent in this film. Aside from Honda, Sekizawa, Tsuburaya and Ifukube, you have a crazy big cast of Toho's best people.

You already have Yosuke Natsuki, Yuriko Hoshi and Hiroshi Koizumi as the three leads, not to mention Akiko Wakabayashi as the Princess and the Ito sisters as the fairies. But then there's Akihiko Hirata as the police captain and a quick appearance of Kenji Sahara as Naoko's boss. Then out of nowhere Takashi Shimura shows up as Dr Tsukamoto. But we're not even done. Eisei Amamoto is the princess' aide aboard the ill-fated plane. Ikio Sawamura is the old fisherman. Yoshifumi Tajima even shows up as a ship captain. Hiyata himself, Susumu Kurobe, plays a henchman, something he did surprisingly often in Toho films.

Then there's there's Murai's entire geology crew, an entourage of reporters and cameramen that follows Naoko around in the first act, the assassins, a group of nurses who flee the clinic with the rest of the cast, the staff of both a bar and a hotel, huge groups of people that show up wherever the Princess goes (including an entire baseball team), a ton of people at the emergency defence meeting, multiple scenes of fleeing extras, the audience of the television show where the fairies make their appearance, and all the natives on Infant Island. This is a BIG film with a ton of filming locations, both outdoors and indoors. It's incredibly ambitious for something that wasn't originally on the schedule for 1964.

And also, Godzilla, Rodan, Mothra and King Ghidorah are in it too.

(And yet you still hear people complain they cheapened out of the movie because Godzilla's ray is only animated once.)

[miguelnuva]

I gotta say, for a film that was rushed into production in late 1964 for a New Year's release, there is way too much talent in this film. Aside from Honda, Sekizawa, Tsuburaya and Ifukube, you have a crazy big cast of Toho's best people.

You already have Yosuke Natsuki, Yuriko Hoshi and Hiroshi Koizumi as the three leads, not to mention Akiko Wakabayashi as the Princess and the Ito sisters as the fairies. But then there's Akihiko Hirata as the police captain and a quick appearance of Kenji Sahara as Naoko's boss. Then out of nowhere Takashi Shimura shows up as Dr Tsukamoto. But we're not even done. Eisei Amamoto is the princess' aide aboard the ill-fated plane. Ikio Sawamura is the old fisherman. Yoshifumi Tajima even shows up as a ship captain. Hiyata himself, Susumu Kurobe, plays a henchman, something he did surprisingly often in Toho films.

Then there's there's Murai's entire geology crew, an entourage of reporters and cameramen that follows Naoko around in the first act, the assassins, a group of nurses who flee the clinic with the rest of the cast, the staff of both a bar and a hotel, huge groups of people that show up wherever the Princess goes (including an entire baseball team), a ton of people at the emergency defence meeting, multiple scenes of fleeing extras, the audience of the television show where the fairies make their appearance, and all the natives on Infant Island. This is a BIG film with a ton of filming locations, both outdoors and indoors. It's incredibly ambitious for something that wasn't originally on the schedule for 1964.

And also, Godzilla, Rodan, Mothra and King Ghidorah are in it too.

(And yet you still hear people complain they cheapened out of the movie because Godzilla's ray is only animated once.)

That's what separates casuals from the more hardcore. 5 years ago before he passed my Uncle asked me why Godzilla had no fire when using his breath in this film. Now an answer like this that you posted explains why GTTHM is not a cheaper film despite being rushed and is an answer someone like us would fine. You have done the research and I am around forums enough to read the answer. A casual like my uncle however would just see Godzilla's breath looks like hot air and not the blue fire he used in the previous(or future entries).

It simply depdens on how much people will look into the bts of these films.

[edgaguirus]

Even if rushed, the cast and crew were still working to create a good product. Godzilla's breath is a minor detail in a good movie.

[Cyberdra_1]

I gotta say, for a film that was rushed into production in late 1964 for a New Year's release, there is way too much talent in this film. Aside from Honda, Sekizawa, Tsuburaya and Ifukube, you have a crazy big cast of Toho's best people.

You already have Yosuke Natsuki, Yuriko Hoshi and Hiroshi Koizumi as the three leads, not to mention Akiko Wakabayashi as the Princess and the Ito sisters as the fairies. But then there's Akihiko Hirata as the police captain and a quick appearance of Kenji Sahara as Naoko's boss. Then out of nowhere Takashi Shimura shows up as Dr Tsukamoto. But we're not even done. Eisei Amamoto is the princess' aide aboard the ill-fated plane. Ikio Sawamura is the old fisherman. Yoshifumi Tajima even shows up as a ship captain. Hiyata himself, Susumu Kurobe, plays a henchman, something he did surprisingly often in Toho films.

Don't forget Hisaya Ito as the assassin Malness. One of Toho's most underrated actors; really good screen presence even when in smaller roles like Major Tada in Destroy All Monsters.

[king_ghidorah]

I’ll never understand why some people rank MZ over this film.

I think GTTHM is honestly a perfect movie.

[Spuro]

I’ll never understand why some people rank MZ over this film.

I think GTTHM is honestly a perfect movie.

Well MZ doesn’t have a terrible puppet fight, for one thing. Godzilla vs Rodan is probably the worst executed monster battle in the entire series.

[Legion1979]

I’ll never understand why some people rank MZ over this film.

I think GTTHM is honestly a perfect movie.

Well MZ doesn’t have a terrible puppet fight, for one thing. Godzilla vs Rodan is probably the worst executed monster battle in the entire series.

Eh, if you say so. And if that brings down the entire movie for you than I don't know what to tell you.

The "Ermegerd look at those goofy puppets" criticism, to me, is so superficial. Meanwhile, MZ's city destruction sequence is loaded with stock footage. But yeah, let's attack the puppets in what is otherwise a fantastic movie.

[JAGzilla]

They're basically equal, quality wise, so it pretty much comes down to what you're personally looking for. More monster action and a prophetic, apocalyptic vibe + cop v. assassins, or space adventure with outstanding sets and effects + aliens, doomed romance, and everyone coming together to save the world. You can't go wrong either way.

[king_ghidorah]

I’ll never understand why some people rank MZ over this film.

I think GTTHM is honestly a perfect movie.

Well MZ doesn’t have a terrible puppet fight, for one thing. Godzilla vs Rodan is probably the worst executed monster battle in the entire series.

Eh, if you say so. And if that brings down the entire movie for you than I don't know what to tell you.

The "Ermegerd look at those goofy puppets" criticism, to me, is so superficial. Meanwhile, MZ's city destruction sequence is loaded with stock footage. But yeah, let's attack the puppets in what is otherwise a fantastic movie.

Amen.

Wow. To each their own but wow. That’s a criticism I’ve never heard. I think it’s charming personally.


MZ is pretty much half composed of stock footage, capped off with a lackluster kaiju fight that lasts ….what…two minutes?

[Legion1979]

There a lot to love about MZ but it's more of a sci-fi/alien Invasion film than a monster movie. Ghidrah, meanwhile, is an almost perfect monster film with so much going for it. I have so little tolerance for criticism of this movie that begins and ends with "The puppets are so stupid yo."

[king_ghidorah]

There a lot to love about MZ but it's more of a sci-fi/alien Invasion film than a monster movie. Ghidrah, meanwhile, is an almost perfect monster film with so much going for it. I have so little tolerance for criticism of this movie that begins and ends with "The puppets are so stupid yo."

Fully agree on all of your points here.

MZ has more in common with The Mysterians than it does your typical Kaiju movie.

A lot of the love that it receives is because of the pulp-y machismo of its two human leads.

If we are talking about Godzilla alien invasion movies, I prefer DAM, Gigan and both MG movies.

I do LIKE MZ, I just don’t LOVE it.

But GTTHM is a top five for me….its the quintessential Showa monster mash movie in my mind. I even rate it over Mothra vs Godzilla personally (another GOOD Godzilla film, that I’ve never ranked as highly as the majority of the fandom. It’s probably just outside my top 10).

[Legion1979]

Lucky for me Mothra vs Godzilla, Ghidrah, MZ, DAM, Gigan and both Mechagodzilla films are all in my top 10. I'm good at spreading the love.

Showa 4 life.

[ebirahsmeg1]

I have so little tolerance for criticism of this movie that begins and ends with "The puppets are so stupid yo."

Remember the "Dis movie sux because KG wasn't apocalyptic enough!!!!" from earlier this year? Makes the usual, cliche "Duh, Godzilla never used his breath against KG, and it was only animated once, so dis movie sux, derp!" comments seem like a well written film essay by Roger Ebert in comparison....

I’ll never understand why some people rank MZ over this film.

I think GTTHM is honestly a perfect movie.

Well MZ doesn’t have a terrible puppet fight, for one thing. Godzilla vs Rodan is probably the worst executed monster battle in the entire series.

Eh, if you say so. And if that brings down the entire movie for you than I don't know what to tell you.

The "Ermegerd look at those goofy puppets" criticism, to me, is so superficial. Meanwhile, MZ's city destruction sequence is loaded with stock footage. But yeah, let's attack the puppets in what is otherwise a fantastic movie.

Yeah, although I've read the critiques of the puppets before (which are not completely without merit), saying that G vs Rodan's entire battle is actually the "worst executed fight of the entire series" is a new one....and total, utter nonsense.

I've always thought that the Rodan in this film was one of the two Rodans from Rodan and that the two of them were a male and a female (the latter of which I've personally (and unofficially) named "Rodana" after a fan fiction story titled Rodana, Queen of the Sky by Neil Riebe (it can be read on www.fanfiction.net on pg. 23 of the Godzilla category of the Movies section under the name Neil Riebe)).

Um....ok.

Amen.

Wow. To each their own but wow. That’s a criticism I’ve never heard. I think it’s charming personally.


MZ is pretty much half composed of stock footage, capped off with a lackluster kaiju fight that lasts ….what…two minutes?

With all due respect folks, can we stop with the usual "GTTHM vs GvsMZ/must constantly tear down one of these great films down to praise the other"? Out of all 30+ films of the series, this phenomenon of "praise one of these films at the expense of the other" seems to occur mainly with any discussion of these 2 great films more than any other 2 films of the series, and it's rather baffling.....Don't see this happen nearly as frequently with other closely linked films such GvsMG/TOMG, FCTW/WOTG , GxMG/GSoS or hell, even MvsG & GTTHM.

[king_ghidorah]

I just find MZ's top tier status utterly perplexing to be honest....it's got the camp factor but that's about it.

But again, to each their own. I'm glad people love it and I certainly don't hate it. Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming.

[Neogeddon]

Wait wait wait
Re: puppets - are we talking about the scene where they bap a rock back and forth while baby Mothra is freaking out and trying to mediate? Tell me we're not; that's literally my favorite scene in the entire Godzilla canon :'D

[UltramanGoji]

I’ll never understand why some people rank MZ over this film.

I think GTTHM is honestly a perfect movie.

I prefer MZ's sci-fi story and human cast over GTTHM, but the latter is a film I'd say perfectly encompasses just about everything most people enjoy about the Showa Godzilla films.

[king_ghidorah]

I’ll never understand why some people rank MZ over this film.

I think GTTHM is honestly a perfect movie.

I prefer MZ's sci-fi story and human cast over GTTHM, but the latter is a film I'd say perfectly encompasses just about everything most people enjoy about the Showa Godzilla films.

Perfectly summarized! They each have their strengths. Cheers!