Mothra vs. Godzilla: Difference between revisions

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==Theatrical releases==
==Theatrical releases==
{{All Posters}}
{{All Posters}}
*[[Japan]] - April 29, 1964<ref name="Godzilla.jp"/> {{Popup-poster|file=Mothra_vs._Godzilla_Poster_A.png|caption=Japanese 1964 poster|link={{PAGENAME}}}}; December 19, 1970; {{Popup-poster|file=Mothra_vs._Godzilla_Poster_1970.jpg|caption=Japanese 1970 poster|link={{PAGENAME}}}}; March 15, 1980 {{Popup-poster|file=Mothra_vs._Godzilla_Poster_1980.jpg|caption=Japanese 1980 poster|link={{PAGENAME}}}}
*[[Japan]] - April 29, 1964<ref name="Godzilla.jp"/> {{Popup-poster|file=Mothra_vs._Godzilla_Poster_A.png|caption=Japanese 1964 poster|link={{PAGENAME}}}}; December 19, 1970 ([[Toho Champion Festival]]); {{Popup-poster|file=Mothra_vs._Godzilla_Poster_1970.jpg|caption=Japanese 1970 poster|link={{PAGENAME}}}}; March 15, 1980 {{Popup-poster|file=Mothra_vs._Godzilla_Poster_1980.jpg|caption=Japanese 1980 poster|link={{PAGENAME}}}}
*[[United States]] - November 25, [[1964]] {{Popup-poster|file=3708208675_666e2d9505.jpg|caption= poster|link={{PAGENAME}}}}
*[[United States]] - November 25, [[1964]] {{Popup-poster|file=3708208675_666e2d9505.jpg|caption= poster|link={{PAGENAME}}}}
*Sweden - 1964
*Sweden - 1964
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*Taiwan - October 23, 1967
*Taiwan - October 23, 1967
*France - 1995 {{Popup-poster|file=Mothra_vs._Godzilla_Poster_France_1.jpg|caption=French poster|link={{PAGENAME}}}}
*France - 1995 {{Popup-poster|file=Mothra_vs._Godzilla_Poster_France_1.jpg|caption=French poster|link={{PAGENAME}}}}
==Foreign releases==
==Foreign releases==
===[[United States|U.S.]] release===
===[[United States|U.S.]] release===

Revision as of 21:00, 7 April 2020

Article.png
Image gallery for Mothra vs. Godzilla
Credits for Mothra vs. Godzilla
Mothra vs. Godzilla soundtrack


Godzilla films
King Kong vs. Godzilla
Mothra vs. Godzilla
Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster
Mothra films
Mothra (1961)
Mothra vs. Godzilla
Godzilla vs. Mothra
Mothra vs. Godzilla
The Japanese poster for Mothra vs. Godzilla
Alternate titles
Flagicon United States.png Godzilla vs. The Thing (1964)
See alternate titles
Directed by Ishiro Honda
Producer Tomoyuki Tanaka
Written by Shinichi Sekizawa
Music by Akira Ifukube
Distributor TohoJP
American International PicturesUS[1]
Rating TV-14
Box office ¥2,330,000,000[citation needed]
Running time 89 minutesJP
(1 hour, 29 minutes)
88 minutesUS
(1 hour, 28 minutes)
Aspect ratio 2.35:1
Rate this film!
4.41
(87 votes)

A massive Mach 3 moth! The heavy missile tank Godzilla! The sky, sea, and land quake in the fierce battle of the century (マッハ3の巨蛾か!ミサイル重戦車のゴジラか!空・海・陸を揺がす世紀の激斗)
„ 

— Japanese tagline

Nothing like this ever on the screen!
What is it... how much terror can you stand?
SEE the armies of the world destroyed! SEE the BIRTH of the world's most terrifying monster! SEE the war of the GIANTS!
„ 

— American taglines

Mothra vs. Godzilla (モスラ対ゴジラ,   Mosura tai Gojira) is a 1964 tokusatsu kaiju film produced by Toho, and the fourth installment in the Godzilla series as well as the Showa series. The film was released to Japanese theaters on April 29, 1964,[2] and to American theaters on November 25, 1964.

Mothra vs. Godzilla marks the first crossover between two of Toho's own monsters: their flagship character Godzilla and the giant moth deity Mothra, introduced three years prior in her own film. When Mothra's egg washes ashore in Japan following a typhoon, greedy businessmen Kumayama and Jiro Torahata claim it as their own property and plan to exploit it for revenue. To make matters worse, Godzilla reemerges and begins rampaging across Japan, making his way straight for the egg. It's up to Ichiro Sakai, Junko Nakanishi, and Shunsuke Miura to travel to Infant Island and plead with the dying Mothra to return to Japan and battle Godzilla to save both her offspring and the millions of innocent people threatened by Godzilla's rampage.

Plot

A news reporter named Ichiro Sakai and his photographer Junko Nakanishi take pictures of the wreckage caused by a typhoon. Later on that day a giant egg is discovered on the shore. The local villagers salvage it and scientists come to study the egg.

While Sakai and Junko try to ask Professor Miura questions about the egg, an entrepreneur of Happy Enterprises named Kumayama scurries the scientists off and explains that he bought the egg from the local villagers. Instead of letting scientists study the egg, Kumayama wants to make it into a large tourist attraction. Sakai, Junko, and Professor Miura are disgusted and believe that Kumayama has no right to keep the egg.

While the three are discussing the egg at a hotel, they discover Kumayama checking in. Sakai wonders aloud if somebody else may be working with Kumayama and investigates the matter. Kumayama walks into the room of Jiro Torahata, the head of Happy Enterprises. As the two are discussing the billion-dollar tourist attraction, two tiny twin girls, known as the Shobijin, interrupt them. The Shobijin explain that they are from Infant Island and that the egg belongs to a monster named Mothra who lives there. Torahata and Kumayama ignore the girls' pleas and try to capture them.

The Shobijin escape the room and meet with Sakai, Junko, and Professor Miura outside the hotel. The girls beg them to bring the egg back too and the three promise to try as hard as they can to bring the egg back to Mothra Island. The girls explain that if the egg is not returned, a larva will hatch and will cause great destruction to its surroundings. Sakai tries to write editorials but "...public opinion is powerless against the law."

The girls soon leave and even though they could not get the egg back, they thank Sakai, Junko, and Miura for their kindness. Later, while the three are testing for radioactivity in an industrial area, Godzilla suddenly pops out of a beach and begins to attack Nagoya and the other surrounding cities.

The editor of Sakai's newspaper believes that the military cannot do anything against Godzilla and discusses it with Sakai and Junko. Jiro, another reporter who loves to eat eggs, walks in and suggests that Mothra might be able to defeat Godzilla. Sakai and Junko are skeptical that the island would agree because atomic testing had destroyed most of their island, and they had failed to return the egg to them.

The two go to Infant Island anyway with Professor Miura. They are captured by the local villagers and are brought to the tribe’s chief. The three ask for assistance but, as expected, are turned down because of the atomic testing that destroyed their island, and Japan's failure to return the egg.

The Shobijin are heard singing and everyone walks towards them. Sakai, Junko, and Miura ask the Shobijin for Mothra's assistance but they are also turned town. Junko then pleads to all the villagers that not everyone from Japan should be blamed for what happened to their island. She argues that Godzilla is killing both good and bad people in Japan, but that all people have a right to live. Sakai then adds that "we're all human" and that everyone is connected and must help each other. Mothra's screech is soon heard and the Shobijin ask everyone to follow them. They convince Mothra to help Japan but the monster is weak. After the monster will fight Godzilla it will have no power to return to the island.

The next day, Kumayama barges into Torahata's room and demands Torahata to give him his money back that Torahata had recently swindled from Kumayama. The two get into a fistfight and Kumayama knocks Torahata down. Kumayama crawls into Torahata's money cabinet and begins to steal the money from it. Torahata wakes up and sees Godzilla approaching the hotel. He then grabs a gun and kills Kumayama. Torahata tries to escape with his money but Godzilla destroys the hotel, crushing the greedy head of Happy Enterprises to death.

Godzilla walks towards the egg and tries to destroy it until Mothra shows up. The two fight a tough battle where Mothra seems to have the upper hand. While on the ground, Godzilla fires his atomic ray at Mothra and badly burns one of her wings. Mothra dies with her wing resting on top of the egg. Godzilla walks away. The Shobijin then explain to Sakai, Junko, and Miura that the egg can be hatched today. The tiny twins soon begin to sing.

Meanwhile, the military tries to fight Godzilla by electrocuting him with "artificial lighting" but fail. The Shobijin continue singing and the monster egg finally hatches with not one, but two Mothra larvae. The Mothra larvae follow Godzilla to Iwa Island and use silk spray on Godzilla to wrap the giant monster up in a cocoon. Godzilla struggles as he becomes fully wrapped up and plunges into the ocean. The Mothra larvae celebrate and return to their island.

Staff

Main article: Mothra vs. Godzilla/Credits.

Staff role on the left, staff member's name on the right.

Cast

Actor's name on the left, character played on the right.

  • Akira Takarada   as   Ichiro "Ichi" Sakai, newspaper reporter
  • Yuriko Hoshi   as   Junko Nakanishi, newspaper photographer
  • Hiroshi Koizumi   as   Professor Shunsuke Miura
  • Yu Fujiki   as   Jiro Nakamura, newspaper reporter
  • Kenji Sahara   as   Jiro Torahata
  • Emi Ito and Yumi Ito   as   Shobijin
  • Jun Tazaki   as   Arota, Sakai's editor
  • Yoshibumi Tajima   as   Kumayama, owner of Happy Enterprises
  • Kenzo Tabu   as   Prefectural assembly member
  • Yutaka Sada   as   School principal
  • Akira Tani   as   Head villager of Shizunoura
  • Susumu Fujita   as   Head of JSDF task force
  • Ikio Sawamura   as   Shinto priest
  • Ren Yamamoto   as   Sailor at the dock
  • Kozo Nomura   as   JSDF member
  • Yasuhisa Tsutsumi   as   Police officer at the dock
  • Mitsuo Tsuda   as   JSDF officer
  • Shin Otomo   as   Police chief
  • Senkichi Omura   as   Shizunoura fisherman
  • Yoshio Kosugi   as   Infant Island chief
  • Miki Yashiro   as   Ms. Kobayashi, teacher at Iwa Island Branch School
  • Koji Iwamoto   as   Shizunoura fisherman
  • Terumi Oka   as   Hamakaze Hotel waitress
  • Wataru Omae   as   Happy Enterprises employee
  • Shiro Tsuchiya, Takuzo Kumagai, Koji Uno, Yutaka Nakayama   as   Shizunoura fishermen
  • Toshihiko Furuta, Hideo Shibuya, Koji Uruki, Ken Echigo   as   Reporters
  • Yukihiko Gondo, Koichi Sato   as   Happy Enterprises employees
  • Hiroshi Akitsu   as   Shizunoura fisherman
  • Tadashi Okabe, Haruya Sakamoto, Seishiro Kuno   as   JSDF members
  • Hiroshi Takagi   as   Happy Enterprises employee
  • Keisuke Yamada   as   Police chief
  • Shinjiro Hirota   as   Happy Enterprises employee
  • Shigemi Sunagawa   as   Fisherman
  • Ikuo Kawamura   as   Transport aircraft pilot
  • Rinsaku Ogata   as   Transport aircraft operations assistant
  • Haruo Suzuki   as   JSDF correspondent
  • Asunaro Theatrical Company   as   Students of Iwa Island Branch School
  • Katsumi Tezuka   as   Godzilla (assistant)
  • Haruo Nakajima   as   Godzilla

Godzilla vs. The Thing

Actor's name on the left, character played on the right.

  • Harold Conway   as   Weapons expert on Frontier Missile Cruiser
  • Robert Dunham   as   U.S. navy sailor
  • Osman Yusuf   as   Journalist
  • Bernard Grant   as   Ichiro Sakai, newspaper reporter (voice)
  • Paulette Rubenstein, Terry Van Tell   as   Shobijin (voices)
  • Larry Robinson   as   Jiro Nakamura, newspaper reporter (voice)
  • Bret Morrison   as   Kumayama, Owner of Happy Enterprises (voice)[1]
  • Jack Curtis   as   Jiro Torahata (voice)
  • Peter Fernandez   as   Villager (voice)[1]

Appearances

Monsters

Weapons, vehicles, and races

Gallery

Main article: Mothra vs. Godzilla/Gallery.

Soundtrack

Main article: Mothra vs. Godzilla (Soundtrack).

Alternate titles

  • Godzilla Against Mothra (English Japanese poster title)
  • Godzilla vs. The Thing (United States; England)
  • Godzilla vs. Mothra (Singapore; Revised U.S. Title)
  • Godzilla Against Mothra (Godzilla contra Mothra; Mexico)
  • Mothra Against Godzilla (Mothra contre Godzilla; France; )
  • Godzilla Against "The Thing" (Godzilla contre "La Chose"; French Belgium; Godzilla tegen "Het Ding"; Dutch Belgium)
  • Godzilla and the Prehistoric Caterpillars (Godzilla und die Urweltraupen; Germany)
  • Godzilla Against the Monsters (Godzilla contra los monstruos; Spain)
  • Watang! In the Fabulous Empire of Monsters (Watang! Nel favoloso impero dei mostri; Italy)
  • Mothra Meets Godzilla (Mothra möter Godzilla; Sweden)
  • Panic in Tokyo: Godzilla and Monster Mothra (Paniek in Tokyo Godzilla en het monster van Mothra; Netherlands)
  • Godzilla Against the Sacred Island (Godzilla Contra a Ilha Sagrada; Brazil)
  • Mothra Fights Dinosaur (魔斯拉鬥恐龍 Mósīlā dòu Kǒnglóng; Taiwan)

Theatrical releases

View all posters for the film here.

  • Japan - April 29, 1964[2]   [view poster]Japanese 1964 poster; December 19, 1970 (Toho Champion Festival);   [view poster]Japanese 1970 poster; March 15, 1980   [view poster]Japanese 1980 poster
  • United States - November 25, 1964   [view poster]poster
  • Sweden - 1964
  • Thailand - 1964
  • Belgium - 1965
  • United Kingdom - 1965
  • Mexico - 1966
  • Spain - February 27, 1967   [view poster]Spanish poster
  • Brazil - 1968
  • Italy - 1970   [view poster]Italian poster
  • Belgium - 1971   [view poster]Belgian poster
  • Germany - 1974   [view poster]German poster
  • Taiwan - October 23, 1967
  • France - 1995   [view poster]French poster

Foreign releases

U.S. release

American Godzilla vs. The Thing poster

American International Pictures originally released Mothra vs. Godzilla in the United States under the title Godzilla vs. The Thing in September of 1964, and it opened in New York City on November 25, 1964. Mothra's appearance was kept out of promotional material, which hinted that Godzilla's opponent would be a hideous tentacled creature and referred to it only as "the Thing." New York Times film critic Eugene Archer reacted to the film and its title: "Well, there are three things, not counting the movie. One has wings and looks like a big bee. The other two are hatched from the first Thing's egg, after quite a bit of worshipful kootch dancing from a pair of foot-tall native goddesses...".

In American video releases in the 1980's, the film was titled simply Godzilla vs. Mothra. However, Mothra is still repeatedly called "The Thing" in the dub, confusing many viewers who thought "The Thing" and "Mothra" were two separate monsters. Because of this, when TriStar released Godzilla vs. Mothra in the U.S., they re-titled it Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle for Earth so that it would not be confused with this film.

United Kingdom release

Warner-Pathe brought Godzilla vs. The Thing to UK theaters in 1965, as part of a double feature with The Time Travelers.[3] It received an X rating from the British Board of Film Censors, preventing children under 16 from seeing it. Sony released the Japanese version of the film on Blu-ray in 2019 as part of the The Criterion Collection's Godzilla: The Showa-Era Films, 1954–1975 box set.

Box office

In the original April 29th, 1964 Japanese release of Mothra vs. Godzilla, the film had 3,510,000 people attend. The first re-issue of the film, on December 19th, 1970, had an attendance of 730,000. When the film was re-released again on March 15th, 1980, it got 2,980,000 people attend and made ¥1,550,000,000, or $7,000,000. All releases put together made a gross of ¥2,330,000,000, or $10,000,000, and had a total attendance of 7,220,000.

Reception

Mothra vs. Godzilla is often considered by both fans and critics alike as being one of the best in the Showa series of Godzilla films.

Video releases

Simitar DVD (1998)[4]

  • Region: 1
  • Discs: 1
  • Audio: English (2.0 Mono, 5.1 Surround)
  • Subtitles: None
  • Special Features: Optional 1.33:1 presentation (cropped), Simitar-produced trailers for the company's kaiju releases, art gallery, trivia game
  • Notes: Out of print.

Studio Canal DVD (2001)

  • Region: 2

Classic Media DVD (2002)[5]

  • Region: 1
  • Discs: 1
  • Audio: English (2.0 Mono, 5.1 Surround)
  • Subtitles: None
  • Special Features: Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee trailer
  • Notes: Cropped 1.33:1 aspect ratio. Out of print.

Toho DVD (2003)

  • Region: 2
  • Discs: 1
  • Audio: Japanese (1.0 and 5.1)
  • Subtitles: Japanese
  • Special Features: Audio commentary by Kenji Sahara, theatrical trailer, 75-minute reissue edit from 1980, 8mm version of Mothra, "Mothra Attacks Tokyo" narrated storybook

Marketing Film DVD (2004)

  • Region: 2
  • Audio: German

Classic Media DVD (2006)[6]

  • Region: 1
  • Discs: 1
  • Audio: Japanese (2.0 Mono), English (2.0 Mono)
  • Subtitles: English
  • Special Features: Audio commentary for Godzilla vs. The Thing by Steve Ryfle and Ed Godziszewski, Akira Ifukube featurette (13 minutes), poster slideshow
  • Notes: Godzilla vs. The Thing has a cropped 1:78:1 aspect ratio. It also features the original "Godzilla vs. The Thing" title card in place of the "Godzilla vs. Mothra" card used in previous releases. Reissued in 2012, both releases are out of print.

Madman DVD (2006)

  • Region: 4

Toho Blu-ray (2010)

  • Region: A/1
  • Audio: Japanese
  • Special features: Audio commentary by Kenji Sahara, theatrical trailer, 1970 Toho Champion Festival cut, 8mm promotional footage for Mothra, "Mothra Attacks Tokyo" narrated Sonorama storybook, interview with Yuji Sakai, behind the scenes photo gallery, storyboards gallery,

The Criterion Collection Blu-ray (2019) [Godzilla: The Showa-Era Films, 1954–1975]

  • Region: A/1 or B/2
  • Discs: 8
  • Audio: Japanese
  • Subtitles: English
  • Special Features: All bonus features on Criterion's Godzilla Blu-ray, 1990 Ishiro Honda interview by Yoshimitsu Banno, interview with director Alex Cox, interviews with actors Bin Furuya and Tsugutoshi Komada, 2011 interview with critic Tadao Sato, unused effects sequences from Toho releases including Destroy All Monsters, trailers, illustrated hardcover book with an essay by Steve Ryfle and liner notes on each film by Ed Godziszewski[7]
  • Notes: Uses a new English subtitle translation by Jason Franzman. Sony distributed a Region B/2 version of the set in the United Kingdom.

Novelization

A novelization of Mothra vs. Godzilla written by Takamasa Ueda was published by Kodansha in 1984. In the novelization, it is mentioned that there is a nuclear power plant on Iwa Island that has the potential to contaminate the majority of the Japanese archipelago if it is destroyed. There is a scene where the Chief Cabinet Secretary holds a press conference and warns people to evacuate.

Manga Adaptation

A manga adaptation of the film illustrated by Fumio Hisamatsu was published in the May 1964 issue of the children's comic magazine Adventure King.

Videos

Trailers

Mothra vs. Godzilla Japanese trailer
Godzilla vs. The Thing American trailer
Godzilla vs. The Thing American TV trailer
Godzilla vs. The Thing American TV spot
Godzilla vs. The Thing German trailer
Simitar Godzilla vs. Mothra VHS trailer

Miscellaneous

Ken Films Super 8 digest version of Godzilla vs. The Thing
Opening of the 1980 re-release

Trivia

  • The upper lip on the Godzilla suit in this film has a slight wobble. This was originally an accident; during the filming of the scene where Godzilla smashes into the Nagoya Castle, Haruo Nakajima fell and the suit's head slammed into the miniature, loosening the teeth and damaging the jaw. Special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya actually liked this effect and kept the suit like that for the rest of filming. The scene where Godzilla's head gets set on fire by a Curtiss C-46D bomb was also accidental, with Nakajima continuing to perform the scene as the script required.[8] By the next film, Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, the suit's head had sustained so much damage that it had to be replaced.
  • The scene where the Frontier Missile Cruisers were attacking Godzilla was featured in American International Pictures' version, Godzilla vs. The Thing. This was actually a deleted scene in the Japanese version and not made exclusively for AIP, contrary to legend. It was seen briefly in the original Japanese trailer. The reason for its deletion was that Japanese viewers, who were still sensitive after World War II, were supposedly offended by seeing American missiles hit Japanese ground.
  • Mothra vs. Godzilla and Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster are the only Godzilla films to be released in Japan the same year.
  • Mothra vs. Godzilla is one of two Toho Godzilla movies to be released in Japanese and American theaters in the same year, the other being Shin Godzilla.

External links

References

This is a list of references for Mothra vs. Godzilla. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: [1]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Craig, Rob (2019). American International Pictures: A Comprehensive Filmography. McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. p. 169. ISBN 9781476666310.
  2. 2.0 2.1 モスラ対ゴジラ|ゴジラ 東宝公式サイト (official Godzilla.jp page)
  3. Monsters From An Unknown Culture: Godzilla (and friends) in Britain 1957-1980 by Sim Branaghan – Part 1
  4. Amazon.com: Godzilla Vs Mothra (1964)
  5. Amazon.com: Godzilla vs. Mothra (1964)
  6. Amazon.com: MOTHRA VS. GODZILLA (1964)
  7. Godzilla: The Showa-Era Films, 1954-1975 | The Criterion Collection
  8. Haruo Nakajima Interview

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