[HorrorScience] Mothra (1961)

Reading time: 5 minutes

Qualification

Mosura

Year

1961

Duration

100 minutes

Director

Ishiro Honda

Distribution

Frankie Sakai, Hiroshi Koizumi, Kyoko Kagawa, Ken Uehara, Emi Ito, Takashi Shimura, Yumi Ito, Akihiko Hirata, Tetsu Nakamura, Seizaburo Kawazu

Script

Takehiko Fukunaga (original novel), Yoshie Hotta, Shinichirô Nakamura, Shinichi Sekizawa

Mother (Mosura in Japan) is a classic of Japanese fantasy cinema, where fairies, monsters, human greed and the radiation of atomic bombs are mixed. The latter is not surprising considering that this film is directed by Ishiro Honda, the same man who directed the first Godzilla film and many of its sequels.

The story begins when a ship is shipwrecked near an island called Infant Island. Apparently this island was affected by the atomic bombs and is a “nuclear zone” with high levels of radiation, so no survivors of the catastrophe are expected.

However, a helicopter will find some sailors on said island who do not show any type of radiation sickness since, according to them, they were helped by the natives of the island.

Due to the impossibility of there being natives on Infant Island, a scientific expedition is organized to find out what is happening there, and although the organizer of the expedition (a grumpy man named Nelson) does not allow journalists on the expedition, a reporter who was investigating the case of the castaways manages to infiltrate the ship that sets sail for Infant Island.

Unfortunately, the journalist's cover as the ship's waiter does not last long and the scientists are forced to take him with them during the exploration of the island. It won't be long until one of the scientists (Professor Chuzo) suffers an accident when he is attacked by a carnivorous plant, although fortunately for him two little fairies save him at the right moment, and a little later he is found by his companions.

[HorrorScience] Mothra (1961) — The strange fairies of Infant Island

After resuming the expedition, they manage to find the little fairies, at which point Nelson (the person in charge of the expedition) tries to kidnap them, but the appearance of the island's natives prevents him from doing so, so Nelson frees the little women and the expedition withdraws from the Island.

Nelson sees in the little fairies a possibility of doing business by exhibiting them around the world, so he returns with his team to take them and in the process kills some of the natives, which causes them to summon Mothra.

It doesn't take long until a huge larva-shaped monster appears from the sea in the direction of where the fairies are kept, destroying everything that crosses its path.

While the protagonists try to rescue the fairies, the army attacks Mothra who When he reaches Tokyo Tower he wraps himself in a cocoon so he can transform into his true form. and thus end their search quickly, while the captor of their fairies flees to another country.

Will Nelson escape? Will the army defeat Mothra? Can the fairies end Mothra's destruction? Watching the movie we will know.

Mothra is a film that maintains a fairly high overall quality, the special effects are very well done and the models are excellent in most cases (there are some lower quality shots). The recreation of the city and the army attacks also have a positive balance (except for some scenes in which the human soldiers are represented with dolls and it is very noticeable) and the puppets used for the different stages of Mothra are well achieved, although they are not the monster standard that we can expect.

Most of the footage falls on the human characters, which can be boring, especially because they are quite simple (the stupid one, the smart one and the bad one), however I have to admit that they are not as insufferable as other protagonists of films similar to this one and at least they have an important role in the plot.

Some curiosities about the film:

Mothra is one of the most famous monsters in Japan, which is why she constantly appears in the Godzilla films, in addition to having her own film saga.
This movie is based on a novel called The Luninous Fairies and Mothra, written by Takehiko Fukunaga, Shinichiro Nakamura and Yoshie Hotta.
Mothra's design in her final stage is based on the Atlas butterfly.