Dollar Tree Cinema: Mothra

“Mothra” (1961)
Starring Furanki Sakai, Hiroshi Koizumi, Kyoko Kagawa, Jerry Ito
Screenplay by Shen'ichi Sekizawa
Directed by Ishiro Honda
Approved

Our next Halloween-adjacent installment of Dollar Tree Cinema also continues my not-at-all-regular journey through the Godzilla films, albeit one without the big G himself. But think of “Mothra” as “Captain America: The First Avenger” en route to “Avengers,” aka “Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster.”

I have no idea if this metaphor works, but I think it was the first time Godzilla, Mothra and Rodan were all in the same movie. My viewing and knowledge of these movies in the past was very fragmented, hence this self-assigned project – as well as the fact that I just want to watch more classic Toho monster mashes.

I'm not sure I ever saw “Mothra” before, at least not all the way through. But its presence in this “Pop Culture Bento Box” made it an easy purchase – not that four movies and a combined 12 episodes of three animated series for $1.25 weren't compelling enough arguments on their own.

Certain aspects of the movie seemed familiar, while others caught me by surprise. For example, I remember the diminutive priestesses who summon the title Titan, and I could always recall their song, although I couldn't tell you what they're singing beyond, I assume, some version of Mothra's name.

But I did not remember, or know at all, that one of the main characters is a reporter – Senichiro “Sen-Chan” Fukuda, (Sakai) aka “Bulldog.” That's right, apparently this man has two nicknames. As far as journalism goes, he's more of the standard pop culture idea of a reporter than, say, Raymond Burr's Steve Martin in the Americanized version of the original “Godzilla.” Martin observed and reported. Bulldog infiltrates medical facilities, sneaks aboard scientific research vessels, tackles four thugs single-handedly and constantly intervenes in the action. To be fair though, saving a baby as a dam is about to burst is a perfectly good reason to break journalistic objectivity.*

Bulldog and his photographer Michi Hanamura (Kagawa) are introduced as they try to get the scoop on four sailors who survived a shipwreck in an area thought to be uninhabitable due to atomic testing. This brought back memories for me of a time when newspapers had reporters and photographers. Now one person tends to do both jobs, but at one point in “Mothra,” Bulldog and Michi are accompanied by people who seem to be there just to hold her camera!

Anyhow, the sailors are a big story because not only were they unharmed by their time in what was believed to be a radioactive wasteland, but they say the natives there helped them. Also, Japan apparently didn't have anything like HIPAA, so when Bulldog and Michi are found, one of the scientists is just like, “Sure, I'll tell you the details about these guys and their health.”

Anyhoo, an expedition is launched by Japan and the nation of Rolisica. One of the participants is Dr. Chujo (Koizumi, playing a different character than in “Godzilla Raids Again”), a linguist/ethnologist who Bulldog interviewed about the island. Though they apparently didn't know each other before, they become fast friends, which maybe helps when Bulldog sneaks aboard the vessel and... gets hired to work on the expedition. And carry a gun. As a reporter, I can't even get people to return phone calls in a timely manner about completely innocuous stories, let alone get a front-row seat after breaking ethical rules and/or laws.

The expedition is led by Rolisican businessman Nelson (Ito, above right), who is not the bully from “The Simpsons,” but could be a relative. When he finds the Shobijin (Yumi and Emi Ito, a Japanese singing duo known as the Peanuts), a pair of 1-foot-tall twins who save Chujo from carnivorous mutant plant life, he tries to abduct them but is thwarted by the other members of the expedition, as well as some island-dwellers in makeup jobs that probably weren't intended to be culturally insensitive but would absolutely not be used today. Or even 30 years ago.

Nelson goes back with a nastier crew, kidnaps the Shobijin and has the islanders who try to intervene gunned down. It's a little awkward given how bloodless it is, but still a dark moment.

While Nelson turns the Shobijin and their musical talents into a stage show – because what better way to marvel at tiny human beings than from really far away in expensive seats? – the folks on the island wake up Mothra, who is actually a caterpillar. But she's a caterpillar that can swim really fast and woe to any boat that gets in her way.

Chujo and Bulldog manage to get backstage and talk to the Shobijin, who communicate with them and, oh yeah, Mothra, telepathically. They warn the catastrophic caterpillar is coming for them and innocent people will get hurt in the process. But Nelson is somehow making bank with their show, and the Rolisican government is backing him, which I'm sure has nothing to do with those contributions he made to the prime minister's campaign.**

Mothra, meanwhile, is causing a lot of havoc on land, finally arriving in Tokyo and – who could have seen this coming? – forming a cocoon. The Rolisicans don't want to make Nelson repatriate the tiny islanders but are happy to lend Japan some experimental heat rays, which roast the cocoon.

Oh – MOTH-ra! I get it!

Apparently that only finishes the kaiju cooking, as Mothra emerges as winged destruction on a mission to reclaim her tiny spokeswomen. At this point, even the Rolisican government is telling Nelson to do the right thing, but he decides to flee and, I don't know, book them on “The Ed Sullivan Show?”

The Rolisican government is getting the word out about him, and Nelson and his goons are soon spotted in the bustling, ethnically neutral Rolisican metropolis of New Kirk City. He tries to get away, shoots a cop and then is gunned down by law enforcement.

Then it's up to Chujo, Bulldog and Michi to reunite Mothra and the Shobijin, doing so in a way that requires disbelief to be suspended even more than already necessary for a giant moth and her tiny priestesses. Eventually, they fly off into the sunset together, making Mothra – who did have a righteous cause but racked up a not-insignificant body count – the first kaiju of the films I've watched in this series to actually survive the movie.

OK, so I had a little fun with Bulldog, but he's an entertaining guy. And the Shobijin and Mothra's mystical nature – plus Mothra not being a dinosaur – made this feel like something different from Godzilla and Rodan. Sadly, there was no post-credit scene to tell me Mothra would return, but I guess it is possible to tell stories entirely between the credits. Still, with all these big monsters popping up around Japan, it seems like it's only a matter of time until another pair meet up...

* - Or a Watcher's oath.

** - That's not mentioned in the movie, merely speculation on my part.