The Beginnings of a Monster Mash; Running through Godzilla Part 2: 1962-1964

“The Earth is alive, everyone,” boasts an omniscient narrator against the backdrop of the Earth in orbit, spinning, then abruptly coming to a stop, as the narrator continues on about the fragility of all life on this planet, and how civilization could so easily come to an end in this uncaring universe. A second later it cuts to a distinguished gentleman – perhaps a scientist – standing in front of the backdrop we saw a moment ago; only now we see it is merely a prop. The man laughs over the ridiculousness of the preceding warning, saying it is akin to something out of a comic book, while he goes on about the many unknowns surrounding human life's origins. We cut again to a television screen, revealing this lecture to merely be a TV program, as we cut once again to a different distinguished gentleman, watching this program while sitting in a chair, arms folded. He falls back in his chair, scoffing, and flips a coin onto the palm of his hand. Thus begins King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962).

The opening is an indicator of what's to come in the Godzilla series throughout the 1960s and beyond. Cries of global threats and End of Days muted against campy child-friendly execution and delivered onto screens in one messy – and now in colour! - package. Meanwhile, Ishiro Honda sits in his directors chair, weeping over what's become of his creation.

Special effects creator and Godzilla co-creator Eiji Tsuburaya wished to take the franchise in a more family-friendly direction, and Toho agreed, likely seeing how much more profitable the series could become. Honda was the odd man out, who didn't think monsters should be portrayed in a comical light, but he continued to direct these movies nonetheless, and managed to incorporate his humanity whenever possible.

That King Kong vs. Godzilla even exists is bizarre, and it's sort of incredible that Universal allowed Toho to borrow their character for a Japanese film. The movie is about as weird as the title suggests, and doesn't even have as much nuance as many of the '60s successors do. The head of a television studio is desperate for a ratings boost, so sends his men to an island where they discover King Kong. An American submarine gets caught in an iceberg, and upon breaking free, accidentally unleash Godzilla, who has been trapped in the ice since 1955. There's some unfortunate blackface when the TV studio employees travel to Faro Island, which is inhabited by dark skinned natives, who are all Japanese men in makeup. When the island natives engage in a song and dance ritual, Kong is lured to sleep, and this becomes a recurring element as sleeping Kong gets transported from place to place several times. Godzilla, meanwhile, is walking through country sides and wrecking everything up.

The King Kong and Godzilla costumes are tripe. This is probably the shoddiest either character has looked in a major studio film. They would probably pass in a black and white film, and it's an issue of Toho not being used to creating a suitable visual language for colour cinema. The folds and creases in the outfits are frequently visible. When watching King Kong flail a giant boulder at Godzilla, suspension of disbelief becomes challenged by being able to recognize the clothing texture on the monsters.

The breeziness of the human plot lines pass by easily enough, building up the final showdown of King Kong vs Godzilla, which is staged similar to a professional wrestling feud, or a boxing match. Kong and Godzilla don't necessarily have a personal beef with one another, other than each viewing himself as the alpha. Their managers pit them together in one place so everyone can profit off of the ensuing fight.

Their final showdown is must-see entertainment. Honda and company still don't have a strong handle yet on directing and staging these fights, but it's a vast improvement over the monster battles in Godzilla Raids Again. Honda learns from that film's mistakes, slows down the action some, bringing the frame rate down to normal speed, and lingers on specific moves, even staging periods of rest in between painstaking grapples and throws. As Godzilla and Kong are intertwined, rolling down a hill, which ends in Kong punching Godzilla in the head multiple times, Godzilla stays down. He's clearly damaged, and Kong even taunts his opponent, jumping up and down, and beating his chest with his arms. As Godzilla begins to gain composure, Kong throws a rock at his head, keeping him down longer. As he prepares to throw another rock, he trips, rolls down the hill, Godzilla runs out of the way and Kong hits his head on a chunk of mountain rock, momentarily knocking him out. It's a well crafted exchange of blows, that tells a clear story with each competitor gaining and losing the upper hand; not just two opponents randomly grappling and hitting each other with no narrative thrust. It also doesn't hurt that the exaggerated acting from King Kong makes key moments in these scenes hysterical to watch. 

King Kong walks away the victor, while Godzilla lays dormant under the sea. He doesn't stay down for long, as he returns to action two years later for Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964), with Ishiro Honda at the helm for a third time.

This is another crossover movie leading up to a monster versus monster battle, featuring Toho's own Mothra, who had her own film several years earlier. Exposition scenes are retold, making Mothra vs. Godzilla a suitable introduction to the Mothra character.

This is a slightly more serious film that King Kong vs., finding a more even balance between the original's tragedy and the predecessor's camp. Honda is in a critical mood once again, weary of developers tearing down nature for the creation of luxury housing apartments. After draining a part of the ocean to construct buildings on, a giant egg is discovered, which Happy Enterprises plans to buy and exploit, using as a tourist attraction to fuel their housing developments. Two mysterious miniature women known as the Shobijin appear and try to convince a journalist and a photographer (who previously reported the discovery of the egg) to rescue the egg from Happy Enterprises, as it belongs to the kaiju Mothra. The Shobijin have an alluring screen presence, and even in scenes where men in suits are tripping over themselves trying to capture the tiny women, it isn't exactly played for laughs. Honda shoots these sequences as if he were making a drama. It probably sounds stuffy, but it works remarkably well. Mothra vs. Godzilla is a more serious-than-normal kaiju movie that plays its story straight, and Honda treats the story with the utmost respect. The oddity that is the mysterious Shobijin and the giant egg give this film enough genre interest in its early going to support its strong human narrative, and naturally, things really kick off once Godzilla is introduced in the second act.

  In his debut scene, he lumbers through a city, tearing through buildings in slow motion, the camera lingering on the falling structures more-so than the monster, with numerous civilization reaction shots, of a city street in distress. A moment later, a foreground shot of civilians running through the street, as Godzilla's figure makes a haunting impression in the far background. It's a welcome return to form for Honda, who now gets to frame the horrors of Godzilla for his first time in colour.

 

Mothra's debut at the midway point is equally striking, perching majestically on an altar, residing in its home of Infant Island, home of her many worshippers. The Shobijin sing to their god, melodically chanting the Mothra name, while the humans beg for its help in taking down Godzilla. None of the other kaiju throughout the Godzilla series have the same grace and respectability of Mothra in this film, her last true appearance in the Showa era (1954-1975). 

The special effects work and monster designs are all a lot more convincing this time around than they were in King Kong vs. Godzilla. Miniatures are far more detailed, the creature skins have more texture, and their bodies have more fluidity in movement; limbs move less awkwardly now. The final act is by far the most exciting in a Godzilla film yet, and is arguably a perfect cinematic kaiju battle. The winged Mothra brings an exciting aerial dynamic to the fight, swooping around her combatant’s head, diving away from attacks with great agility, and her anatomy itself provides a challenge to Godzilla, who can't simply grapple and punch his way through his problems like he could his previous enemies. There's an intensity to the action as Mothra terrorizes Godzilla from above, digging its claws into his head, the film cutting rapidly between close-ups of each others faces, a stoic Mothra, and a pained Godzilla. The human protagonists and the Shobijin observe from the sidelines, with their emotional investment – and believably concerned acting - giving the film some genuine stakes. After an intense battle, Mothra lays down on a rock and dies. It would be a strong ending to any kaiju movie, only this one still has 20 minutes left.

Godzilla's reign of terror resumes, with more carefully executed excursions of destruction from Honda, as the Japanese military intervenes and blasts at the devil monster with all they've got. Tanks and planes, bullets and bombs, fire and electricity; a montage-like flurry of the King of Monsters withstanding all forms of human offence. And then Mothra's egg hatches, which segues into yet another chapter of action, this time Godzilla facing off against the two newly born larvae, who eventually succeed in avenging their mother's death. The final 30 minutes of Mothra vs. Godzilla are an enormously entertaining series of consecutive set-pieces, each one different from the last, yet telling one long-form story mostly through the motion of giant monsters and man-made weapons of destruction. King Kong vs. Godzilla created the formula for the 1960s Godzilla film, and Mothra vs. Godzilla perfected it, in the franchise's most entertaining entry of the decade.