Megalon (1973) were bargain basement monsteramas relying heavily on stock footage from earlier films. Serizawa in the first Godzilla), Hiroshi Koizumi (the main scientist in Mothra) and Kenji Sahara (star of Rodan). Mechagodzilla brings back genre favorites Akihiko Hirata (Dr. After three films populated by colorless human actors, Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla was the first entry to acknowledge a growing league of older fans by including actors associated with earlier films. Sato gives the battle scenes their own unique flavor while Fukuda's travelogue-like use of the Okinawa locales is given a lush exoticism. Sato's lighter touch and faster pace is better suited to Fukuda's style (he also scored the director's Godzilla vs. Akira Ifukube's weighty Godzilla themes are better remembered, but their epic-ness was at odds with the cheap, lowbrow antics of films like Godzilla vs.
CINESCOPE GODZILLA PLUS
Eventually, an electrically recharged Godzilla steps in and saves the day.īesides Fukuda's craftsmanship, another big plus is the picture's exciting, jazzy score by Masaru Sato, best known abroad for his influential music for Yojimbo (1961), Sanjuro (1962) and myriad other action films for Akira Kurosawa, Kihachi Okamoto, and others. When Godzilla loses the first round to his Space Titaniumed opponent, our band of human heroes call upon an ancient Okinawan monster-god, King Seesar, a creature intended to resemble a komainu statue, though to western audiences less familiar with Shintoism it looks more like a scaly Cowardly Lion. Their instrument of destruction is MechaGodzilla, a formidable robot clone of the Big G. MechaGodzilla is about a race of silver-suited space apes bent on conquering Earth (they wear shoddy Planet of the Apes-style makeup with little, zit-like horns). Though much more at home making contemporary crime thrillers, Fukuda nonetheless goes a long way to infuse his grievously undernourished Godzillas with clever and well-paced cutting, super-caffeinated camerawork, and even an imaginative title design (which Fukuda did on all his pictures). Particularly gratifying is that the efforts of genre filmmaker Jun Fukuda - a talent equal to Seijun Suzuki, Kihachi Okamoto and Kinji Fukasaku - can finally be appreciated for the master craftsman he was. At long last these movies look like real, well, movies. MechaGodzilla almost magically become colorful, lively entertainments. What's most startling about Columbia/TriStar's DVDs is that, seen in their original Japanese and in gorgeous 16:9 widescreen transfers, even entries as mediocre as Godzilla vs.
CINESCOPE GODZILLA MOVIE
Several long-running movie series ended their runs in the early-'70s (the popular "Company President" films with Hisaya Morishige, for instance), but Godzilla limped along through a series of no-budget wonders for what by then had become a predominantly kiddie market.
Toho was substantially reorganized and most of its longtime contract talent was let go. Daiei, the studio behind the rival "Gamera" movies, went bankrupt while Nikkatsu Studios switched to soft-core porno. MechaGodzilla, Hedorah, and Gigan were products of an era when the Japanese film industry had nearly collapsed. Scenes were cut or rearranged, sometimes new footage was added and, on television and almost always on home video, these movies were available only in ugly (and often ancient) pan-and-scanned masters. MechaGodzilla represents the very first legitimate home video releases of classic Godzilla movies in their original language, in dazzlingly resplendent 16:9 transfers.įor years fans of Japanese science fiction were stuck with westernized versions not only infamous for their lousy dubbing, but which often were even further altered from their original form. Though it's far from Godzilla's best, Columbia/TriStar's DVD should have fans jumping for joy. MechaGodzilla (Gojira tai Mekagojira, 1974), an entertainingly if lesser kaiju eiga ("giant monster movie").
Thirty years ago, on the occasion of the Big Guy's 20th anniversary (and 14th film), Toho Studios pulled out all the stops - at least all the stops a financially-strapped studio could muster in the lean 1970s - for Godzilla vs. On November 3rd Godzilla celebrates his 50th anniversary.
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