Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla (1974)

“Who are you?”

“Commander first conquest of Earth, from the third planet of the black hole, outer space.”

This is most certainly one of the best films the franchise has given us. I don't care how Mechagodzilla is disguised as Godzilla only in the early scenes so we get to see some old-fashioned distruction by our old friend but appears only as a robot (described as a "cyborg") thereafter. Nor do I care about the Ptofessor's suspiciously accurate guesses early on, nor that his pipe is the most obvious example of Chekhov's Gun in cinematic history.

No; this is B movie heaven, with lots of action, interesting locations and a fast-moving plot- set partly, interestingly, in Okinawa, which is culturally and linguistically not quite Japanese, and certainly gets othered here. Mechagodzilla looks awesome and, while one sinister bloke indeed turns out to be the alien leader, others turn out to be cool and friendly Interpol agents in a nice bit of misdirection. Even the true form of the aliens looks quite impressive.

As for the corny sci-fi dialogue and hilariously 70s alien spacecraft, well, those are the reasons we watch these sorts of films. We even get an appearance from Angilas, and a cool new monster in the form of King Seesar. 70s Godzilla is really on form by now. And what’s pleasing is that each film is interestingly different.

King Ghidorah the Three Headed Monster (1964)

"Is Jupiter in Africa?"

 This film is, of course, completely bonkers- the mere fact that it ends with Godzilla, Rodan and Mothra teaming up to defeat three headed alien beast King Ghidorah tells you that. But it never ceases to be entertaining, the model work is if anything better than ever and Ishiro Honda's usual cast of actors do a sterling job as ever.

The plot ain't half bizarre, though. They squeeze in a sub-plot about a princess from a fictional country chased by agent of the new tyrannical government (possible influence on Star Wars...?!), only for said princess to survive an exploding plane and have her body temporarily inhabited by the consciousness of one of the long dead precognitive inhabitants of Jupiter who were wiped out five millennia ago by the terrifying King Ghidorah. As you do.

Oh, and loads of meteorites land, one of which later hatches King Ghidorah himself. Was Quatermass II (presumably the film) an influence here?

We also have more stuff with Infant Island, more (thankfully no longer blacked up) "natives and those little fairy women, except that this culture that was so proud of its religion and culture in Mothra is now happy to be used to provide content for a Japanese light entertainment programme. Well then.

Arguably, perhaps, the four(!) monsters we have here don't get enough screen time, but the monster set pieces we do see are utterly splendid, and King Ghidorah himself is, relatively speaking, a triumph of both design and execution. This film is utterly, utterly B movie but, provided you're in the mood, it's fast moving and enormous fun.

Mothra vs Godzilla (1964)

"We feel that we cannot trust humans..."

Another Godzilla film, methinks. And, while we're at it, lets do a sequel to Mothra. And let's make an obviously cheesy B movie notably better than it's expected to be, or needs to be. Even if the cast is starting to look awfully familiar- didn't Japan in the '50s and '60s have a wider group of B movie star actors than this?

Because this film is, indeed, better than it needs to be. Oh, it's more of a sequel to Mothra with Godzilla, despite his screen time, just a prominent guest star, but this simply reflects Mothra's deeper backstory, being goddess of an island in the Pacific whose inhabitants, thankfully, are not blacked up this time.

But there's a proper plot, with story beats in the right places. A giant egg is found; human greed leads to its usual silliness; and then those two miniature ladies from Mothra turn up to provide some much-needed exposition, and for some reason seem to know what a hydrogen bomb is.

But it all works, plot-wise, and masterfully builds both tension and interest. Godzilla arrives and wreaks the usual havoc to an unnamed city that we shall call, well, "Tokyo" which looks, suspiciously, to be entirely made of models. Our heroes- the by-now familiar combo of male journalist with social conscience, klutzy but moral female photographer and obligatory generic scientist- are forced to go to that island from the last Mothra film to beg for help. Fortunately, to a degree, the "natives" are presented with a little more dignity this time. And so Mothra heads to Japan to battle Godzilla and an epic battle ensues after which she, er, dies of old age.

The film concludes as we wait for the egg to hatch in order for a baby Mothra (or two) to give Godzilla the spanking that the short remaining running time demands. It all commands the attention rather strongly, weird though it is to have Iwo Jima mentioned in a film which doesn't star John Wayne. And yes, Ishiro Honda gives s the usual splendid set pieces. A magnificently entertaining film.

Mothra (1961)

"We are living in the atomic age!"

I know this isn't a Godzilla film, but I know it crosses over later, so I'm watching and blogging it now in the interest of watching everything in the correct order. It’s a very different film, and not just because it’s in colour.

It’s not until more than an hour until the eponymous giant insect appears, but we get plenty of time before then to get to know our heroes- square jawed scientist Dr Chujo and comic relief pair of reporter Senichiro and photographer Michi. We also meet the villainous Nelson, from the fictional nation of Rolisica, which is the most thinly disguised fictional version of the USA ever. We spend that first hour seemingly in a different genre entirely as an expedition explores an unknown (and, of course, radioactive) island in the South Pacific. Here they find strange fauna, much weirdness and, er, the discovery that the Japanese were just as prone to blacking up as “natives” as anyone in any western country. Oh dear. Still, at least this is partly mitigated by the strong subtext about not exploiting people from “primitive” cultures and leaving them alone. Particularly not kidnapping little ladies and putting them in freak shows as “fairies”.

Mothra doesn’t initially fly but slowly swims across the Pacific, in larva form. The larva isn’t all that visually impressive, truth be told, yet the sequences of its attacking Tokyo and being fought by the military are awesome. Yes, colour can be more exposing to effects work than safe old monochrome, and it’s obvious most of the time that the effects are done with models, but this is proper effects nevertheless- none of this modern CGI nonsense.

There’s a nice little satisfying ending in “Rolisica” involving church bells and a combination of a “native” religious rites and Christianity- which is, interestingly, seen from a politely interested Japanese perspective, an unusual little bit of east-to-west anthropology. It’s a satisfying end to a film that somehow manages to be highly impressive and exciting in spite of a Mothra being a bit rubbish in both her forms.

Godzilla Raids Again (1955)

"You bastard. Have you already limited yourself to a woman's level of drinking?"

Time for a second film after last night's devastation, methinks. Brexit will happen, Dominic Cummings will be let loose on the Civil Service, and a dangerously revolutionary and post-truth sect of not-very-conservative "Tories"who have left Edmund Burke far behind are free to break as much stuff as they want for up to five years. We;re all going to die, so what would be more appropriate than Godzilla and an ankylosaurus fighting each other to death, by means of the awesome power of stop motion, and decimating Osaka in the process?

There are air raid shelters this time, and aeroplanes scrambling, but the echo of the War feels not quite so intense. The echoes of King Kong are, of course, just as strong.The magnificent scenes of stop motion action as Godzilla and the ankylosaurus destroy Osaka are just as awesome as anything in the last fim, although the plot is somewhat different, spending a surprising amount of time developing actual characters in what turns out to be a rather tragic love triangle.

It's all about Godzilla, though, even if this isn't literally the same individual; any number of nukes can, it seems, create any number of monsters. We even get a cameo from the first film's Professor, who again gets listened to respectfully as he speculates absurdly about things he couldn't possibly know.

The ankylosaurus may ultimately be disposed of rather early to avoid upstaging Godzilla, but this is another hugely enjoyable film.