Dogora (1964)

aka Giant Space Monster Dogora (1964)

Dir. Ishirō Honda

The mystery of disappearing television satellites in Earth's orbit, strange happenings at street level, and a detective hunting a well-organised group of diamond thieves would seem to be independent events to most onlookers, but in a daikaijū movie such things rarely are...

The alien creature, which resembles something from the ocean depths, isn't just attacking Japan, but they have a respected doctor who's researching something related, so they're better equipped to discover its weakness.

There's nothing particularly special or memorable about the film, so while it may be of interest to genre fans due to the creative talent involved (Ishirō Honda, Eiji Tsuburaya, and Akira Ifukube), it's one that casual fans can probably safely skip.

King Kong: The Toho Movies (1962–67)

King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962)

Dir. Ishirō Honda

I reviewed KKvG in my Godzilla: Shōwa Era Films (1954-74) post, but it was from a 'Godzilla movie' perspective, not a King Kong one. Logic says I should re-watch it from a Kong perspective, but I vowed never to suffer its woeful story ever again, so I've simply copy/pasted from the previous post, with some minor editing. I don't think my overall opinion would've changed much, anyhow.

The most positive thing that I can muster to say about KKvG is that it's the first King Kong movie to be shot in full widescreen and on colour stock. It's pretty terrible otherwise.

Fans who only want a monster bash will have to wait an hour before the two titans even meet, and when it happens it's laughable.

Godzilla: Shōwa Era Films (1954-74)

01. Godzilla (1954) 

Dir. Ishirō Honda

NOTE: for simplicity's sake I've used English language titles for each of my Godzilla reviews, but it's always the original Japanese language versions of the films that I refer to.

The monstrous growl that's heard over the film's opening credits foreshadows what's to come, which can be summed up as the Japanese people facing a monstrous terror that the rest of the world has never seen. It begins at sea and then moves inland.

The creature responsible for the inhuman roar — the monarch of kaijū eiga — is a force to be reckoned with, for sure, and is more than just an excuse to have a guy in a rubber suit trash tiny models. You don't need to be a history scholar to pick out the many wartime parallels: nuclear weapons testing in the Pacific, irradiated wells, air raid sirens, and footfalls that sound like distant bombs impacting and exploding are all highlighted.

Rodan (1956)

Rodan (1956)

Dir. Ishirō Honda

If you were to list the events of Rodan as a simple flowchart, it'll read just like many of the less inventive kaijū eiga from the era:

Human story

|

Creature(s) awaken(s) + atomic power is mentioned

|

Creature(s) rampage during last 30 mins + JSDF shoot weapons repeatedly to no avail

|

Quick fix

|

End.

What sets it apart is that the human story it offers up is better than most. There’s a feeling of genuine concern between the folks of the small coal mining village, while the terror they experience is shared among the workers and the usually distant decision makers.

The Mysterians (1957)

The Mysterians (1957)

Dir. Ishirô Honda

A festival, what should be a time of joy for all concerned, is interrupted by a mysterious fire. The blaze is followed not long afterwards by an earthquake that shakes the same community. The quiet little mountain village is about to lose the quiet part of its nature.

It;s an alien invasion film from TOHO that once again paired director Ishirô Honda's imagery with the sounds of master musician Akira Ifukube, both of whom had worked on the first Godzilla (1954) film. It has a kaijū of its own for a while, a kind of giant, robotic, metal mole-man, but mostly it's a regular sci-fi film with FX that are really amazing for the era; equal what Gerry Anderson would still be doing over twenty years later! Not just in the model work. The props and set dressings inside the spacey alien dome are also top quality.