"King Kong vs Godzilla" was a box-office smash, not only in Japan, but abroad. (It still stands as the all-time, Toho/kaiju earner.) A direct, shoe-in sequel to the titanic clash was proposed, but Toho (per trailblazing producer Tomoyuki Tanaka) picked a different path.
As such, Mothra (and her offspring) challenged the studio's homespun "dragon", in what became "Mothra vs Godzilla" or "Godzilla vs the Thing", as it was better known in the U.S. (thanks to American International Pictures), with other title variations surfacing around the globe. (Later, it was released on Paramount VHS as "Godzilla vs Mothra".)
I must confess, I was a trifle disappointed when I first viewed the 1964, Ishiro Honda directorial effort, in that I had anticipated a super-morphed version of James Arness' "The Thing (from Another World)". Mothra's name recognition beyond Japan wasn't as strong at this point, which is why an air of mystery enshrouded her.
Though I found Mothra (Mosura) interesting, she was my least favorite of Toho's A-listers. I fancied Rodan (Ladon) and Ghidrah (Ghidorah) more. Also, since I was viewing the Toho flicks out of sequence on UHF, my loyalty to the mighty moth was stunted due to no fault of her own. Be that as it may...
Per Shinichi Sekisawa's script, Godzilla is much meaner in his fourth, headlining outing, and that's saying a lot since he was far from Mr. Congeniality in the earlier chapters.
Disgruntled by his defeat to Kong, Godzilla appears determined to pounce Mothra/the Thing (who goes by both names in the dubbed version) for a presumed, easy win. If Mothra's washed-ashore egg just so happens to get smashed along the way, so be it. However, much to Godzilla's dismay, the ailing Mothra fights with unsurpassed vigor to protect her confined twins.
Mothra's egg also impact's the film's make-a-buck subplot: similar to the prior chapter's, which in its own right springs from "King Kong '33" and "Mighty Joe Young '49".
To thwart the business men who wish to exploit the uncanny formation, the miniature, guardian ambassadors of Infant Island (dubbed Mothra Island) intervene: The fairies are portrayed by Emi and Yumi Ito, who were better known as the Peanuts on Japan's nightclub circuit and held a significant role in the first Mothra movie. They sing (pray) in a most melodious manner to Mothra and her soon-to-be-hatched larvae to halt Godzilla.
Beyond its ultra-small/ultra-big performers, the film features an all-star Toho cast, with Hiroshi Koizumi as Professor Shunsuki Miura; the lovely Yuriko Hoshi as novice photographer Nakanishi Junko; Akira Takarada as reporter Ichiro Sakai; Yu Fujiki as reporter Jiro Nakamura; Jun Tazaki as editor-in-chief Marata; Yoshifumi Tajima as the Denham-seque Kumayama of Happy Enterprises; and Kenji Shara as the unscrupulous Jiro Torahata.
Hajimi Koizumi's cinematography is the most striking of any Toho production; and Akira Ifukube's iconic score complements Honda's direction to a tee, particularly during the film's ferocious, final frames, when Mothra's incensed children back the big, green one into a sticky situation (to say the least).
The film has never waned in popularity and was remade in '92 to huge fanfare. Even so, for sentimental reasons, the original remains favored and clinched a long line of Toho crossovers, which marched in respectful step to Universal's monster rallies.
Even if one doesn't consider "Godzilla vs the Thing" a classic (though how could one not?), there's no denying the epic's refreshing, rock 'em, sock 'em execution.
They sure as hell don't make 'em like this anymore; so toss that PC junk out the door, and let old-school, fight-to-the-death Godzilla and Mothra show ya how it's done.
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