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Greetings, and welcome to VIEWING THE CLASSICS. Here you'll find capsule reviews of vintage movies from the early days of cinema through the 1970s, with a special emphasis on sci-fi, horror, and mystery movies. Be sure to check out the Pages links, where you can find a Film Index of all my reviews, links to the reviews organized by cast members, directors, and other contributors, and links to my reviews of the films of talented young director Joshua Kennedy.

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Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Mothra (1961)

Starring Frankie Sakai, Hiroshi Koizumi, Kyoko Kagawa, Ken Uehara, Emi Ito
Directed by Ishiro Honda
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

A pair of inch high women are abducted from their South Seas island, and put on exhibition, but they warn that a creature named Mothra will be coming for them and will bring much destruction.

Honda brings us another sci-fi monster adventure, well-designed and featuring some enjoyable characters, notably a journalist played by Sakai in a light-hearted performance.  The special effects in the first half of the film, when Mothra is in its caterpillar form, are excellent, following the creature on a devastating path through anything in its way across the ocean.  But when Mothra transforms into a giant moth, its flapping wings creating giant winds of destruction, the cars and buildings sent flying are unconvincing miniatures.  It's still an enjoyable monster romp, and provided for Mothra's return in several future films.

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