The Three Treasures (1959)

It’s quite a coincidence that I spent time this week finally watching Poor Things, a Frankenstein-like work, and then made room in my viewing schedule for this, a film essentially about gods and monsters. The Three Treasures has some of the former, one of the latter, and a lengthy runtime that allows the director to give due respect to a creation myth that shows Japan being formed.

The great Toshirô Mifune is the lead here, an individual named Prince Osu who will soon become Prince Yamato Takeru. As Osu, he embarks on a deadly quest. As Takeru, he starts to evolve as he finds out more context about his place in the world, whether of his own doing or at the hands of others.

I am not going to lie. I watched this because it was on the list of kaiju movies I am currently using as a main reference point for my 2024 journey through the films of Godzilla and co. It wasn’t long until I realised that this was quite different to the other films I have been watching recently. This isn’t a monster movie. It is a classic tale, a hero’s journey that also includes a memorable encounter with a creature that is very close in design to the Hydra (although it “only” has eight heads, and is known as Yamata no Orichi). That creature is well-realised, Harryhausen-like in feel and execution, but it is one very small moment in a film that is more concerned with fate, selflessness, love, and fighting for your place in history.

Written by Ryûzô Kikushima and Toshio Yasumi, who both have MANY films worth exploring, this is an enjoyably overblown bit of melodrama, almost an entire film seemingly designed to celebrate the gods responsible for creating Japan, but it’s also a film that just reaches a bit too far. I never felt truly invested in the story, and I didn’t care for any of the characters, although I would remain interested in Toshirô Mifune simply due to him being Toshirô Mifune.

Director Hiroshi Inagaki looks to have made a nice little career out of churning out historical dramas for a decade or so, and there is clearly a good use of resources here to show every main set-piece, but the end result here doesn’t feel like the best work from anyone involved. Maybe, and it is a big maybe, a rewatch would be beneficial. Maybe watching it in a better presentation would help (this was hard to track down, but is tucked away on the Internet Archive). Sadly, all I have to go on is this particular experience, and it was lacking something special.

Mifune is wonderful though, and I will also mention the likes of Yôko Tsukasa, Kyôko Kagawa, Akihiko Hirata, Takashi Shimura, and Setsuko Hara, and there are many more excellent performers in the stuffed cast, but very few get to make much of an impression amidst this sprawling tale of tales.

Certainly not terrible, and rarely dull, this just wasn’t as good as other historical epics I could suggest. And I’ll admit it, I was hoping for more screentime for that multi-headed snake monster, dammit.

5/10

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The Mysterians (1957)

Another film in which the people of Earth could face potential destruction, starting with an encounter that endangers the whole of Japan, The Mysterians is an amusing, if lesser, film in the extensive selection falling under the Toho banner. Those who enjoy the output from the company will find enough to enjoy here, but it doesn't have a main monster to serve up as a big highlight.

The plot is quite simple, and quite absurd when you type it out in plain text. A group of aliens land on Earth, negotiating for an area of land and the right to marry human women. They live in a seemingly-indestructible dome, can also send out a giant robot to cause some carnage (the closest the movie comes to serving up a monster), and hope to find a way to continue their race after being poisoned and changed by the death of their home planet. It soon becomes obvious that the Mysterians have other plans though, and the people of Earth need to find out a way to stop them.

Developed from story idea to final film form by Jôjirô Okami, Shigeru Kayama, and Takeshi Kimura, names you will recognise from other Japanese sci-fi/monster movies from this era, this is silliness of the highest order. And when I say it's silliness I actually mean that it's complete bobbins. If you don' believe me then please just re-read the last paragraph. It's still fun though, and everyone onscreen shows the right level of stress and concern, all working under the sure and steady hand of director Ishirô Honda.

The cast is also full of familiar names/faces if you've been watching any other Toho films from this period. Akihiko Hirata, Momoko Kôchi, Takashi Shimura, and Kenji Sahara are no strangers to battling for the integrity of Japan, and the safety of the people, and the the same can be said for the likes of Yumi Shirakawa, Susumu Fujita, and Hisaya Itô, all helping to fill out the central cast. Yoshio Tsuchiya also deserves a mention, playing the vital role of "Leader of the Mysterians".

It's a shame that there aren't too many positives to single out here, although I am not saying that the film is actually bad. There just aren't any real treats, nothing in line with the kind of thrills and spectacle you can find in a number of the other movies in the same vein. The stomping robot feels like a poor substitute for some fantastical creature, the destruction feels relatively tame, and the Mysterians themselves are just depicted as people in various coloured suits (pretty much Power Rangers decades before they were a thing).

It's no surprise that this isn't mentioned much by film fans, and I doubt we will ever see the day when it gets a much-heralded restoration and revival. I liked it, and I have to stress that after seeming so dismissive of it, but I can't imagine anyone loving it. It's there, it's amusing and cute, and it's something to watch once and then almost immediately forget.

6/10

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Godzilla Raids Again (1955)

And here we are at the second full Godzilla movie, and me realising why I haven’t before attempted to watch and review so many of these movies in a particular space of time. So many of them work to a very familiar pattern, and the affection for them stems from knowing what you are going to get.

Godzilla is back, of course, but this time they’re not alone. A giant creature, Anguirus, is also on the prowl, which sets the scene for an eventual fight between the two gigantic beasties. But even if the fight leads to the end of one monster, one will still need to be dealt with by some puny humans.

Takeo Murata returns as a main writer, joined this time by Shigeaka Hidaka, apparently adapting a novel, “The Volcano Monsters”, into something that serves as a very important second star vehicle for a character who would become the most famous, and celebrated, kaiju in cinema. The human side of things isn’t quite as involving as it was in the first film, but there is a good enough blend of melodrama and stomping action.

Director Motoyoshi Oda knows what is needed, and delivers. There’s already a slightly lighter tone to the unfolding events, but the threat remains impressively rendered, in terms of destruction and the knock-on effect it has on the people who find their everyday routines completely disrupted, to say the least.

The cast includes Hiroshi Koizumi and Minoru Chiaki, as a pair of pilots who prove integral to the efforts undertaken to defeat Godzilla, and Setsuko Wakayama, as a young woman named Hidemi who feels like a covalent bond between those two. But everyone coming to this already knows who the real star is.

Not as good as the original movie, and very few of them are, but an excellent development of the franchise, interestingly showing the monster madness impacting lives and livelihoods in equal measure (something that would develop in interesting ways throughout subsequent decades).

If this review seems much shorter, and even less substantial, than usual, it probably is. As much as I am looking forward to fully exploring the Godzilla filmography (at long last), it would be easy to summarize most of them with the same few sentences. I will keep trying my best though, for what that is worth. 

7/10

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Godzilla, King Of The Monsters! (1956)

Although not the second film in the series, chronologically, I decided to continue my journey through the filmography of Godzilla with this instalment because it is the film that rejigged the original film and repackaged it for mainstream Western audiences. It's probably the first Godzilla movie I ever saw, and I would say that applies to many other Brits and Americans of my generation.

The plot is the same as it was in Godzilla, with the main difference between the two films being a new character (an American reporter named Steve Martin, played by Raymond Burr) who narrates everything in a way that removes the need for subtitles. Most of this is accomplished by simply editing footage from the original film around the exposition delivered by Burr's character, but some of it is accomplished by a variety of stand-ins allowing moments to be reframed with our American at the heart of the the Godzilla carnage.

Put into the hands of Terry Morse for this interpretation, Godzilla, King Of The Monsters! isn't a terrible film. It works exactly as it is intended to work, and I would still mention it as an ideal introductory film if you have younger viewers who are interested in giant monster movies and the history of cinema. It suffers greatly in comparison to the original (because it's constantly patronising, and let's kindly and euphemistically refer to it as mired in some of the attitudes of the time), and those who have already moved through the majority of the classic Japanese films will probably view this as something to sneer it, but it's okay for a gateway film.

Burr is Burr, happy to have his hair mussed up as he tries to stay alive while a city is being ruined around him. It's hard not to take on that central role and not realise what it is, and he willingly takes on that task, being the narrator providing what is basically a summary of a much better movie. Everyone else is, well, I already commented on their performances in the original movie. Are they just as good here? Sadly not, but that's not their fault. It's the fault of the editing and the clumsy way some of the footage is altered to include Burr.

The good thing about Godzilla, King Of The Monsters! is that I can barely remember it after the end credits have rolled. It's a very small critter that stays resting peacefully in the shadow of a roaring titan. It's the Godzooky of the film series, if you will. There's space for Godzooky, in the grand scheme of things, but it will never be a rival to Big G.

6/10

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Godzilla (1954)

This year, 2024, marks the 70th anniversary of Godzilla, and I have taken that as a cue to finally work my way through as many "Big G" outings as possible, as well as numerous other kaiju movies. This review first appeared, in a slightly different form, over on Flickfeast, so please don't panic if you get a feeling of déjà vu.

It would be easy for me to write a lengthy essay about the circumstances that affected Japan so seriously it ended up creating Gojira (to give him his proper name). Okay, it would take some more time and research, but I would still end up covering ground that has already been well covered, and by better writers than myself. It would also be relatively easy to look upon this film and laugh, albeit with affection, at some of the melodramatic plotting and hokey special effects. But I’m not going to do either of those things.

Instead, as it has been many years since I last saw this movie, I am going to take a moment to remind everyone of an oft-forgotten aspect. The fact remains, despite the age and limitations of this film, that the build up to, and initial appearance of, “Big G” is an impressive and unnerving sequence. Admittedly, it becomes easier to see the crudity of the design work later on, but that very first main encounter so unexpectedly brings the monster into rather plain view that most people watching need some extra seconds to process exactly what they’re seeing.

Yet, at the other end of the spectrum, we also have a very human heart beating at the centre of it all. Takashi Shimura is Professor Yamane, the man doing his best to both help his fellow man and also avoid killing a remarkable beast. His daughter is played by Momoko Kôchi, and she’s believably attractive to both scientist Daisuke Serizawa (Akihiko Hirata) and Hideto Ogata (Akira Takarada), providing a love triangle that allows for all involved to back up their feelings with actions, be they courageous or cowardly.

The script, co-written by Takeo Murata and director Ishirô Honda (blending and translating works from Shigeru Kayama and Tomoyuki Tanaka), perfectly balances tension, spectacle, and moments that directly address the unique and specific fear felt by the people of Japan in relation to hugely powerful objects that can save or destroy mankind.

The special effects are uneven, but effective, remaining impressive today thanks to a mix of inventiveness and charm, and the scale of the destruction is established right from the off, although it would grow and grow throughout this enduring movie series, making this yet another classic that has remained a classic for good reason. It has an intelligence to it, an interesting mix of characters desperate to weigh up a situation before immediately looking to solve things with more detruction, and a giant monster laying waste to cityscapes. What’s not to love?

9/10

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