MOTHRA (1961)

How do you follow a fire-breathing dinosaur, overgrown dragonfly larvae, and a Pteranodon? If you’re legendary kaiju director Ishiro Honda—who brought the original Godzilla to the big screen—your next subject is a giant moth. That’s the secret to this Japanese monster film’s success. When a corrupt businessman discovers a lost civilization worshiping a giant egg, he kidnaps the six-inch priestesses who sing to the artifact and puts them on television. That leads to an orgy of destruction when the egg hatches an immense caterpillar that then turns into a giant moth. The priestesses were played by twins Emi and Yumi Ito, a popular twin act dubbed “The Peanuts” in Japan. Their popularity contributed   to the film’s success at home. Columbia Pictures picked up the U.S. rights and demanded a more destructive ending than Toho Studios had envisioned. They then released it in the U.S. to even greater success. Mothra would resurface in 11 Godzilla films as well as starring in its own trilogy in the 1990s. Presented in Japanese with English subtitles.

d. Ishiro Honda, 101m, DCP

Courtesy of Sony Pictures.