Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster (1966) m.
If you've never seen any of the monster movies made in Japan by the Toho studios during the 50s and 60s, then you might as well jump off the deep end with this offering by Ishirio Honda, their most popular director. You won't believe what you're seeing. Ghidrah is a hydra-like creature that breathes lightning and decides to wreak havoc on Japan because...well, he's a monster. In the meantime, and because six heads are better than three, old favorites Godzilla, Rodan, and Mothra (all from previous films in the series) also join in the fray, although this time around their scenery-chewing - all bug-eyed expressions and double-takes - easily exceeds their usual scenery-stamping.
I won't recount the plot (believe me, it's better this way) except to point out that it is worth waiting through the disjointed first half, which jumps between different story elements and concentrates more on the human actors than the monsters, to get to the hysterical combat scenes in the second half (Godzilla keeps screeching throughout the chaos like an enraged dolphin!). Like other films in the series, GHIDRAH's characters are predominantly scientists or journalists (and there's usually a ship's captain that gets done in fairly early). The 'scientific' dialogue is just as nonsensical here as in other Toho films, and is made even sillier by the cartoon-character voices that the actors have had dubbed over them. By the time GHIDRAH was being made it was pretty obvious that the studios were targeting kids as a major part of their audience - at least that seems to be the case in the English-language versions. It's pretty hard to mesh the juvenile elements of the production with the busy plot, which cuts between a princess who appears to be have been abducted by aliens, scientists exploring a volcano, a group of assassins, and a comeback tour for Mothra's tiny priestesses - but all of this is forgotten as soon as the monsters meet in the no-holds-barred finale.
The most noteworthy aspect of GHIDRAH, however, is that it marked the point where Godzilla stopped being a monster and became a hero. Godzilla, who once represented the destructive force of the atomic bomb, sheds his image of fear and vengeance and instead becomes a figure to whom the Japanese turn for protection. This has obvious parallels with the way that Japan's economy went into turnaround after WWII and set the country on the way to becoming an influential world power. Ten years after Godzilla's first appearance it no longer became necessary for him to replay the devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. By the time GHIDRAH came along the Toho studios wore their monster with pride: Japan was back in world politics with a vengeance. GHIDRAH is also a lot of fun. This may be the best fight between four Japanese monsters I've ever seen. It must surely win the prize for the most alternative titles - it was up to eleven the last time I looked.
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