I love this time of the TOHO movies. It had some of the most magical Kaiju movies.

A real high point of this sort of stuff. The Sequel, vs Godzilla had the most beautiful special effects and model work of the era. Thanks

The Infant Islanders were played by a mixture of actors, actresses, ordinary people off the streets and members of the Nichigeki Dance Team. All of whom were coated in dark brown cream.The first two natives that dance 1 on 1 were played by Nanako Yamada and Tatsuo Sakai. Both met for the first time during filming of the Infant Island temple scenes and Yamada was recommended by a choreographer who either couldn't make it to filming or decided not to come. Nanako recalled having a make up artist assist in painting her body while also doing it herself. After she finished painting her body brown, Nanako ended up getting lost while trying to find Stage 10 and ran into Masuyuki Mori who wasn't even in the movie but no conversation occurred. The Temple set was constructed at Stage 10 at Toho Studios. Ishiro Honda told Yamada that she and Sakai were the leading people and her entrance is meant to resemble that of a possessed shrine maiden. Nanako was unaware that there would be other dancers and that she had to wear a costume until she arrived at the studio Infamously at the end of the first dance, Sakai arched his back and did a circular motion of his head which caused the wig to fall off. He picked it up with the camera cutting several seconds too late. Nanako recalled reshooting the scene but the mistake was kept in. The elderly native who dies at the altar was played by Akira Yamada while Takeo Nagashima and Ko Ayami played two other dancers. Satoshi "Bin" Furuya, best known for playing Ultraman in the show of the same name became an actor shortly before filming began and thus made his film debut in this movie as an Infant Islander. He recalled going into a wide room with 29 other men in order to paint their bodies black and stated there were separate rooms for men and women. Furuya also recalled that it was very cold during filming and consequently they all got headaches. Another future cast member of Ultraman, Akihide Tsuzawa was only 6 when The female owner of an old-fashioned penny candy store in his neighborhood sent him and his older brothers to Toho to work as extras in Mothra. As Akihide recalled, it wasn't through his agent but through her. The woman's store was near Toho, and she recruited children to appear in Toho films often. He and his brothers were paid 500 yen upon arriving to Toho Studios as a result. Like the others cast as islanders, Tsuzawa wore dark brown cream on his skin. He mostly painted himself, but another extra painted the back. According to him, They all helped paint each other with the cream and the amount of people cast as Infant Islanders numbered in the hundreds. He also mentioned that filming lasted just one day. Before they started painting, they took off their clothes and placed them into a basket. Then they painted themselves and each other. The process of painting their bodies lasted 30 minutes. The rest of those who played Infant Islanders were instructed by the third assistant director who was ordered by the assistant director who was ordered by Ishiro Honda. The third assistant director gave them instructions on how to dance, the speed of the dance, and the choreography.

Love the Walter Winchell-style narration!

An interesting line from the movie is when Fukuda (Bulldog) calls the twins "beauties", without seeing them or having them described as such. He pointed out it was an old newspaper trick. Unless a woman looks terrible she's described as a beauty.

9:30 Also, Bear McCreary composed an AMAZING epic version of Mothra's theme for the Legendary "Godzilla - King Of The Monsters" a few years ago.

Going from the relatively peaceful Mothra to the ultra violence of Robo Cop should be a neat back to back experience!

Somehow I don't think I've ever seen the original Mothra. Now I must find it! Thanks again!

Boy, I can't wait for Mothra to be re-released in 3D.

I couldn't say it in your previous video, so I'll say it here. Thanks for taking my request to review Flight of the Navigator. Still hoping you review King Kong '76. :)

Got to see this a Fathom Event before the World went to SH... One of the few Kaju Flics I've seen on the Big Screen! Great analysis TUG! & Robert Dunham lived in the next town over from me when he passed.

A fun tongue in cheek Kaiju movie with just below the surface messages. Enjoyable

Nightly look forward to watching and critiquing the flim!

Are you planning to review any more "animated" sci-fi films on your channel? I know that there aren't exactly a lot of options to choose from because of your 30 years rule. The only films that you haven't already covered that I could think of were: Heavy Metal (1981), Time Masters (1982), Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984), Starchaser: The Legend of Orin (1985), Project A-ko (1986), Gall Force: Eternal Story (1986), Castle in the Sky (1986), The Transformers: The Movie (1986), and Gandahar (1987).

I always thought the military cud have stopped Mothra with a giant rolled up newspaper. Jk

such a good video

The film has an interesting inversion of King Kong, with tiny women instead of a giant ape. Still, more than any other film of this genre, this one had me wondering how the human trafficking did get the police involved. Was kidnapping foreigners to perform in nightclubs just a thing at the time? I kind of like the notion that everyone just assumed it was some sort of elaborate stage trickery.

Nice!

I generally enjoyed the movie when I saw it many years ago. It is a good story and the Kaiju is spectacular. But, and there's always a butt, all they had to do to stop Mothra's attack was returned the fairy princesses to the island. At some point the government should have stepped in and said these people are being mistreated held captive and need to be returned home. Something so obvious is completely ignored throughout the movie.

mothra, the worst enemy of the fashion industry.

I see it like 10 times

9:10 😂🤣😂🤣

I’m surprised this movie was deeper than I gave it credit for. 😁 I never could get past the terribly fake creatures and spent most of my time criticizing them. I think though my favorite Japanese movie was What’s Up Tiger Lilly by Woody Allen. 😁👍

MOTHRA!! You know what was missing from last year's Godzilla vs Kong? Mothra, therefore it sucked. *Also I will never forgive the American Kaiju filmmakers for not casting Steve Martin as Steve Martin.