Atragon

This is one of the better non-Godzilla films from the minds of Honda, Tanaka, Tsubaraya and Ifukube. Even though this film pretty much covers the same ground as they did in the Mysterians (even using some stock footage from that film), it still was a great film. The special effect's work by Tsubaraya has to rank as some of his best and the story is better than average for this type of film. I loved how they pretty much showed how tortured Jinguji was as he was torn between his loyalty to Japan, his love for his daughter and the needs of the world as they were being attacked by the Mu Empire. Also, in an interesting bit of casting, Akihiko Hirata and Kenji Sahara play villains instead of their normal heroic roles. It also was interesting that the threat to Earth in this film didn't come outer space but from beneath the ocean by one of the most legendary lost civilizations after Atlantis. This is definitely a great film.

ATRAGON (1963, aka KAITEI GUNKAN) is a fun, fast paced sci-fi action thriller by the Japanese makers and stars of the Godzilla series. It seems the undersea kingdom of Mu wants to reclaim their rule on Earth. It's up to a plucky cheesecake photographer (Tadao Takashima) and a self-exiled WW2 Japanese Naval officer (Jun Tazaki) to stop them. There are laps of logic, which kind of add to the fun, and some well staged sequences. Film gets especially silly when the undersea Mu empire sends the Japanese Government an 8mm film explaining Mu's history and plans. This little film has optical titles, a narration, the works. Does this undersea kingdom have a film production unit complete with a film processing lab? Giddy fun here. ]

There's something about this film that I can't help but like.

Everything is just one step beyond plausible. The bad guys have all sorts of powers that are used once and then never used again. The flying submarine Atragon has been built completely in secret by an Japanese Navy unit, in self-imposed exile, that is preparing to win World War 2 for Japan in 1963! There's a giant pet serpent that attacks the submarine. An entire city is destroyed in a way I won't describe but is completely wacky.

Silly and lots of fun. The special effects go from great to cheap to unbelievably weird. The movie is slow at points but when the sub finally takes off, it's non-stop action. You'll recognize the actors from many of the Godzilla films.

Toho was totally on fire for a brief period in the early to mid 60's. Though even later they sporadically came up with something great like WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS or BATTLE OF THE SEA OF JAPAN, most of their best film were actually non-Godzilla films.

ATRAGON is one of the first and best examples of 60's Toho lunacy and excellent Tsuburaya special effects, combined with excellent acting. There's plenty of absurd science, ridiculous ideas like flying subs, massive destruction, fast-paced action, and even a giant monster to keep anyone's attention.

The only thing weighing this film down is the pacing being totally off. There is waaaay too much time devoted build-up and fleshing out too many 1-dimensional characters. A lot of sequences (like finding the legendary lost captain on an uncharted island) are way too drawn out and sap the film of a lot of excitement. The monster "Manda" is poorly animated and underutilized.

That said, the city destruction presented toward the end is some of Toho's best, with a massive crater opening up under the city and sucking buildings down several hundred feet, presumably killing thousands! Another highlight comes with the Mu sub going nuts on Tokyo bay destroying several merchantmen over and over again. It's colorful fun all the way which refreshingly can appeal to children and adults alike. Toho's later scifi films tended to try too hard to stay kid-friendly.

With a little editing and a few script rewrites, this could have been Japan's definitive sci fi epic. As it is, a flawed but enjoyable romp through Godzilla territory sans atomic lizard.

Nothing particularly special, so don't have a lot to say, but it wasn't a bad watch. It involves another group of non-humans threatening to take over the world, there's some slow-moving parts in the first half, and there's a bit monster too (but you don't see it much).

It was directed by Ishiro Honda, who directed a number of classic early Godzilla films, including the original. He was always reliable when it came to non-Godzilla science-fiction/horror/adventure films, even if they don't quite live up to Godzilla, the gold standard.

The credits weren't translated but I could still tell the music was done by Akira Ifukube, who is as the main composer behind the Godzilla music for many years. It sounds pretty similar here, almost like Ifukube kept brushing up against familiar Godzilla themes, but I guess what's not really broken shouldn't be fixed too much.