Atragon
Director: Ishirô Honda
Year: 1963
Rating:
7.0
In Japanese (there
is a dubbed version in English)
Director Ishirô Honda, his special
effects wizard Eiji Tsuburaya and a triumphal score from Akira Ifukube make
a film full of ideas and visuals. They had already given us aliens attacking
earth a few times and lots of giant monsters of all shapes and sizes and
so this time we get a giant monster but also a Captain Nemo type, an underwater
lost civilization, a submarine that flies, Japanese militancy, a scornful
red-headed Queen and spies. It is all good fun and looks fabulous with miniature
models, large sets and great use of color. And of course, there are scenes
of panicked crowds running through the streets of a crumbling Tokyo.
What would a Honda film be without that.
It has a lovely beginning. Late at night
a photographer Susumu (Tadao Takashima) is shooting a model in her bikini
down by the harbor when first a strange looking creature begins to come up
on shore engendering some nice screaming from the girl and then a car goes
whizzing by them straight into the water to disappear. A snazzy start. Unfortunately,
the model (Akemi Kita) disappears from the film. The police pull out the
car but no one is in it. This is the first move by the Mu Empire to conquer
the world! Kidnap industrial magnates and others to be their slaves. Mu Secret
Agent #23 (Akihiko Hirata) next tries to kidnap Kusumi (Ken Uehara), an ex-Admiral
of the Japanese Navy along with his niece Makoto (Yôko Fujiyama). But
the photographer Susumu intervenes and saves them. Agent #23 is kind enough
to inform them that the Mu Empire is ready to take back their old colonies
and the earth better surrender. Apparently, some 12,000 years ago it was
a huge empire that ruled the world but sank into the Pacific.
Down far below the waters they have an advanced
civilization with a Queen (Tetsuko Kobayashi), submarines and a populace
that loves to gather in the great hall and break out into music, dance, chants
and calls to sacrifice people to Mando, their pet monster. Mando isn't one
of Eiji Tsuburaya's best effects - kind of a long squiggly monster that can
shoot rays. The designs of the clothes are very Egyptian and since they came
before the Egyptian civilization existed, clearly they had colonized as far
as Africa. They destroy Venice, Hong Kong, New York (or so the news tells
us) and the earth seems doomed because our subs cannot go that deep without
being crushed. Well, there is help on the way. Makoto's father (Jun Tazaki)
vanished at the end of WW2 and is assumed dead, but he had in fact along
with his submarine crew been building a super sub that can drill through
earth, fly and has a Freeze Canon. He has refused to surrender and plans
on using his ship, the Atragon, to restore Japan to its former glory. All
very cool.
