Toho's Non-Godzilla Kaiju Films of the 1960s Are Pretty Great Too

Toho kaiju films of the 1960s and late 1950s go way beyond Godzilla, delivering bizarre giant monster movies, robot battles and alien invasions. When people think of giant monster movies made by Toho, Godzilla immediately comes to mind, but the studio's roster is much bigger than one city-smashing lizard. During the 1950s and 1960s, director Ishiro Honda and special effects master Eiji Tsuburaya ran a cinematic monster factory that released terrifying and occasionally unhinged features every couple of years. Exploring these non-Godzilla kaiju movies reveals how creative Toho was with early color filmmaking, TohoScope widescreen battles, miniature destruction and optical effects. The studio's early experiments laid the groundwork with Rodan in 1956, where prehistoric Meganulon insects in a coal mine near Mount Aso lead to two supersonic flying reptiles flattening cities in Toho's first color monster film. In 1957, The Mysterians brought large-scale alien invasion sci-fi to Mount Fuji, introducing the giant burrowing robot Moguera alongside alien domes and ray guns. A year later, Honda and screenwriter Shinichi Sekizawa teamed up on Varan, featuring a gliding reptilian mountain god that later reached American screens in a heavily re-edited version titled Varan the Unbelievable. The Toho kaiju films of the 1960s pushed even further into wild territory. Mothra arrived in 1961 as a heroic guardian deity from Infant Island, crossing the ocean to rescue the kidnapped twin priestesses known as the Shobijin and spinning a cocoon on Tokyo Tower. In 1963, Atragon blended a Jules Verne style adventure with the undersea Mu Empire, its sea serpent guardian Manda and humanity's drill-equipped super submarine, the Gotengo. Then came the 1964 sci-fi crime caper Dogora, featuring a floating, diamond-eating energy jellyfish brought to life through optical compositing rather than traditional suitmation. By the mid-to-late 1960s and entering 1970, Toho's non-Godzilla monster lineup went completely off the rails in the best way. Frankenstein Conquers the World pit a giant regenerated humanoid against the burrowing reptile Baragon, complete with an alternate ending featuring a giant octopus. Its 1966 sequel, The War of the Gargantuas, delivered a dark, ferocious city-leveling clash between the peaceful brown Sanda and the people-eating green Gaira. Meanwhile, 1967's King Kong Escapes turned animated series inspiration into a fast-paced showdown between Kong, Doctor Who and his robotic double Mechani-Kong over Element X, before 1970's Space Amoeba saw Sadamasa Arikawa take over special effects for a colorful tropical island battle against an alien organism possessing a giant cuttlefish, crab and turtle. Watch next Craziest Godzilla Movies in the Franchise http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_U2mSxE2zY Great B-Movie Monsters of the 1950s That Deserve More Love http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWw9ZEdW8Kc The Greatest Stop-Motion Dinosaur Ever Made http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQ1MdzntK7U Subscribe for more classic monster and movie videos: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeakITrJEYHBYKMDl7hrSJQ/ #TohoKaiju #KaijuMovies #1960sKaiju #TohoMonsters #GiantMonsterMovies #IshiroHonda #EijiTsuburaya #Mothra #Rodan #ClassicSciFi