Mosura (1961)

Country of Origin: Japan
Year of Production: 1961
Running Times: 62 mins (Japan - re-release)     88 mins (USA)     91 mins (USA - re-release)     101 mins
Format: Eastmancolor     35mm     Tohoscope
Ratio: 2.35:1
Sound: mono

CREDITS

PRODUCTION
Production Company: Toho
Producer: Tomoyuki Tanaka
Production Manager: Shin Morita

SCRIPT
Script: Shinichi Sekizawa
Novel: Hakkou yousei to Mothra by Takehiko Fukunaga
Story: Yoshie Hotta, Shinichirô Nakamura
English Dialogue: Robert Myerson

DIRECTION
Director: Ishirô Honda
Chief Assistant Director: Samaji Nonagase

PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: Hajime Koizumi
Lighting: Toshio Takashima
Lab: Far East Laboratories

EDITING AND POST-PRODUCTION
Editor: Kazuji Taira

MUSIC
Music: Yuji Koseki
Songs: Ishiro Honda, Yuji Koseki (Mosura ya Mosura; Daughters of Infant Island); Yuji Koseki, Susumu Ike (Mosura no uta)
Song Performed By: The Peanuts (Mosura ya Mosura; Daughters of Infant Island; Mosura no uta)

SOUND
Sound Recordist: Masanobu Miyazaki
Dubbing Producer: David D. Horne
English Language Version Dubbing Director: Lee Kresel
English Language Soundtrack: Titra Sound Corporation
Sound System: Western Electric Recording

SPECIAL EFFECTS
Director of Special Effects: Eiji Tsuburaya
Special Effects Production Manager: Kan Narita
Special Effects Art Director: Akira Watanabe

VISUAL EFFECTS
Director of Special Effects Photography: Teisho Arikawa
Special Effects Lighting: Kuichiro Kishida
Matte Work: Hiroshi Mukoyama

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Production Designers: Teruaki Abe, Takeo Kita

CAST
Frankie Sakai (Senichiro Fukuda)
Hiroshi Koizumi (Dr Shin'ichi Chujo)
Kyôko Kagawa (Michi Hanamura)
Ken Uehara (Dr Harada)
Emi Ito, Yumi Ito (Shobijin)
Jerry Ito (Clark Nelson)
Takashi Shimura (news editor)
Tetsu Nakamura (Nelson's henchman)
Akihiro Tayama (Shinji Chujo)
Obel Wyatt (Dr Roff)
Akihiko Hirata (Doctor)
Seizaburô Kawazu (General)
Yoshifumi Tajima (military advisor)
Robert Dunham (Rolisican cop)
Harold Conway (Rolisican ambassador)
Johnny Yuseph (real name: Osman Yusuf) (Nelson's Rolisican henchman)
Yoshio Kosugi (ship captain)
Ren Yamamoto, Haruya Kato, Ko Mishima, Rinsaku Ogata (ship survivors)
Kenji Sahara (helicoptor pilot)
Akira Yamada (island worshipper)
Takeo Nagashima, Arai Hayamizu (island dancers)
Akira Wakamatsu, Hiroshi Akitsu, Hiroshi Iwamoto, Toshio Miura (Nelson's henchmen)
Kazuo Imai (announcer)
Wataru Omae, Kazuo Higata (officials)
Toshihiko Furuta, Shoichi Hirose (dam workers)
Koji Uno (reporter)
Tadashi Okabe, Akio Kusama, Mitsuo Tsuda (surveyors)
Mitsuo Matsumoto, Hiroyuki Satake (police officers)
Haruo Nakajima (head of Mosura larva)
Katsumi Tezuka (neck of Mosura larva)

PLOT SUMMARY

A group of shipwreck survivors are rescued from the island of Beiru, the site of atomic tests. They aren't suffering and side-effects from exposure to radiation which they attribute to a a special juice given to them by the natives. Rolithican and Japanese scientists arrive on Beiru and discover a pair of tiny twins who are abducted and put on show in a sideshow in Tokyo. But the pair have a psychic link with a giant moth known as Mothra who is soon on her way to rescue them, with catastrophic results for the city.

AVAILABILITY

Japan
Laserdisc Distributors: Toho Video

USA
Theatrical Distributors: Columbia Pictures
Video Distributors: GoodTimes Home Video; RCA/Columbia

CENSORSHIP HISTORY

USA
Rating: G

TIMELINE

1961
July
30: Japan – theatrical release

1962
May
10: USA – theatrical release

July
11: USA – theatrical release in New York City

POSTER TAGS

Mightiest monster in all creation! Ravishing a universe for love!

Monster Ravages Earth!

ALTERNATIVE TITLES

Daikaijû Masura
Mothra - US title
Mothra bedroht die Welt - West German title

LINKS

SEQUELS
Mosura tai Gojira (1964)
San daikaijû: Chikyu saidai no kessen (1964)
Kaijû daisenso (1965)
Gojira-Ebira-Mosura: Nankai no daiketto (1966)
Kaijûtô no kessen: Gojira no musuko (1967)
Kaijû sôshingeki (1968)
Gojira-Minira-Gabara: Oru kaijû daishingeki (1969)
Gojira tai Hedora (1971)
Chikyu kogeki meirei: Gojira tai Gaigan (1972)
Gojira tai Megaro (1973)
Ryusei Ningen Zon (1973)
Gojira tai Mekagojira (1974)
Mekagojira no gyakushu (1975)
Gojira tai Mosura tai Mekagojira: Tôkyô S.O.S. (2003)
Gojira: Fainaru uôzu (2004)

REMAKES
Gojira vs Mosura (1992)
Mosura (1996)

FOOTAGE INCLUDED IN
Attack of the 50 Foot Monster Mania (1999)
Gojira Fuantajî ~SF Kôkyô Fuantajî~ (1984)
Gojira tai Mekagojira (2002)

SEE ALSO
Gojira (1988)
Minnâ-yatteruka! (1995)

KEYWORDS

eggs, giant monsters, giant insects, giant moths, islands, kidnapping, larvae, miniature people, monsters, mothra

Last Updated: 1 January, 2009