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Posted by Kenneth Morgan
on 7/15/2008, 11:32 pm
Today, Kenneth Morgan prepares to dive.
*****
I’ve realized that it’s actually been a while since I’ve written about a Japanese movie. Since movies from Japan have been one of the staples of MST3K, as well as consistent fan favorites, I figured maybe it’s time for me to return to those roots. Besides, one way or another, Japanese movies always provided good material, especially if they’re from our old pals at Toho. So, I’ve decided to focus on a flick from the Toho team, though one that’s a bit different from what you might expect.
Thus, our subject for today: “Atragon”, released in 1963.
The movie opens with a cheesecake photo shoot on the Tokyo docks. There, sharp-eyed photographer Susumu (Tadao Takashima) witnesses a very unusual event. First, his model sees a group of figures in strange diving gear emerge from the bay. Quickly thereafter, a speeding car drives past them and actually tumbles into the water. Perhaps most strangely, he sees steam rising from the wet figures.
Later, after the empty car is pulled from the water, Susumu discovers that he’s witnessed the kidnapping of the owner of a local construction company. He’s ready to let it slide, though, until he notices a beautiful girl near the scene of the crime. Wanting to hire her as a model, he tracks her down and learns that she’s Makoto Jinguji (Yoko Fujiyama), who works for a shipping company run by Kosumi (Ken Uehara), who was her late father’s CO during World War II.
Meanwhile, Kosumi is visited by a mysterious reporter (Kenji Sahara) who has a surprising allegation. He says that Makoto’s father, Capt. Jinguji, is actually alive and has been building a powerful new submarine called Atragon. Kosumi claims to know nothing of this, but that’s called into doubt when he and Makoto are kidnapped by the same man who committed the earlier snatch. Fortunately, Susumu, who’s been following Makoto, prevents the crime. But before escaping, the kidnapper reveals his identity: he’s an agent from the Mu Empire.
Who is Mu, you ask? A reel of film sent to Kosumi gives the background on that. It seems that, thousands of years ago, the Mu Empire pretty much ran the whole world, until their island suddenly sank into the Pacific. The inhabitants, though, survived, and have built a society based upon geothermal power (hence their high body temperature) and advanced technology, including a powerful Japanese sub from the end of the war. Now, with the unwilling help of kidnapped slaves and technical experts, the Mu want to reclaim their status as rulers and deliver a threat: destroy Atragon and surrender, or die.
Faced with this situation, and aided by a Japanese naval officer sent to shadow Makoto, Kosumi leads a group to a distant Pacific island rich in natural resources. There, we meet Capt. Jinguji (Jun Tazaki) and see the newly-completed, highly advanced Atagon, a massive flying sub housed in an underground dock. Kosumi asks for Jinguji to use Atragon to save the world, but the fiercely nationalistic captain refuses; he built Atragon for Japan, no one else. He’s even willing to walk away from his estranged daughter in the name of patriotism.
But, there’s a big problem. That mysterious journalist from the earlier meeting with Kosumi has accompanied the group to see Atragon. And he happens to be Mu agent, sent to destroy Atragon. His attempt barely fails, but he manages to kidnap both Makoto and Susumu and take them back to the undersea Mu Empire. There, the Empress of Mu decrees that they be sacrificed to their god Manda (more on it momentarily).
So, now it’s up to Capt. Jinguji to get Atragon running and save the day, if they can…
I remember watching this movie years ago on local TV (probably via “Chiller Theater” on Channel 11), but it’d been so long that I didn’t remember much. Thus, I was going into this one with somewhat of a clean slate. As it happens, the movie wasn’t entirely what I expected, or what its trailer promises. Still, I thought it was good.
I should note first of all that the movie seems like more of a drama than an adventure story. There’s no real action until nearly an hour into the movie. At that point, we get the practically traditional destruction of Tokyo and huge explosions. There’s also the aforementioned Manda, a giant sea serpent who, in fact, seems to make more of a cameo appearance than be a fully-fledged leading figure. (Maybe Godzilla’s contract put limits on the billing of other monsters.) There’s a battle sequence at the finish, but it’s rather small compared to the ones in other Toho kaiju eiga (that’s Japanese for “giant monster”, more or less) movies.
Actually, a pretty big amount of screen time is devoted to the character of Capt. Jinguji and how he affects others. It becomes clear that Jinguji refused to submit to the Emperor’s orders to surrender to the Allies and left to prepare a new way to fight for his homeland, leaving his daughter behind. He’s unwilling to accept that both Japan and the world have changed in the twenty years since the war’s end, and doesn’t understand how others (including Makoto) view the situation. There’s even a comparison between his unwavering patriotism and the Mu Empire’s equally unwavering desire to reconquer the Earth. That’s pretty heavy stuff for a movie in this genre, but both the script and the acting present this theme very well.
Still, this is from the same team that brought us Rodan, Mothra and the G-man, so there’s an emphasis on visual effects. As always, these are very well done, with some great miniature work and cool explosions from visual effects supervisor Eiji Tsuburaya. The scenes with Atragon itself reminded me of later, similar work from the Andersons’ TV work (I could see Atragon as almost a long-lost Thunderbird vehicle), while the closing battle has some impressive trick photography, combining actors with well-made miniature sets. And, of course, there’s the usual great musical score from Akira Ifukube.
“Atragon” was recently released on a new DVD that has some interesting features. There’s the original Japanese trailer, which includes English subtitles and worth a look, even if it does give an incorrect impression of the movie and give away too much plot. There’s also a running commentary, again in Japanese with English subtitles, with Assistant Director Koji Kajita, who talks about everything from the different filmmaking units (one for SPFX, one for actors) to the type of naval uniform Capt. Jinguji wears. One thing that I did here was to play the English dubbed version of the movie with the English subtitles (from the original Japanese) turned on; the differences in the two sets of dialogue could sometimes be pretty big.
So, all in all, I liked “Atragon”. I would’ve preferred a bit more action, but the more dramatic angle was a nice change of pace. I recommend you give it a look.
As I’ve said before, I can always count on Toho to deliver. I wonder if their movies without giant monsters are as good…
CONNECTIONS NOTE: Let’s keep it simple and just say that practically everyone in “Atragon” also appeared in the other Toho movies I’ve reviewed. And that includes Manda, who shows up as a resident of Monster Island in “Destroy All Monsters”.
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