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I
really have to give credit to the folks at Media
Blasters for the spotlight they've given to the
non-Godzilla output of Toho Films in the 1960s.
These classy and respectful DVD releases honor
an era when rampaging giant monsters were just
one of the many wonders of Toho's creative heyday,
which included space operas, horror tales, and
works of fascinating speculative fiction. Just
the years 1963-64 alone produced films such as
Matango, Gorath,
Mothra vs. Godzilla,
and a Republic serial-meets-Jules Verne bit of
fun adventure called Atragon. Two favorite elements
of Japanese sci-fi share the bill in Atragon:
a giant monster (the sea dragon Manda), and the
motif of a ship or vessel (here, the flying submarine
Atragon) as a symbolism of the nation's
hopes.
The film
opens as a civil engineer realizes the sinister
driver of the car in which he is riding is actually
taking him somewhere against his will. The engineer
tries to struggle with the kidnapper but his hand
is burned upon mere contact with the villain.
The car speeds onto a dock, where a lurid magazine
cover photo shoot is taking place. The scantily
clad model and her photographers, Susumu and Yoshito
(Tadao Takashima and Yu Fujiki, respectively,
in a reprisal of their comic interplay that had
been a huge hit in the previous year's King
Kong vs. Godzilla) see the car plummet
into the water, sinking in a cloud of steam. They
next witness humanoid figures in scaly, steaming
suits emerge from the water. Next morning, as
the automobile is recovered from the bay (but
with no bodies to be found inside), the photogs
are questioned by Inspector Ito (Hiroshi Koizumi).
Ito believes this incident is connected to another
recent kidnapping, also involving an engineer.
The inspector is reluctant to believe Susumu and
Yoshito's version of what happened, until other
witnesses report sighting the same steam-emitting
humanoid creatures.
Meanwhile,
Susumu believes he has found his ideal model after
he sees a girl, Makoto (Yôko Fujiyama), the secretary
to the C.O. of a shipping company. However, Makoto
has bigger problems than trying to ignore Susumu's
advances. She knows she is being followed and
watched daily by someone she can't identify. She
voices her concerns to her boss, but they are
interrupted by a man who claims to be a reporter
for True Stories magazine. He's played
by Toho stalwart Kenji Sahara, and because he
wears dark glasses, sports a cartoonish wardrobe
and facial hair, and this is an Ishirô Honda-directed
film, you just know he's really up to no good.
This reporter knows that the C.O. is the former
Admiral Kusumi of the Japanese Navy, and wants
to interview him about the disappearance of the
submarine A-403 near the end of WWII. The
sub's crew was also lost, along with its captain,
Jinjuji, who was Makoto's father. Makoto was left
in Kusumiâ's care, and he has told her that Jinjuji
had died. The reporter implies that he believes
Captain Jinjuji and his crew are still alive,
but Kusumi dismisses the idea as nonsense and
won't cooperate with an interview.
Later,
Admiral Kusumi and Makoto are kidnapped by the
same sinister driver from the film's opening sequence.
Susumu and Yoshito have still been trying to meet
Makoto, and they witness the abduction. They give
chase, which winds up on a beach. The driver (Akihiko
Hirata) claims to be Agent 23 of the ancient Mu
Empire, and he intends to take Kusumi and Makoto
aboard the Mu submarine that is soon to arrive.
Susumu struggles with him, but the kidnapper is
able to generate such heat with his touch that
it melts the wrench Susumu is using as a weapon.
Agent 23 is forced to abandon his captives but
escapes the heroes by swimming out to a waiting
sub. Afterwards, Inspector Ito gives Kusumi a
package addressed to him. It turns out to be a
film, sent by the Mu Empire as an explanation
of who they are and their purpose. According to
the film, Mu existed in the Pacific, and all the
world was Mu's colony. A cataclysm struck, and
Mu sank. The civilization continued to thrive
underground, using the heat of the Earth's core
as a sun (presumably this explains why they are
able to generate such heat from their skins).
Mu has managed to capture the missing sub, A-403,
but Capt. Jinjuji and his crew were not on it.
Mu has discovered that Jinjuji is building a new
submarine, called Atragon. The Empire demands
that the submarine's construction be halted, and
that the world submits to the will of Mu, or else
humanity will suffer the wrath of Mu and its god,
Manda. To prove its point, Mu conducts devastating
attacks on U.S. and Japanese ships, and wreaks
destruction on Venice and Hong Kong .
Admiral
Kusumi finally admits to Makoto that Capt. Jinjuji
had rebelled against the Japan government after
the war, refused to surrender, and has long been
believed dead. At this point, the man that has
been spying on Makoto (remember him?) is arrested
on suspicion of being a Mu agent, but turns out
to be Lt. Amano, a member of Jinjuji's crew. Jinjuji
is indeed still alive and has sent Amano to see
how his daughter Makoto is doing. Amano agrees
to take an expedition to Jinjuji's secret island.
The group consists of Admiral Kusumi, Makoto,
Inspector Ito, photographers Susumu and Yoshito,
and that pesky True Stories reporter, who
can't be left behind lest he reveal to the public
what he now knows. They at last meet Jinguji,
who is taciturn and cold, barely acknowledging
Makoto. He gives a demonstration of Atragon's
power (which includes a freeze ray, a massive
drill, and the ability to become a flying ship)
but then says he will only use the super-sub to
restore Japan to its former glory, not to protect
the rest of the world from Mu aggression. Makoto
denounces Jinguji for his rabid nationalism, while
Susumu calls him a "ghost wearing rusty armor
called Patriotism". Everything comes to a
head when Makoto and Susumu are captured by the
reporter, who is really a Mu agent (I told you
those dark shades are a dead giveaway in a Toho
film), just as a bomb he has planted destroys
the hangar that houses Atragon. Makoto
and Susumu finally see the Mu stronghold firsthand,
where they are thrown in a cell alongside the
engineers who have been enslaved by the Mu Empire.
The prisoners are presented to the Empress of
Mu. She decrees that they be sacrificed to Manda,
who is revealed to be a giant sea dragon. With
his daughter's life in danger, and realizing the
world's peril, Capt. Jinjuji finally decides to
activate Atragon, and join humanity's fight
against Mu. But, he'll have to face the combined
might of Manda and the Mu Empire, which is even
now launching its final assault on the surface
world...
As
you can gather from the lengthy synopsis, Atragon's
storyline is not easily summarized, and therein
rests its main flaws. Its plot is somewhat convoluted,
juggling a large cast of characters and the kind
of epic scope that needs a couple of hours to
unfold coherently. Toho kept pretty faithful to
a ninety-minute standard film length, though,
which means much of Atragon
feels rushed and its plot twists are a bit too
convenient at times. Still, there is plenty of
familiar Toho magic on display to delight the
eye. Enhanced by the maestro Akira Ifukube's powerful
music score, the first scene of the Atragon
emerging from a lake to become a flying ship recalls
the classic Japanese anime series Space Cruiser
Yamato (which Atragon resembles in its shape,
color scheme, and use of a massive frontal weapon).
At times, effects wizard Eiji Tsuburaya's ship
models are a bit too obviously miniatures, but
other sequences, such as when the Mu Empire causes
an entire district of Tokyo to collapse into the
ground, are right up there with his finest work.
The set design of the Mu Empire really does bring
to mind some of the classic cliffhanger serials
such as Flash Gordon, The Phantom Empire,
and the like. The costumes are colorful and effective,
except for some really fucked-up headgear the
Mu agents wear that look as if they were constructed
from discarded Venetian blinds.
There
are the usual solid performances by favorite Toho
actors (Sahara, Koizumi, et al), but to me the
standout performance is Tetsuko Kobayashi as the
Empress of Mu. She doesn't appear until an hour
into the film, but her tiny form commands the
screen in every scene she's in. That she is so
memorable is all the more remarkable because she
gets no help from the script. Her dialogue is
weak and clichéd, yet Kobayashi, all five-foot-nothing
of her, manages to convey, with her face and eyes
alone, oceans of contempt, pride, hatred, and
arrogance that leave no doubt that she's fit to
lead her people. She's a diminutive fireball of
an empress, and I for one wouldn't tread on her
shadow, or would ever want her to turn those withering
eyes on me!
Director
Ishirô Honda just manages to instill some of his
optimism and humanity to the cumbersome tale.
His films for Toho commonly depict representatives
of several professions uniting to destroy a common
enemy, and Atragon
is no exception. The heroes that confront the
Mu Empire represent the law, the press, industry,
and the military, with Makoto, the heroine, there
to provide the voice of compassion that shames
Jinguji into forgetting his allegiance to a lost
war and rejoining a world that is trying to heal
itself. But it's not as easy as all that, and
if there is an intriguing subtext to be found
in Atragon it's in
the uneasy blending of its hopeful pacifism with
the inevitable fact that the militaristic resolve
of the super-patriot Jinjuji is what Japan will
need to withstand the threat.
Japan's
changing attitude on its military past can be
traced in the evolution of Toho's science fiction
films. Japan in the early '60s was certainly still
reeling from the nationalism that brought about
such destruction in WWII. By the 1990s, the shame
and contempt of patriotism had receded, and the
Godzilla films since then have heroes who are
nearly exclusively members of the armed forces.
It is as though the further Japan has gotten from
the horrors of a lost war, the more a kind of
militaristic nationalism has re-emerged.
Atragon
is caught squarely in the middle of this pacifist/militaristic
conflict —
we
are expected to sympathize with the lovers, Susumu
and Makoto, and their dismissal of Jinjujiâ's
"rusted armor", yet there's no denying
that the two characters whose actions will most
determine the outcome of the conflict are Capt.
Jinjuji and the Empress of Mu. The parallels between
them are easily apparent, as they are both 'relics'
but haven't given up their devotion to the rise
of their people, nor in their belief in their
own nation's natural superiority. There is a definite
hint of admiration in Jinjuji for the Empress'
willingness to sacrifice everything, even her
life, for her nation, and perhaps a bit of that
admiration on the part of those who crafted the
film as well.
Atragon
can't really compare to films such as Matango,
The Mysterians, or
the best entries in the Godzilla series. However,
if you're a sucker for Toho's sci-fi films like
I am, you'll find it a good bit of popcorn fun.
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