A submarine collision and a corporate scheme create the conditions leading to a spectacular battle between two iconic monsters on Mount Fuji. Once dismissed as a schlock film director, Ishirō Honda (credited as Inoshirō Honda) is now viewed as an important pioneer of special effects whose œuvre addressed the trauma of WWII, the fragility of the natural world and the fate of the human species. The stop-motion animation and pessimism of the early b&w films was largely replaced by live action and comedy in the widescreen color movies that followed. This film remains the most highly attended Japan-made Godzilla film of all time, a blockbuster in both Japan and the United States at the time of its release.

NR, 87 min., 1962