The Mysterians (1957)

The Mysterians is another sci-fi film from Toho studios, the next after Rodan came out the year before. I had never been able to see this one in any form until very recently when it was finally released by Tokyo Shock, so this is one of the few that I can say wasn't influenced by viewings when I was little. It was certainly one I'd always wanted to see since I knew it had a giant robot in it. The good news here is yes, there is a giant robot, the bad news is, it's only barely there.
The film opens at a Japanese festival with lots of eye candy, lots of bright colors against the darkness of the evening where we meet our characters: Joji, his fiance Etsuko, his fiance's brother Ryoichi, and his fiance's brother's fiance Hiroko. Already I see a problem arising here, where Ryoichi spends most of the movie off screen, he's the axis from which all the characters spin really. It's his friends, family and fiance that are important to the proceedings, but we never really spend any time with him. Most of his character beats, aside from some self imposed distance from his friends are spoken about off screen. For the most part it's Joji's show, even though he's the least interesting of the two.
Anyway, festival, kimono, socially awkward guy, I'm already on board. This is a party I'd go to. The party is crashed soon by what appears to be a distant forest fire. Ryoichi goes to investigate and wisely tries to stop three dudes on bicycles that they shouldn't go riding into a forest fire even though they don't listen to him. It's situations like this where I end up just waiting for the morons to get offed, and I don't have long to wait. They live just long enough to tell us that the trees seem to be burning from the roots up, this is important to hear because....actually I didn't catch why this was important, so never mind, it doesn't come back later anyway. We find the next day that Ryoichi has gone missing, but instead of going out to look for him, or stay with friends/family to perhaps mourn, Joji stops by the astronomy lab that Ryoichi works at. Seems he wrote a report about a bunch or asteroids that he theorizes used to be part of an actual planet, a mystery planet. A mysterious asteroid, a MYSTEROID! Well, at least if the astronomy gig didn't pay off Ryoichi could have found some success in the advertising business. The report however, is incomplete, but that doesn't matter all that much for now because there are more events. Events!
Our characters find that the village Ryoichi was staying in, where we met all those nice people at the festival has fallen victim to a massive earthquake and landslide. More great visuals here once again showing off Tsuburaya's miniature work with the fake landscape convincingly caving in. It's a bit off putting though, because we hear about the event before it happens. But what we do see is very well executed by the effects team.
Joji and a few soldiers go to investigate, finding a huge crater where the town used to be. There's some mention of the ground feeling hot, which is a slight nod to the fire earlier, I suppose, but we don't dwell on it because another landslide occurs soon after. This time however, we get our first sighting of the giant robot and it's. Uh, hmm. It's very poofy. It very much reminds me of Japanese armor, with the horizontal plates and such. But the tiny legs and mole shape of the head provide a very strange silhouette. Mole you say? Yes, Mole. The robot's name is Mogera, which is a "play" on the Japanese word for mole, mogura. Witty. The optical effects, the constant "alien" sound of the bot and the miniature set are very convincing, but the odd design is hard to get past.

I am the mole robot: Mohl!

The next segment of the film plays like a traditional kaiju movie, with the Japanese military trying to destroy Mogera while it trashes a town. There are quite a few very convincing shots here where shadows hide most of Mogera and the odd shape with the spotlight-like eyes make for a very atmospheric look. Mogera is definitely a monster that looks better the less you see of it. Strangely enough they manage to destroy Mogera after a bit with traditional means, which is shocking for a kaiju film, but still somewhat refreshing and outside the box.
Unfortunately we're only half way through the film.
Soon after a giant glowing dome appears out of the ground near Mt. Fuji and the aliens come forth with specific demands. They want a piece of land 2 miles in radius, (okay) and the right to marry Earth women. (wha huh?) Oh, and they have a specific list of which women they want. (what?!) Turns out they've been exposed to radiation to the point that most of their children have birth defects.

We love long walks on the beach, bright crayons, and viable embryos

What I find funny is that they constantly say "marry" it's not "mate," not "breed." It's the right to marry. Until the "we have a list thing" I was imagining human/Mysterian meet and greets and speed dating. What I find less funny is that for the rest of the film, people seem more upset about the land the aliens want and only slightly put off by the fact that they want to force specific women to marry them. It's all "they want our land!? Never! Oh, and place guards on the women folk I suppose."
Of course two of the women they want are the two women we met earlier in the film. I suppose they disappeared from the movie for awhile to make dinner, or whatever women do in this universe while the men/alien folk are talking. As Joji comes to update them on the situation, the tv turns on all by it's self and we find Ryoichi has joined the Mysterians and is even wearing their insanely brightly colored clothing.
He asks them to make the government stop the impending attack on the Mysterian dome, telling them that they can speak with him whenever they want on the tv. Which makes me wonder why he doesn't talk to any government officials or any of his astronomer colleagues who seem to be working with the military. But whatever movie.
The military obviously doesn't comply and goes on the attack. Things don't end well of course as the dome starts shooting a lightning like heat ray at the tanks. It hit me half way through that this reminds me of the fight with the Angel Ramiel in Evangelion. Both feature a stationary geometric enemy with a beam weapon. It's fun for awhile with all the great miniature work, well timed explosions and optical effects. My favorite being the tanks made of wax and put under studio lights to mimic the effects of the heat ray melting metal. Not quite as convincing as the electricity towers in Godzilla, but still pretty cool.

"It's kind of like Evangelion, but it makes sense." "So..it's not like Evangelion at all."

Unfortunately these scenes wear out their welcome as the rest of the film is mostly long similar sequences. Each time there's a new weapon or mech from the humans that gets trounced. There's some neat stuff going on, like the impossibly large rockets, and some impressive composition shots putting real people in shot with miniatures. But without a monster to interact or specific characters in the battle I have to admit to a bit of effects overload. When a Godzilla fan says that, you've got a problem.
Eventually the Mysterians kidnap Etsuko and Hiroko, leading Joji to come across a cave that conveniently leads into the Mysterian base. Everything ends up being resolved as Ryoichi comes to his senses and he and his friend Joji attack the Mysterions from inside while the Japanese military attacks from without.
The aliens are defeated and chased off, and poor Mogera gets a brief and somewhat embarrassing reappearance as a new Earth mech falls on it.
The movie feels somewhat out of control for most of the running time. With not enough time for me to care all that much about the characters, and with no strong villains to fear, the long effects sequences don't feel earned no matter how well made they are.
It's interesting to note however that this marks the first time ever that a sci-fi mech was made to combat a new menace, something that would shape most kaiju films from here on. This time being the giant rockets and the unfortunately named Markalite Farps heat rays. Mogera is also the first giant robot from Toho studios, and I can't help feeling like the makers of the film weren't huge fans because they didn't do another one for 10 years for King Kong Escapes.
It's also worth noting that this film once again sees all the countries of Earth banding together to fight a new threat, and also a showcase of the dangers of radiation. I enjoy seeing this idea as it shows a sort of optimism on the writer/directors part. Not laying the blame on anyone real and showing that all people can work to one common goal.
I just wish there were characters to really care about in this film.