Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964)

Plot
Godzilla and Rodan are back on the rampage in Japan, destroying cities before setting their sights on each other. In the meantime, a massive meteor crashes to Earth and from it emerges Ghidrah, a powerful three-headed space monster intent on destroying the planet. Seeing how deadly this new monster is, the twin fairies of Infant Island summon Mothra who proceeds to communicate with Godzilla and Rodan, persuading them to work together to defeat this new menace. But with their past histories of fighting each other, can the Earth monsters co-operate long enough?

Review
The fifth entry in the Godzilla franchise, Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster is arguably the one where the series ditched the seriousness and started playing things for laughs. As if seeing Godzilla and a rather flea-ridden King Kong 'fight' and then watching Godzilla take on a giant moth wasn't funny enough for some, the previous films at least managed to maintain a level of seriousness and treat the monsters with a bit of respect. Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster introduces such camp daftness as the rival monsters playing rock badminton amongst other things. You would think that the most loaded Godzilla film up to this point (featuring four giant monsters!) would be an exciting thrill ride full of wanton destruction, monster mayhem and Tokyo getting smashed to pieces. Unfortunately it is not.

The main problem with Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster is that despite the inclusion of four monsters, the script doesn't gel well enough to give them a valid purpose for being in the film. There is some footage of both Godzilla and Rodan during the opening credits but once they're over, it's a long time before they re-appear on screen. As with most of the earlier Godzilla films, there's little action in the first half and lots of talking. Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster tries to lay claim to be the talkiest of the Godzilla films and I wouldn't try and argue against that case. It takes ages for the first monsters to even appear on screen and even longer for them to do anything worthwhile. The daft human sub-plots in the Godzilla films do take the biscuit though - this time around there is some princess who believes she's a Martian, proclaiming to all that the Earth is doomed and who attracts the attention of an assassination who continually tries to kill her. The human sub-plot and the monsters destroying Tokyo don't exactly gel together and run alongside each other with little connection. I'm sure the writers could have come up with some better ideas to link the two better as the film comes off as two separate films mutually thrust in a weird marriage of convenience. It seems like director Ishirô Honda is trying to hold off on the monster action in order to build up a bit of suspense like he did with the original. But if the monsters aren't on screen, then at least have the characters talking about them instead of worrying about each other. The final battle between all four monsters is strangely disappointing given how much build-up it receives during the film. It's nowhere near as spectacular as it deserved to be and Ghidrah has his ass kicked (not for the last time either) before deciding enough is enough and simply leaving. There's no proper resolution - he just flies off, which could mean he simply heads off to New York or London and resumes Earth-destroying. Lots of miniature houses are destroyed in the process, though not as many as first imagined as the monsters conveniently head out of the city for the final confrontation so as to avoid any unnecessary damage to Tokyo. Most of the monster sequences are well-filmed and, as a testament to how strong they look, stock footage of the final battle and of Ghidrah laying waste to Tokyo would be re-used time and time again in the later sequels.