Sadamasa Arikawa Movies

Tapping into one of the favorite subjects of Chinese cinema, War of the Wizards tells the tale of Tai, a young fisherman (Charles Lang) who accidentally dredges up a magical Golden Vessel that functions like the Horn of Plenty -- it grants wealth whenever the fisherman needs it. Along with this precious object, Tai finds a Bamboo Book with valuable secrets written inside. Soon the fisherman is fending off assaults from villains and evil wizards alike, though he cannot resist the final "assault" -- he falls in love with two sisters and marries one while keeping the other as a concubine. Unknown to Tai, the sisters are the front line of offense for their Aunt, a sorceress of black-magic who steals the Golden Vessel and then wants the Bamboo Book as well. In the last 40 minutes, the action builds to a climactic confrontation between the sorceress, her bodyguard (Richard Kiel), and Tai, who has acquired magic powers by flying to Fairy Mountain on the back of a Phoenix. Although told at the maturity level of a young child, the themes of magic and sorcery, of wizards who are both good and evil and can call on special powers when they are in combat, are among the oldest and most popular of Chinese mythologies. For most Western audiences though, this film will seem like a Walt Disney feature gone mad. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

This colorful, no-holds-barred clash of the titans -- directed by Inoshiro Honda (one of monsterdom's foremost experts) -- features nearly all of Japan's ground-pounding superstars, including Godzilla (and son), Mothra, Rodan and Ghidorah... and even tosses in Anzilla, Baragon, Goro, Wendra, Spiga and Varan for the explosive climax. The setup involves a race of evil aliens known as Kilaaks, who release the world's population of giant monsters from their quarantine on Monster Island, employing powerful mind-control devices on the monsters as part of their master plan for subjugating humanity. When the secret equipment used for this purpose is discovered beneath Mount Fuji and destroyed, the aliens make a last-ditch attempt at reclaiming their foothold by summoning three-headed Ghidorah from space -- but by then, Godzilla and the other city-stompers have rallied together to defend the Earth from the alien menace. Released in Japan as Kaiju Soshingeki, this is one of Honda's more colorful monster extravaganzas, and a must-see for fans of the genre. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

Ishiro Honda directed this fourth Godzilla film (the second for Mothra), which is bogged down at the start by an uninteresting set-up involving corporate intrigue and a pair of boring reporters. Godzilla's first appearance is not very impressive, as he rises from a sandy beach looking distinctly the worse for wear since his last outing in Kingukongu Tai Gojira (1963). The miniscule Peanut Sisters (Emi Ito, Yumi Ito) are around again, looking for one of the giant eggs which their moth goddess is always losing, and the usual heavy-handed moralizing about mankind's destructive nature is very much in evidence. Other than the peculiar set decoration on an irradiated island which looks as if it fell out of a 1930s adventure movie, the first 50 minutes or so are quite weak. After that, however, the toy tanks start firing, the natives start fleeing, the beasts start battling, and the film starts to be entertaining. The fight scenes are well-staged, given the clumsiness of the participants, and stand as some of the best such sequences of the 1960s. The eventual capture and electrocution of Godzilla in a giant net is nicely handled as well. This installment was followed by the much more interesting San Daikaiju: Chikyu Saidai No Kessen (1965), the first of the space-oriented entries in the series. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide