It must have been thirty-five years ago I was at a party where a woman who had taken a film course at Yale was trashing the entire American film industry. Only the Japanese, she said, knew how to make cinema.

We've all encountered that sort of idiot educated beyond his or her intelligence, so we did not address her directly. Instead, we each got another beer and began talking about the symbolism of GODZILLA VS. THE SMOG MONSTER, then continued on about a then-current Japanese anime (we all agreed that "The Japs are doing some interesting cartoons") about some cockroaches in an apartment toilet and how about 80% of non-Samurai Japanese movies were symbolically about how Japan was minding its own business when the US attacked it, and that was WWII. This led into more general discussion about the movies, European cinema (about which I had more general knowledge at the time than other branches),and a long reminiscence by one of us about the time he had dated Anna Magnani -- I think he was a liar, but he told it well -- while the woman who had started it all tried to reinsert herself at the center of the conversation, on the basis of a six-week course of film at Yale.

It's thirty years or so later, and I've seen a lot more Japanese films. Right now, I'm going to write about Gojira tai Mekagojira aka Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974). It's about 2010, and it's a weird world, with a woman President of Japan and woman officers and stuff like that, when a Godzilla hows up again. Now, however, the Japanese are proud and confident and organized and scientific, and when a scientist has the skeleton from the old Godzilla in his basement, the other scientists build a shiny steel Mechagodzilla to fight the bad monster, with plucky Reiko Tajima the woman who pilots the non-Godzilla robot.

We may love Robots-fighting-monsters movies because we're all little kids at heart, but this is a very nice production, from good special effects (for 1974) to some fine symbolic work, mostly about the value of working together. But that's what appeals to me about Japanese movies. That and the cool swords.

There was just no end to the Japanese GODZILLA series. Year after year the films were churned out, alien adversaries appearing, wreaking havoc, and then being killed time after time. Strangely enough, the films were never boring either, as all contained an immaculate sense of spectacle and fun which made them hugely enjoyable to watch. GODZILLA VS. MECHAGODZILLA is no different.

Like the Hammer horror series, Toho decided to introduce more adult material as the '70s dawned on their GODZILLA films. Therefore, gore and nudity was added into the blend, and the opening scene where Anguilis has his jaw half ripped off is proof of this. When the monsters fight now, blood sprays everywhere in huge arterial fountains, something to see I'm sure you'll agree. Apart from the gore content, the rest of the material is much the same, with the heroes fighting off the alien adversaries, lots of shooting, and laser beams flying everywhere. This time around the aliens are monkeys in human form, and the scenes of them getting injured and reverting back to their original forms are done quite cleverly in the special effects department and looks very nice indeed.

Strangely enough Godzilla is hardly in the film, with much of the plot being involved in the human intrigue. The appearance of Mechagodzilla is cleverly staged though and he looks impressive, complete with laser beam eyes and guns for his fingers. The other main monster in the film (apart from Anguilis, the whipping boy's guest appearance) is a shabby old guy called King Seeser, who strangely has reflectors for his eyes and huge, bat like ears. It's pretty funny to watch him run around and get knocked over repeatedly. GODZILLA VS. MECHAGODZILLA is typical of this series, not one of the best but not one of the worst either. In any case, it's solid entertainment for the initiated.

Strange events portent coming devastation. Godzilla emerges from Mount Fuji wrecking havoc. Anguirus confronts it but is overcome. Before retreating, Anguirus wounds Godzilla leaving behind bits of metal. Scientists confirm the metal to be space titanium. It's a mechanical Godzilla and the real Godzilla arrives to confront it. The mechanical Godzilla is Mechagodzilla controlled by an alien race.

As always, the human story is superfluous, boring, and a muddle. Nevertheless, it is interesting to see a little of 70's Japan. On top of that, the aliens are rather disappointing. Apes are not aliens. I like the franchise aliens from before. Quite frankly, it would be better to be a deep state conspiracy gone evil. It barely make sense that the aliens have a base on earth. It would have been so much more cinematic to have a spaceship launching Mechagodzilla. It's all about the monster battles and those are fun.