Ghidorah, The Three-Headed Monster (1964) Review | Godzilla Island Archive

The Plot:

A detective is assigned to protect a visiting princess. Before her plane even arrives in Japan, an assassination attempt via bombing destroys the plane but the princess escapes by jumping from it before the explosion. Meanwhile, a meteor shower occurs over Japan, and a large meteor crashes in the mountains.

A team of scientists investigates the meteor and discovers its unusually strong magnetic properties. Soon after, the princess is spotted in Japan, but she has lost her memory and believes she is an alien from Mars. She repeatedly warns of impending doom for Earth—and her warnings soon prove true. First, Rodan, thought to be dead, rises from a volcano, followed by Godzilla emerging from the sea. Together, the two monsters leave a trail of destruction across Japan.

The princess explains that Mars was once a thriving planet like Earth until it was destroyed by Ghidorah. She warns that it is too late Ghidorah has already arrived, and Earth is in grave danger. At that moment, the meteor being studied by the scientists cracks open, revealing that it was actually an egg and Ghidorah emerges.

Meanwhile, Mothra’s twin fairies are visiting Japan to appear on a talk show. They are recruited to summon Mothra, hoping she can unite Godzilla and Rodan to face Ghidorah together. Mothra arrives in Japan, but Godzilla and Rodan are too busy fighting each other to heed her warnings.

Unable to persuade them, Mothra bravely confronts Ghidorah alone, but she is still in her larval stage and too weak to fight effectively. Just as it seems Mothra will be defeated, Godzilla arrives to aid her, followed by Rodan. The combined might of Godzilla, Mothra, and Rodan proves too much for Ghidorah, who retreats back into space.

After the battle, Mothra returns to Infant Island with the twin fairies, while Godzilla and Rodan go their separate ways.

My Thoughts:

This was the second 1964 release to star both Godzilla and Mothra, following Mothra vs. Godzilla. One question that always comes to mind is: where was the second Mothra larva? In Mothra vs. Godzilla, two larva hatch to defeat Godzilla, but in this film only one larva appears and the second is never mentioned again.

It seems likely that the filmmakers chose to include only one larva for budget reasons or for dramatic effect. Having a single Mothra larva face Ghidorah alone heightens the tension and emphasizes her courage. But imagining two larva evolving into flying Mothra with different wing colors could have completely changed the dynamics of the Godzilla Universe!

This film is historically significant as the first Godzilla movie to feature four monsters, making it a milestone in kaiju history. I thoroughly enjoyed watching it and recommend it to anyone new to Godzilla films. It’s a fantastic, action-packed entry in the series.