(1985)3Bruce EderGodzilla Symphonic Fantasia (1985) is a sort of monster movie equivalent to That's Entertainment!, assembled from many of the best moments from Toho Studios' large body of monster movies and science fiction films dating from 1954 through 1975, starting with Godzilla, King of the Monsters (better known in Japan as Gojira). The later films include Rodan, Gozilla Raids Again, Mothra, King Kong vs. Godzilla, Godzilla vs. Mothra, Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster, Godzilla vs. Monster Zero, King Kong Escapes, Godzilla's Revenge, and the unrelated science fiction films The Mysterians and Atragon. Their audio tracks have been stripped from the clips and, in their place, a newly recorded score, assembled and re-orchestrated by composer Akira Ifukube and derived from the original soundtrack music from each movie, has been overlayed onto the resulting extended montage. The resulting film is a rather spellbinding experience, beautifully edited and produced, and cleverly constructed in sections that are divided thematically according to visuals and music. One section of the montage deals with the monsters' interactions with railways and bridges, while another is built around the ethnic-style "tribal" music devised for the island sequences in Mothra and other movies; all of the latter material is treated as choral music, by fairly large forces. It's all entertaining as well as enlightening, especially in regard to the more obscure films that are included. All of the clips from movies shot in scope have been fully letterboxed, while the material from the non-anamorphic titles has been mastered full-frame. If there's anyone beyond Ifukube and Toho producer Tomoyuki Tanaka (who started the studio down this production path) and director Ishiro Honda (who directed the best of the films represented here), who has been honored in this film, it is special effects designer Eiji Tsuburaya, whose work is celebrated in most of the visuals included here, in all of the movies up through the end of the 1960s. Additionally, one can't acknowledge strongly enough the work of the editors involved in assembling this delightful feature-length work.
