User Reviews

I remember seeing this movie as a preteen-ager at a drive-in in the early-mid 1960's. I watched it again years later on DVD and still found it entertaining. I would consider it a Japanese retelling of 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea.

An eccentric ultra-patriotic World War II Japanese naval genius has built a super sub in secret to restore the glory of the World War II Japanese Empire. However a new enemy has now emerged; an aggressive underwater kingdom called Mu and it's giant monster god.

This is a good movie with a decent plot and some very attractive Japanese women! The bikini shot of Akemi Kita early in the movie definitely wins the award for "The Best Bikini in a Japanese Movie". The Captain's daughter and the Mu Empress definitely rate a 9+ on the "hotness" scale as well. ;)

This movie is classic TOHO made during the heyday of Japanese science fiction. Although the special effects doesn't stand up to today's standards, for it's time they were above average. I remember watching this movie as a kid and being mesmerized by it. The musical score is very good as well.

The American release DVD quality is excellent. It is dubbed in English and about 89 minutes long. The colors are rich and vibrant. A very good presentation for this very good movie.

Definitely worth a look. I recommend it.

There's something about this film that I can't help but like.

Everything is just one step beyond plausible. The bad guys have all sorts of powers that are used once and then never used again. The flying submarine Atragon has been built completely in secret by an Japanese Navy unit, in self-imposed exile, that is preparing to win World War 2 for Japan in 1963! There's a giant pet serpent that attacks the submarine. An entire city is destroyed in a way I won't describe but is completely wacky.

Silly and lots of fun. The special effects go from great to cheap to unbelievably weird. The movie is slow at points but when the sub finally takes off, it's non-stop action. You'll recognize the actors from many of the Godzilla films.

The evil empire of Mu had sunk to the depths of the Pacific around 10,000 B.C., but, as the 1963 Japanese film "Atragon" shows us, by the year 1965 its people were alive and well, surviving on the ocean floor and ready to conquer the surface lands once again. After Hong Kong and Venice are destroyed, it seems that only the supersub Atragon might be able to save the nations of Earth from the Mu menace, and so a team is dispatched to locate its renegade Capt. Jinguji, a superpatriot for whom World War II has never ended.... Anyway, "Atragon" is a very fine example of a "tokusatsu" (Japanese special FX movie), and the ship itself, with its drilling bow, cold-air cannon and ability to fly through the air, is quite a pleasing creation. The film reunites director Ishiro Honda, composer Akira Ifukube and FX master Eiji Tsuburaya from 1954's "Gojira," the original Godzilla picture, as well as that earlier film's Akihiko Hirata, the inventor of the Oxygen Destroyer, here playing Mu Agent #23. "Atragon" also dishes out some impressive-looking sets (such as those gigantic royal chambers in Mu) and rousing battle sequences (the Mu sub, with its serpent-shaped cannon, destroying a Japanese fleet, looks especially awesome). Although not a "kaiju eiga" (monster movie), the film still offers us one "daikaiju" (giant monster) in the form of Manda, a snaky serpent creature that gives the folks on the Atragon a rough moment or two. The picture packs quite a bit of story--perhaps too much story--into its 96-minute running time and probably would have benefited from an extra half hour for a more leisurely exposition. Still, the film is undeniably fun, and the Mu empress really is something to see. The DVD that I just watched, by the way, from Media Blasters' Tokyo Shock series, looks very fine, and really is everything one could ask for.

This is one of the better non-Godzilla films from the minds of Honda, Tanaka, Tsubaraya and Ifukube. Even though this film pretty much covers the same ground as they did in the Mysterians (even using some stock footage from that film), it still was a great film. The special effect's work by Tsubaraya has to rank as some of his best and the story is better than average for this type of film. I loved how they pretty much showed how tortured Jinguji was as he was torn between his loyalty to Japan, his love for his daughter and the needs of the world as they were being attacked by the Mu Empire. Also, in an interesting bit of casting, Akihiko Hirata and Kenji Sahara play villains instead of their normal heroic roles. It also was interesting that the threat to Earth in this film didn't come outer space but from beneath the ocean by one of the most legendary lost civilizations after Atlantis. This is definitely a great film.

Nothing particularly special, so don't have a lot to say, but it wasn't a bad watch. It involves another group of non-humans threatening to take over the world, there's some slow-moving parts in the first half, and there's a bit monster too (but you don't see it much).

It was directed by Ishiro Honda, who directed a number of classic early Godzilla films, including the original. He was always reliable when it came to non-Godzilla science-fiction/horror/adventure films, even if they don't quite live up to Godzilla, the gold standard.

The credits weren't translated but I could still tell the music was done by Akira Ifukube, who is as the main composer behind the Godzilla music for many years. It sounds pretty similar here, almost like Ifukube kept brushing up against familiar Godzilla themes, but I guess what's not really broken shouldn't be fixed too much.

Toho have made some fantastic movies over the years, deep powerful emotional bleak epics and titanic monster movies! But when it comes to scifi they tend to fall flat for me.

Atragon tells the story of a long forgotten civilization living deep within the earths core that has risen up to seek dominion over the globe once again.

With a giant monster in tow, lots of practical effects that certainly haven't aged well and an instantly forgettable cast this is not one of their most memorable titles.

I'm quite hard to please when it comes to scifi at the best of times, I'm simply not a sci-fi guy but I've found plenty over the years that I've enjoyed. Toho scifi's however up until now haven't been able to, and this is one of their better efforts in that genre.

The Good:

Toho charm

The Bad:

Looks naff

Plot is inconsistent

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

It is difficult to distinguish between fish and submarines

Japan is not part of the world

The lost underwater civilization of Mu makes it's first appearance in the bizarro kaiju film Ataragon.

As the story goes, a series of covert agents have been sent from Mu to the surface world, where they set out to kidnap renown scientists, who they seek to make help them take back control of the surface once and for all.

Generally speaking, the people of Mu are benevolent, peace loving, scientists, who salvage materials from the ocean floor, and revere a chthonic dragon deity named Manda.

Thus, before simply attacking, they offer the surface dwellers an ultimatum: hand over control of the surface to them or be smote by Manda...starting with Manhattan and part of Tokyo.

Instead of capitulating to their demands, however, Earth seeks help from a once-thought-to-be-dead submarine captain.

He's designed the world's best sub...the Ataragon...a submarine that can both drill into the Earth's crust, and also fly.

Obviously, Manda isn't much of a match for it...

So I guess the Muvian threats were pretty empty, in the end.

It's still a pretty entertaining film, though.

6 out of 10.

I'm sorry, but for me, this movie was certainly not one of Toho's gems. I found the film to be quite frustrating actually. I watch these films because I love the amazing creatures and monsters that the humans have to battle. In this movie, the monster did not make its appearance until over halfway through the film. What's worse is that it did not break free and begin attacking anyone until nearly the last 20 minutes of the film. Given that fact, the battle lasted less than 5 minutes with Manda being taken down by the crew of the Atragon very quickly, with no real "battle" as you would have thought there would be. I don't want to say this film was a complete flop however, it seems to me that this film is more of a Japanese patriotism propaganda film in some instances, and a monster flick in others. But to each their own!

This has recently re-emerged on Amazon and I recall watching it in the late 60's. Great bit of celluloid for the genre!

This is one of Toho's gem that has gone unnoticed for many years. The original story was written by a Japanese science fiction writer Oshikawa Shunro in 1900, which was then heavily modified for this movie adaptation by Shinichi Sekizawa. Casting is good, and the plot is very original.

During WW II, Japan created three largest submarines in the world the I 400 class which housed 3 bomber planes with plans to covertly bomb the Panama Canal. The story's premise is that a 4th variation of this sub I 403 was made by the Japanese, commanded by Capt. Jinguji (Jun Tazaki). It was thought that this sub sank off the coast of Saipan with all hands lost, but Jinguji and his crew survived and created an underground base in an uncharted island. There Jinguji also being an engineer, puts into action his plan to build a flying battleship/submarine called the Gotengo. The year is 1964 and there're few mysterious kidnapping of scientists in Japan and sitings of a strange submarine. The culprit (Akihiko Hirata) tries to kidnap ex-Lt. Admiral Kozumi (Ken Uyehara) and Jinguji's daughter Makoto (Yoko Fujiyama) but fails, and reveals that there's a plan for the Muans from the lost continent of Mu to return to the surface for world conquest. Kozumi now aware of Jinguji's survival and his creation the Gotengo, is asked by the UN to convince Jinguji to use it against the Muans. During their excursion to Jinguji's island, Muan spy (Kenji Sahara) kidnaps Makoto and her fiancée Hatanaka (Tadao Takashima). Jinguji's original idea was to use Gotengo to win the war (WW II that is) for Japan, but is now convinced he will have to fight the Muans.

The star of this movie is the outrageously cool looking flying battleship/submarine (Designed by notable Japanese science fiction artist Shigeru Komatsuzaki) that's armed to its teeth. This submarine comes with a drill at its nose and can drill through earth where the enemy has their lair. The Muans who are the race of people from the legendary continent Mu which sank in the pacific 12000 years ago (There are three lost continent legend if you're not familiar with Mu. One is Atlantis, other is Mu in the Pacific, and third is Lemuria in the Indian ocean which all sank around the same time ) are planning to return to the surface, and take over the world. Gotengo (the name of the sub) challenges Muans in their world to stop their invasion plan. As director of special effects Shinji Higuchi once said, Japanese might be the only people who have fetish for a flying battleship. This story, and Uchu Senkan Yamato is a prime example.

The American title of this movie "Atragon" which is also the American name for Gotengo is an abbreviation of the words "Atomic Dragon".

When I first saw the picture of this submarine, I long waited for the day I could see the movie. I saw a badly dubbed version on TV which was disappointing, but now a DVD is available with original Japanese dialogs. This is a movie worth watching.

Atragon (1963) is a Toho Classic I recently watched on a random streaming site. The storyline follows an underwater civilization and their dragon who have decided it's time to take over the world. The Japanese breakout a futuristic submarine like the world has never seen to hit them head on.

This movie is directed by Ishirô Honda (Godzilla, 1954) and stars Tadao Takashima (King Kong vs Godzilla), Kenji Sahara (Godzilla, 1954), Hiroshi Koizumi (Mothra), Jun Tazaki (Ran), Akihiko Hirata (Godzilla, 1954) and Hisaya Itô (Destroy All Monsters).

The storyline for this is fairly straightforward and the opening creature emerging from the ocean sets the tone for the movie. The opening fight scene on the beach and underwater civilization revealing themselves is pretty good. The civilization models and submarines are very well done and entertaining. The release of the special submarine and the underwater action scenes using it are awesome. The dragon is just okay but his laser abilities were fun. The storyline conclusion was pretty good and worth watching the plot unfold.

This is far from Honda's best film but is still worth a viewing. I would score this a 6-6.5/10 and recommend seeing it once.

Did this piece of crap get 6.5 stars? Is there a time machine involved and someone went back to 1963 and a couple thousand under-10 year olds gave it this rating?? Because I cannot WILL NOT believe that 21st century people gave it 6.5 stars. OH!!! That's it! An alien plot to rot our brains and conquer the earth! That's as plausible an explanation as possible.

ATRAGON (1963, aka KAITEI GUNKAN) is a fun, fast paced sci-fi action thriller by the Japanese makers and stars of the Godzilla series. It seems the undersea kingdom of Mu wants to reclaim their rule on Earth. It's up to a plucky cheesecake photographer (Tadao Takashima) and a self-exiled WW2 Japanese Naval officer (Jun Tazaki) to stop them. There are laps of logic, which kind of add to the fun, and some well staged sequences. Film gets especially silly when the undersea Mu empire sends the Japanese Government an 8mm film explaining Mu's history and plans. This little film has optical titles, a narration, the works. Does this undersea kingdom have a film production unit complete with a film processing lab? Giddy fun here. ]

1963's "Atragon" ("Kaitei Gunkan" or Undersea Battleship in Japan) was among the last Toho efforts that did not involve two giant monsters duking it out in the final round. Like "Matango" the same year, it's a character driven story that depends on its human cast, reteaming Tadao Takashima and Yu Fujiki in the same comical vein as 1962's "King Kong vs. Godzilla" though a bit more serious this time. We are introduced to a lost continent like Atlantis which sunk in the Atlantic, here a Pacific equivalent called Mu, ruled by an imperious Empress (Tetsuko Kobatashi) who announces world domination using heat generated from the earth's core to cause massive devastation through earthquakes. Apart from the seeming impossibility of locating such a world they also boast of a fabled protector, the sea serpent Manda (later seen in "Destroy All Monsters"), who can twist around enemies like a snake, its claws too puny for any real grasp but hungry for imprisoned captives (more along the lines of 1960's "Reptilicus"). Earth's only hope is to find the long thought dead Hachiro Jinguji (Jun Tazaki), former commander of Japan's Imperial Forces, still seeking to restore its dignity following the period where they had abolished war. This Captain Nemo-type was intended for the nation's most acclaimed actor, Toshiro Mifune, later to costar with Christopher Lee in Steven Spielberg's 1941, but a prior commitment prevented him from accepting, leaving the part available for Tazaki, square jawed veteran of many a military general fighting monsters in the Toho universe, clearly relishing this change of pace as for once he's granted a pretty daughter (Yoko Fujiyama) who last saw her father at the age of 3. It is her kidnapping at the hand of Mu agent Kenji Sahara that finally convinces Jinguji to use his newly finished battleship Atragon against the common enemy, capable not only of flying through the air but also the usual tasks required from an underwater submarine, with attachments that allow it to burrow beneath the earth, and a freeze ray to incapacitate other threats. So overwhelming in fact is its power when finally in use that it makes one wonder why secret agents of Mu even tried to seek out the elusive captain, emerging from the sea in diving costumes that resemble the Gill Man (slightly less conspicuous than the creatures on display in Toei's 1966 "Terror Beneath the Sea"). A similar lost world is later depicted in "Godzilla vs. Megalon," using the same costumes for the more sparse residents of Seatopia.

Atragon is a fairly entertaining Japanese science fiction film with impressive-looking sets and battle sequences together with a rousing music score. However, this is probably one of Toho's and Ishiro Honda's somewhat lesser efforts.

Atragon (Kaitei Gunkan 'The Undersea Warship') is a 1963 Japanese tokusatsu (Japanese special FX ) science fiction film directed by Ishiro Honda, with special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya.

The American title of this movie "Atragon" is an abbreviation of the words "Atomic Dragon."

Produced and distributed by Toho, it is loosely based on The Undersea Warship: A Fantastic Tale of Island Adventure by Shunro Oshikawa (1899) and The Undersea Kingdom (1954-1955) by Shigeru Komatsuzaki.

Augustus Le Plongeon (1825-1908) introduced the notion of "Mu" as being a mythical lost continent, the "Land of Mu" identified with, what else? - Atlantis. It was later identified with the hypothetical land of Lemuria by James Churchward (1851-1936), who claimed that it was located in the Pacific Ocean before its destruction.

Five models of Gotengo, all at various scales, were built for the film with steel hulls for supporting their internal mechanisms. The largest was 4.5 meters (15 feet long), manufactured by a ship-building company for the price of 1,500,000 yen. It was fully operational with wings, fins, gun turrets, a bridge and the drill, all movable by remote radio control devices built into the hull. It was also large enough for a technician to lie inside the hull and manually operate some of the ship's movable parts. The 30 cm model was used mainly in water tank shots to depict Gotengo cruising on the surface of the sea. A small mechanical arm was attached to the ship beneath the water line, providing the ship mobility. Moreover, Gotengo was just so damn cool!

Filming of Gotengo's trial run made use of an indoor water tank with a miniature shore line placed in front of a huge curved backdrop painting with the scene being shot in three different cuts, each of which used a different scale miniature sub along with the use of an underwater crane, high speed photography, wires and air jets to create the illusion of mass and propulsion.

The scene where the American submarine Red Satan is crushed by water pressure was done by pumping air out of the model. A cool science experiment!

Toho's Stage Number 11, the largest on the back-lot was used for the Mu ritual extravaganza. An elaborate backdrop measuring 30 feet high and 120 feet long was made for long shots of the Empress and her court overseeing the Mu ritual. The royal contingent observing the 600 male and female dancers was placed on a small platform with the pillars, balcony, and antechambers all painted in perspective on the backdrop.

The Ginza and Marunouchi areas reproduced in miniature at 1/20 scale were used for depiction of the destruction of the Tokyo business district. The model buildings were made of plaster, with some made with internal steel structures, ensuring that that they would partially survive the destruction. The buildings' main supports were partially cut through and ropes were tied to each support beam with all the ropes being attached to the bumper of a truck. The intention was for the underground collapse to slowly ripple through the city, destroying it in a rolling wave. Needless to say it did not go according to plan as the truck driver panicked and drove off too quickly causing the entire model city to collapse at the same time. Recourse was made to some nifty editing later on.

An outdoor water tank on the Toho back-lot was used for shooting the attack by the Mu submarine on Tokyo Bay. Ten miniature tankers were constructed, each to a different scale and were distributed in the water tank to create a forced perspective thereby adding greater depth to the scene. Six automatic remote-control cameras shot the scene simultaneously as six miniature ships exploded in sequence. Conventional animation was used to integrate the Mu subs' ray to the live action.

The underwater sequences were achieved through the use of camera filters and smoke machines.

The illusion of an immense wall of smoke and flames erupting from the explosion of the Mu power chamber was achieved by using a small water tank against which a camera was secured and positioned upside down beneath the water line. A sky backdrop was placed behind the water, and coloured paints pouring into the water, created the billowing clouds.

Instead of a dragon, Manda was originally envisioned as a giant rattlesnake. However, Manda's design was changed to resemble a Chinese dragon with 1964 being the Year of the Dragon.

Manda was built up as being a frightening and awesomely powerful creature. Strangely enough, it couldn't even give a decent account of itself in its battle with Atragon and only appeared briefly mainly in the second half of the film.

The strength of the film itself lies in the personal struggles of some of the characters such as the tortured Jinguji who is torn between his loyalty to Japan, his love for his daughter and the ultimate fate of the world as they face attack from and domination by the Mu Empire. It is also interesting to note that the threat to Earth is not by aliens from outer space but from beneath the ocean by a once thought of lost civilisation. The Muans are descendants of the lost continent of Mu who are also reminiscent of the lost continent of Atlantis, except that the Mu are located in the Pacific.

Atragon also raises some interesting questions concerning the way in which a nation and its people attempt to come to terms with its past and how it envisions its role in the future and its place in the world. When people find it hard to cope with change or when times are desperate, solutions are often sought by seeking out and clinging on to historical myths and idealised views of the past. Unfortunately the more unpalatable and forgotten aspects of this past often lie in wait below the surface ready to emerge and claim the hearts and minds of the susceptible.

All in all, Honda has directed far better films than Atragon, but I recommend you watch it and try to enjoy it for what it is despite some of its short comings. Just don't expect it to be on the same level as Japanese classics of superior quality such as The Mysterians, Battle Beyond Earth, Gojira or Rodan.

Gotengo? More like Go-four-out-of-ten-go hehe :)

This film never fully manages to immerse me as a viewer and it is not very well-paced. The film makes attempts to say something about Japan's past,patriotism,duty and war but it does not do it very well unfortunately.

For most of its 95 minute runtime this film is people talking to each-other to try and convey the earlier mentioned messages and themes but there is way too much spoken and not enough shown, the acting never fully sells the depth the film is going for either.

The effects are quite good and the Gotengo is cool. Manda is in it way too briefly to make much of an impact and does not live up to the hype built up by the Mu people in the film.

All-in-all a disappointing outing from TOHO. I would only recommend it to Godzilla completionists that want to see the first appearances of Manda, the Gotengo and the Absolute Zero weapon.

Toho was totally on fire for a brief period in the early to mid 60's. Though even later they sporadically came up with something great like WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS or BATTLE OF THE SEA OF JAPAN, most of their best film were actually non-Godzilla films.

ATRAGON is one of the first and best examples of 60's Toho lunacy and excellent Tsuburaya special effects, combined with excellent acting. There's plenty of absurd science, ridiculous ideas like flying subs, massive destruction, fast-paced action, and even a giant monster to keep anyone's attention.

The only thing weighing this film down is the pacing being totally off. There is waaaay too much time devoted build-up and fleshing out too many 1-dimensional characters. A lot of sequences (like finding the legendary lost captain on an uncharted island) are way too drawn out and sap the film of a lot of excitement. The monster "Manda" is poorly animated and underutilized.

That said, the city destruction presented toward the end is some of Toho's best, with a massive crater opening up under the city and sucking buildings down several hundred feet, presumably killing thousands! Another highlight comes with the Mu sub going nuts on Tokyo bay destroying several merchantmen over and over again. It's colorful fun all the way which refreshingly can appeal to children and adults alike. Toho's later scifi films tended to try too hard to stay kid-friendly.

With a little editing and a few script rewrites, this could have been Japan's definitive sci fi epic. As it is, a flawed but enjoyable romp through Godzilla territory sans atomic lizard.

This movie succeeds where many typical Japanese monster movies fail. The plot is thick and evolves into some sort of spy story about a renegade, long lost naval officer, whose daughter is in the custody of his former commanding officer who -in turn- has kept silent about him for 20 years. On top of that, some mysterious submarine empire wants to conquer earth, and demands that said lost officer be handed over, in addition to the latter's brainchild, a powerful submarine. The renegade is now assembling his submarine on a remote island with a garrison of left over soldiers & natives, hoping to win WWII in the 60's. Such submarine ( the 60'ish version of GOTENGO in final wars, again coming in the 70's Tsuburaya production "I-zenborg" ) is the last hope for humankind. The plot -as said- is unexpectedly solid, a cut above most monster movies, and adds drama and spy story in a credible fashion. Of course that's from the Godzilla crew, so we have to adjust our expectations period & genre-wise. Trademarks abound, EG the submarine invaders look like the "savages" on the Mothra island: they just wave spears & dance around pseudo-Egyptian monuments.Overall a cut above the usual man-in-suit smashing cartonbox miniatures movie and without too many bond movie cloned moments.

This is a great kaiju movie from Toho Studios. Right off the beginning of this film, we see an already intriguing scene when a scientist gets kidnapped by a creature from under the sea. The suspense builds when the creatures reveal themselves to be habitants of the Undersea Kingdom of Mu, and that they have come to Earth to reclaim its land (of course the Earth people do not accept that, so it's the super-submarine Atragon to the rescue). The scenes where it show the origin and the places of the Mu Kingdom are very entertaining. We actually get to see what the Mu Kingdom looks like. The scene where the Mu people sing and dance and worship is a real charmer. For this movie, the special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya are spectacular and the screenplay by Shinichi Sekizawa is exciting, spellbinding, and full of suspense and drama. The plot is solid and perfect and Ishiro Honda's directing is superb. The music by Akira Ifukube is excellent and fantastic. The main title music is full of melody and harmony and is probably my favorite Akira Ifukube music score. And, virtually everybody is in this movie: Tadao Takashima, Yoko Fujiyama, Yu Fujiki, Ken Uehara, Jun Tazaki, Kenji Sahara, Hiroshi Koizumi, Yoshifumi Tajima, Akihiko Hirata, Eisei Amamoto, and Susumu Fujita.

The scenes where the Earth humans and the Mu people battle each other is inspiring. Manda, the giant sea serpent, is an awesome-looking monster. He is the protector of the Mu Kingdom. From the sounds of the worships, Manda seemed to be a powerful creature. However, he is actually pretty weak since he hardly put up a descent battle with Atragon, and he appeared only briefly throughout the entire movie. That was a disappointment - more scenes of Manda would have made this an even better feature. But overall, this film is a great one from Toho.

Grade B+