Ishiro Honda Filmography

Born:
May 7, 1911 in Yamagata Prefecture, Japan
Occupation:
First Assistant Director, Director, Screenwriter
Biography:
Honda began directing in the early '50s, and scored an international success with his science-fictioner Gojira (aka Godzilla, King of the Monsters). Enormous low-budget monsters trampling Tokyo soon became Honda's specialty, with such beloved efforts as Rodan, The Mysterians, Varan the Unbelievable...Read More
  • Madadayo

    Crew: First Assistant Director

    Actors: Tatsuo Matsumara, Kyoko Kagawa, Hisashi Igawa

    Synopsis: Akira Kurosawa's swansong is a delicate, sentimental portrait of his long avowed hero, educator and literary figure Hyakken Uchida. At the film's opening, Uchida -- a professor of German literature at a military school where he is beloved for his wisdom and his impish humor -- is delivering his Read More

    1993
  • Rhapsody in August

    Crew: First Assistant Director

    Actors: Richard Gere, Sachiko Murase, Mitsunori Isaki, Hidetaka Yoshioka

    Synopsis: Master filmmaker Akira Kurosawa follows up on his phantasmorgic Dreams with this delicate tale about war and memory. The film centers on Kane (Sachiko Murase) a grandmother who lives on her traditional farm in the hills near Nagasaki. Her husband and a number of siblings died in the 1945 atomic Read More

    12/19/91
  • Terror of Mechagodzilla

    Crew: Director

    Synopsis: A race of malevolent aliens bent on world domination unleash the ultimate weapon of destruction on mankind, leaving them with no hope for survival but the power of the mighty Godzilla. Their galaxy dying, the endangered aliens discover a planet that could save them from extinction if it wasn't Read More

    1975
  • Yog, Monster from Space

    Crew: Director

    Synopsis: Japan and the rest of the world are again in grave danger after an evil amoeba-like alien emerges from a spaceship crash and turns an octopus, a crab, and a turtle into gigantic city-squishing terrors. An entrepreneur sees the creatures not as destructive forces to be destroyed, but as a gold mine Read More

    1971
  • Ido Zero Daisakusen

    Crew: Director

    Actors: Joseph Cotten, Cesar Romero, Masumi Okada

    Synopsis: Godzilla maven Inoshiro Honda helmed this quaint, old-fashioned fantasy adventure (loosely styled after 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea) about the crew of a damaged deep-sea craft who are taken aboard a high-tech atomic submarine dubbed "Alpha," commanded by the Nemo-like Captain McKenzie Joseph Cotten Read More

    1969
  • Godzilla's Revenge

    Crew: Director

    Synopsis: The most unashamedly childish entry in the Godzilla franchise is basically a vehicle for recycled footage from previous Toho productions. The framing story involves a precocious little boy (Tomonori Yakazi) whose real-life traumas include harassment by bullies and kidnapping by a gang of bank Read More

    1969
  • The Human Vapor

    Crew: Director

    Actors: Yoshio Tsuchiya, Kaoru Yachigusa, Tatsuya Mihashi, Keiko Sata

    Synopsis: Packaged in the States with director Honda's 1964 feature Gorath, this sci-fi film tells the story of an ex-con who has undergone a substantial change on account of a scientific experiment. He is now able, at will, to transform himself into vapor. When his girlfiend is accused of theft, the Vapor Read More

    1968
  • Destroy All Monsters!

    Crew: Screenwriter

    Actors: Akira Kubo, Jun Tazaki, Yoshio Tsuchiya, Yukihiko Kobayashi

    Synopsis: 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 Read More

    1968
  • King Kong Escapes

    Crew: Director, Screenwriter

    Actors: Rhodes Reason, Mie Hama, Linda G. Miller, Akira Takarada, Eisei Amamoto

    Synopsis: Rhodes Reason is the requisite Hollywood "name" actor in the Japanese-produced King Kong Escapes. While hacking through the jungle, expedition leader Nelson (Reason) and his companions are attacked by a dinosaur. They are rescued by King Kong, who since his traumatic experiences in New York has Read More

    1967
  • The War of the Gargantuas

    Crew: Director, Screenwriter

    Synopsis: Two gigantic fake-fur covered monsters battle it out in Tokyo. A mutation caused by an atomic blast, the green Gargantua is evil and desirous of stomping out the entire human race. The brown one is good and is kept busy attempting to derail his evil counterpart's destruction. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Read More

    1966
  • Atragon

    Crew: Director

    Actors: Tadao Takashima, Yoko Fujiyama, Yu Fujiki, Akemi Kita

    Synopsis: In this Japanese sci-fi adventure, Japan and the rest of the planet is being destroyed by a deadly series of earthquakes. Explorers soon discover why: beneath the sea is an enormous city, Mu, and to keep it going, they have been stealing energy from the Earth's core. They refuse to stop and so the Read More

    1965
  • Godzilla vs. Monster Zero

    Crew: Director

    Actors: Nick Adams

    Synopsis: Toho's bid to merge the Godzilla series with their popular alien-invasion films resulted in this entertainingly goofy entry. The plot involves the discovery of the mysterious Planet X in our solar system, leading to a joint U.S./Japanese space exploratory mission. The explorers bump into some Read More

    1965
  • Dagora, the Space Monster

    Crew: Director

    Actors: Yoko Fujiyama

    Synopsis: In this Japanese feature, when diamond robbers find that a kind of goo from outer space is beating them to the diamonds and consuming the jewels for food, they have to do something about it. Meanwhile, an elderly scientist has been working on the problem and discovers that wasp venom freezes the Read More

    1965
  • Frankenstein Conquers the World

    Crew: Director

    Actors: Nick Adams, Tadao Takashima, Kumi Mizuno

    Synopsis: This hilarious monster mess from the makers of the Godzilla series (including director Inoshiro Honda) essentially recruits Mary Shelley's classic creature into the ever-growing ranks of Japanese city-stomping behemoths -- albeit with a less colorful costume. The only nod to the original Read More

    1964
  • Ghidorah: The Three-Headed Monster

    Crew: Director

    Actors: Yumi Ito

    Synopsis: A true "monster rally," this Japanese special-effects smorgasbord stars no fewer than four "A"-list movie monstrosities. Once again, the citizens of Tokyo are subjected to an ill-tempered atomic mutant. This time it's the triple-headed Ghidrah, who breathes electric volts in all directions. Coming Read More

    1964
  • Godzilla vs. Mothra

    Crew: Director

    Actors: Akira Takarada, Yuriko Hoshi, Hiroshi Koizumi, Yu Fujiki

    Synopsis: 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 Read More

    1964
  • Gorath

    Crew: Director

    Actors: Ryo Ikebe, Akihiko Hirata, Jun Tazaki, Yumi Shirakawa, Takashi Shimura

    Synopsis: Japanese sci-fi director Inoshiro Honda and special effects wizard Eiji Tsuburaya teamed up again (Rodan, Godzilla, Mothra) for this thriller/adventure. Set in the futuristic 1980, a group of Tokyo scientists discover that Earth is in the direct path of a star with a gravitational pull 6,000 times Read More

    1964
  • Matango

    Crew: Director

    Synopsis: This twisted, surreal monster story is related in flashback by an asylum inmate, who tells of his horrific experiences as one of several castaways on a mist-shrouded tropical island. While the crew affect repairs to their yacht, the stranded passengers take refuge in a derelict ship overgrown with Read More

    1963
  • King Kong vs. Godzilla

    Crew: Director

    Actors: Michael Keith, James Yagi, Tadao Takashima, Mie Hama, Yu Fujiki

    Synopsis: This preposterous battle between the huge ape King Kong and the fire-breathing dinosaur Gojira marked the beginning of Toho Studios aiming their monster films at children rather than general audiences. Director Ishiro Honda stages the battle scenes atop Mt. Fuji for laughs, as the two lovable Read More

    1962
  • Varan the Unbelievable

    Crew: Director

    Actors: Tsuruko Kobayashi, Clifford Kawada

    Synopsis: Director Jerry A. Baerwitz created this uninspired, problematical monster story by using footage from a similar but different Japanese monster flic by Inoshira Honda (he who started off Godzilla and followed up with Rodan, Mothra, Monster Zero and more). Viewer opinion overwhelmingly sides with Read More

    1961
  • Mothra

    Crew: Director

    Actors: Jerry Ito, Ken Uehara, Yumi Ito

    Synopsis: Mothra was the third major addition to the Toho Studios' giant-monster stable after Godzilla and Rodan, and the first female beast in the series. The creature begins Ishiro Honda's entertaining film as a giant larva worshipped by island tribesmen and guarded by twin sisters (Emi and Yumi Ito) who Read More

    1961
  • Battle in Outer Space

    Crew: Director

    Actors: Ryo Ikebe, Koreya Senda, Leonard Stanford, Harold Conway

    Synopsis: With his name firmly ensconced in film history as the creator of the Godzilla and Rodan films, director Inoshiro Honda continues to shape and mold a dramatic sci-fi story in Battle in Outer Space. As in the record-setting Star Wars sagas of the future, special effects also get star billing here. Read More

    1960
  • The H-Man

    Crew: Director

    Actors: Yumi Shirakawa, Kenji Sahara, Akihiko Hirata, Koreya Senda

    Synopsis: The H-Man rates as one of the most genuinely frightening Japanese horror films of the 1950s. When a minor-league drug runner completely vanishes, leaving only his clothes behind, detective Tominaga (Akihiko Hirata) investigates. Along the way, Tominaga makes the acquaintance of scientist Masada (Kenji Sahara Read More

    1959
  • Half Human

    Crew: Director

    Synopsis: Another example of a fairly interesting Japanese monster film rendered nearly incomprehensible by ham-fisted editing and substandard English dubbing, the original Yeti epic Jû Jin Yuki Otoko was shorn of nearly half its 100-plus-minute length, then crudely spliced back together with additional Read More

    1958
  • The Mysterians

    Crew: Director

    Actors: Kenji Sahara, Yumi Shirakawa, Momoko Kochi, Akihiko Hirata

    Synopsis: Most famous for his original Godzilla film in 1956, director Inoshiro Honda is primarily a screenwriter and quite seldom a director. One of his recurrent themes -- the deadly or mutant effects of atomic radiation (as in Godzilla), is also featured in this otherwise routine sci-fi film. The title Read More

    1957
  • Rodan

    Crew: Director

    Synopsis: The second major addition to Toho Studios' giant-monster series after Gojira (aka Godzilla, 1954), was Rodan (or Radon), a giant pterodactyl whose wings create massive, destructive winds as it flies by. There are actually two of them in this film, mates who finally get together (after the Read More

    1956
  • Gojira

    Crew: Director, Screenwriter

    Synopsis: One of the longest-running series in film history began with Ishiro Honda's grim, black-and-white allegory for the devastation wrought on Japan by the atomic bomb. As his visual metaphor, Honda uses a 400-foot-tall mutant dinosaur called Gojira, awakened from the depths of the sea as a rampaging Read More

    1954
  • Kaze No Ko

    Crew: First Assistant Director

    1949
  • Stray Dog

    Crew: First Assistant Director

    Actors: Toshiro Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Keiko Awaji, Ko (Isao) Kimura

    Synopsis: Akira Kurosawa directs the black-and-white 1949 film noir Nora Inu (released in the U.S. in 1963 as Stray Dog). In his third film with Kurosawa, Toshiro Mifune plays young police detective Murakami. One summer day on a crowded bus in Tokyo, his gun is stolen by a pickpocket. Rather than face the Read More

    1949
  • Tsuruhachi Tsurujiro

    Crew: First Assistant Director

    1938
  • Nadare

    Crew: First Assistant Director

    1937
  • Ninjo Kami Fusen

    Crew: First Assistant Director

    Actors: Chojuro Kawarazaki

    Synopsis: Humanity and Paper Balloons, unlike most other Japanese films of this period, is a historical film with a critical edge. Refusing to glorify samurai, the film instead deflates the myth around them with a gentle humanity. The film opens directly after a penurious ronin samurai has taken his own Read More

    1937

Movie data provided by AMG

Ishiro Honda  not available

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