From February 21 to April 19, the Setagaya Art Museum will host a special exhibit called Toho Studios: Innovative Filmmakers in Setagaya. The exhibit has such things as the Oxygen Destroyer, various movie storyboards, scripts, posters, and other memorabilia on display. The items in the exhibit date back to the early days of PCL and are rarely seen.
When you enter the art museum, you get to see a Godzilla trample a real city! Well, maybe not exactly, but it's a nice facsimile. Photos of this part of the museum are allowed, so be sure to bring your cameras and snap away.
What caught my eye was not so much the Godzilla items (many of which I've seen before), but the posters, magazines, and photos featuring Izumi Yukimura and her various roles at Toho Studios, such as You Can Succeed, Too (1964), So Young, So Bright (1955), and Bandits on the Wind (1961). Her work was much more represented than I expected, so it was a pleasant surprise. Full marks to the organizers of the exhibit!
All in all, it was a nice way to spend an afternoon, even though the pouring rain outside made getting around a bit difficult. I may go back to the exhibit before it closes, and hopefully the weather will be more cooperative.
The Toho Studios exhibit is much less prop-oriented than some of its predecessors, and the focus is more on the filmmaking process than on showing a bunch of special effects artifacts. Still, it is well worth seeing for those in the Tokyo vicinity. It certainly helps if you have an interest in Toho beyond the monster films.
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