The War of the Gargantuas

Ishirō Honda (本多 猪四郎 Honda Ishirō), sometimes miscredited in foreign releases as “Inoshiro Honda”, (May 7, 1911 in Yamagata Prefecture – February 28, 1993) was a Japanese film director. His early film career included working as an assistant under the famed director, Akira Kurosawa.

Alongside his film duties, he was drafted into the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II in China and was a prisoner there when the war ended.

He is probably best known for his tokusatsu films including several entries in the Godzilla series. He directed the original Godzilla along with King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962), Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964), All Monsters Attack (1969) and many others until 1975. He also directed such tokusatsu films such as Rodan and Mothra. His last feature film was Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975).

The following years were spent directing various sci-fi TV shows. The superhero shows Return of Ultraman, Mirrorman and Zone Fighter were also his. In addition, he directed the cult film Matango.

At the end of his career he returned to working as an assistant director for his old friend Akira Kurosawa. Allegedly one segment of the Kurosawa film, Dreams, was actually directed by Honda following Kurosawa’s detailed storyboards. —wikipedia