Furankenshutain no kaijû: Sanda tai Gaira (1966)

User Rating:

6.0/10   

Director:

Ishirô Honda

Writers:

Reuben Bercovitch (story)
Ishirô Honda (writer)

Release Date:

29 July 1970 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Sci-Fi

Plot:

An experimental lab animal called a gargantua escapes from his captors and is suspected to be the creature...

Plot Keywords:

Frankenstein | Octopus | Napalm | Sequel | Man Eating Monster

Cast

Russ Tamblyn	...	Dr. Paul Stewart
Kumi Mizuno	...	Akemi
Kenji Sahara	...	Dr. Yuzo Majida
Nobuo Nakamura	...	Dr. Kita
Jun Tazaki	...	General
Hisaya Ito	...	Police Chief
Yoshifumi Tajima	...	Police Officer
Ren Yamamoto	...	Sailor
Kipp Hamilton	...	Singer
Kôzô Nomura	...	General's Aide
Nadao Kirino	...	Soldier
Shoichi Hirose	...	Soldier
Tadashi Okabe	...	Defiant Reporter
Koji Uno	...	Dumb Reporter
Ikio Sawamura	...	Fisherman #1

Also Known As:

Adventure of Gargantuas
Duel of the Gargantuas
Frankenstein's Monsters: Sanda vs. Gailah
Frankenstein's Monsters: Sanda vs. Gaira (literal English title)
Sanda vs. Gailah
The War of the Gargantuas (USA)

Runtime:

Germany:77 min | USA:92 min | Japan:90 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:G | West Germany:12 (nf)

Company:

Benedict Pictures Corp.

Trivia:

Tab Hunter was originally chosen to play Doctor Paul Stewart.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: In the scene where a helicopter is used to lure the green gargantuan into the laser attack, the wire used to suspend the model helicopter can clearly be seen.

Movie Connections:

Edited into Out of this World Super Shock Show (2007) (V)

Another Classic 60s Kaiju Flick

"War Of The Gargantuas" comes from my favorite era of Toho's kaiju flicks, the 1960s, when the emphasis was relatively straightforward action and fun, and thankfully no annoying little kids making friends with the monsters. And this time, we have a monster in the Green Gargantua (Gaira) who is really frightening and who eats people to boot (not even Godzilla ever went that far). It left me unnerved the first time I saw it as a kid.

Like most kaiju films, the original Japanese version is much better than the later dubbed American version. Russ Tamblyn (generally okay but clearly bored and resentful of his sudden fall from the heights of "West Side Story" and "The Haunting") might have gotten his own voice back in the U.S version (the Japanese actor who dubs him in the original doesn't sound anything like him at all and in Toho's European market English dub they used another actor), but everything else about it is decidedly inferior. The dubbing is awful, and sections of Akira Ifukube's score are replaced with an endless, monotonous theme for the military that I think was first used in "Earth Versus The Flying Saucers." Cropped and faded, as existing American video prints are now, the film really looks cheap and silly and the flaws are magnified. The original Japanese version in widescreen format, has beautiful color and sound that immediately conjure the image of a stylish late 60s action flick with reasonably good FX for the time, and the results far more entertaining in the end. Also in the Japanese version, we learn that this movie is actually a sequel to "Frankenstein Conquers The World" since the monsters are referred to as "Frankensteins" rather than "Gargantuas" as they are in the dubbed version.

As for the infamous nightclub scene featuring ex-Fox starlet Kipp Hamilton's infamously bad song before she gets attacked (but contrary to what others say here, not eaten), even that somehow comes off better in the Japanese version. When you stop to think of it, the Japanese audiences had it better since they couldn't understand a word of those inane lyrics when they were watching! But what the heck, how many other bad songs did we suffer through in all those James Bond film knockoffs in the late 60s? ("Your Zowie Face" in "In Like Flint" anyone?) I prefer to write that off to the goofy spirit of the times. And "War Of The Gargantuas" is in the best tradition of the goofy spirit of fun 60s kaiju that remains a guilty pleasure to savor again and again in my book.