In the early 1960's, Toho's Godzilla series dominated screens all throughout Japan, with seemingly no one brave enough to challenge his reign. However, in 1965, Daiei Film Co. would introduce a new rival to the King of the Monsters. This was the beginning of the Friend of All Children, the Guardian of the Universe, the terrifying, titanic terrapin known as: GAMERA!
Before I begin, I need to make this clear: I did not grow up loving Gamera. I was certainly aware of him growing up, but I never took interest. Every time I would see a Gamera VHS at Blockbuster it looked so kiddy and cheesy. I really can't say for sure wheather I would have enjoyed them as much as I did the Godzilla movies from that era. I certainly had mixed emotions towards them as an adult.
Nevertheless, Gamera is a subject I've wanted to talk about for a while and after much deliberation (some of which was intentional) I've decided to get on with it.
Also, I promise I will not draw too many comparisons with Godzilla. There are a lot, trust me. But I will only mention similarities or references when absolutely necessary.
PART 1 - ENTER GAMERA
GAMERA: THE GIANT MONSTER
(Original Title: "Daikaiju Gamera" - Giant Monster Gamera)
November 27, 1965
After a nuclear bomb is detonated in the Artic, a gigantic turtle awakens from its slumber and begins to rampage across Japan. Now, it's up to the combined efforts of several nations to implement a daring operation to save the planet.
Our story begins after the head of Daiei, Masaichi Nagata, needed an idea for a monster movie to capitalize on the success of Toho's Godzilla. After plans for a Hitchcock-esque movie about giant rats was canceled, Nagata came up with a new concept. Accounts vary on wheather he saw a cloud or an island, but after he looked out the window of a plane and saw what appeared to be a giant turtle, he came to the studio and pitched the idea to make a movie about a giant turtle that can fly.
All of the typical monster movie character archetypes are here and all fulfill their duties well enough. Eiji Funakoshi as Dr. Hidaka might be the best character in the film. But there are two characters that stand out to me, but not in a good way.
The first is the reporter, Aoyagi (Juinchiro Yamashita), who tags along with Dr. Hidaka and his assistant, Kyoko (Harumi Kiritachi.) There's a plot point where there were a group of photographers considered for the expedition to an eskimo encampment (Don't ask, it's never explained exactly what they're doing there) but all of them are killed after Gamera emerges leaving Aoyagi the only survivor.
He believes it was because of the desire to work with Kyoko and starts to refer to her as his "Goddess of Good Luck."
There's no other way to dance around it, the guy totally simps for Kyoko.
But the character isn't a total loss though as he does contribute to the effort to lure Gamera into their so called "Z-Plan" and he isn't the worst character in this movie. No that honor goes to Toshio (Yoshiro Uchida)
Toshio is the annoying kid character that is obsessed with turtles and is convinced that Gamera is his friend after the monster inadvertently saved him from falling out of a lighthouse, a lighthouse that Gamera was in the process of smashing to pieces while Toshio runs up it to get a better look at Gamera like an idiot.
After that he becomes a constant presence in the movie and even has the audacity, the nerve, to try and tell everyone that Gamera doesn't want to hurt people and that he can be friendly even as he destroys cities, causing billions in property damage and actively killing thousands of people. On top of that, no character even considers locking this kid in a room or something after he puts himself in danger while trying to get to Gamera.
The urge to strangle has never been so real...
Our story begins after the head of Daiei, Masaichi Nagata, needed an idea for a monster movie to capitalize on the success of Toho's Godzilla. After plans for a Hitchcock-esque movie about giant rats was canceled, Nagata came up with a new concept. Accounts vary on wheather he saw a cloud or an island, but after he looked out the window of a plane and saw what appeared to be a giant turtle, he came to the studio and pitched the idea to make a movie about a giant turtle that can fly.
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| Left to right: Dr. Hidaka (Eiji Funakoshi), Aoyagi (Juinchiro Yamashita) & Kyoko (Harumi Kiritachi) |
The first is the reporter, Aoyagi (Juinchiro Yamashita), who tags along with Dr. Hidaka and his assistant, Kyoko (Harumi Kiritachi.) There's a plot point where there were a group of photographers considered for the expedition to an eskimo encampment (Don't ask, it's never explained exactly what they're doing there) but all of them are killed after Gamera emerges leaving Aoyagi the only survivor.
He believes it was because of the desire to work with Kyoko and starts to refer to her as his "Goddess of Good Luck."
There's no other way to dance around it, the guy totally simps for Kyoko.
But the character isn't a total loss though as he does contribute to the effort to lure Gamera into their so called "Z-Plan" and he isn't the worst character in this movie. No that honor goes to Toshio (Yoshiro Uchida)
After that he becomes a constant presence in the movie and even has the audacity, the nerve, to try and tell everyone that Gamera doesn't want to hurt people and that he can be friendly even as he destroys cities, causing billions in property damage and actively killing thousands of people. On top of that, no character even considers locking this kid in a room or something after he puts himself in danger while trying to get to Gamera.
The urge to strangle has never been so real...
This brings us to discuss the titular terrapin himself.
Gamera is certainly one of the more unique movie Kaiju. Aside from being a giant turtle that breathes fire, he can retract his head and limbs into his shell and from the holes jets of fire shoot out allowing him to fly.
Do I need to say more? An outrageous concept to be sure, but I'm here for it.
This would be a challenging production as hardly anyone at Daiei had experience working on a film like this. The budget was so low that they couldn't even afford to shoot the movie in color.
Many of the model planes may not be the most convincing and I'm not joking when I say that the wires are clearly visible. One particular plane crash is laughably executed.
That being said, there are a good number of miniatures in the movie and the city destruction scenes are done rather well. While not all of the effects are winners, I still give props to Daei for their first time efforts.
Several actors were brought in to wear the Gamera suit, but only Kazuo Yagi would preform the majority of the action as all the others simply could not handle the rigorous method of suit acting for too long.
Many of the model planes may not be the most convincing and I'm not joking when I say that the wires are clearly visible. One particular plane crash is laughably executed.
That being said, there are a good number of miniatures in the movie and the city destruction scenes are done rather well. While not all of the effects are winners, I still give props to Daei for their first time efforts.
Several actors were brought in to wear the Gamera suit, but only Kazuo Yagi would preform the majority of the action as all the others simply could not handle the rigorous method of suit acting for too long.
It wasn't long before Gamera made his way over to the US, in a newly edited version dubbed into English, including new scenes with American actors and given a new title: "GAMMERA THE INVINCIBLE."
Why the extra 'M' was added, I have no idea. I also find it weird that there were extra scenes with American actors added to the movie when scenes with American actors already existed in the original film and to be honest, I prefer those scenes. I'll gladly take normal military men doing their job over white bread, macho men trying to smooth talk the female employee. But at least we get to see Alan Oppenheimer before he would become the iconic voice of Skeletor.
Overall, the best way I can describe the first Gamera movie is: basic. It's in no way a ground breaking film in terms of science fiction, but not horrible enough to have faded into obscurity. It's a decent enough monster movie that you can have fun watching in the right mindset.
(Original Title: "Daikaiju Ketto Gamera tai Barugon" - Great Monster Duel: Gamera vs. Barugon)
April 17, 1966
An opal found on a remote island ends up being the egg of the dreaded monster known as Barugon. Meanwhile, Gamera returns to Japan after supposedly being dealt with in the previous film.
Despite many at Daiei believing that the first Gamera movie would be a disaster, it defied the odds and became a huge box office success. Thus a sequel was rushed into production, this time making it a top priority production filmed in color with a bigger budget under the new direction of Shigeo Tanaka, with the previous films director, Noriaki Yuasa returning as the director of the special effects and acclaimed composer Chuji Kinoshita supplying the score. And of course, this was the first time seeing Gamera fight another monster.
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| Top: Karen (Kyoko Enami), Keisuke (Kojira Hongo) Bottom: Onodera (Koji Fujiyama) |
As a result, we have a more thought out human story and I know this is going to sound like a controversial opinion, but to be perfectly honest, I actually found myself more invested in the humans than the monsters.
The story revolves around this 'opal' hidden on a remote island by a former soldier who sends his brother and two other people to retrieve it for him. Of course this is one of those jewels that isn't really a jewel and has some bad juju to it. But the silly Japanese men don't listen, betrayal ensues and the opal is brought back to Japan where it's exposed to infrared light from a lamp meant to treat athlete's foot (just go with it.) and that causes our second billed monster to emerge.
The backstabbing character Odenara, played by Koji Fujiyama, is easy to hate but you can't help but be entertained by the lengths to which he'll go to get this jewel even after it's already non existent.
The rest of the movie centers on the efforts to deal with Barugon under the advice of one of the island natives named Karen (pronounced "Car-in") played by Kyoko Enami. I also really like how the one brother character Keisuke (Kojiro Hongo) tries to make things right after feeling responsible for unleashing Barugon and even develops a relationship with Karen.
I don't know, I just found myself really invested in this plot. In fact, I'm not even sure we needed monsters for this story.
Speaking of monsters, lets talk about Barugon (Yes, he has a similar name to Toho's monster Baragon, they're not the same. MOVING ON!) (I pronounce it "Bar-ooh-gun")
If you thought Gamera was an interesting concept for a monster, ooh boy let me talk to you about Barugon.
His design isn't all that special to me, he's basically a big lizard monster who's roar sounds like a mix between a skipping record and a screeching monkey. He reminds me of one of those lizards pretending to be a dinosaur you'd see in old movies. But this isn't your typical vanilla lizard, oh no, he has an extending tongue like a chameleon. Also, said tongue can shoot a freezing ray from it.Not crazy enough for you? Fine! He can shoot a destructive rainbow beam out his back! Wouldn't you just love to have been a fly on the wall of the room at Daiei where this concept was being explained?
The story structure is quite odd.
Gamera appears, attacks a dam and exits upstage at the 5 minute mark.
Human story.
Barugon shows up, goes on a rampage, Gamera remembers he's in the movie at the 52 minute mark, shows up to fight Barugon and gets incapacitated.
Human story hijinks to stop Barugon.
Gamera got better by the 1 hour 31 minute mark, comes back to fight Barugon again with 7 minutes of film remaining.
The end.
The end.
It wouldn't be so bad if the fights were fun to watch, right? Unfortunately, the monster fights in this movie are kinda dull. Half of the time they just stand around roaring at each other (I'm guessing there's some playground insults thrown in, but I don't speak monster) and the rest they look like toys being pushed against each other.
There's also a surprising amount of monster gore in this movie, a trend that would continue in the later entries. But hey, as long as the blood is purple or green and not red that makes it ok, right?I actually find the human fights to be more entertaining. At least the humans aren't as stiff when they throw hands.
If it seems like my opinions are all over the place, they are. But in spite of my gripes with the monsters, I actually do enjoy this movie a lot. It's quite an improvement over the last movie and I didn't find much that really irritated me.
GAMERA VS. GYAOS
(Original Title: "Daikaiju Kuchusen Gamera tai Gyaosu" - Giant Monster Dogfight: Gamera vs. Gyaos)
(Original Title: "Daikaiju Kuchusen Gamera tai Gyaosu" - Giant Monster Dogfight: Gamera vs. Gyaos)
March 15, 1967
A series of volcanic eruptions awakens a laser shooting, bat-like creature named Gyaos (say it like "douse" but with a 'G') As Gyaos ravages the Japanese countryside, Earth's only hope may lie in the knowledge of a child and trust in Gamera.
Gamera vs. Barugon was a great follow up to the original film, but unfortunately, its focus on a more grown up story turned off the children viewers. From this point on, Noriyaki Yuasa would direct the next six installments, children were brought back into the cast as main characters, budgets were reduced. Thus would begin the molding of what the Gamera series was best known for in all it's infamy.
Unfortunately, one downside to the reduced budget is the monsters. While Gamera fares fine, the same cannot be said for our new monster. Gyaos is pretty much a vampire bat monster, it shoots cutting lasers from its mouth, feeds on humans and to fill our strange ability quota for these movies, it can shoot a yellow fog from holes in its abdomen.
Gamera vs. Barugon was a great follow up to the original film, but unfortunately, its focus on a more grown up story turned off the children viewers. From this point on, Noriyaki Yuasa would direct the next six installments, children were brought back into the cast as main characters, budgets were reduced. Thus would begin the molding of what the Gamera series was best known for in all it's infamy.
A simple concept on paper, but the execution leaves much to be desired. The suit itself is pretty stiff to the point where I simply can't buy Gyaos as a creature. The movie even makes a point to explain that because of his biology, Gyaos cannot turn it's head. I honestly don't think that makes it better. Gyaos doesn't look much better when it's flying either, which makes the "Giant Monster Dogfights" especially awkward. The regular fights between Gamera and Gyaos are pretty fun to watch, all while still retaining the gratuitous bloodshed. Spoiler warning, it's not going away anytime soon...
At least the miniatures are still up to par and several moments where Gyaos attacks a car and certain aerial vehicles with it's cutting laser, or "Supersonic Scalpel", lead to some pretty funny visual gags.
As for the human element, the plot revolves around villagers trying to stop a major highway from being built through their land, an endeavor that begins to become moot with the emergence of Gyaos. While the main cast aren't particularly deep, the story is well paced enough to keep you paying attention.
Tadashi Yamanouchi delivers a fitting score but the musical highlight of the movie has the be the 'Song of Gamera' at the end of the movie. However, it would not become THE song most associated with Gamera.
At least the miniatures are still up to par and several moments where Gyaos attacks a car and certain aerial vehicles with it's cutting laser, or "Supersonic Scalpel", lead to some pretty funny visual gags.
As for the human element, the plot revolves around villagers trying to stop a major highway from being built through their land, an endeavor that begins to become moot with the emergence of Gyaos. While the main cast aren't particularly deep, the story is well paced enough to keep you paying attention.
The most notable character thin the movie is the young boy, Eichii (Naoyuki Abe), who unlike Toshio from the first movie is actually a tolerable character. He doesn't try to interfere with the story to the point of getting himself or others around him killed and doesn't overstay his welcome.
Throughout the film, Eichii tries to get everyone to believe in Gamera, which would follow some continuity with Gamera vs. Barugon where he wasn't quite seen as a hero yet so this helps to lean into that mindset (doesn't change the fact that he did still kill people in the first movie but that's NEVER brought up again) and it is through his observations that several plans are put in motion to deal with Gyaos until Gamera can finish the job.Tadashi Yamanouchi delivers a fitting score but the musical highlight of the movie has the be the 'Song of Gamera' at the end of the movie. However, it would not become THE song most associated with Gamera.
I won't deny that there are plenty of moments where this movie appears cheesy and unrealistic, but I still think Gamera vs. Gyaos is a pretty solid watch with a nice balance of human story and monster action.
In fact, someone who really loved this movie was Ishiro Honda, the director of the original Godzilla. He expressed his love of this movie in a New Years card to the screenwriter Nisan Takahashi. That is just amazing.
Indeed, the Gamera series is off to a decent start. But what about the rest of them?
We'll get to those next time.
Till next time, I've been your host Gryphon
And I hope you've enjoyed your time in my Lair
So long...
And I hope you've enjoyed your time in my Lair
So long...
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