Directed by Noriaki Yuasa. Written by Niisan Takahashi.
If you ever wanted to know what it looks like when a major studio perches on the verge of going under, allow me to present Exhibit A: Gamera vs. Zigra. You can feel the Japanese film industry of the early 1970s collapsing all around you as you watch.
Continue reading “Toku Theater: Gamera vs. Zigra (1971)”
Directed by Noriaki Yuasa. Written by Niisan Takahashi.
The progression of the classic Gamera series doesn’t follow conventional movie franchise logic. This logic says that once a series completes the transformation into children’s entertainment, it will enter a period of steady decline — if it hasn’t already. Although Gamera vs. Guiron was psychedelic fun with little in the way of story to interfere with kids’ enjoyment, it should have signaled an irreversible trend toward lower budgets and sillier, simpler plots.
Continue reading “Toku Theater: Gamera vs. Jiger (1970)”
Directed by Noriaki Yuasa. Written by Niisan Takahashi.
This is the Gamera movie with the alien women who shave a kid’s head so they can eat his brains, Gamera performing a men’s gymnastics routine, and a monster that looks like a letter opener. It’s also the Gamera movie that decides plot is optional when all it needs is kids wandering around science-fiction sets watching monsters have outlandish battles. Gamera vs. Viras did something similar, and Gamera vs. Guiron takes the next step of stretching out the “kids wandering around spaceship” section to fill most of the movie.
Continue reading “Toku Theater: Gamera vs. Guiron (1969)”
Directed by Ishiro Honda. Written by Takeshi Kimura and Takeo Murata. Starring Kenji Sahara, Yumi Shirakawa, Akihiko Hirata.
Rodan is where Toho Studios’ science-fiction boom truly takes flight. The original 1954 Godzilla was an enormous success, but the rushed and less imaginative sequel, Godzilla Raids Again (1955), made money without leaving much of an impression on audiences or the Japanese film industry. Godzilla wouldn’t return to movie screens for seven years.
Continue reading “Toku Theater: Rodan (1956)”
Directed by Noriaki Yuasa. Written by Niisan Takahashi.
The fourth Gamera film adds the finishing touches, the final trio of elements that director Noriaki Yuasa and producer Hidemasa Nagata needed to complete the Gamera style: a Caucasian second child actor, Gamera’s catchy kiddie chant theme, and stock footage. The last of these isn’t a benefit.
Continue reading “Toku Theater: Gamera vs. Viras (1968)”
Directed by Noriaki Yuasa. Written by Niisan Takahashi.
After two bland movies, the Gamera series at last discovers its niche and breaks out the good rubber-suited monster times.
Fans generally consider Gamera vs. Gyaos the best movie of the series. I won’t argue with that. The pacing, the monster battles, the cast, the blend of the human story with the big beastie action … it all comes together for an entertaining monster vs. monster show, and one of the best kaiju films of the Showa Era outside of Toho Studios’ output.
Continue reading “Toku Theater: Gamera vs. Gyaos (1967)”
Directed by Ishiro Honda. Written by Ted Sherdeman and Shinichi Sekizawa. Starring Joseph Cotten, César Romero, Richard Jaeckel, Akira Takarada, Patricia Medina.
Latitude Zero is best known as the last science-fiction film that special effects wizard Eiji Tsuburaya worked on before his death. As final bows for a VFX artist go, it’s quite the spectacle: a science-fantasy epic with super-submarine duels, an underwater utopian city, giant rats and bats, a winged lion, laser-firing gloves, jet packs, massive pyrotechnics that blow up entire islands, and large matte painting vistas. Most of the effects are fantastic, and there are so many of them. The film is wall-to-wall with Tsuburaya’s trademark style.
Continue reading “Toku Theater: Latitude Zero (1969)”
Directed by Shigeo Tanaka. Written by Niisan Takahashi.
The second of the Showa Era Gamera films (Daikaiju Ketto: Gamera Tai Barugon, “Giant Monster Duel: Gamera vs. Barugon”) is a case of trying to change course but instead heading in a different wrong direction.
Continue reading “Toku Theater: Gamera vs. Barugon (1966)”
Directed by Noriaki Yuasa. Written by Niisan Takahashi.
Now for another movie break, this time for a “classic” of Japanese kaiju cinema. It’s a short hop from Ultra Q’s “Grow Up! Little Turtle,” a tale about a boy and his affection for a giant turtle who takes him to see a princess underwater, to Gamera the Giant Monster, a tale about a boy and his affection for a giant turtle who is causing mass destruction and death.
Continue reading “Toku Theater: Gamera the Giant Monster (1965)”
The Ultra Project 