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GAMERA THE INVINCIBLE
1965 World Entertainment/
Daiei
Producer: Yonejiro Saito
Directors: Masaichi Nagata,
Sandy Howard (US Version)
Screenwriters: Fumi Takahashi,
Richard Kraft
Originally Released As:
Daikaiju Gamera
Also Released As: Gammera
the Invincible
???:
Gamera, an unlikely movie star, was created
in Japan to rival Godzilla.
As in the first Godzilla film, new American
footage was added here and
the story severely altered. An atomic bomb
unleashes a giant
fire-breathing prehistoric turtle that
flies by pulling into its shell
and spinning. Albert Dekker (as the U.S.
Secretary of Defense) and Brian
Donlevy (as a general) confer with Japanese
scientists to decide how to
avert worldwide destruction. Earth is saved
by using the ingenious "Plan
Z" (Gamera is trapped in a rocket and sent
to Mars). The superturtle
caught on (in Japan, anyway). So far there
have been eight Gamera
adventures. Like Godzilla, the crushing
monster became a friendly hero
in later films.
The Motion Picture Guide:
First in the long-running series about Gamera,
who ranks right up there
with Godzilla and Mothra in the Japanese
monster hall of fame. Gamera is
a gigantic, fire-spitting turtle created
in the aftermath of an atomic
bomb explosion. He flies by pulling his
tail and spinning (sort of like
an outboard motor), and goes around destroying
city after city. An
international assemblage of governmental
and military heads collaborate
and conceive of Plan Z to thwart this rampaging
creature. The turtle is
caught in a rocket and fired off to Mars.
Perhaps they should have
smuggled the sequel scripts aboard.
WAR OF THE MONSTERS
1966 Daiei/AIP-TV (Japan)
Producer: Masaichi Nagata
Director: Shigeo Tanaka
Screenwriter: Nizo Takahashi
Originally Released As:
Gamera tai Barugon
Motion Picture Guide:
The rocket that sent everyone's favorite
spinning turtle, Gamera, into
space in GAMERA, THE INVINCIBLE has been
hit by a meteor (a likely
story), sending the nasty critter tumbling
back to earth. An added
option has been installed this time- a
jet-propulsion exhaust system
which allows him to zip about even faster
than before. He's pitted
against the horn-spiked 130-foot lizard
Barugon, whose field of energy
(a deadly rainbow which melts whatever
it touches) draws Gamera near.
Tokyo and Osaka are smashed into smithereens
in the process. Gamera
tosses the lizard into Lake Biwa to rid
the East of his awful presence,
turning the lake blue (the color of his
blood). Yuasa, whose fine
special effects are the highlight, was
rewarded with the opportunity to
direct the remainder of the GAMERA series.
Good Saturday morning
hangover material.
Videohound:
The monstrous turtle returns to Earth from
his outer
space prison, now equipped with his famous
leg-jets. He soon wishes he
had stayed airborne, however, when he is
forced to do battle with 130
foot lizard Barugon and his rainbow melting
ray. Tokyo and Osaka get
melted in the process.
RETURN OF THE GIANT MONSTERS
1967 Daiei/AIP-TV (Japan)
Producer: Hidemasa Nagata
Direcotr: Noriaki Yuasa
Screenwriter: Fumi Takahashi
Originally Released As:
Gamera tai Gyaos
Motion Picture Guide:
Gamera's third outing has him completing
the transformation from a nasty
turtle which snapped at kids to a friendly
old thing, much to the
pleasure of Daiei Studios, competing with
Godzilla for a share of the
market. Gaos is the protaganist this time
around- a scaly flying fox of
sorts who shoots fire-extinguishing smoke
from its chest. He's not too
fond of the moppets either, which means
Gamera is pretty busy saving the
little buggers. Gamera's no dummy though
as he outfoxes Gaos by getting
him to fly too close to the sun. An Icarus
complex?
Revenge of John Stanley's Creature Feature Guide:
Japanese monster movie with
plenty of snap--its main protagonist being
a giant turtle who comes out
of hls shell when Gyaos, a winged monstrosity
that fires laser bolts
through its mouth, attacks Earth without
pity. Kazufumi Fujii's special
effects include mandatory earthquakes and
spewing lava just in case the
towering titans bore you with their routine
destruction. Actually the
effects are good... but you must have appreciation
for these Oriental
slam-bang affairs to sit through to the
bitter end.
ATTACK OF THE MONSTERS
1969 Daiei/AIP-TV (Japan)
Producer: Hidemasa Nagata
Director: Noriaki Yuasa
Screenwriter: Fumi Takahashi
Originally Released As:
Gamera Tai Guiron
???:
An alien spaceship kidnaps two Earth boys.
Gamera, the friendly giant
turtle, races to a world on the other side
of the sun to save them from
the clutches of alien women who eat brains.
He also battles Guiron, a
ridiculous giant monster with a head shaped
like a knife. The fifth
Gamera movie.
Motion Picture Guide:
Gamera's nemesis is now Guiron, a spear-headed
monster who lives on the
other side of the sun (luckily for the
busy construction workers of
Tokyo and Osaka). Gamera tucks in his head
and arms and does his
spinning-turtle routine to make the trip.
Once there, he saves a couple
of kiddies (Yeah, Gamera!) from two gorgeous
but evil native women who
eat brains. Sure it's getting routine,
but what do you want from a giant
superturtle- art?
316 Gamera vs. Zigra
Alternate Titles: Gamera
Tai Shinkai Kaiju Jigura (Original Japanese)
Motion Picture Guide:
Gamera meets one heck of a challenge in
this, his 7th film, as he
battles the people of Zigran. Led by a
powerful female alien who can
cause earthquakes, the Zigrans have come
to Earth to take over our
friendly planet before we ruin it with
our own careless pollution. When
Gamera objects, he is promptly extinguished.
He sinks to the bottom of
the sea- dead, but not without hope. Japan's
loving kids act in
everyone's interest and revive the big
turtle by sending a powerful
electric current through his shell. He
wakes up, kills the Zigrans, and
flies off into the sunset (sort of). In
one sense this picture is worse
than the others- no longer are the monsters
all powerful, they have
merely been reduced to playing-pieces for
more powerful humans. But, in
a positive sense, these monster pictures
have taken up a social context
by which they address the issue of our
own self-induced destruction and
not that of a killer monster. Director
Yuasa, by this time, had become
the second most prolific director of monster
films trailing Inoshiro
Honda who had directed the Godzilla films
for Toho Studios.
Videohound:
Gamera the flying turtle chose an ecological
theme for
this, his final movie. It seems that the
alien Zigrans have come to
Earth to wrest the planet from the hands
of the pollutive humans who
have nearly destroyed it. The aliens kill
the staunch turtle, but the
love and prayers of children revive him
that he may defend Earth once
more.
