The War Of The Gargantuas (1966)

It's giant destructive manbaby versus giant destructive manbaby in this latest kaiju movie to pass in front of my eyes, and I have to start this review by saying that this was a tough one to gain access to. Sadly, I had to settle for the dubbed version, although I like to think that either version is just as entertaining for anyone used to spending their time sourcing these movies before we didn't have the relatively easy access provided by the internet.

Two giant creatures start to cause panic throughout Tokyo when they attack monsters, boats, and one another as the cityscape looks ready to be devastated by them. One creature is brown in colour, one is green, and some people eventually figure out that the brown monster (which could be called a gargantua or a Frankenstein, depending on which version of the film you see). Our leads are one Dr. Paul Stewart (Russ Tamblyn) and Akemi Togawa (Kumi Mizuno), but this is yet again a film in which some giant creatures literally and metaphorically overshadow the main human characters.

Directed by Ishirô Honda, who also worked on the story with Takeshi Kimura, this serves as an enjoyable sequel to Frankenstein Conquers The World, but you don't necessarily have to have seen that film to understand this one. The past onscreen events are mentioned, and everything boils down to the fact that two giants (easily identified by colour) might cause parts of Japan to once again suffer at the hands of battling monsters.

Although Tamblyn seemed to be far from a helpful cast member, he does well enough in his role as the standard doctor/scientist so often at the heart of these movies. I've praised Mizuno almst every time I have mentioned her in reviews of other kaiju movies, and she's a welcome addition once again. While they may not be recognisable, buried under a fair amount of false hair and make-up, Haruo Nakajima and Yû Sekita also deserves a bit of praise for their performances as the titular monsters. While I often forget to mention the "man in the suit" when it comes to these movies, Nakajima is the name I should at least credit as often as Honda for the success of these films (having been responsible for bringing so many great creatures to life with his incognito performances).

Better than the movie that preceded it, although not up there with the absolute classics, this is a fun bit of silliness that moves from start to finish with decent pacing and enough of a twist on the familiar material to stop it from feeling like a carbon copy of many other films structured the same way.

7/10

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Dogora (1964)

Another week, another Japanese sci-fi creature feature directed by the very capable Ishirô Honda. Dogora is a film about a giant space jellyfish creature, basically, but it’s a canny mix of monster movie and crime flick, managing to deliver a more interesting cast of characters than many of the other films it falls in line with.

You do get the space jellyfish creature, and it causes some confusion throughout the film, so at least this isn’t like some of the other Toho Studios films that simply add a monster into the final act. While some people are trying to figure out just what is going on, other people are more interested in diamond robberies. There’s an Inspector (Yôsuke Natsuki) after the criminals, a mysterious figure named Mark Jackson (Robert Dunham, billed as Dan Yuma) also taking a keen interest, and, of course, the robbers themselves. Surprisingly, the titular creature is also interested in diamonds, due to the carbon content it needs to devour.

Based on a story by Jôjirô Okami, with Shin'ichi Sekizawa back on screenplay duties, this is a very enjoyable genre blend that manages to let things unfold without doing a disservice to either of the main story strands. It may not have any major crash bang wallop moments, but the monstrous threat still looms large above our worried humans, and there’s enough damage caused to show what could happen if things get out of control. At the risk of repeating myself, Honda could direct these films in his sleep by now, and I don’t think I need to spend too much time here heaping more praise upon him.

Natsuki and Dunham are both very enjoyable in their roles, and they are featured enough to actually stay clear in my memory after the film has ended, but you also get Nobuo Nakamura as the standard scientist, Hiroshi Koizumi as a bonus secondary scientist, and Yôko Fujiyama as an assistant who obviously keeps herself in the middle of the conversations that deliver the required exposition. The gangsters are also good value, although I won’t name any of those performers here (they feel like one criminal unit, despite one or two having a specialist skillset).

Perhaps not as memorable as so many others, Dogora is a really fun film that I ended up enjoying a lot. I am not sure if that puts me in the minority, but I am sure that I could happily sit and rewatch this again already.

8/10

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