60's Ishirō Honda Horror Part Four

FRANKENSTEIN VS. BARAGON

(1965)

Overall: MEH

 

Oh to be a fly on the wall so one could witness how many and what kind of drugs were involved when Toho came up with the idea to make a giant monster kaiju film with...the Frankenstein monster?  The apply named Frankenstein Vs. Baragon, (Furankenshutain tai Chitei Kaijū Baragon, Frankenstein vs. Subterranean Monster Baragon, Frankenstein Conquers the World), is a treat in the fact that it largely bypasses the usual trajectory for such movies where boring human characters discuss ad nauseum what useless military strategies to use against an awoken and/or radiation-charged prehistoric creature.  There are still uninteresting people on screen saying uninteresting things and the screenplay once again cannot come up with a fresh reason besides the Hiroshima bomb after-effects for something to be huge and indestructible when it should instead be small and mortal.  That said, the concept is ridiculous enough to carry the viewer through the stagnant talky bits and the way that the third act abruptly shoehorns in a dinosaur anyway for the Frankenstein monster to wrestle and throw rocks at is certainly fun to watch.  The look and mannerisms of the deformed, over-grown, mutated human is more akin to a Neanderthal than anything remotely faithful to Marry Shelley's source material, but Big Cave Man vs. Random Reptile surely would have been a less agreeable title.

INVASION OF ASTRO-MONSTER

(1965)

Overall: MEH

 

Godzilla and Rodan rematch against the three-headed King Ghidorah in Invasion of Astro-Monster, (Kaijū Daisensō, The Giant Monster War, Monster Zero), the first work in the series to be an official co-production from the ground up between America and Japan.  Producer Henry G. Saperstein allegedly convinced the franchise's steady screenwriter Shinichi Sekizawa to rework the formula from opening with boring board meetings with humans discussing their current giant monster crisis.  Said moments are still present here unfortunately, but things kick off uniquely at least by having astronauts meet a ridiculously costumed new race of Xiliens who convince earthlings to let them transport Godzilla and Rodan to their home "Planet X" so they can chase away Ghidorah.  These seemingly benevolent Xiliens pull some treacherous scheme later on which results in all three monsters being back on earth again to once again engage in suitmation battle tactics that are as hilarious as ever to behold, (including Godzilla's Shie victory dance, which is as awesomely stupid as it sounds).  The plot line is refreshing and necessary after so many of Toho's kaiju spectacles being aggressively churned out with only minor variations to them, but this one is still heavily bogged down by comparatively forgettable characters and people drama, as every such movie is really.

THE WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS

(1966)

Overall: MEH

 

Though it may dedicate the most minutes yet to big monster shenanigans for one of Toho's kaiju films, The War of the Gargantuas, (Furankenshutain no Kaijū: Sanda tai Gaira, Frankenstein's Monsters: Sanda vs. Gaira), still ends up being a monumentally boring smash-em-up.  The plot is pure nonsense which is played dreadfully straight, with little to no comic relief or quirky elements even of the annoying variety.  Doctors in lab coats talk, military people talk, none of it matters, and two giant "Frankenstein" monsters emerge who look even more Neanderthal and ape-like in appearance than the one featured in the previous year's Frankenstein vs. Baragon which this was marketed as a barely-sequel to.  The creature sequences are plentiful in number and comparatively come off as far less ridiculous than the typical suitmation tactics used, even if the miniature work is still laughable.  These moments become very monotonous though, simply consisting of two guys in quasi-gorilla costumes grabbing each other while blue lasers shoot at them out of ray guns attached to toy tanks.  This was the final Toho collaboration with American producer Henry G. Saperstein who brought in a particularly troublesome Russ Tamblyn who allegedly clashed with director Ishirō Honda over what he deemed to be terrible dialog.  Considered that all of his lines were re-dubbed by two different actors in both language versions anyway makes Tamblyn's on-set difficulty even more unnecessary as he could have just mouthed "pee pee doo doo" over and over again and it would have looked just as accurate as all of the Japanese-speaking actors on screen.