A few years ago, I reviewed 1965’s Frankenstein Conquers the World, a rather poor Japanese take on the Frankenstein mythos. In that movie, a young boy grew from the heart of the monster created by Dr. Frankenstein. The heart had been transported to Japan shortly before the Hiroshima bombing and, as such, received enough radiation to make this mutation possible. (Remember, this is Japanese kaiju logic.) In that film, Frankenstein’s monster grew into a giant and was swallowed up by a volcano after fighting Baragon, a large reptilian creature, saving Japan in the process.
War of the Gargantuas was conceived as a sequel to Frankenstein Conquers the World. In fact, its original Japanese title, Furankenshutain no Kaiju: Sanda tai Gaira translates to Frankenstein’s Monsters: Sanda vs Gaira. However, in both the Japanese and American versions of what would come to be known as War of the Gargantuas in the U.S., the references to the “original” film have been watered-down or removed all together.
As the film opens, a small boat is seen chugging through stormy seas. A giant octopus appears from the ocean and seems bent on killing the sole crew member on deck. Suddenly, the octopus releases the man and retracts its tentacles from the boat. Relieved, the sailor peers out the porthole to see Gaira, a large green man-like creature, fighting the octopus. After easily defeating it, Gaira turns his attention to the boat and appears to try to sink it.
When the sailor is recovered from the ocean, he tells his tale of the large “gargantua” to his doctors, who believe he is in shock and spouting nonsense. The press picks up on the story and interviews Dr. Paul Stewart (Russ Tamblyn), who once had a baby gargantua in his possession for study five years prior. Dr. Stewart tries to dispel the idea that the attack on the boat was caused by the gargantua he knew and studied because it was very gentle while in his care. Stewart postulates that the gargantua he studied wouldn’t live in the ocean as it was found in the mountains and probably returned there when it escaped from his laboratory five years ago.
Another boat is attacked and the people of a fishing village see the gargantua off the coast at the same time that a mountain guide reports seeing the gargantua in the Japanese Alps. So, Dr. Stewart goes to visit the mountains and send his assistant, Dr. Majida (Kenji Sahara), to look at the evidence in the fishing village. Dr. Majida finds tissue stuck to the side of the fishing boat and Dr. Stewart finds giant footprints. (Strangely, the idea that there are two creatures seems difficult for Dr. Stewart and Dr. Majida to fathom even though they both come up with it separately.)
In the meantime, Gaira comes ashore and attacks an airport. As he munches on a woman he’s pulled from inside a building, the sun appears from behind the clouds. Apparently, the gargantua doesn’t like bright light and he runs back to the sea. After Gaira attacks Tokyo at night, the residents are urged to turn on all of their lights and open their shades to drive him out of the city. He begins to retreat to the mountains and is met by the Japanese Self Defense Force, who use giant spotlights and bonfires to corral Gaira into a valley. Although conventional tanks, artillery, and machine guns have little effect on him, a newly constructed weapon — the maser cannon — badly injures Gaira. Bloodied and bruised, Gaira falls into the river and appears defeated. Suddenly, a larger, brown gargantua comes to his aid. Sanda, as he is known, pulls Gaira from the river and away from the military.
It turns out that Sanda is the gentle gargantua that Dr. Stewart had been studying. However, his gentle nature is disturbed when he catches Gaira feasting on some boaters. Sanda and Gaira begin to fight. Inexplicably, Gaira begins running toward the city in an attempt to get back to the ocean. Dr. Stewart attempts to convince the military that Sanda, the brown gargantua, is good and Gaira, the green one, is evil and that blowing them up would simply scatter their cells all over the place, leading to the possibility of thousands of gargantuas.
As Gaira attacks Tokyo yet again, Sanda appears and attempts to stop his younger, green counterpart from destroying the city and eating people. Once again, they begin to fight, but this time the city provides the arena for their conflict.
The sympathetic portrayal of the brown gargantua is unusual for the genre. Although fellow kaiju Godzilla and Gamera would eventually become “friendly” creatures in their films, they were never pacificists like Sanda. Gaira, on the other hand, is more typical in his destructive behavior.
War of the Gargantuas, despite its gaping holes in continuity and logic, is an enjoyable kaiju flick. It features some rather impressive visual effects from Eiji Tsuburaya. His work on the amazingly detailed forest and city models still stands up well today, although some of the military hardware, particularly the helicopters-on-strings are less convincing.
As stated earlier, there are two versions of the film, one released in Japan and an “Americanized” version released in the United States. My review is mostly based on the American version. The U.S. version provides more screen time for Dr. Stewart and much of Akira Ifukube’s score is replaced with stock “horror film” music and one can also hear Ifukube’s earlier Godzilla theme near the film’s conclusion. The Japanese version hints at a more romantic relationship between Dr. Stewart and his female assistant, Akemi (Kumi Mizuno).
If you’re a fan of kaiju eiga, War of the Gargantuas is a must-see classic. For the uninitiated, this movie might make a good starting point. If you can’t stomach the relatively simplistic plot of War of the Gargantuas, then you’ll probably have a hard time with other, much more convoluted examples of the genre.
In late 2008, Classic Media released a double DVD set with Rodan and War of the Gargantuas packaged together. This set contains the American and Japanese versions of both films. If you’re a kaiju otaku, I highly recommend seeking it out.
3.5 out of 5.0 stars
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