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Post by Xenorama ™ on Mar 9, 2008 7:55:47 GMT -8
Russ Tamblyn ... Dr. Paul Stewart
Kumi Mizuno ... Akemi
Kenji Sahara ... Dr. Yuzo Majida
Nobuo Nakamura ... Dr. Kita
Jun Tazaki ... General
Hisaya Ito ... Police Chief
Yoshifumi Tajima ... Police Officer
Ren Yamamoto ... Sailor
Kipp Hamilton ... Singer
Kôzô Nomura ... General's Aide
Nadao Kirino ... Soldier
Shoichi Hirose ... Soldier
Tadashi Okabe ... Defiant Reporter
Koji Uno ... Dumb Reporter
Ikio Sawamura ... Fisherman #1
perhaps this movie will get more love than WATARI...
what a great one, though! definitely one of my favorite Toho movies, lots of action with plenty of thoughtfulness behind it. you do end up feeling sorry for both monsters, though Green certainly gets the beating her deserves.
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Post by Torgaman on Mar 9, 2008 11:39:59 GMT -8
I didn't see this one until I was an old fart.I remembered thinking "Why is it called WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS" if there is only one gargantua running around.It took an awful long time for the good one to show up.Still a neat film.
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Post by Gwangi on Mar 10, 2008 12:08:59 GMT -8
I don't know what I can say that I already haven't said before. But this is without question, my favorite Toho kaiju (non Godzilla, of course).
Watching this as a kid, both of them terrified me! (especially the scene where the fishermen catch something on their nets and one of them looks down and sees it is the green gargantua looking right back at them!).
I sure hope CM does put this out on DVD this year.
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Post by RedKing on Mar 11, 2008 4:00:58 GMT -8
Definitely one of my favorite Tohos.I saw this on late night TV as a tyke(I think i was in 2nd grade, so it was in the late 70s), but not again until i was about 13 or 14 on good old WPIX 11 from NYC. The FX work here is quite possibly Tsuburaya's best, as the smaller size of the Gargantuas allowed for bigger miniature sets, and the Gargantuas themselves look fantastic-being able to actually see Nakajima and Sekita's eyes really brings them to life, and make Gaira probably the most frighteneing kaiju. This is such a great movie that the words get stuck in my throat when i try to describe it (hehe). "Speical Guest Star" Kipp Hamilton, who sang that "lovely" song was also in episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Bewitched. When is the CM disc of this coming out? I hope they include the UPA version and the Toho international version as well-why not have both dubbed versions on one or two discs. And boy, there sure were alot of kaiju related movies in 1966! I never really noticed before!
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hastur
Jungle Patrol
Posts: 42
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Post by hastur on Mar 11, 2008 10:12:25 GMT -8
Stunning.
A Toho Masterpiece for sure, and I don't know too many Giant Monster fans that don't adore this movie. Those Frankenstein Brothers sure are cool looking, right? Just about everything was done right in this movie. I loved it as a little brat and still do today.
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Post by Torgaman on Mar 11, 2008 10:24:30 GMT -8
The best part of theis film is that they had the climactic battle take place in downtown Tokyo.Alot of the fights in the Godzilla movies at the time seem to take place at Mt Fuji or some other rural location so it was nice to see the monsters tear up a city as they tore into each other.
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Post by hman on Mar 11, 2008 13:21:03 GMT -8
I thought the opening scene was pretty atmospheric. Just thinking about how I could escape or keep myself safe from a Gargantua gave me the willies.
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Post by Gwangi on Mar 11, 2008 14:23:42 GMT -8
The FX work here is quite possibly Tsuburaya's best, as the smaller size of the Gargantuas allowed for bigger miniature sets, and the Gargantuas themselves look fantastic-being able to actually see Nakajima and Sekita's eyes really brings them to life, and make Gaira probably the most frighteneing kaiju. I think it is the best miniature city layout in any kaiju. Very articulate and detailed! And Gaira was definitely scary! There was a lot of talk about "Cloverfield" earlier this year. When I finally saw it, the one kaiju that really reminded me a lot of that movie was not the original Godzilla, but this feature (especially the scenes where Russ Tamblyn and Kumi Mizuno are on the street, then see the approaching Gaira coming their way and have to take shelter in that subway (?) system). Speical Guest Star" Kipp Hamilton, who sang that "lovely" song was also in episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Bewitched. I’ve seen Kipp in other movies as well like “Never So Few”, where she plays one of Frank Sinatra’s old flames, and in John Huston’s “The Unforgiven”, where her character is actually one of the more interesting ones (and she was playing this alongside Audrey Hepburn and Lillian Gish!!) where she’s a love-sick girl trying to get a man to marry her whether it be Burt Lancaster, Audie Murphy or Doug McClure! When is the CM disc of this coming out? I hope they include the UPA version and the Toho international version as well-why not have both dubbed versions on one or two discs. Of course, CM has been unpredictable of late. We will just have to bite our time. |
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Post by Xenorama ™ on Mar 15, 2008 21:42:36 GMT -8
the scene where Gaila is looking up from under the water is creepy- i mean, we all fear something huge arising when we are in the ocean. witness JAWS' success in scaring us really bad (poor sharks, just doing what they do naturally). but seeing something LOOK back at you... what an inspired shot!
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Hakaida
Jungle Patrol
too sexy
Posts: 48
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Post by Hakaida on Apr 11, 2008 15:49:54 GMT -8
I'm looking forward to the legit CM release of this as much or more than all their Godzilla stuff. Definitely one of my favs. Great FX, great battles, great music, great... everything! When does this come out on R1 DVD?  ?? |
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Post by August on May 7, 2008 14:35:36 GMT -8
Group, Check out my latest blog entry over at THE GOOD, THE BAD AND GODZILLA about a new Lowbrow artist who should become famous — if there is a God — David Durrett! He will be appearing at G-Fest this year!  |
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Post by Xenorama ™ on Nov 8, 2008 19:27:13 GMT -8
just watched this on DVD, and for the first time in several years. what a fun movie. i was struck this time by the acting of our Gargantuas, which is really well done. i was also surprised at how great the US version looked.
makes me wonder why they decided on a sudden volcano to end the monsters. it was SO last minute, made me wonder if they didn't know how to end the movie. still, a great effect. also, this would have been SUCH an easy movie to make a sequel to- the monsters break out of their tomb! instant sequel.
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Post by Shonokin on Nov 11, 2008 8:14:44 GMT -8
This is a great movie. I'm always impressed with the cinematography and color pallet.
Gotta watch it again soon.
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Post by Gwangi on Jan 2, 2009 8:21:48 GMT -8
makes me wonder why they decided on a sudden volcano to end the monsters. it was SO last minute, made me wonder if they didn't know how to end the movie. still, a great effect. Well, you see David the impact of bombs they dropped on the Gargantuas is what caused the volcano to erupt. It has to do with violent shocks that activated......oh hell I don't know talking about!  . Me no Mr. Discovery Channel! I finally had a chance to see the DVD and in the widescreen process see things that I did not know were there! Tamblyn's "sounds like some countries I know" bit and then when he says that hopefully the good one will win, and then does a sarcastic ha-ha (!) afterwards, I never noticed that before! I always felt bad for Kipp Hamilton. We never know if she died or survived the ordeal. |
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Post by mosugoji on Jan 3, 2009 19:27:46 GMT -8
It's too bad that the Godzilla vs Gargantua movie never got made. Godzilla would have probably been the hero in it judging from the 70's time frame it was supposed to have been made in. I wonder if it would have been Gaira or a new gargantua Godzilla would have fought?
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Post by Torgaman on Jan 4, 2009 12:21:58 GMT -8
It would have been interesting to see Godzilla fight a more "humanoid" type opponent as opposed to another giant dinosaur or insect.
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Post by RedKing on Jan 9, 2009 22:48:03 GMT -8
I got the double disc of this and RODAN for Christmas and was very impressed. The UPA version looked absolutely stunning, however, the Toho version (as both versions were specially prepared for each country at the time of filming, there isn't really one uncut version I think) looks very dark, so dark in some scenes you can hardly see what's going on. I remember being frustrated with the Toho vhs versions for years because of this, but so far most every US dvd that featured the Japanese versions has had excellent picture quality. Still I'll honestly watch the US version more than the Japanese one anyways! And as for the volcano, Gwangi is actually right-the heavy bombing is what caused the undersea volcano to erupt. In fact Ishiro Honda's planned ending was to have the volcano not only engulf the Gargantuas, but bury all of Tokyo under lava! Tanaka shot that down as too expensive, even though Honda said they could use stock footage from THE LAST WAR. It is also too bad GODZILLA VS GARGANTUA never got made. So many of those unproduced late 70s Godzilla movies sounded great.
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Post by giganfan22 on Jan 25, 2009 20:44:55 GMT -8
I first saw War of the Gargantusa when I was about seven years old, and I just ate it up. For some of you old-timers here, the best way to see these movie was either in the theater on a matinee, or at the drive-in, but for me, growing up in my day, late-night TV was it, on the living room floor with all of my toys around me. And I guarantee the feelings I felt were the same that you guys did. I look back on those days fondly...Anyway, this came on after Rodan and BEFORE Frankenstein Conquers The World during TNT's annual New Years "MonsterVison" marathon. I had some vague recollection about WOTG from the book "Godzilla Super Diorama Theatre," but in truth, from the second the movie started, I knew it was Toho. This, along with Frankenstein Conquers The World is the benchmark for Toho's kaiju eiga genre. The creators were really firing on all cylinders during this period, and War of the Gargantuas is one of their finest works. It may be cult, but it's still a classic!
Geez, I really have to get to work on the MOTW topics! I've so much to say, and it's been a looong time since I've been here!
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Post by faizfan on Aug 13, 2009 4:29:32 GMT -8
OH YEAH! One of the best sci-fi films EVER! In Hondas top 3(after GOJIRA and Gorath) I can't believe that there was no commentary And yes the UPA version was gorgeous! AND yes Godzilla VS Gargantua would've been off the chain! |
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Post by faizfan on Aug 13, 2009 4:44:20 GMT -8
OH YEAH! One of the best sci-fi films EVER! In Hondas top 3(after GOJIRA and Gorath) I can't believe that there was no commentary And yes the UPA version was gorgeous! AND yes Godzilla VS Gargantua would've been off the chain! |
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Post by Xenorama ™ on May 16, 2010 7:30:37 GMT -8
one of my friends did a fan version of this, where he redubbed (from the International version) the Frankenstein name into the movie. it's very interesting. he also added the end of Frankie Conquers at the beginning. very enjoyable.
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. Me no Mr. Discovery Channel!