War of the Gargantuas
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| War of the Gargantuas | |
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| Directed by | Ishirō Honda |
| Produced by | Tomoyuki Tanaka Henry G. Saperstein Reuben Bercovitch (USA) |
| Written by | Ishirō Honda Kaoru Mabuchi |
| Starring | Russ Tamblyn Kumi Mizuno Kenji Sahara |
| Music by | Akira Ifukube |
| Cinematography | Hajime Koizumi |
| Editing by | Ryohei Fujii Frederic Knudtson (USA) |
| Distributed by | Toho UPA |
| Release date(s) | 1966 (Japan) July 29, 1970 (USA) |
| Running time | 90 min. |
| Language | Japanese English |
| Preceded by | Frankenstein Conquers the World |
| IMDb profile | |
War of the Gargantuas, released in Japan as Frankenstein no Kaijū: Sanda tai Gaira (フランケンシュタインの怪獣 サンダ対ガイラ Furankenshutain no Kaijū: Sanda tai Gaira?, lit. "Frankenstein's Monsters: Sanda versus Gaira"), is a 1966 daikaiju eiga (giant-monster movie), and a semisequel to Frankenstein Conquers the World. It introduces two giant, hairy humanoids called Gargantuas, which spawned from the discarded cells of Frankenstein's monster from the previous film and are described as brothers. The Green Gargantua is violent and savage, preying upon human beings; as he lives in sea water, he is given the name Gaira (ガイラ - from kai (or gai, for "stranger")), corresponding to Japanese characters for "sea"). The Brown Gargantua had been raised in captivity, and is docile and gentle; because he resides in the Japan Alps, he is called Sanda (サンダ, from san, "mountain"). The film follows the investigation and military engagements of these creatures until their climatic confrontation in Tokyo.
Several ambiguous references are made to Frankenstein Conquers the World, but the only direct link between the films is the term "Frankenstein", which appears in the title and is used to refer to the Gargantuas ("Frankensteins") in the original (Japanese) dialog. Like the previous film, which starred Nick Adams, War of the Gargantuas features a Hollywood actor (Russ Tamblyn) in the lead as a scientist, Kumi Mizuno as his colleague, and another Japanese scientist (previously Tadao Takashima, here Kenji Sahara). The similar casting has led to speculation that the film was intended to feature recurring characters. Again Eiji Tsuburaya helped the special effects crew with Haruo Nakajima portraying the antagonistic daikaiju (Gaila).
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[edit] Trivia
- An elder scientist discusses the fraternal relationship between the Gargantuas, and in the English dub refers to Cain and Abel. Likely in reference to the American Civil War, Dr. Stewart replies, "Brother against brother, huh? Sounds like some countries I know."
- Masers are used as weapons for the first time in a Toho film, though their design mimics the Atomic Heat Ray of Mothra.
- This is one of several daikaiju eiga with a volcanic climax; see also Rodan, Gamera vs. Gyaos, The Return of Godzilla.
- This is one of the few times that the military forces actually succeed in hurting the monsters (partially via use of the new maser weapons).
- A song from the film, The Words Get Stuck In My Throat was adapted by the band Devo, sung at concerts by the character of Booji Boy
- Toho had planned to make a sequel where either Sanda, Gaila or a similar, new creature were pitted against Godzilla.
- The original ending of the film was to not only have Sanda and Gaila swallowed up by the earthquake, but the lava was to have spread to Tokyo where it was to destroy the city as well as the remaining cells of the monsters.
- Sanda (repainted and with a wig) appeared in Yuke! Godman episode 16 Godman vs Sanda and the following year in Ike! Greenman episode 31 Greenman vs Sanda.
- Gaira (repainted and with a wig) appeared in Yuke! Godman episode 17 Godman vs Gaira and the following year in Ike! Greenman episode 4 Greenman vs Gaira
- Due to a flaw in the soundtrack Russ Tamblyn had to re-dub his own voice for the American version of the film.
- Quentin Tarantino (who himself is a big fan of Toho's monster and sci fi films, especially those of Ishiro Honda and Eiji Tsuburaya) based the fight between Uma Thurman and Daryl Hannah in Kill Bill Vol. 2 on the final battle in War of the Gargantuas. He showed his copy of the film to both actresses and told them he wanted it to be "War of the Blonde Gargantuas"
- Gaira is the stage name, directly derived from this film, of Kazuo Kamizo, a director of extreme films.
[edit] U.S. release
- Several themes of Ifukube were removed, re-arranged and even some Ifukube themes from kaiju films was ADDED. The music that was deleted was replaced with stock music from the B-movie, Blood Waters of Dr. Z
- Deleted : Sounds made by the infant Sanda in the flashback scene
- Dialogue was dubbed into English.
- Added : Scene with Gaira spitting out the cloths of a woman he eats and the camera showing them land on the ground.
[edit] References and homages
Besides its cast and crew, War of the Gargantuas (WOG) makes several homages and vocal references to Frankenstein Conquers the World (FCTW), though none conclusively tie the two films together:
- an alternate ending of FCTW featured a battle between Frankenstein and a giant octopus called Oodako (a.k.a The "GiantDevilfish"); WOG begins with a battle between Gaila and the same Oodako (possibly the same prop).
- The young Frankenstein loses a (still-living) hand during his escape in FCTW; in the English dub of WOG, Dr. Stewart refers to a "desiccated" hand belonging to no "known creature".
- Akemi (Mizuno) flashes back to her experience with a Gargantua (the young Sanda) in the laboratory, scenes reminiscent of those of Sueko (also Mizuno) with the young Frankenstein in FCTW.
- Frankenstein fled to the mountains after his escape in FCTW; Sanda is discovered in the mountains in WOG.
- The U.S. release of FCTW ends when a sudden earthquake envelopes Frankenstein after his bout with Baragon; another natural disaster (a volcano) destroys the Gargantuas when their battle takes them to sea.
[edit] References
- Galbraith, Stuart IV. Japanese Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films, McFarland, 1994. ISBN 0-89950-853-7
- Pusateri, Richard (1998). "A G-Fan Retrospective: War of the Gargantuas". G-Fan 32: 28–33.
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