La Guerre des Monstres

Yep, another monster is menacing Japan. This time it's a large ape-like monster called "Gargantua" After it causes some havoc, the military chases it down in a forest and believes they have killed it. Just then, a larger gargantua comes in, tears the place apart, and rescues it's monster brother.

A visiting American scientist (Russ Tamblyn, who is likable here) deals with the conflict of keeping the military from making hash of the monsters.

The film is fast paced, has the energy of a children's story. From the first moment, there's excitement. Try and catch the original Japanese language version, with the better music score. Another fun building-smashing fest by Inoshira Honda.

"War Of The Gargantuas" comes from my favorite era of Toho's kaiju flicks, the 1960s, when the emphasis was relatively straightforward action and fun, and thankfully no annoying little kids making friends with the monsters. And this time, we have a monster in the Green Gargantua (Gaira) who is really frightening and who eats people to boot (not even Godzilla ever went that far). It left me unnerved the first time I saw it as a kid.

Like most kaiju films, the original Japanese version is much better than the later dubbed American version. Russ Tamblyn (generally okay but clearly bored and resentful of his sudden fall from the heights of "West Side Story" and "The Haunting") might have gotten his own voice back in the U.S version (the Japanese actor who dubs him in the original doesn't sound anything like him at all and in Toho's European market English dub they used another actor), but everything else about it is decidedly inferior. The dubbing is awful, and sections of Akira Ifukube's score are replaced with an endless, monotonous theme for the military that I think was first used in "Earth Versus The Flying Saucers." Cropped and faded, as existing American video prints are now, the film really looks cheap and silly and the flaws are magnified. The original Japanese version in widescreen format, has beautiful color and sound that immediately conjure the image of a stylish late 60s action flick with reasonably good FX for the time, and the results far more entertaining in the end. Also in the Japanese version, we learn that this movie is actually a sequel to "Frankenstein Conquers The World" since the monsters are referred to as "Frankensteins" rather than "Gargantuas" as they are in the dubbed version.

As for the infamous nightclub scene featuring ex-Fox starlet Kipp Hamilton's infamously bad song before she gets attacked (but contrary to what others say here, not eaten), even that somehow comes off better in the Japanese version. When you stop to think of it, the Japanese audiences had it better since they couldn't understand a word of those inane lyrics when they were watching! But what the heck, how many other bad songs did we suffer through in all those James Bond film knockoffs in the late 60s? ("Your Zowie Face" in "In Like Flint" anyone?) I prefer to write that off to the goofy spirit of the times. And "War Of The Gargantuas" is in the best tradition of the goofy spirit of fun 60s kaiju that remains a guilty pleasure to savor again and again in my book.

This is certainly one of the better non-Godzilla kaijus. It has plenty of action and in some ways it has a love story within it. The character Akemi has a deep motherly affection for Sanda (the Brown Gargantua) and is willing to do anything to protect it from the wrath of the army who see him as nothing but a menace. In the meantime, Gaira (the Green Gargantua) is the true evil. He sees man as nothing but food and this brings him into conflict with his brother who is gentle in nature but results to violence as a last resort.

This is one of the more original Toho productions out there, and it's also one of the more frightening. The Green Gartantua is the bad one, and he is only too happy to eat people whole whenever he gets the chance. The classic seen in this movie is when the Green Gargantua comes ashore near a hotel/apartment complex and tears the walls off exposing people inside. Then he grabs one and pops them into this mouth, chewing with gusto! To top off this great scene he *spits out* the chewed clothes of the person he ate, sort of like a person would spit out a cherry pit.

This movie really needs a re-release on DVD!

We'll give credit to TOHO productions, it is different from the Godzilla films, which I adore. It seems they just used different monsters while using the same scaled army vehicles and scenery. Having viewed Frankenstein Conquers the World, this "Sequel" doesn't quite add up to it's previous storyline which was a little vague, blame it on poor editing? Had they expanded on why and where these 2 monsters originated from, it would make more sense, while still leaving out human dialogue. I saw this film as a child, it scared me into believing there really were creatures walking around stomping on people! When you hear the lady singing on the cruise ship, and that poorly written song sticks in your head, believe me, you'll wish she had been eaten first. The movie is a classic, worth a look see.