Uchû daikaijû Dogora

In the US, this is probably the least well known of the classic kaiju eiga. Sure, "Dogora" may not be a very good movie overall, but in my opinion it has one of the very best monsters in film history. Dogora is an enormous space jellyfish, vast, mindless, and cosmically terrifying. It floats through the atmosphere, draining the Earth of life-giving carbon. The full-grown Dogora is only on screen for five minutes (!!), but it's still an awe-inspiring sight as this huge, transparent creature, the size of a small town, sucks up buildings, vehicles, bridges and minerals.

The remainder of the movie is mostly an uninspired detective spoof, with two inept policemen and an enigmatic American agent hot on the trail of a gang of jewel thieves. It seems the monster has been getting to the diamonds first... With such an incredible monster, and such well-executed effects, it's a real shame the rest of the film is so mundane.

It's SUPPOSED to be a comedy. Unfortunately, the US television version dubbed the movie as a serious monster film, with disastrous results. Worse, though, is the Toho "international" version -- it may be more accurately translated, but it's performed by the most inept readers you'll hear outside of a Sandy Frank production. Anyway, even if you don't know Japanese, watching "Dogora" in the original language with no subtitles is still probably more enjoyable than suffering through the English versions.

One of my sci-fi/horror/fantasy reviews written 50 years ago: Directed by Ishiro Honda; Produced by Yasuyoshi Tajitsu, for Toho; released to American TV as "Dagora, The Space Monster" by American-International TV. Screenplay by Shinichi Sekizawa; Photography by Hajime Koizumi; Edited by Ryohei Fujii; Music by Akira Ifukube; Special Effects by Eiji Tsuburaya. Starring: Yosuke Natsuki, Yoko Fujiyama, Nobuo Nakamura and Robert Dunham.

Japanese horror flick combines monster and gangster genres, with not only the physical plant of Tokyo in danger (as usual) from a giant gooey jellyfish from space, but also the loot and lives of some cheap criminals.

This Film Feels like two movies in one.One part focus on the monster Dogora, a jellyfish like space monster and the other on a bunch of criminals stealing diamonds that Dogora has an interest for.This film does has some lesser moments from dogora being a uninteresting monster but is saved by the cast of characters,solid acting and has humor to keep this film being good.

The film starts off with a gang of diamond thieves stealing diamonds but eventually they start noticing weird things from floating in the air and seeing a weird object at the diamond place.Meanwhile detective Komai is investigating on a suspicious character name Mark Jackson who has something to do with the diamond heist that went wrong and Mark Jackson has his own motives of his own when he visits the gang boss of diamond thieves.

Later, The Gang tries to come with another heist to steal the diamonds but are interrupted by Mark Jackson.But notice that one of the trucks starts floating in the air though the diamond gang got away with the diamonds but really it was candy as they were tricked.Komai Evenutally finds Mark Jackson and realize that he's a special agent looking for the diamonds and to make sure the gang doesn't get it.

Envenutally strange things start happening around the world from diamond shops to anywhere with diamond sunnedly disappear and Dr. Munakata a professor on carbon dioxide know that the space creature Dogora is taking the diamond soon enough Dogora is in Kyushu and is attacking can It be stop? Overall, Dogora is very uninteresting by the time he appears on screen which is the middle of the film.His appearance somewhat hurts the pacing of the film as you could care less about the monster and really focus and pay more attention to the cast of characters who really steals the show from the title monster.Plus the humor that is brought into the film.From Mark Jackson Shrugging his shoulders,to Komai's naive attitude that make him look dumb and Gangster Sabu who cowardly attitude that has at least you grinning.

as for the Acting, Everyone gives a solid job with their roles, despite what little there given.Robort Dunham gives the most memorable and enjoyable performance of the cast.It's his Fluent Japanese that has his performance praised and deserves Props for his performance.Yosuke Natsuki is another Detective-Deadpan lead for this film.since his character is so flat, he gives a flat performance as well.Nabuo Nakamura as Dr. Munakata is well done.He really fits into his role as the curious bland doctor as he he wants Dogora to be studied not killed.Yoko Fujiyama brings a charm, innocent look to her role as Masayo Kirino as she is the doctor's assistant and also it's funny and cute when she flirts with Komai a.And last there Akiko Wakabayshi as Hamako.Her seductive flare and sly energetic-ness make her role interesting and great.

Overall, Dogora is not bad It's worth watching one or twice when your not doing anything at all but it's not worth watching 60 times though.

So look at the cover, read the premise, this is another Toho monster movie right? Wrong.

Dogora tells the story of mysterious creatures that come from space and seem to have an desire for diamonds. Meanwhile the police are after a prominent gang of diamond thieves (What a coincidence).

The latter get's considerably more screen time, this is essentially a crime drama rather than a sci-fi. Sure we have our creature (Though it's nothing like the cover suggests) but it's more of a side character than the movies antagonist.

The usual brand of Toho miniatures being used for sfx are present and I personally like that, it's when they tried to do computer generated effects that it all falls apart. Man are they ugly, it's 1964 so it's to be expected but it doesn't take away from just how much their ugliness takes you out of the movie. On the flip side however their are several effects done which I've not seen before from this period, they look great and are well ahead of their time.

If you can get past that this isn't a creature feature it's passable enough stuff, but I went in with expectations and they weren't met.

The Good:

Some great visuals

The Bad:

Some awful visuals

Isn't what it's advertised as

Asides from the strange plot development which we don't know if this movie is a comedy or a kaijyu movie, I think this could be one of the best monster movie of all times. What's great and horrifying about this movie is the monster Dogora. It's kind of a space jellyfish that can defy gravity. The monster makes you think that perhaps somewhere in space there could be a life form like it, and when it arrives on earth, there's no telling how large it could be. None of the Toho monsters have real life creepiness like the Dogora. If the movie was made on a plot about this space monster arriving on earth and terrorizing the world while it multiplies would have made it a unique masterpiece. There's absolutely no movie like it. For its originality, and the special mood this monster brings to the story, this movie is a masterpiece.