Daikaijû Gamera

Gamera himself looks great, but the rest of this film is proof positive that Americans should NEVER be allowed to re-edit foreign films to make them more 'palatable' for US audiences. All it does is pad the running time unnecessarily, clutter the plotline, and highlight what is truly some of the most wretched acting I have ever seen on the small screen, never mind the silver screen. Who did they get to play the naval officers?? And did they get it all in one take? I have a big spot in my heart for the giant flying turtle (after all, he DID become the protector of small fry everywhere only a few years later) but he's not seen to best effect in this, his freshman outing.

In spite of being a fan of these Japanese monster movies, I saw it for the first time (that I know of) less than a year ago. (I'm referring to the "American" version.) It was pretty entertaining in general, but there was one thing that stood out for me, and that was a comedy scene (and I don't mean an "unintentionally funny" one). Early on in the movie, the monster was mistaken for a UFO, and there was a televised debate between an astronomer and a ufologist (a traditional set of antagonists, in and out of fiction). I'm not sure about the astronomer, but the ufologist was played by Alan Oppenheimer (he wasn't in the credits, but there's no mistaking him if you've seen a lot of sitcoms). Anyway, the debate got out of hand in a comical way, with both men getting really frantic to win it (maybe whoever wrote the scene was neutral about the UFO subject), and to me, it was funnier than 90 per cent of those comedy scenes about UFO's that you see now (with their overworked jokes about "probes" and abducted hillbillies and so on). Anyway, that's what the original "Gamera" means to me.

Sure the film is silly if you're not a fan of the Japanese monster movie genre. But if one catches the right version of this film, which is the original American dubbed version, and not the grotesque Sandy Frank re-dub that's been deservedly sent up on MST 3000 many times, then you'll end up watching instead a credible entry in the "kaiju" genre that was the first effort by Toho rival Daiei to come up with their answer to Godzilla.

The original Japanese version (and the Frank redub) has some particularly horrible scenes involving American Air Force personnel in the opening, including among others a would be actor playing the general who looks and sounds like he's auditioning to replace Curly in a Three Stooges short. The original US version thankfully replaces all of these scenes with more credible looking ones featuring some professional actors, especially Dick O'Neill ("The Taking Of Pelham One Two Three") as the general who is so good you wish he'd been in the rest of the movie instead of over the hill Brian Donlevy who plays the US general in charge of the operation.

I am not going to comment on this film - enough has been said about it. I am going to comment on the two lead American actors - Brian Donlevy and Albert Dekker. Seeing these two in a film again brings back memories. The last time I saw them act together was in the 1942 film "Wake Island". If at all possible get this film and watch it (Available only on VHS). See what a great job these two actors can do with a well written script.

This review is of the American version of the film which has additional scenes offering two of the movies favourite scientists, Albert Dekker (Dr. Cyclops) and Brian Donlevy (Prof. Quatermass) together. Once it became obvious that Toho Studios had a hit with Godzilla other studios wanted their own monsters. Daiei came up with a giant fire breathing, flying turtle. Well, why not? Freed from the arctic ice by (what else?) a nuclear explosion Gammera heads for (you guessed it!) Tokyo to cause the usual panic and destruction. Gammera is not a mutation of atomic radiation (like another giant monster who shall go nameless at this point) he comes from a time so remote in Earth's pre-history that his cell structure differs from all other living things. He gets energy from heat and eats fire to survive! This makes all modern weapons useless. What to do? The military comes up with Plan Z which is surely the most outrageous way of getting rid of a giant monster that has ever been used in a movie! Does it work? Well . . .until the sequel it does! Both versions of this film are fun though I have a preference for the original Japanese versions of all movies of this genre. Actually this movie has many incarnations. This version which was done in 1965, another version with different dubbing done by Sandy Frank in the 1980's and the original, subtitled Japanese version. They vary just enough to make each version original. Gammera, and this is the only movie where his name is spelled with two "m"'s, is a villain in this one but he learns rather quickly to become a good guy in the later sequels. There has been talk for the last 10 years about a movie where Gammera battles Godzilla. Toho Studios claims this will never happen. Still, you never can be sure.