Varan the Unbelievable

Varan was one of the few Japanese monsters that didn't catch on in Japan after the success of Godzilla and Rodan

I have seen the original version of the film and it is a very good example of the kaiju eiga genre. However, this version is a piece of garbage. The scenes where Myron Healy "interacts" with the populous of the island are awkward and you can tell immediately that the film was done by two different crews. Also, the print that is used by the American company is so dark you can barely make out the monster and they pretty much do away with one of the best scores ever composed by Akira Ifkube and replace it with some stock music that was originally used in "The Amazing Colossal Man". If Toho wants to sue the Americans for butchering one of their films, I will be glad to show up as a witness.

Watch out Godzilla, Mothra, and Rodan. Here comes Katsumi Tezuka in a rubber suit as Obake.

O. K. As with Godzilla (1954) was Americanize to Godzilla (1956), the same process was done with Daikaijû Baran (1958) Americanized as this film Varan the Unbelievable (1962). So do not be disappointed if a few things have been adjusted.

Cmdr. James Bradley (Myron Healey) is the head of a joint US and Japanese scientific investigation. It requires a lake that is protected by a native village. It is said that the lake contains an ancient reptile that if aroused will destroy the world.

Something arises from the lake.

Obake is being mortified and tanked to no avail.

Planes have a flair for Obake.

Now I wonder why the world is about to be destroyed?

Will a solution be found or are you become Obake-chow?

Toho are the kings of the kaiju movies, they started with Godzilla and the ball kept on rolling. But not all the creature features were on quite the same level as Varan demonstrated.

Varan itself was a 1958 movie but Toho had the bizzare habit of letting the US tweek and re-release their movies in the west. What the US would do is take the original movie, edit in some scenes with American actors visiting Japan and the whole thing would be an absolute mess. No idea why Toho would allow their movies to be butchered in such a way.

So this is just the 1958 movie with some segments removed and others added. I didn't like the original movie and considered it a very weak Toho addition so with the US treatment they actually managed to make it worse.

It looks horrifically dated, it lacks in character and any real entertainment value and I advise folks skip over this (And all the modified US versions).

The Good:

Nothing really

The Bad:

Looks terrible for its age

One of the US butcheries

Poor sound editing

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Good girls don't ask questions, they just do what a man tells them

This came out paired with CIPs also POSSIBLY recut version of the East German etc FIRST SPACESHIP ON VENUS-Der Schwagen Stern- (or SILENT STAR) In a theater full of candy and popcorn munching kids, i was in pure heaven -not one but TWO cool sci-fi pictures! Although VARAN seemed OK to me at the time, even at 10 years old I felt that the Freeze frame-pan-right(?) film technique brought the action to grinding halt, when transitioning back to the American footage. I briefly had the Japanese Laserdisc in 2.35 Scope, and was amazed to find BARAN flying like a squirrel! I guess we would have hooted that off the screen back then, but what did we know? It was a Saturday, and we wanted our candy, soda and(believable) action.

Varan The Unbelievable is a very enjoyable Japanese giant monster movie. This movie was practically re-shot for it's American audience so if you enjoy the American version then you diffenently need to check out the original Japanese version. It will be like watching two different films, Varan has the ability to fly in the original version. The U.S. version is good but the original is much better.