Frankenstein alla conquista della Terra

The legend of Frankenstein and his various adventures have been covered to a crazy degree over the years but right here we have horror legends Toho take a stab at it. Sadly it appears they weren't told very much before they wrote the screenplay.

Assisted once again by a US studio (Which has always been to their detriment) this tells the story of a young boy who is discovered and found to be growing at an incredible rate. Before they know it he's grown disastrously large and broken free of his constraints, just at the same time as a giant monster has appeared on a rampage as well.

You can immediately tell that it's a Toho film, from the sfx to the one bit of score they keep using or mildly remixing. Several of the usual faces are also present including Takashi Shimura who has a blink and you'll miss it role.

The storyline is actually more competently done than many of these Toho monster films but in its place the sfx are a tad worse. The creature effects and that of our Frankenstein are fine, but every once in a while you'll spot something so bad it should have got someones butt fired (I'm looking at you shifty Boar and awful Horse).

What drew the most ire from me were certain logistical issues. For example Frankenstein is of course the name of the Scientist who created the monster not the name of the monster itself. As the boy grows the clothes grow (Hulk style) and various other little things that bothered me more than they perhaps should.

It's more Toho monster cheese, if you like that stuff this will likely appeal otherwise you'll probably scratch your head in amazement just how ridiculous it all is.

The Good:

Fairly well made stuff

The Bad:

Takashi Shimura is wasted

Frequent logistical flaws

Some really poor sfx

A weird film with Nazis storming Dr. Frankenstein's lab and taking the heart of Frankenstein's monster to Hiroshima in 1945. What could happen but the Hiroshima blast. 20 years later eats the radioactive heart and literally becomes Frankenstein's monster. He eats a dog, a classroom bunny, and lots of garbage. He then starts growing and growing intill he is a 100 foot tall caveman Frankenstein and deuls with this bunny-eared dinosaur named Baragon in a fight to the death. Weird and very Japanese.

Here's a movie about a radioactive child growing into a large, homeless 100 foot tall looking brute who grunts, and then fights a nappy looking dinosaur. Okay, it's not Ingmar Bergman, but damn, is it silly, fun and entertaining. It's chock full of cliches, but the pace is amazingly fast. One of the best elements of this happy cinematic misfire is actor Tadao Takashima. His normally bland white-lab coated scientist has some fascinating charcater elements (He's an alky, and has an interesting dark streak) The VHS copy I have has tacked on the ending where Frankenstein vs. A-Big-Octopus-That-Comes-Out-Of-Nowhere. Silly, and fun. Cool party movie.

Deep within the heart of me exists a love for films featuring giant creatures battling it out for supremecy in the streets of Tokyo. I just remember watching them with anticipation as a small child, waiting in anxiety to see who the victor would be of these mommoth clashes. Of course, with familiar characters like Gamera, Rodan, Mothra, Ghidra, Gigan, Baragon, King Kong, and, of course, Godzilla stomping Tokyo in each film, this one, titled "Frankenstein vs. Baragon" here in the U.S., takes the cake for taking the most risks.

This film sets up many important things for the Toho universe: It introduces Baragon, who would later become a favorite of the genre. In additon, it makes political statements on nuclear testing. Oh, and on a side-note, it also *takes Frankenstein's monster, grows him to giant heights, pits him against Baragon, and puts a classic Gothic monster's face into the gallery of gigantic monsters to rummage Japan.* If you aren't impressed by the first two factors, at least appretiate the third one simply for its camp value.

AND WHAT CAMP VALUE IT IS! The fights in this are some of the best of the Toho universe. Frankenstein looks like an overgrown caveman, and Baragon is effectively established as a leading monster. And while most of the battles simply take place in a few mountains outside of-- you guessed it-- Tokyo, the fun still exists, and its as just as a good time as you'll find in any given Godzilla or Gamera flick.

Silly, cliched, stupid, pointless...and one heckuva good time! LOOK OUT FOR THE BEATING HEART OF FRANKENSTEIN! AND WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T EAT IT!

*** out of ****

This movie seems like a silly project on paper but the eventual movie is nevertheless still quite fun to watch.

This movie is a Japanese attempt to blend in the Frankenstein creature with the Japanese monster movie-genre. It's like Frankenstein meets Gojira, only the creature in this movie is named Baragon, who looks like a giant armadillo, or of course better said a guy in a rubber suits that looks like a giant armadillo.

It's all quite silly of course but yet the movie works on a certain level of entertainment. You could basically say that this movie is just as good and fun to watch as basically any other Japanese monster movie from about the same time period.

You could tell that in the first halve of the movie they somewhat tried to remain faithful to the Frankenstein movie. They also tried to give the character a heart and let him struggle with the same emotions and difficulties the character has always struggled with in the Mary Shelley novel and all of the Frankenstein movies and tried to make the movie somewhat intelligent and scientific. It's not like it ever works out well enough or becomes believable but this is mostly because they did not go all the way with it. After all, it seemed more important for them to make a monster movie, so here we have a Frankenstein creature that suddenly starts to grow 4 times his normal size and battles Baragon, a prehistoric creature from the depths of the Earth, who has been awakened by oil drillers.

Therefore the lovers of these Japanese monster movies will be the ones to most likely enjoy this movie. It all builds up to its obvious ending, in which the Frankenstein creature battles the man in the rubber suit. The fight is literally laughable to watch but this is of course also part of the charm of movies such as this one.

It's all pretty silly but it was fun to watch!

6/10

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