Una nube di terrore

Ishiro Honda is best known for his Kaiju films, which is rather a shame because he made many other fine and creative movies. This scifi/horror mix a good example of one of his more intimate, darker and multilayered creations and is to be recommended to old-school fans of these genres.

The scifi/monster elements in this film are a variation on H G Wells' Invisible Man, although our protagonist/villain is more complicated and more tragic than Wells'. The protagonist in this film uses his superhuman powers to rob banks and finance the come-back of a Noh dancer who is recovering after a recent stay in a sanitarium, and there are a number of scenes with her dancing and wearing traditional garb...these scenes are in contrast to the eponymous protagonist, who wears a business suit and participates the sordid business of crime. Yet our protagonist loves the dancer and the dancer appears to at least partially reciprocate.

In the hands of a lessor director, this material could become boring and maudlin, yet this film is moody, suspenseful, and there is a haunting sense of impending tragedy that is maintained throughout. Certainly our protagonist has become unhinged, and there are hints that the Noh dancer may also have been at the sanitarium for mental health problems. So then, this film presents us with mix of madness, art and science fiction that is interesting on several levels...not the least of which is the love story between a fragile artist and a homicidal lunatic.

In a strange way, this film has many of the same themes as the 2010 pseudo art house flick, 'Black Swann,' yet is more deft and has more depth.

The FX, while clearly belonging to the world of 1960, are creative and tell the story, and contribute to the coherent mood of this film. The American version has been edited badly, but still conveys the major meanings. I recommend this to fans of old-school horror and scifi, and to those studying the work of Ishiro Honda.

The title may suggest a bad sci-fi movie, but this film is actually quite dramatic and well produced. Part mystery and part science fiction, it is well acted and the special effects of the man turning into the vapor is expertly done. The segments of the Vapor traveling about the city and telling of his experiences are a high point of the movie, and explain what it would feel like to actually be a cloud of gas. The central story, of the attraction between the Vapor and the dancer, is well written and effectively developed on screen. This is an example of a Japanese science fiction film that often gets overshadowed by the likes of Godzilla and Rodan, but is quite good on its own merits. Watch it if you get the chance!

The Human Vapour shows that there was a lot more to 60s Japanese science fiction movies than Godzilla and Mothra. While the version I watched was badly dubbed and transferred to video, it still stood out as superior b-grade sci-fi. The FX may be quite primitive but the concept was handled well, the acting more than adequate, and the central relationship between the Vapour and the Kabuki dancer was suprisingly touching. Try and track this one down if you're looking for something different.

"At first I could not understand the terror in Dr Sano's eyes. Then I knew: I had been transformed into something terrifying. Something repellant...."

Maybe not necessarily repellant, but the sight of someone's body vaporizing till he becomes invisible... well, I've seen prettier things.

The second feature of this double bill is The Human Vapor and was directed by Ishirô Honda, the man who also gave you Gojira (a.k.a. Godzilla) and countless sequels with the rubber-suited monster. Honda worked for Toho Studios who, apart from Godzilla and Samurai films, made four movies about humans who could change the state of their bodies. The Human Vapor, released in 1960, was the last of these four films.

No monster in Gasu Ningen Daiichigo (1960) or The Human Vapor, but a librarian who agrees to be a test subject for a scientific study. Little did librarian Mizuno know the other test subjects had died during the test. He discovers he can vaporize his body and kills the professor (by asphyxiation). Mizuno might want to turn his back to humanity, but he's also madly in love with a beautiful dancer who's been saving for her comeback performance. He decides to help her by robbing the bank. Maybe not such a bad idea, but it's a crime my friendly neighbourhood officer tells me. The police pursue his trail (he might be invisible, but his car isn't) to the place where Vapor-Man abandons his car. Smart move, if it weren't for the fact that there's only one house nearby. That's where She lives and when She suddenly appears to have enough money for her comeback and can't/won't reveal any information on her maecenas, she's arrested.

This makes Mizuno so angry he becomes even madder than he was before (it seems like the test affected both his visibility and his sanity) and he wants revenge for the imprisonment of his beloved dancer. More banks are robbed and more people get killed. That's as far as I'll go because, who knows, you might want to check this movie out and as the saying goes, there's no crying over spilt endings. The movie is very decent and a remarkable ending.

The bad news is The Human Vapor isn't just the American title of the film, it's also the American version and sadly a lot went lost in the translation.

First and foremost, Gasu Ningen Daiichigo was a mystery and in The Human Vapor the anti-hero tells his story in a long flashback. This would've been only half so horrible if the narration had been more interesting and if it hadn't replaced the dialogue in quite a lot of scenes (which leaves us with the "I told him and then he said" effect). The jerking effect of the re-edited version is also not really a plus side. Even the soundtrack was changed. If you can't remember why the soundtrack seems so familiar, you must have seen The Fly (1958).

Crappy editing, dialogue and Americanized dubbing (Japanese characters are less credible with sentences like "Ah, go peddle your papers!") aside, nothing can keep us from knowing this is a terrific movie. Even if it falls from 10/10 to 8/10, an eight is still better than most things you're subjected to. The Human Vapor still has enormous amounts of tragedy and pathos, an anti-hero who can't control his limitless powers and an enchanting but painful love story. What it lacks as a crime story, it wins as a character study. It's fascinating to see how Mizuno evolves from a friendly lab rat into a psychotic megalomaniac. We also wonder about the role of the dancer Fujichiyo.

Does she know where the money came from? Does she also love Mizuno? Her personality is quite different from the other female character in the film, the reporter Kyoko. Traditional versus modern.

Mizuno's acts are beyond redemption, but still you feel some sort of sympathy for the Human Vapor and most of that comes from his unconditional love for Fujichiyo. (Not unlike the Phantom of the Opera's love for Christine Daaé.) True, the special effects are minimal, but who needs special effects in a sci-fi movie when you've got a story?

Somber screenplay writer Takeshi Kimura at his best. Probably the most sad and dramatic of all Toho sci-fi epics. Here, we have the title character, who is a librarian in his real life, willing to make sacrifices to pamper his lover, the Kabuki dancer, even if it resorts to chaos and havoc. Caught in the mix is a policeman and a reporter, out to catch the rampaging "Vapor Man" before he causes any more harm. I usually prefer more light-heated pieces, like the works of writer Shinichi Sekizawa. Though this is a really dark film, which could use more lighter themes, it is a movie with a very compelling story with an astounding climax. A good thriller even by today's standards.

Grade B