Daikaijû Gamera (1965)

Country of Origin: Japan
Year of Production: 1965
Running Times: 80 mins
Format: black and white     35mm     Daieiscope
Ratio: 2.35:1
Sound: mono

CREDITS

PRODUCTION
Production Company: Daiei
Executive Producer: Masaichi Nagata
Producer: Hidemasa Nagata
Planner: Yonejiro Saito
US Version Producer: Sandy Frank

SCRIPT
Script: Nisan Takahashi
Story: Yonejiro Saito
US Version Script: Richard Kraft

DIRECTION
Director: Noriaki Yuasa
US Version Director: Sandy Howard

PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: Nobuo Munekawa

EDITING AND POST-PRODUCTION
Editor: Tatsuji Nakashizu

MUSIC
Music: Tadashi Yamauchi

SPECIAL EFFECTS
Special Effects: Yonesaburo Tsukiji
Monster Designer: Takayama Ryosaku

CAST
Eiji Funagoshi (Dr Hidaka)
Junichiro Yamashita (Aoyagi)
Michiko Sugata (Sakurai Nobuyo)
Harumi Kiridate (Yamamoto Kyouko)
Yoshiro Kitahara (Sakurai)
Bokuzen Hidari (old farmer)
Jun Hamamura (Professor Murase)
Jutaro Houjo (commander)
Yoshio Yoshida (Eskimo chieftain)
Kenji Oyama (Director General of the Defense Agency)
Jun Osanai (captain of the Chidori)
Koji Fujiyama (US army commander)
Ichigen Ohashi
Munehiko Takada
Kenichi Tani
Tsutomu Nakata (Toshio's uncle)
Yuji Moriya (announcer)
Osamu Maruyama
Yoshiro Uchida (Sakurai Toshio)
Toshio Maki
Kazuo Sumida
Rin Sugimori
Fumiko Murata (old woman farmer)
Tetsuro Takeuchi
Kyousuke Shiho
Ken Nakahara
Kazuo Mori
Shinji Sayama
Daihachi Kita
Kenji Oba
Yasuo Araki
Daigo Inoue
Akira Shimizu
Shinichi Matsuyama
Ikuji Oka
Tatsushi Fujii
Keiichiro Yamane
Wakayo Matsumura
Chiduru Ko
Ryoko Oki
Takehiko Goto
Touichiro Kagawa
Ichiro Ise
Shinji Sahara
Hajime Munechika
M. Anabai
Osamu Okawa (US army staff)
Shin Minatsu

US VERSION CAST
Brian Donlevy (General Terry Arnold)
Albert Dekker (Secretary Of Defense)
Walter Arnold (American ambassador)
John Baragrey (Captain Lovell)
Gene Bua (Lieutenant Clark)
Bob Carraway (Lieutenant Simpson)
Diane Findlay (Sergeant Susan Embers)
Mort Marshall (Jules Manning)
George Hirose (Japanese ambassador)
John McCurry (A1c Hopkins)
Dick O'Neill (General O'Neill)
Alan Oppenheimer (Dr Contrare)
Steve Zacharias (Senator Billings)
Louis Zorich (Russian ambassador)

PLOT SUMMARY

A nuclear explosion awakens the legendary flying turtle Gamerawho has been frozen in ice. Gamera craves energy and goes on the rampage, with only a group of scientists and a small boy with a psychic link to Gamera to stop him.

CAPSULE REVIEW

The most effective rival to Toho's domination of the kaiju eiga was Daiei who had previously specialised in films aimed primarily at children and teens. With the Godzilla films now being targeted at a much younger audience, the company felt confident enough to enter the burgeoning kaiju eiga arena. The strategy of imitation worked. Gamera rapidly became a star and Daiei forced Toho to increase its production rate - much to their artistic detriment - prompting Toho to unleash all its 'stars' at once in the riotous Kaiju soshingeki (1968).

AVAILABILITY

Canada
Video Distributors: Celebrity Video Presentations

Japan
DVD Distributors: Tokuma Japan Communications; Tokuma Japan Communications (Gamera Box Set)

USA
Theatrical Distributors: World Entertainment Corp
Video Distributors: Just For Kids Video; Sinister Cinema; Something Weird Video
Laserdisc Distributors: Image Entertainment Inc
DVD Distributors: Sinister Cinema

TIMELINE

1965
November
27: Japan – theatrical release

1966
December
15: USA – theatrical release

2001
October
10: Japan - DVD release (Tokuma Japan Communications - Gamera Box Set)
11: Japan - DVD release (Tokuma Japan Communications)

POSTER TAGS

The Super-Monster even the H-Bomb cannot destroy!

ALTERNATIVE TITLES

Gamera
Gamera the Invincible
Gammera
Gammera, the Invincible - US title
El mundo bajo el terror - Spanish title

LINKS

SEQUELS
Daikaijû kessen: Gamera tai Barugon (1966)
Gamera tai Gyaosu (1967)
Gamera tai uchu kaijû Bairasu (1968)
Gamera tai daikaijû Giron (1969)
Gamera tai Daimaju Jaiga (1970)
Gamera tai Shinkai kaijû Jigura (1971)
Gamera daikaijû kuchu kessen (1995)
Gamera 2: Region shurai (1996)
Gamera 3: Iris kakusei (1999)

FOOTAGE INCLUDED IN
Daikaijû kessen: Gamera tai Barugon (1966)
Gamera tai daikaijû Giron (1969)
Gamera tai uchu kaijû Bairasu (1968)
Uchu kaijû Gamera (1980)

REMAKES
Taekoesu Yonggary (1967)
2001 Yonggary (1999)

SEE ALSO
Dai-Rantou Smash Brothers Deluxe (2001)

REFERENCES

PERIODICALS

Oriental Cinema no.5 p.23 (USA)
illustrated review

BOOKS

Hoffman's Guide to SF, Horror and Fantasy Movies 1991 - 1992 pp.87-88
credits, review

KEYWORDS

gamera, giant monsters, kaiju eiga, lighthouses, monsters, nuclear weapons, turtles

Last Updated: 26 January, 2010