Daikyoju Gappa (1967)

Country of Origin: Japan / USA
Year of Production: 1967
Running Times: 90 mins
Format: Eastmancolor 35mm
Ratio: Nikkatsuscope 2.35:1
Sound: mono

PRODUCTION
Production Companies: Manson Corporation / Nikkatsu Corporation
Producer: Hideo Koi

SCRIPT
Script: Ryuzo Nakanishi, Gan Yamazaki

DIRECTION
Directors: Haruyasu Noguchi

PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: Muneo Ueda

MUSIC
Music: Seitaro Omori

SPECIAL EFFECTS
Special Effects Director: Akira Watanabe
Special Effects Photography: Isamu Kakita, Kenji Kaneda

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Art Director: Kazumi Koike

CAST
Tamio Kawaji
Yôko Yamamoto
Kokan Katsura
Keisuke Yukioka (President Funazu)
Saburo Hiromatsu
Shiro Oshimi
Yuji Kotaka
Tatsuya Fuji
Koji Wada
Yuji Odaka
Mike Daning
Masanori Machida (Saki)

On a South Pacific island, the natives worship the deity Gappa. A group of explorers discover an infant dinosaur that is unearthed by an earthquake that opens up an underground cave. The explorers take the creature back to a zoo in Tokyo and soon enough the creature's parents come looking for it...

A seriously sub-standard Japanese monster movie that simply remakes Gorgo (1961). The monsters are unconvincing, the stock footage noticeable and aggravating and the acting unmentionable. Nikkatsu didn't make any more kaiju eiga and one can only be thankful for that. The worse than usual dubbing doesn't help much.
KEVIN LYONS

The only kaiju eiga from Nikkatsu Studios, this is a charming family movie with a plot similar to Gorgo (although both screenwriters deny ever having seen that film). Though the miniature vehicles are a mix of toys and stock footage, the buildings are excellent creations, soundly trashed by the monsters in sensibly overcranked footage which really gives an impression of their size. The UK version omits a sequence explaining why the expedition travels to the island in the first place, while the US version trims numerous individual shots of the monsters, greatly reducing the effect of their empathic relationship with Saki the native boy. Scenes of the male Gappa protecting its mate from military attack, and the ending, with the Gappa family reunited, are particularly touching.
MJ SIMPSON

UK
Theatrical Distributor: Border Films
Video Distributor: Video Masterpiece (VM119)

USA
Television Distributor: American-International Television
Video Distributors: Orion Home Video;  Sinister Cinema;  Kaiju Productions
Laserdisc Distributor: Image Entertainment Inc; Orion Home Video
DVD Distributor: Tokyo Shock

UK
Rating: U

2001
December
15: USA - television broadcast (on BMAN)

Even mightier than 'King Kong'!

From volcanic eruption to monstrous destruction

Distruggeto Kong, la terra e in pericolo - Italian title
Gappa il mostro che minaccia il mondo - Italian title
Gappa - Frankensteins fliegende Monster - German title
Gappa - international title
Gappa the Triphibian Monster - UK title
Monster from a Prehistoric Planet - US title
Gappa the Triphibian Monsters - US video title

SEE ALSO
Gorgo (1961)

BOOKS

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

Horror and Science Fiction Films II p.148
credits

Monsters are Attacking Tokyo! (by Stuart Galbraith IV) p.109
Interview with screenwriters

Monsters are Attacking Tokyo p.167
credits

MAGAZINES

Cult Movies no.10 (1994) p.13 (USA)
review (by David Milner)

The Dark Side no.57 p.19 (UK)
review (by Allan Bryce)

Fangoria no.176 (September 1998) p.49 (USA)
review

Oriental Cinema no.8 (1995) p.20 (USA)
review (by Christopher Elam)

Oriental Cinema no.10 p.28 (USA)
review

Scary Monsters no.39 (June 2001) p.111 (USA)
brief review (by Joseph C Romano)

giant monsters; kaiju eiga; islands; deities; volcanoes; ships; earthquakes; caves; scientists; statues; eggs; zoos; submarines

Kevin Lyons; MJ Simpson