Gasu ningen dai 1 gô
Tags: insanity, murder

Plot synopsis:
A high-speed pursuit between police and an escaping robber along Itsukaichi Highway is under way. The pursued car crashes and overturns down an embankment. Two policemen and Detective Okamoto (Tatsuya Mihashi) look to find the robber and are astonished to find nothing inside, not even blood.
The men hear the strains of music outside the property of a large nearby house. Okamoto directs one of the men to search the premises, while the other rings the buzzer at the front door. Investigating the music, Okamoto sees an outdoor stage upon which a dancer wearing a grotesque mask is rehearsing, accompanied by her servant Jiya. As the dancer ends her routine, the buzzer sounds. Jiya answers the door and informs the officer that he and his lady, Fujichiyo Kasuga (Kaoru Yachigusa), are alone and nobody has been by. The cop tries to take a peek inside, as Jiya informs him they do not have a car.
The next day, Okamoto shares lunch with his girlfriend, newspaper reporter Kyoko Kono (Keiko Sata). Kyoko questions him about the details of the robbery. Okamoto reveals there are no clues on how it was done or who did it. Kyoko feels she can find out as much information as Okamoto can, and perhaps even solve the case. Okamoto doesn't take her seriously.
The police officer who earlier had driven the squad cars is thanked by the bank president for supplying extra guards. The bank president assures the cop that the bank's alarm is tested every day. The alarm suddenly goes off as a mysterious robber kills a bank employee and confronts the police officer. The cop opens fire on him, but the bullets have no effect on the robber. More cops from police headquarters arrive. They observe the dead employee behind the locked bars that protect the safe. The bank president, overwhelmed with grief, is led away.
At a meeting with the editor, lead employee Kawasaki (Kozo Nomura) suggests that Kyoko try to get information out of her boyfriend. Although she doubts Okamoto would keep any new developments from her, she gets a call from him inviting her to lunch. They meet, and Okamoto asks Kyoko if she has ever heard of the dancer Fujichiyo. She can't give much information, other than that the dancer comes from a distinguished family and was at one time wealthy, but has not danced in some time. Okamoto wonders why, and Kyoko tells him it's because of the dancer's parents and grandparents, but he doesn't believe her. Sensing trouble, Kyoko leaves the restaurant and calls her newspaper for more information on Fujichiyo.
Okamoto's boss Tabata (Yoshifumi Tajima) informs him of the bank robbery and that an employee and a policeman have both died of suffocation by the mysterious robber. There are still no clues as to who did it. Okamoto tells his theory that the dancer Fujichiyo might be behind the robberies, but Tabata does not believe him.
The next day, Okamoto heads to Fujichiyo's house without official permission. Kyoko drives up and offers him a ride, but he lectures her and she drives off. Kyoko arrives at the dancer's house and sees a brand new car being dusted by a chauffeur. She meets Fujichiyo and discovers that she will give a solo recital in a month, with a supporting company, and she requests that no word be given out yet, as things are not definite. Kyoko points out that the publicity would be helpful. The dancer insists that nothing official be released yet, and that there is no guarantee that any announcement will be made if and when the recital does take place.
As the car carrying Fujichiyo travels down the road, it passes Okamoto. Kyoko drives up and lets him get in and they follow her. They find her at a public library and see her check out a book. The librarian Mizuno (Yoshio Tsuchiya) tells them the book she checked out contained ancient songs, and that she studies the library's ancient engravings.
Fujichiyo leaves and stops at the home of a respected chamber music tutor named Osaki (Kamayuki Tsubono). He informs her that he is too busy training to assist her at present. She then offers him 200,000 yen if he will perform. Osaki is amazed at the amount and gladly takes it.
Upon returning to his office, Okamoto discusses his research into Fujichiyo's affairs with his boss and her plans to stage a comeback. He believes she is getting the money from an unknown sponsor. Tabata suggests Okamoto continue his investigation.
Kyoko's newspaper office receives a call from a man claiming to be the bank robber, demanding to speak with the editor. The man states that at 3:00 the next day, he will rob the Kyodo bank in Shhinjuku. He suggests the bank employees be given prior warning so no one will get hurt. The man hangs up before insisting they make sure the story is printed correctly.
The next day the Kyono bank is infiltrated with police posing as bank employees, waiting for the robbery attempt. Some are positioned inside the vault. The hour of 3:00 is announced by the clock. A policeman named Hotta (Yukihiko Godo) tells Okamoto the time and that the robbery should have occurred by now. However, Inspector Inao (Yoshio Kosugi) comes inside the vault to tell them that they have caught the thief attempting to rob the bank. The captured man (Rem Yamamoto) is interrogated by the police and he tells him that he is the one who issued the warning on the phone. The police demand to know where the 56 million yen ended up, but he doesn’t know where the money is.
Okamoto and Kyoko meet at a restaurant where she congratulates him, but he doesn't believe the man's story, and still feels the answer lies with Fujichiyo. Kyoko admits the man's arrest does not answer the question of how the dancer got the money. She reasons that she might have gotten it from her family. Another detective enters the restaurant and tells Okamoto he is needed back at HQ. At police headquarters, Tabata announces that a theater hired for the recital has received money with serial numbers matching those of the stolen money. The police arrive at Fujichiyo's house and search the premises. Okamoto finds the money, and the serial numbers match. She is taken to police headquarters and questioned by Okamoto and Inao. They ask who gave her the money, but she refuses to tell them.
Some time later, the librarian Mizumo enters the police headquarters, where a group of journalists are in the Press Room. He then tells them that he was the one who robbed the banks to get Fujichiyo the money, but they are skeptical. He leaves and enters the conference room of the police station. Okamoto recognizes him and Mizuno offers to show the police the method used, on the condition they take him to the site of the second burglary. He is brought to the bank, where the circumstances will be recreated, with the bank president playing the part of the deceased employee. Mizuno walks up to the bars and to everybody's surprise he transforms himself into a cloud of swirling vapor in front of everybody. The police fire at him, but the bullets have no effect. He then goes though the bars and suffocates the bank president, killing him. The Gas Man then opens the bars and takes a stack of money. Inao fires several bullets at the Gas Man, with no effect. The Gas Man throws the money at Inao's face and wraps around the man's neck, killing him. The gaseous form of Mizuno escapes though an overhead window before telling the police that Fujichiyo is not guilty and they must release her from custody.
A meeting is held in police headquarters. Fujichiyo still refuses to cooperate with them capturing Mizuno. They keep her in custody so that they have a chance of catching Mizuno. However, Mizuno appears suddenly on the room and the police try to catch him. Okamoto shoots him at point-blank range but he escapes in his gaseous form.
Mizuno then heads to the prison where Fujichiyo is being held. He kills two policemen and unlocks the dancer's cell. Fujichiyo tells him that if she escapes with him she will be considered a criminal. Mizuno insists she comes with him, but she still refuses. He listens to her, releases all of the prisoners and vanishes. A riot erupts between police and prisoners. While all of this is happening, Fujichiyo sits quietly in her cell alone.
In the newspaper office, Kyoko gets an idea of how to further his cause for Fujichiyo's freedom. She suggests contacting the Gas Man to her editor for an interview. The newspaper prints an invitation to him and an impromptu meeting is set up on the upper floors of an office building. The interview begins with Mizuno assuring the press that he is not from outer space, but is an earthling as they are. He is asked how he became the Gas Man. Mizuno brings up the late professor of biology, Dr. Sano (Fuyuki Murakami).
His story begins as he was working at a college library. His successful career as a test pilot in Japan's Self Defense Force was cut short, due to the discovery of cancer in his lungs. He was visited by Dr. Sano, a professor at Johoku University and a medical doctor of Japan's space research program. It turns out that Mizuno was referred to the doctor by the Self Defense Force because the training he received made him a perfect candidate for their space pilot Ppogram. Dr. Sano said that they were going to change the existence of the human body, which would allow it to withstand the intense heat of the sun. Mizuno was offered 20,000 yen to undergo the experiment, but he admits the money was not important to him. He went to Dr. Sano's lab, where he was given an injection and lay down on a metal table where he is secured by steel bars. Dr. Sano turned on the machine and Mizuno soon fell asleep. Later Dr. Sano opened the chamber to find that Mizuno had become the Gas Man, with swirling mist where his body once was. Mizuno then regained his former shape with ease. He accused the doctor of deceiving him as to the true purpose of the experiment. Dr. Sano tried to leave but Mizuno caught him. Dr. Sano accidentally reveals that Mizuno was not the first person he experimented on. Realizing that the doctor might have killed them, and feeling betrayed, Mizuno kills Dr. Sano.
Resuming his interviews, Mizuno admits that he feels indebted to the doctor. Because of his new-found powers, he can help Fujichiyo dance again. He also admits that he loved her before he became the Gas Man. The police suddenly barge in and fire rifle grenades loaded with poison gas, but to no avail, as Mizuno escapes again.
The police ask Fujichiyo to help them catch Mizuno. A Dr. Tamiya (Hisaya Ito) patronizes her, and says that he does not believe she knowingly received stolen money. Feeling the Gas Man is a threat to society, he and the other officials ask that she help them set a trap for him at her concert. She does not go along with the plan. The police have no choice but to set Fujichiyo free.
In the newspaper office, it is revealed that an unspecified tragedy had affected Fujichiyo's life, forcing her to live her current existence.
Fujichiyo meets Osaki and is told that the musicians are to scared to perform the concert, fearing a confrontation between the Gas Man and police. Fujichiyo tells him not to worry and that she can do the recital without them. Mizuno appears before her and he says that everything is ready for her recital, but he is upset that the money to make her recital was stolen, and upset at the taking of other people's lives. Mizuno is unperturbed by such trivialities. He tells her that what he did was all for her and that his love for her is an obsession.
Dr. Tamiya meets with Okamoto and Tabata at Dr. Sano's lab. They devise a plan how to do in the Gas Man without harming Fujichiyo. They decide to use U.M. gas which can be detonated in an enclosed area. The theater Mizuno chooses as the location for Fujichiyo is such a place.
Kyoko pleads with Fujichiyo to cancel the concert. The dancer resists the suggestion, seeing it as her destiny. Kyoko persists in her argument. Fujichiyo has been told by the police that they intend to trap Mizuno. In the process, many people may be inured or killed. Kyoko reckons the audience will be mostly thrill seekers, hoping to catch a glimpse of the Gas Man. She insists that Fujichiyo tell Mizuno not to attend, then help the police try to capture him later. Fujichiyo tells her that she must perform so that she can return the honor for his sake. Kyoko then asks her if she really loves him after all that has happened. Surprised at the question, Fujichiyo says that she does.
On the night of the recital, an unruly mob and a frenzied media gather outside the theater. The police try to keep both groups away from the theater. Fire engines are at the ready once the gas has been detonated. Kyoko manages to break though the police barricade and runs for the theater. Okamoto follows her in. As Kyoko enters, she sees Fujichiyo and Jiya on stage as the dancer performs "Daughter of Fuji". Mizuno is seen sitting in the crowd watching contentedly.
In Sano's lab, Tabata and Tamiya discuss the challenging task of trying to fill the theater with gas, getting everyone but Mizuno out, then setting the theater ablaze.
As the recital continues, the crowd begins to get restless, waiting for the Gas Man to appear. Mizuno stands up and informs them that he is the Gas Man, but the crowd is obdurate. Mizuno transforms into his gaseous state, scaring all but one from the theater. During the disturbance, Kyoko runs to the stage pleading with Fujichiyo to leave, but she refuses to stop, saying that this is her final performance. Her servant also insists on staying with her. Mizuno alerts Okamoto to the fallen man.
At the lab Tamiya suggests to Tabata that they wait until Mizuno is completely alone in the theater. Tabata is torn for he doesn't quite have the opportunity he needs to set fire to the place. Having no choice, he orders the gas to be released.
Okamoto and Kyoko take the fallen man out of the theater. They head for Sano's lab with news that Fujichiyo and Jiya have insisted on remaining with Mizuno. Tabata decides to throw the switch but Kyoko pleads with him not to do it. Tabata says it is too late to stop now. The switch is thrown but nothing happens. They find out that the detonating wires on the circuit board have been severed by Fujichiyo. As the recital ends, Fujichiyo bounds off the stage, embracing Mizuno. While savoring the moment with the man she loves, she reaches for a cigarette lighter to burn the theater down along with Mizuno and Jiya. Knowing that they can never live happily together as a normal couple, she ignites the lighter, causing the theater to go up in a maelstrom of flame, killing Fujichiyo and Jiya.
While everyone outside gazes at the burning theater, they wonder if the Gas Man is dead. They then see the mangled, smoldering clothes of the Gas Man, slowly crawling out of the theater then returning to his original form, dead.

Review: 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.
The story behind the crime.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?.
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.
Gasu ningen dai 1 gô: Silly little sci-fi.
Cashing in on the influx of western sci-fi movies Toho created The Human Vapour and it's a thoroughly mixed bag.It tells the story of a man who can turn into vapour and proceeds to use his ability to rob banks.As you can imagine it all looks very tacky as everything did back then, complete with the same sound effects you'll have heard a thousand times from movies like this.The core story is fairly unique and the film does have quite the heart.
Sadly from an entertainment standpoint it's rather underwhelming and that's a shame.Think of this as a sci-fi verison of the H-Man (1958) in many regards, but inferior and more than little goofy.It manages to meet the quality of the films it mimmicks, but alas that really isn't saying much.The Good:Plot isn't terribleQuite a good finaleThe Bad:Taglines are ridiculousWhy keep calling him gasman when he's not gas?Lifeless in placesThings I Learnt From This Movie:Abbreviated to Vape Man, I'm shocked this hasn't been remade.
Superior Japanese SF/Horror.
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.
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 Human Vapor is a surprisingly worthwhile change from the usual round of men in rubber suit Japanese horror films.
It is an effective cross between The Invisible Man and Phantom of the Opera with just a dash of Hangover Square.The kabuki sequences were very well staged.
It is marred only by over-abundant comic relief and choppy editing (although the latter is almost certainly the fault of it's American distributors).It is also hampered by its current un-availability in any medium.
My sad, long out of print, much-abused VHS rental copy is close to 20 years old and appears to have been made from a very worn out, badly scratched and faded TV print.Does anyone know of a restored print?
Interesting sci-fi noir.
The police are in pursuit of a man who can change into gas and who is using that ability to rob banks so that he can pay for a recital by a dancer with whom he is in love.
The film is an imaginative thriller from Toho, directed by Ishiro Honda and with effects by Eiji Tsuburaya.
The third act, in which the police set a trap for 'the gas man', seems a bit weak - surely the titular character would have suspected a trap when he is the only person at the recital; however, I was watching a subtitled version and might have missed something (perhaps 'the gas man's' behaviour was in keeping with his obsession with the dancer).
The special effects are simple but effective, and overall, the film is an entertaining example of Toho's early 1960's non-Kaiju tokusatsu (although not as good as 1958's "The H-man")..
Tarrantino Knows His Stuff.
Although I love giant monsters, It was cool to see Honda do a movie without them.
What I most admire about his movies are the quirky/funky artificial looking art direction.
If you like 60's go-go stuff with a twist, you will dig this crazy movie!.
Music from the film.
I saw this film only once, in Sydney around 1977, and was called "Vapour Man".
I have looked for it sporadically since due to the soundtrack.
Japanese cinema and TV series like "The Samurai" and "Phantom Agents" were almost as influential on Australian kids of the time as American and British products and luck we were indeed.
The Human is a surprisingly worthwhile change from the standard Japanese horror film.
It is a cross between The Invisible Man and Phantom of the Opera with just a dash of Hangover Square.
It has tremendous production values and some good, sincere acting.
It has tremendous production values and some good, sincere acting.
It is marred only but over abundant comic relief, and choppy editing.
Superior, surprisingly adult Sci-Fi from Toho IN IT'S ORIGINAL VERSION.
I only recently saw the unedited, widescreen and subtitled version of this truly almost classic adult science fiction film: a near classic in it's original version, not the cut U.S. version.
It's really not for children as there is much time spent on the characters and their relationships, a rarity in sci-fi films from that era.A librarian Name Mijuno is approached by a Dr. Sano to take part in a scientific test, unaware that the prior subject died.
He acquires the power to change from physical form to vapor and back again, kills Dr. Sano and embarks on a series of seemingly impossible bank robberies and leaving a trail of bodies.
Mijuno is in love with Fujichiya, a classical Japanese Kabuki dancer.
The money Mijuno is stealing is for her comeback.
There is a police detective and a determined woman reporter who eventually tie Mijuno and Fujichiya together.
Fujichiya can't believe that Mijuno is responsible for the crimes as he for years has treated her with nothing but kindness and love.
The police plan to trap the Human Vapor at her comeback performance.
This movie is set apart from others by the doomed tragic love between Mijuno and Fujiciya, great acting, a more mature plot and some great special effects.
This is a sci-fi film you can show to your date or wife or significant other..
**SPOILERS** Washing out, due to contracting tuberculosis, as a top test pilot for the Japanese Air Force Mizuno suffered a nervous breakdown that landed him into a Tokyo sanitarium.
It was at the sanitarium that Mizuno met and fell in love with fellow inmate the famous and equally destroyed,mentally, Fujichiyo who at one time was Japans greatest dancer.Declared by the sanitarium doctors as being fully recovered and Let out in the outside world Mizuno ends up working as a librarian.
In his work in the library Mizuno is approached by a Dr. Sano who's been a great fan of his when he was flying planes for the air force.
Dr.Sano telling Mizuno that he can get him back into shape to fly planes has Mizuno agree to him being experimented on by the doc.
Dr. Sano ends up putting Mizuno into this state of suspended animation for 10 days.
when he comes out of it he's told by a scared and nervous Dr.Sano, who seemed surprised that he survived that it, the experiment was a total failure.
Finding out from Dr. Sano that there has been other experiments by him, where all those involved died, and with him now being the only survivor an outrage Mizuno suddenly turns into a cloud of gas and attacks Dr. Sano engulfing and suffocating him to death.Mizuno realizing that he has achieved, due to the late Dr. Sano's experiments, super powers goes on a crime spree vaporizing into a fine mist and then robbing Toyko banks and killing a number of bank employees and police by asphyxiating them.
Mizuno then makes his escape by fading away into thin air.
Mizuno's, who's later dubbed by the police and newspapers as the Vapor Man, crimes are not for his own greed and misguided revenge against the world but to get enough money to have his love dancer Fujichiyo be able to get back to dancing by having a public recital of her talents.
Mizuno wants Fujichiyo to become Japans premier dancer and the crazed Mizumo doesn't care how many banks he'll rob and people kill, with his new found powers, in order to do it.A really strange and at the same time touching love story, if you can excuse or overlook the bank robberies and killings involved, of a man ,Mizuno, gone insane with love for the woman ,Fujichiyo, he loves.
Who's a sweet caring and conscientious person not having the heart to betray and turn him in to the police.
For the crimes that he committed for her which she had no knowledge of.Arrested and thrown in jail Fujichiyo refuses to tell the police who her lover, who's committing all these vapor crimes, is.
It's Mizuro himself who comes forward to tell the shocked public that he's the notorious Vapor Man and vaporizes himself going on to both rob a bank and kill a bank guard to prove it.The police are helpless to stop the Vapor Man and finally have to release Fujichiyo.
That leads to her, and the Vapor Man, renting out a Tokyo theater to give her dance recital like the Vapor Man always demanded.
This has the attending Mizuno, whom these jerks don't realize, the Vapor Man tell them to get the hell out of the theater and get their money back at ticket counter.
This makes the theater crashers even more rowdy and in return Mizuno vaporizes attacking them and driving the entire bunch out in panic.The Tokyo police in a last desperate move, when the theater is emptied out with only Mizuno and Fujichiyo being in it, pump gas into the place in oder to knock out the Vapor Man and take him captive.
Fujichiyo realizing what's happening and wanting to stop once and for all the death and destruction of her lover Mizuno pulls out a lighter.
As she and Mizuno embrace, after her very successful dance number, Fujichiyo flicks her bic and blows the entire theater up killing herself in the process.
Mizuno unfortunately survives and now has to live the rest of his life, which is forever, with the guilt of not only the many people he killed and victimized as the Vapor Man. He also has to live with the fact that he drove his one and only love Fujichiyo to kill herself because of the crimes that he committed for her..
Another sad and weak Japanese 60's film..
*Spoiler/plot- The Human Vapor, 1960.
A lowly Japanese librarian is subject to a scientific experiment which goes wrong.
It transforms him into 'The Human Vapour' or a living cloud.
He uses that new ability to rob banks to fund the career of his girlfriend, a beautiful dancer.
The Human Vapour is ruthless in his quest for money and kills anyone who stands in his way, especially police.
He soon becomes Tokyo's most wanted criminal.*Special Stars- Yoshio Tsuchiya, Kaoru Yachigusa, Tatsuya Mihashi.
English Narrator: James Hong.*Theme- Experiment on humans should be never routine.*Trivia/location/goofs- Japanese.
The dialog for this film is badly dubbed into English.*Emotion- Another sad and weak Japanese 60's film to make it to USA drive-ins.
The production mistakes make this film only watchable to a special cult-like audience.
Too many US film's were better made on the same plot scenario to bother with this early effort.*Based on- Atomic and radiation mutation fears, especially in Japan Post WW2.