Frankenstein's Monsters: Sanda vs. Gaira

* Poster 2
 Directed by
Henry G. Saperstein,
Tomoyuki Tanaka,
 Written by
Kaoru Mabuchi,
 Music by
(US Version)
92 minutes
 Budget

Frankenstein's Monsters: Sanda vs. Gaira (also known as The War of the Gargantuas) is an 1966 toho kaiju film a sequel to Frankenstein Meets the underground Baragon.

## Plot

On a stormy night, a fishing boat sailing off the Miura Peninsula, Daikaikaimaru, was attacked by a large octopus called Oodako and sank. Only one surviving man repeated, All the fellows were eaten by monsters like Frankenstein that appeared from the sea following the octopus,'' and the crew's clothes, as if they had been bitten and spit out Following the withdrawal, the Japan Coast Guard contacted Stewart Institute in Kyoto, which is famous for Frankenstein's research.

Dr. Stewart asked, "I think Frankenstein, who was raised in a laboratory and died in Fuji a year ago, revived and hit a fishing boat." "Even if he revives, he will stay in the sea and eat humans. "There is no such thing possible," said Akemi Togawa, a staff member who took care of this Frankenstein named Sanda, saying that "Sanda was gentle and obedient."

However, damage from sea monsters continued one after another near the Miura Peninsula, and Dr. Stewart and Akemi headed to Mount Fuji based on Frankenstein's sightings, and Dr. Mamiya headed to Yokosuka. The tissue of marine organisms was found in the fishing boat that had been pulled up, and huge footprints were found in the mountains. Immediately after the cell tissue brought back by Mamiya was found to belong to Frankenstein, a huge Frankenstein appeared at Haneda Airport in cloudy weather, eating a female clerk. As the sun looked through the clouds, the Frankenstein disappeared into the sea in a hurry.

A series of incidents are found to be due to Frankenstein, and Dr. Stewart and Akemi move to Tokyo to attend a countermeasure meeting. Dr. Stewart imagines there are Frankensteins in the mountains and in the sea, respectively. At the meeting, Mamiya pointed out the Frankenstein nature of the sea, which is weak against strong light and fire, and requests citizens to light it. That night, Frankenstein that hit the beer garden is peppered the light Sakai landed from, by the Self-Defense Forces Ota Bridge is guided to Tanigawa in the vicinity. Here, ensure thorough disappearance of tissue by death ray " **L operations** are performed" Frankenstein Maesa the electrocution verge by the electrical attack. However, another giant Frankenstein appears there, restraining the Self-Defense Forces and removing the sea monster.

The Frankensteins of the sea and the mountains are formally named " **Geira** " and " **Sanda** " respectively . Both cells are in perfect agreement, and it is confirmed that the two are "parts". Sanda is kind and protects Geira by the waterfront of the lake, and saves Akemi who fell into the lake and suffers an injury. Meanwhile, Gaira continues to eat the people who visit the lake in the fog, and finally offends Thanda. In response to Sanda's attack, Gaira escapes to the sea and disappears. While Dr. Stewart advocating the protection and management of Sanda and Rikusuke Hashimoto, who advocate the complete disappearance of both Frankenstein, are in conflict, and Thunder appears after chasing Gaira who appeared in Tokyo Ginza in search of food. The battle between the Frankensteins begins as the Self-Defense Forces support Sanda, who is trying to stop Guyra by injuring himself. Sanda tries to persuade Gaira, who has escaped to Harumi Pier, but Gaira refuses and begins the final battle and goes out into the open sea. However, when a submarine volcano erupted in the open sea, both Frankensteins were involved in the eruption and disappeared into the sea.

## Cast

* Russ Tamblyn as Dr. Paul Stewart
* Kumi Mizuno as Dr. Akemi Togawa
* Kenji Sahara as Dr. Yuzo Majida
* Nobuo Nakamura as Dr. Kita
* Jun Tazaki as the Army Commander
* Hisaya Ito as Police Chief Izumida
* Kipp Hamilton as a club singer
* Yu Sekida as Sanda
* Haruo Nakajima as Gaira

## Staff

* Directed by   Ishiro Honda
* Written by   Reuben Bercovitch, Kaoru Mabuchi, Ishiro Honda
* Produced by   Reuben Bercovitch, Henry Saperstein, Tomoyuki Tanaka, Kenichiro Tsunoda
* Music by   Akira Ifukube
* Cinematography by   Hajime Koizumi
* Edited by   Ryohei Fujii
* Production design by   Takeo Kita, Yasuyuki Inoue
* Assistant directing by   Koji Kajita
* Director of Special Effects   Eiji Tsuburaya
* Assistant Director of Special Effects   Teruyoshi Nakano
* Based on characters created by   Mary Shelley
* "Feel in My Heart" performed by   Kipp Hamilton

## Titles

* Frankenstein's Monsters: Sanda vs. Gaira (Original Japanese title)
* War of the Gargantuas and Monster Zero (alternate English title)
* Monster Giant Sanda (Original Japanese 8mm title)
* Frankenstein: Duel of the Giants (Germany release title)
* The War of the Monsters (France release title)
* Katango (Italian title)
* Katango's War (Netherlands release title)
* Duel of monsters (Poland title)

## Release

The film was originally released in Japan on July 31, 1966 by Toho.

### U.S. release

*"The War of the Gargantuas"* was released in the United States by Maron Films in 1970 as part of a double-bill with *Monster Zero*. Dialogue was dubbed to English. All mentions of "Frankenstein" were removed, and Sanda and Gaira were simply referred to as "Brown Gargantua" and "Green Gargantua," respectively. The U.S. version contains nearly ten minutes of alternative and extended footage filmed at Toho in agreement with UPA and Henry G. Saperstein, some of which serves to establish Russ Tamblyn's character earlier in the film's story. The film's music score was altered significantly, with all pieces containing Akira Ifukube's "Operation L" leitmotif replaced with a library track by American composer Philip Green entitled "Terror Hunt," or other pieces from the film. In addition, cues from *Monster Zero* were also supplemented.

Toho also commissioned an international English export dub for the film, recorded in Hong Kong. It remained obscure for decades, with its only known release being a Greek VHS, until Janus Films made it available to stream via STARZ and FilmStruck in 2017. The Greek VHS includes the English visuals created for the export dub, while the STARZ/FilmStruck stream is synchronized to the Japanese version of the film. While FilmStruck closed in 2018, it remains available on STARZ and The Criterion Channel.

## Production

Toho originally planned to produce a direct sequel to the 1965 film *Frankenstein vs. Baragon*, which was directed by Ishiro Honda. Honda, who was signed on to direct the follow-up, felt that the film would work better as a standalone independent story, and so it was decided to write the film as independent from the previous film. The film's story was rooted in the ancient Japanese myth *Umihiko Yamahiko*. While the Gargantuas are technically clones created from cell division, they are deliberately referred to as "brothers" and not father and son. In the script, neither of the Gargantuas are named, they are only referred to as "Mountain Frankenstein" and "Sea Frankenstein." The first draft of the script was titled *The Frankenstein Brothers* (フランケンシュタインの兄弟 *Furankenshutain no Kyōdai*); later titles included *Strife of Frankenstein* (フランケンシュタインの斗争 *Furankenshutain no Tōsō*) and *Duel of the Frankensteins* (フランケンシュタインの決闘 *Furankenshutain no Kettō*). In a July 28, 1965 publication of *Variety*, the film was announced under the working title *The Two Frankensteins*. The script did not include the Maser Cannons, but Honda decided to add them to the film as he felt they would add to the dramatic atmosphere. Tohl Narita, later famous for his work on Tsuburaya Productions' Ultra Series and *Mighty Jack*, was in charge of monster design for the film.

## Notes

1. The Glen Glenn Sound English dub received a theatrical release in the United States by Maron Films as The War of the Gargantuas on July 29, 1970.
2. During filming, Russ Tamblyn delivered all of his lines in English and even changed much of his lines without the knowledge nor approval of director Honda. Tamblyn's dialogue was dubbed over by a Japanese voice actor for the film's Japanese release. However, his original dialogue soundtrack was lost and Tamblyn had to re-dub all of his lines for the film's American release. Without a script and unable to remember his original lines, Tamblyn had to improvise his new lines based on the footage he was watching.
3. also known as *The War of the Gargantuas (and The Great Monster's war)*

## Gallery

Rare Japanese Pre-release poster for *Sanda vs. Gaira*