Gamera,The Large Monster

Directed by
 Budget

Gamera: Giant Monster (also known as Gamera) is an 1965 daiei tokusatsu kaiju film, Directed by Noriaki Yuasa it is the first ever film in the Gamera franchise.

## Plot

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In the Arctic an unknown aircraft is shot down by an American jet fighter. The aircraft crashes and its cargo, a low-level atomic bomb, explodes. The resulting cataclysm awakens a prehistoric monster that has the appearance of a giant turtle with teeth and large tusks. Japanese scientists on an expedition nearby are given a "devil stone" by an Inuit chieftain, who explains that the creature is called Gamera.

Gamera destroys the American jet with his fire breath and escapes into the sea. The monster heads to Japan and surfaces in Sagami Bay where Toshio, a boy releasing his own pet turtle, sees him. Gamera destroys the city of Fujisawa and a lighthouse. However, he also rescues Toshio from falling from the lighthouse, and then retreats back into the sea. Scientists and government officials hold a conference to discuss killing the monster.

Gamera destroys a research ship, kills the crew and then heads to Tokyo. He is attacked with freeze bombs and blown up, falling onto his back as a result. The scientists indicate that a turtle cannot right itself once on its back and that Gamera will therefore die of starvation. Gamera then pulls its head, limbs and tail into its shell, emits flames from its front leg and back leg cavities, and flies away by rising up into the air and spinning around like a flying saucer.

Toshio and his family decide to stay with an uncle in Tokyo because they have nowhere else to go. Toshio explains to the professor that Gamera is lonely and, like regular turtles, he is not evil. Dr. Hidaka, meanwhile, has observed that Gamera consumes fossil fuels and may seek out atomic bombs for the energy they provide. He also emits radio signals. This leads the Japan Atomic Energy Commission to see an opportunity to use its nuclear stockpiles. Meanwhile, disasters and accidents start to occur: Koto Ward is struck by flash floods and ships collide in Tokyo Bay. Dr. Hidaka claims that Gamera has caused these accidents because he is hiding in the bay.

An international scientific conference is called and they decide to use "Z Plan", based at Oshima Island, involving a consortium of American, Soviet and Japanese scientists to eradicate Gamera. Before any action can be taken, however, Gamera arrives at Haneda Airport, destroying the control tower, and proceeds to wreak havoc in Tokyo (including destroying the Tokyo Tower). Toshio and his family evacuate again, but Toshio gets lost in the confusion.

Z Plan is still not ready, so the scientists plan to keep Gamera at bay in the meantime by confining him to an oil refinery. Dr. Hidaka has surmised that Gamera is gaining energy by consuming fires at the refinery and they will therefore keep shipping petroleum there by train to keep Gamera occupied for 24 hours. Toshio finds his way to the refinery and sneaks on board a train bound for Gamera, chased by the refinery chief. They are both thrown from the train when it explodes, but are unharmed and Toshio is sent on his way.

Z Plan is finally completed and Toshio sneaks on board a ship delivering supplies to Oshima. Gamera is lured to Oshima by lighting an oil slick path from Tokyo to the island, but an oncoming typhoon blows the fire out. Aoyagi starts a bonfire and Gamera makes his way to a volcano erupting on the island. The next day, Z Plan is put into action: Gamera is lured into the nose cone of a giant rocket and launched on a one-way trip to Mars. The worldwide announcement of success extols the triumph of science over ideology. Aoyagi and Kyoko go off together and Toshio decides he is not sad, because he is going to be a scientist one day so he can visit Gamera on Mars.

## Cast

* Eiji Funakoshi as Dr Hidaka
* Michiko Sugata as Nobuyo Sakurai
* Harumi Kiritachi as Kyoko Yamamoto
* Junichiro Yamashita as Aoyagi
* Yoshiro Uchida as Toshio Sakurai
* Yoshiro Kitahara as Mr. Sakurai
* Jun Hamamura as Dr. Murase
* George Hirose as the Japanese ambassador

The following cast were added in the 1966 American theatrical release of the film:

* Albert Dekker as the Secretary of Defense
* Brian Donlevy as Gen. Terry Arnold
* Diane Findlay as Sgt. Susan Embers
* John Baragrey as Captain Lovell
* Dick O'Neill as Gen. O'Neill

## Staff

* Directed by   Noriaki Yuasa
* Written by   Nisan Takahashi
* Produced by   Masaichi Nagata
* Music by   Tadashi Yamauchi
* Cinematography by   Nobuo Munekawa
* Edited by   Tatsuji Nakashizu
* Production design by   Akira Inoue
* Assistant directing by   Kiyoshi Ishida
* Special effects by   Yonesaburo Tsukiji

### Gamera The Invincible

* Directed by   Sandy Howard
* Written by   Richard Kraft
* Cinematography by   Julian Townsend
* Edited by   Ross-Gaffney Inc.
* Production design by   Hank Aldrich
* Assistant directing by   Sid Cooperschmidt

## Titles

* Giant Monster Gamera (Literal Japanese Title)
* Gamera: The Invincible (English Japanese DVD Title)
* Gammera, The Invincible (United States)
* Gamera: The Giant Monster (U.S. DVD and Blu-ray Title)
* Gamera - Frankenstein's Monster from the Ice (Gamera - Frankensteins Monster aus dem Eis; Germany)
* The World Under Terror (El mundo bajo el terror, Spain)

## Production

The success of Toho's *Godzilla* films led to the rival company Daiei to create a monster series of its own. Director Noriaki Yuasa initially began production on a film titled *Dai gunju Nezura* (lit. 'The Great Rat Swarm') which would involve real rats crawling over miniatures of cities. However, the rats received for the film had fleas, which halted production. As the miniatures for the film were already built, Masaichi Nagata had to develop a giant monster to attack the city and had the idea for a giant flying turtle. Yuasa and screenwriter Nisan Takahashi developed the idea into the 1965 film *Gamera, the Giant Monster*. Special effects technician Ryosaku Takayama designed the turtle suit used in the film.

The films created by Daiei were aimed at younger children than the *Godzilla* films of the period and had lower budgets. *Gamera, the Giant Monster* was the only film in the series shot in black-and-white. Yuasa stated that the first *Gamera* film had a budget of about ¥40 million and that the film went "over budget a little bit". Due to the commercial success of the first *Gamera* film, the second film had a expanded budget that Yuasa stated was 80,000,000 yen.

## Release

### U.S. release

alike the original Godzilla film, Gamera was released in the United States with Extra cast and storyline added to the film, it was released as RiffTrax: Gammera the Invincible with the taglines

— US Tagline

— US Tagline

— US Tagline

— US Tagline

— US Tagline

— US Tagline

the film was released in the United States on December 15, 1966.

### Home video

Sandy Frank Film Syndication released the film on VHS as Gamera in 1987. This release featured an English dub for the Japanese version and replaced the original soundtrack with a new score. Neptune Media released the original, unaltered Japanese version and the altered U.S. version on VHS in 1999. Alpha Video released a cropped public domain version of the U.S. version on DVD in 2003, along with other public domain Gamera films.

Vintage Home Entertainment released Gamera: The Ultimate Collection on May 17, 2005 which included a compilation of the entire film series. Shout! Factory released the original Japanese version of the film on DVD in May 2010. Mill Creek Entertainment released the original Japanese version of the film, combined with other Gamera films, on Blu-ray in April 2014. The film was last released by Willette Acquisition Corp. on Feb 17, 2015.

## Gallery

### Posters

Thin Original Japanese daiei movie poster