In an effort not to turn this into a Gamera fan blog, I thought I’d present my thoughts on all further viewings bunched together as mini-reviews. This will be for your benefit and for mine. Mostly mine. And my sanity, which is fragile at the best of times. I’ll still work on the later Heisei series, but they’re taking something of a back seat for now. Or maybe it’d be nice to mix things up a bit. I’ll have to have one of my classic thinking sessions over the matter.
As mentioned in previous posts, I was introduced to Gamera through MST3K, who’s witty commentary over shorter cuts of the Showa series are actually some of my favourite episodes. As I passively enjoyed Joel and friends being total bitches during each movie, I started to notice that I actually liked what I could see. At least, what little I could see of their unflattering pan-and-scan versions. Could a pristine UK release even be thinkable?! Yes. As it turned out, it was.
It’s taken me forever to work out that the different eras of Gamera are denoted by the ruling emperor of Japan at the time, which is a truly bizarre way of doing things. I assumed “Showa” and “Heisei” were the production companies or distributors. Go figure. Would I divide British films up between Lizzie 2 and Chuck 3?! No, I would not. So, yeah, if I’ve gotten things wrong in the past, well, I’m really not taking responsibility for that perfectly reasonable misunderstanding.
There are eight films in the Showa series, which I’ll figure out how to divide up into these posts as I go along. Anyway, I’m too excited to get going that I’d rather not get bogged down in admin any longer.
Let’s hatch!
GAMERA, THE GIANT MONSTER (1965)
This debut entry actually felt shorter than expected. It is actually only 78 minutes long, which would be unthinkable nowadays. Surely, a Hollywood remake would be 3-agonising-hours too long. There’s a trick to giant monster or giant robot movies, which is to have the gargantuan stompers play second fiddle to a human story. Thankfully, The Giant Monster knows this all too well. Our plucky human characters seem to take the destruction of Tokyo, probably only just rebuilt after the Allies bombed it to shit during WWII, shockingly well. This is either a tribute to the hardy spirit of the Japanese, or simply poor characterisation at the hands of the film’s writers. I’m going to go with the former, as I’m in a generous mood. I guess these films were made back when people dusted themselves off a lot quicker than they would today. I watched this with the original Japanese language track on, instead of the cheesy English dub. I thought they might have at least included an updated translation, complete with more refined acting, but no. I remembered enough from the MST3K cuts to get by, however, so my enjoyment wasn’t lessened by not being bothered to read the subtitles. One vast improvement is the voicing of Toshio AKA Kenny. In the Japanese dub, he’s a more thoughtful and likeable soul. By contrast, in the English dub, he tips over into irritatingly petulant brat territory. I guess that’s what happens when you hire a disinterested adult woman to voice a sensitive little boy. The original actor, Yoshiro Uchida, is such an intense young performer, having only recently returned to acting after a 30+ year break. The model vehicles and buildings gave me warm flashbacks to Gerry Anderson’s marionette shows, and I’ll take models any day of the week over CGI. Gamera’s path of destruction was fun to watch, making me wonder how many times Tokyo Tower has been knocked over in live action and anime works. The end of the film crept up on me, as it lacks a rousing musical crescendo and quickened editing pace. It’s very matter-of-fact. No matter, as it’s all so good-natured that you just can’t get annoyed by it. An adorable beginning!
GAMERA VS. BARUGON (1966)
Up goes the budget and up goes the runtime! This one looks just gorgeous, which I perceived as being permanently-bathed in a mysterious golden light. Then again, I failed to notice the first one was shot in black and white, so that just goes to show how bad my eyesight has gotten of late. Sadly, this time around, Gamera vs. Barugon does feel its 100 minutes on occasion, with the opening half being dedicated to a Raiders of the Lost Ark/Treasure of the Sierra Madre-style conflict between three adventurers. This segment had the air of a regrettable Imperialist British adventure film from the early decades of the 20th century, which was either intended as wry homage or unfortunate imitation. I’ll give the filmmakers the benefit of the doubt and assume the former. We’re lucky to have Gamera reintroduced at the beginning, otherwise there’d be no action until 45 minutes in. Speaking of which, how does a giant, spinning, flying turtle, who’s whole world would usually be two feet in front of its fucking nose, understand what outer space is and how to navigate its way back to Earth?! Oh well, my disbelief has been adequately suspended by now. While we don’t get a cute kid to root for in this one, our lead adult humans do give it their all, despite the potentially-silly material. Kôjirô Hongô is disarmingly handsome and charismatic, having the air of Tony Leung about him. I was going to say “a young Tony Leung”, but East Asians do seem to age quite well. The powerful Kyôko Enami smoulders perfectly, with her look shifting from jungle princess to urban socialite with ease. Forget the two kaiju, she is the true centrepiece of this movie! The giant monster scenes were, alas, so gloomily shot that my vision was lost on them, so you will need to consult another reviewer for an adequate critique regarding these elements. They sound great though! I believe some nice models of Grade II listed historical monuments are smashed, however, which is cool. There are also two of the most beautifully awkward human punch-ups in cinema history here, featuring characters clearly unaccustomed to fighting. I like it when films do this. Let’s face it, we’d all embarrass ourselves if we ever got into an actual physical brawl. The finale suffers a little from the old “law of diminishing returns” problem, in which plan after plan to rid the world of Barugon fail, only to have Gamera conveniently get his or her arse into gear at the very last minute to do some heroic stomping. Whatever. All in all though, I was mesmerised by how pretty this film was, constantly forgetting that it was shot in the 60s. I genuinely mistook it for a period film on numerous occasions. If you find yourself troubled by the simplicity of The Giant Monster, then fear not, as things get more sumptuous with Gamera vs. Barugon. I can’t believe I just typed that!
Well, I think that’s all for now. I might break the final six films up into two posts, as I fear I will have less and less to say as the series goes along. But, hey, I’ll keep an open mind about it all.
I’ve enjoyed this so far, plus it’s nice getting back into some writing. My blog is still being hit by a suspicious number of views, which I suspect are still AI bots hard at work, but I’m done caring. Any blackouts from now on will just be down to my usual anxiety about life and exposing my feelings to the world.
Good times.
Do stay in touch, darlings.
Tibby!
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