Bijo to Ekitainingen (1958)

Director:

Ishirô Honda

Writers:

Takeshi Kimura (writer)
Hideo Unagami (story)

Release Date:

28 May 1959 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Sci-Fi | Thriller | Horror

Tagline:

ALL H- BREAKS LOOSE! (original ad - all caps)

Plot:

When a narcotics deal goes sour and a suspect disappears, leaving only his clothes, Tokyo police question...

Plot Keywords:

Police | Disappearance | H Bomb | Ghost Ship | Slime

Cast

Yumi Shirakawa	...	Chikako Arai, singer in the nightclub
Kenji Sahara	...	Dr. Masada
Akihiko Hirata	...	Inspector Tominaga
Koreya Senda	...	Dr. Maki
Makoto Satô	...	Uchida, gangstar
Yoshifumi Tajima	...	Detective Sakata
Eitarô Ozawa	...	police seargent Miyashita
Yoshio Tsuchiya	...	Detective Taguchi
Kamayuki Tsubono	...	Detective Ogawa
Tadao Nakamaru	...	Detective Seki
Nadao Kirino	...	Shimazaki, the waiter-thug
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Hiroshi Akitsu	...	Fisherman
Ryûtarô Amami	...	Detective
Ichirô Chiba	...	GSDF Officer
Kenzo Echigo	...	Taxi driver - Traffic accident
Paul Frees	...	Various Voices (voice)
Jun Fujio	...	Nishiyama, the dissolved gangstar
Yukihiko Gondô	...	Policeman
Miki Hayashi	...	executive Police Officer
Kazuo Higata	...	A drinker in the nightclub
Shôichi Hirose	...	Fire department officer
Yoshiko Ieda	...	Woman - Witness on rainy day
Toku Ihara	...	Fisherman
Kazuo Imai	...	Visitor of nightclub
Hisaya Ito	...	Misaki, the dissolved gangster
Minoru Itô	...	Detective
Kôji Iwamoto	...	Waiter in nightclub
Haruya Kato	...	Mattchan - Fisherman
Shigeo Kato	...	Matsu-chan - Fisherman
Yoshio Katsube	...	Detective
Keiichiro Katsumoto	...	Visitor of nightclub
Masayoshi Kawabe	...	Visitor of nightclub
Ikuo Kawamura	...	Policeman - Investigation room
Kawamata Kiichi	...	Visitor of nightclub
Machiko Kitagawa	...	Hanae, the neighbor of Chikako
Hikaru Kitchôji	...	A drinker in the nightclub
Hayami Ko	...	Bartender of nightclub
Takuzô Kumagai	...	GSDF Officer (as Jirô Kumagai)
Akio Kusama	...	executive Police Officer
Mitsuo Matsumoto	...	Neighbor in Chikako's apartment house
Hiromi Mineoka	...	Visitor of nightclub
Ko Mishima	...	Kishi, gangster in nightclub
Jiro Mitsuaki	...	GDSF officer
Martha Miyake	...	Chikako Arai (singing voice)
Haruo Nakajima	...	Second dissolved sailor
Tetsu Nakamura	...	Mr. Chin, gangster
Eisuke Nakanishi	...	Policeman of detective room
Toshiko Nakano	...	Mrs. Okami, apartment manager
Yutaka Nakayama	...	An-chan - gangster
Takashi Narita	...	Member of countermeasure meeting for Liquid Man
Yosuke Natsuki	...	Man, witness on rainy day
Rinsaku Ogata	...	Visitor of nightclub
Yasuzô Ogawa	...	Visitor of nightclub
Yutaka Oka	...	Search party leader (GSDF)
Senkichi Ômura	...	First Dissolved Sailor (Let me try on the pants!)
Yasuo Onishi	...	Member of countermeasure meeting for Liquid Man (as Yasumasa Ônishi)
Matsue Ono	...	Madam - neighbor of Nishiyama's house
Shin Ôtomo	...	Hamano, nightclub gangster
Yutaka Sada	...	Taxi driver who runs over Misaki
Keiji Sakakida	...	Old policeman - Investigation room
Haruya Sakamoto	...	Policeman
Hiroyuki Satake	...	Waiter of nightclub
Kôichi Satô	...	Gangstar in nightclub
Akira Sera	...	Horita - Fisherman
Hideo Shibuya	...	Reporter of news paper
Yasuhiro Shigenobu	...	Yasukichi - Fisherman
Ryôji Shimizu	...	Reporter of newspaper
Masaki Shinohara	...	Visitor of nightclub
Naomi Shiraishi	...	Mineko, Dr.Maki's assistant
Ayumi Sonoda	...	Emi, the dissolved dancer
Shigemi Sunagawa	...	Reporter of newspaper
Jirô Suzukawa	...	Visitor of nightclub
Haruo Suzuki	...	Policeman
Masaaki Tachibana	...	Nightclub manager
Katsumi Tezuka	...	Captain of fishing boat
Shirô Tsuchiya	...	executive Police Officer
Mitzuo Tsuda	...	executive Police Officer
Soji Ubukata	...	executive Police Officer
Yoshiyuki Uemura	...	Reporter of newspaper
Kôji Uruki	...	Detective
Akira Yamada	...	Policeman Wakasugi - Witness on rainy day
Keisuke Yamada	...	Member of countermeasure meeting for Liquid Man
Minosuke Yamada	...	Chief of Inspectors Kusuda
Ren Yamamoto	...	Saeki, gangstar
Shin Yoshida	...	A drinker in the nightclub
Moori Yukiko	...	Nurse of The Joto University Hospital
Takuya Yuki	...	Reporter of newspaper

Also Known As:

Beauty and the Liquidman (International: English title) (literal title)
The H-Man (USA)

Runtime:

87 min | USA:79 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Perspecta Stereo (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | USA:Approved (PCA #19231)

Filming Locations:

Tokyo, Japan

Company:

Toho Company

Trivia:

Yumi Shirakawa's singing voice (for the two songs in the film) is provided by noted Japanese jazz starlet Martha Miyake.

Goofs:

Miscellaneous: In the English subtitled version prepared for the 2009 U.S. DVD release, the subtitles give Kenji Sahara's character's name as "Asada" through most of the film. In the final fourth of the film, the subtitles properly give his name as "Masada."

Quotes:

Dr. Maki: [voice-over] If man perishes from the face of the Earth, due to the effects of hydrogen bombing, it is possible that the next ruler of our planet may be The H-Man.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in Mazâ (1989) (VG)

Soundtrack:

The Magic Begins

A creepy and campy '50s Japanese sci-fi yarn

Having been A-bombed, Japan became obsessed with the nuclear-weapon nightmare. When the Matsusei Maru got caught on the fringes of an American H-bomb test and its crew irradiated, it must've triggered archetypal Japanese fears, so Ishiro Honda created this creepy movie in which people get dissolved by radioactive blob-beings, and there's an edge to it along with a campy atmosphere that comes from the over-the-top acting.

There's one of the absolute worst chase scenes in history, but the scenes where the gangster is dragging the beautiful, innocent Chitako through the sewer while being stalked by the H-man blobs is frightening. The '50s Japanese nightclub jazz is awful, and there are all the typical Japanese monster-movie clichés, which gives the movie a lot of unintentional comic relief. The Japanese Jimmy Cagney-like gangster that threatens Chitako is hilarious. The pomposity of Dr. Maki and the police-military characters is wonderful.

I saw this movie the year after I immigrated to the U.S., in Chicago, and it terrified me. If you like a great mix of creative multi-plotting, campy '50s Japanese sci-fi, and something to watch on a weekend night with popcorn and soda, this is it. Unfortunately, the video I have isn't closed-captioned, though the dialogue dubbing is very well done.