Uchu daikaijû Dogora (1964)

User Rating:

5.6/10   

Director:

Ishirô Honda

Writers:

Jojiro Okami (story)
Shinichi Sekizawa (writer)

Release Date:

11 August 1964 (Japan)

Genre:

Crime | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

SOS From Earth. It Devours Buildings and People.

Plot:

The Earth is attacked by a giant jellyfish monster from outer space that, for some reason, has a sweet tooth for diamonds.

Plot Keywords:

Diamond | Jellyfish | Monster | Gangster | Tokyo Japan

Cast

Yosuke Natsuki	...	Inspector Kommei
Yôko Fujiyama	...	Masayo Kirino
Hiroshi Koizumi	...	Kirino
Nobuo Nakamura	...	Dr. Munakata
Robert Dunham	...	Mark Jackson (as Dan Yuma)
Akiko Wakabayashi	...	Hamako - Gangster Moll
Jun Tazaki	...	Chief Inspector
Susumu Fujita	...	General Iwasa
Seizaburô Kawazu	...	Gangster Boss
Eisei Amamoto	...	Maki the Safecracker
Haruya Kato	...	Sabu the Small Fry
Yoshifumi Tajima	...	Gangster
Nadao Kirino	...	Gangster
Akira Wakamatsu	...	Gangster
Hironobu Wakamoto	...	Nitta

Also Known As:

Dagora, the Space Monster (USA)
Space Monster Dogora

Runtime:

83 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

West Germany:12

Company:

American International Pictures (AIP)

Trivia:

There were originally plans to feature Robert Dunham in a series of films based on the character he played in this film. However, those plans never came to fruition.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: In the scenes featuring the smaller Dogoras, the strings holding them up are clearly seen.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Gojira Fantajî: SF Kôkyô Fantajî (1984)

Avoid the English language versions!!

In the US, this is probably the least well known of the classic kaiju eiga. Sure, "Dogora" may not be a very good movie overall, but in my opinion it has one of the very best monsters in film history. Dogora is an enormous space jellyfish, vast, mindless, and cosmically terrifying. It floats through the atmosphere, draining the Earth of life-giving carbon. The full-grown Dogora is only on screen for five minutes (!!), but it's still an awe-inspiring sight as this huge, transparent creature, the size of a small town, sucks up buildings, vehicles, bridges and minerals.

The remainder of the movie is mostly an uninspired detective spoof, with two inept policemen and an enigmatic American agent hot on the trail of a gang of jewel thieves. It seems the monster has been getting to the diamonds first... With such an incredible monster, and such well-executed effects, it's a real shame the rest of the film is so mundane.

It's SUPPOSED to be a comedy. Unfortunately, the US television version dubbed the movie as a serious monster film, with disastrous results. Worse, though, is the Toho "international" version -- it may be more accurately translated, but it's performed by the most inept readers you'll hear outside of a Sandy Frank production. Anyway, even if you don't know Japanese, watching "Dogora" in the original language with no subtitles is still probably more enjoyable than suffering through the English versions.