Dagora, the Space Monster (1964) Uchû daikaijû Dogora (original title)

Director:

Ishirô Honda

Writers:

Jôjirô Okami (story)
Shinichi Sekizawa

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 | Scientist | Coal | Monster

Cast

Yôsuke 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
Hideyo Amamoto	...	Maki the Safecracker
Haruya Kato	...	Sabu the Small Fry
Yoshifumi Tajima	...	Gangster
Nadao Kirino	...	Gangster
Akira Wakamatsu	...	Gangster
Hironobu Wakamoto	...	Nitta
Yasuhisa Tsutsumi	...	Military Official
Shôichi Hirose	...	Diamond Truck Driver
Ichirô Chiba	...	Diamond Truck Passenger
Wataru Ômae	...	Scientist at Satellite Station
Kôji Uno	...	Nosy Reporter
Tadashi Okabe	...	Police Officer
Yutaka Nakayama	...	Floating Drunkard
Keiko Sawai	...	Scientist at Laboratory
Yutaka Oka	...	Escort
Chôtarô Tôgin	...	Bystander
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Takuzô Kumagai	...	Defense Corps Executive

Directed by
Ishirô Honda

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Jôjirô Okami		story "Space Mons"
Shinichi Sekizawa

Produced by
Samuel Z. Arkoff	....	executive producer (US dubbed version)
James H. Nicholson	....	executive producer (US dubbed version)
Yasuyoshi Tajitsu	....	producer
Tomoyuki Tanaka	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Akira Ifukube

Cinematography by
Hajime Koizumi

Film Editing by
Ryohei Fujii

Production Design by
Takeo Kita

Production Management
Salvatore Billitteri	....	post-production supervisor (US dubbed version)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Ken Sano	....	chief assistant director

Sound Department
Hisashi Shimonaga	....	sound effects
Fumio Yanoguchi	....	sound recordist

Special Effects by
Sadamasa Arikawa	....	director of special effects
Kuichirô Kishida	....	art director of special effects
Fumio Nakadai	....	assistant director of special effects
Eiji Tsuburaya	....	director of special effects

Visual Effects by
Sadao Iizuda	....	optical photography
Yukio Manoda	....	special effects lighting
Hiroshi Mukoyama	....	matte process
Teruyoshi Nakano	....	optical photography
Yoshiyuki Tokumasa	....	optical photographer
Sokei Tomioka	....	special effects cameraman
Akira Watanabe	....	special effects cameraman

Camera and Electrical Department
Shoshichi Kojima	....	lighting technician

Other crew
Samuel Z. Arkoff	....	presenter (USA dubbed version)

Production Companies

• American International Pictures (AIP)
• Toho Company

Distributors

• American-International Television (AIP-TV) (1965) (USA) (TV) (dubbed)
• Pranke Film-Verleih (Germany)
• Something Weird Video (SWV) (199?) (USA) (VHS)
• Tokyo Shock (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• Video Yesteryear (video)

Other Companies

• Titra Sound Corporation  sound re-recording

Also Known As:

"Uchû daikaijû Dogora" - Japan (original title)
"Dogora" - USA (DVD title)

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 "Mark Jackson" 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)

Calling All Car(bon)

It's ironic that the gist of this movie involves carbon because everything in it, from the acting to the plot to the special effects needed another million years to become something valuable.

Made by Toho Studios, which was trying to branch out from its Godzilla pigeon-holing, the film revolves around Dagora (for some reason, the monster is called "Dogora" in print and voice in the movie). It was supposedly just some amoeba-like space cell floating around in the atmosphere until it came in contact with a cloud of cobalt-filled gamma radiation and was transformed into a monster. Honestly, if there was a cloud containing two of the deadliest elements known to man just floating around the atmosphere, I think someone would have noticed it. Of course, neither cobalt nor gamma radiation floats in the air. But, hey, it's a Toho film.

Anyway, soon the world is besieged by a rash of diamond robberies, where lead safes get melted by incredible heat. Local Japanese police think a local diamond gang is responsible. Enter Robert Dunham, as a mysterious cop working for the International Diamond Exchange, who tries to join up with the gang to get the goods on them. He spends most of the film being completely annoying. In fact, he seems to be part of Toho's effort to try to sell their films to American audiences. Note that Raymond Burr's insertion into the original "Godzilla" was their only success. Myron Healey's god-awful turn in "Varan" was only slightly better than Dunham in "Dagora" and light years above Burr in "Godzilla 1985."

The one neat trick the film does pull off is having Dagora goes through various changes. First it's a space cell that destroys several communications satellites (because of the industrial diamonds used in their communications systems). Then, it's a virtual flurry of lights, like Aurora Borealis, that suck up coal like a vacuum cleaner. Smokestacks, trucks and other coal equipment gets taken up, too, only to fall back to earth with devastating results. Dagora then becomes a giant space jellyfish (although it's obviously a cartoon), then a series of glowing crystals.

The movie falls apart, as usual with Toho productions, with characters, acting, plot and a stupid ending. The dubbing is atrocious, mostly because Toho often had the actors film scenes again and phonetically mouth the English words so the dubbing would be easier (it obviously wasn't). The characters are not believable, especially Dunham's detective. The bad guys are cartoonish and one-dimensional (though its fun to them get their just desserts).

The military scenes are interesting. They use close-ups of artillery, including shots of guns being reloaded. They also use stock footage of real jets. The only problem, really, is that they show anti-aircraft guns shooting at Dagora in its jellyfish form and you see literally dozens of explosions in the sky around the monster. But, the guns on the ground aren't firing fast enough (it's simply not humanly possible to reload and shoot that fast) to account for it, so somebody in the special effects department went way overboard. At least, the military doesn't get the short end of the stick (i.e., getting stomped).

I don't want to give away the endings, but let's just say that it involves wasps.

Overall, it's not a good film. In my opinion, the whole diamond thief plotline detracts from the movie. However, the scenes where Dagora sucks up coal, then battles the military should be enough to provoke some interest.