Furankenshutain tai chitei kaijû Baragon (1965)

User Rating:

3.2/10   

Director:

Ishirô Honda

Writers:

Reuben Bercovitch (story)
Takeshi Kimura (writer)(American version)

Release Date:

8 July 1966 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Horror | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

He rolled the Seven Wonders of the World into one!

Plot:

During WWII, a human heart taken from a certain lab in Europe (Dr. Frankenstein's) is kept in a Japanese lab...

Plot Keywords:

Frankenstein | Monster | WWII | Frankenstein's Monster | Scientist

Cast

Tadao Takashima	...	Dr. Yuzo Kawaji
Nick Adams	...	Dr. James Bowen
Kumi Mizuno	...	Dr. Sueko Togami
Yoshio Tsuchiya	...	Mr. Kawai
Koji Furuhata	...	Furankenshutain (The Frankenstein Monster)
Jun Tazaki	...	Military Advisor
Susumu Fujita	...	Osaka Police Chief
Takashi Shimura	...	Axis Scientist
Nobuo Nakamura	...	Skeptical Museum Chief
Kenji Sahara	...	Soldier
Yoshifumi Tajima	...	Submarine Commander
Kôzô Nomura	...	Overzealous Reporter (as Terunobu Nomura)
Haruya Kato	...	TV Director
Ikio Sawamura	...	Man Walking Dog
Yoshio Kosugi	...	Mountain Soldier

Also Known As:

Frankenstein Conquers the World (USA)
Frankenstein Meets the Giant Devil Fish
Frankenstein and the Giant Lizard
Frankenstein vs. Baragon (International: English title)
Frankenstein vs. Godjirra (Japan) (working title)
Frankenstein vs. the Giant Devil Fish
Frankenstein vs. the Subterranean Monster
Furankensuten to Baragon

Runtime:

90 min | Japan:93 min (original version) | USA:87 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Unrated

Company:

Henry G. Saperstein Enterprises Inc.

Trivia:

The film's story originated from an unused 1962 screenplay entitled King Kong versus Frankenstein, written by King Kong (1933) special effects technician Willis H. O'Brien. In the story, Dr. Frankenstein's grandson was to have created a 20 ft tall monster from the remains of animals and the monster would end up fighting Kong. The story never got past the screenplay, thought concept art depicting Kong and the Frankenstein monster exist. The screenplay was given to John Beck who in turn sold it to Toho who made Kingu Kongu tai Gojira (1962) and Furankenshutain tai chitei kaijû Baragon (1965). Willis O'Brien was never paid for his contribution.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: In the sequence with "Frankenstein" trying to capture the wild boar, in the last shot of the boar running off, the tracks that the model is running on are visible.

Quotes:

Axis Scientist: Frankenstein's heart.
Mr. Kawai: Frankenstein? It's alive?
Axis Scientist: It is immortal.
Mr. Kawai: Immortal?
Axis Scientist: You never heard what was said of Frankenstein's experiments?
Mr. Kawai: Yes, but I heard he was destroyed.
Axis Scientist: Well, a long time ago, a German scientist sewed together the parts of a man in hopes to bring it back to life. He used an electric shock to bring it to life.
Mr. Kawai: But what can we gain from the research?
Axis Scientist: We might learn how to process or grow any part of the human body.
Mr. Kawai: Please don't joke with me.
[...]

Movie Connections:

Featured in Frankenstein: A Cinematic Scrapbook (1991)

The Clothes

This seems like a dreadful film, but can we really be sure about that. It's dubbed. Maybe the acting is brilliant but most of us will never know because we don't speak Japanese. Wouldn't that be embarrassing? To rant and roar about how bad these Japanese giant-monster-on-the-loose films are only to have them actually be works of art? Another thing I don't understand: The Frankenstein monster grows bigger and bigger in the most amazing growth spurt since "Attack of the Fifty Foot Woman" and his pants grow too? Shouldn't they have just split at the seams at some point, leaving him to strut around nude? And all the food he is consuming! It doesn't say much for the Japanese military that they can't find a 100 foot monster roaming the conutryside, leaving a trail of turds the size of busses.