Daikyojû Gappa (1967)

Director:

Haruyasu Noguchi

Writers:

Ryuzo Nakanishi
Gan Yamazaki

Release Date:

April 1967 (Japan)

Genre:

Comedy | Horror | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Even mightier than 'King Kong'!

Plot:

An expedition in the South Pacific lands on a tropical island where the natives worship the mysterious deity Gappa...

Plot Keywords:

Island | Earthquake | Tropical Island | Japan | Island Native

Cast

Tamio Kawaji	...	Hiroshi Kurosaki
Yôko Yamamoto	...	Itoko Koyanagi
Yuji Okada	...	Daize Tonooka
Kôji Wada	...	Mashida
Tatsuya Fuji	...	George Inoue
Keisuke Inoue	...	President Funazu
Zenji Yamada	...	Captain of the Kamome-maru
Bumon Koto	...	Chieftain
Kôtarô Sugie	...	Reporter #1 (as Hiroshi Sugie)
Saburo Hiromatsu	...	Hosoda
Binnosuke Nagao	...	Cmdr. Riku
Masaru Kamiyama	...	The Professor
Kokan Katsura	...	Saburo Hayashi
Shirô Oshimi	...	Oyama
Yoko Oyagi	...	Aihara
Sanpei Mine	...	Islander 1
Takashi Koshiba	...	Reporter 2
Kensuke Tamai	...	Islander 2
Minoru Sato	...	Reporter 3
Seiji Matsuoka	...	Islander 3
Hiroshi Itoh	...	Reporter 4
Mike Danine	...	Petty Officer
Ruich Fidancer	...	Captain of the Sea Angels
Paul Scheman	...	Professor

Directed by
Haruyasu Noguchi

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Ryuzo Nakanishi
Gan Yamazaki

Produced by
Hideo Koi	....	producer

Original Music by
Seitaro Omori

Cinematography by
Muneo Ueda

Film Editing by
Masanori Tsujii

Art Direction by
Kazumi Koike

Production Management
Tsuguhiko Koishi	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Masaru Konuma	....	assistant director

Sound Department
William Ross	....	voice recording director
Saburo Takahashi	....	sound recordist

Special Effects by
Isamu Kakita	....	special effects photographer
Kenji Kaneda	....	special effects photographer
Yoshiyuki Nakamura	....	special effects photography
Akira Watanabe	....	special effects director

Camera and Electrical Department
Moriyasu Tsuchida	....	lighting technician

Production Companies

• Manson Corporation
• Nikkatsu

Distributors

• Nikkatsu (1967) (Japan) (theatrical)
• American International Pictures (AIP) (1968) (USA) (theatrical) (dubbed)
• American-International Television (AIP-TV) (196?) (USA) (TV) (dubbed) (syndication)
• Sinister Cinema (1993) (USA) (VHS)
• Tokyo Shock (2000) (USA) (DVD)
• SlingShot Entertainment (2002) (USA) (DVD)
• Navarre Entertainment (2002) (USA) (DVD)
• Alpha Video Distributors (2003) (USA) (DVD)
• BijouFlix Releasing (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Image Entertainment (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• CMV Laservision (2006) (Germany) (DVD)
• Image Entertainment (????) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Video Movies Leerdam (VML) (19??) (Netherlands) (VHS)

Also Known As:

"Gappa the Triphibian Monsters" - USA (video title)
"Monster from a Prehistoric Planet" - USA (dubbed version)
"The Triphibian Monster" - Philippines (English title)

Runtime:

90 min | Argentina:95 min

Country:

USA | Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Unrated | Argentina:13

Company:

Manson Corporation

Trivia:

There was an urban legend that Nikkatsu's international English prints originally had a racist line, "The monsters are attacking Tokyo. Fortunately they are attacking the Negro section of town." (and that the line was changed). This was untrue.

Movie Connections:

Edited into "Red Dwarf: Meltdown (#4.6)" (1991)

Soundtrack:

Ganbare Ko Gappa

Not Nearly as Bad as it Could Have Been

My youngest picked this one out...after a couple of weeks of sitting through subtitled movies that he couldn't read through fast enough...

He said, "Dad, I want a monster movie that will make me laugh" and laugh my seven year old did. It was a cute movie with a cute trio of monsters. Couple that with a high-powered business man who flies off the handle for absolutely no reason and you've got Japanese monster GOLD, baby! Look for the same special effects as in the early Godzilla movies and the same dead subplots...but, the quality of this picture makes it fun to watch and make fun of...for example, they are inside a cave...where does the light come from? The "night" shots obviously shot in broad noon with a filter. Hilarious!