Gamera tai uchu kaijû Bairasu (1968)

User Rating:

4.1/10   

Director:

Noriaki Yuasa

Writer:

Nisan Takahashi (writer)

Release Date:

20 March 1968 (Japan)

Genre:

Action | Family | Horror | Sci-Fi

Plot:

Gamera the Flying Turtle falls under the spell of evil aliens, but two children free him and he returns to fight the aliens' monster, Viras.

Plot Keywords:

Alien | Gamera | Turtle | Monster | World Domination

Cast

Kojiro Hongo	...	Scout Master Mr. Shimida
Tôru Takatsuka	...	Masao Nakaya
Carl Craig	...	Jim Crane (as Kurl Crane)
Peter Williams	...	Dr. Dobie
Carl Clay	...	Carl Crane
Michiko Yaegaki	...	Girl Scout
Mari Atsumi	...	Junko Aoki
Junko Yashiro	...	Masako Shibata
Koji Fujiyama	...	Commander of Jietat
Genzô Wakayama	...	Voice of Boss
Chikara Hashimoto	...	General
Kenichiro Yamane	...	Mr. Shibata
Kenji Go	...	Commander at Dam
Akira Natsuki	...	Soldier
Ken Nakahara	...	Soldier

Also Known As:

Destroy All Planets
Gamera tai Viras
Gamera vs. Outer Space Monster Viras
Gamera vs. Viras

Runtime:

USA:75 min | USA:90 min (TV version)

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

USA:Not Rated

Filming Locations:

Daiei Tokyo Studios, Tokyo, Japan

Company:

Daiei Studios

Trivia:

This is the first film in the series to include Caucasian actors in the original Japanese release. The scenes featuring Brian Donlevy and Albert Dekker in the first film, Daikaijû Gamera (1965), were filmed later on a Hollywood soundstage in much the same way that Raymond Burr was in Godzilla, King of the Monsters! (1956) as a way to help market that film in America.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Son of Svengoolie: Destroy All Planets (1968) (#1.125)" (1981)

hope you like stock footage ...

I saw this when I was a kid growing up in Michigan, watching 'monster week' on the 4:30 movie on channel 7. Just recently I purchased a DVD release from Diamond Entertainment called 'Japanesse Monster Movies' that contains four Gamera movies altogether. I used to like this particular film so I was interested in seeing this again.

For starters, a lot of the sets and I believe even some of the props and costumes have been taken directly from 'Gamera vs Guiron'. But at least 45 percent of this film is composed of stock footage from older films. Perhaps the funniest scene in the movie is when they show footage from the original Gamera film- a black and white movie- and try to pass it off for something that is happening in the present, even though this film was shot in color.

The kids in this film take charge of the situation and try to help Gamera out when the adults are content to do little or nothing. There's a lot of Kiaju 'gore' in this film, a funny yet kind of cool alien invader and stupid, stupid henchmen who get their heads knocked off )!) before the mutate into other squid-like creatures.

This is actually less boring than the previous films. Since the aliens are studying the previous Gamera fights in order to defeat him, the film is full of fairly cool monster battles. The final battle against Viran is a good one!