Frankenstein Conquers the World (1965)

During WWII, a human heart taken from a certain lab in Europe (Dr. Frankenstein's) is kept in a Japanese lab, when it gets exposed to the radiation of the bombing of Hiroshima. The heart ... See full summary »

Director:

Ishirô Honda

Writers:

Reuben Bercovitch (story), Takeshi Kimura (screenplay) (as Kaoru Mabuchi)

Stars:

Tadao Takashima, Nick Adams, Kumi Mizuno

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tadao Takashima	...	Dr. Yuzo Kawaji
Nick Adams	...	Dr. James Bowen (as Nikku Adamusu)
Kumi Mizuno	...	Dr. Sueko Togami
Yoshio Tsuchiya	...	Mr. Kawai
Kôji Furuhata	...	Frankenstein
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 Katô	...	TV Director
Ikio Sawamura	...	Man Walking Dog
Yoshio Kosugi	...	Mountain Soldier

Storyline

During WWII, a human heart taken from a certain lab in Europe (Dr. Frankenstein's) is kept in a Japanese lab, when it gets exposed to the radiation of the bombing of Hiroshima. The heart grows in size, mutates and sprouts appendages, and eventually grows into a complete body and escapes. Later, a feral boy with a certain physical deformity (a large head with a flat top) is captured by scientists who refer to the boy as Frankenstein. The creature grows to the height of 20 feet, escapes again, fights police and army, and is practically indestructible. Later, a reptilian monster goes on a rampage. Eventually the Frankenstein creature and the reptile face off in a terrible battle.

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Plot Keywords:

frankenstein | monster | scientist | radiation | frankenstein's monster | 

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Taglines:

He rolled the Seven Wonders of the World into one!

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Genres:

Horror | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

8 July 1966 (USA)

Also Known As:

Frankenstein Conquers the World

Company Credits

Production Co:

Henry G. Saperstein Enterprises Inc., Toho Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min 93 min (original)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the original plot, Frankenstein fought Godzilla. That was scrapped because Toho felt that the proposed fight scenes were too implausible.

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Goofs

The horse Baragon kills is an obvious stiff puppet. Special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya recognized how fake the shot looked but chose not to redo it.

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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.
[...]

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Crazy Credits

In the original U.S. version distributed by American International, the noted Japanese actor Tadao Takashima is listed in the onscreen credits as "Takao Takashima."

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Alternate Versions

For Media Blaster's 2007 DVD release, a new copy of the American version was constructed using materials from Toho's original Japanese version. In 1966, American producer Henry Saperstein asked Toho for several new effects sequences following Frankenstein's initial escape. Since these scenes only appeared in AIP's theatrical release, the new DVD doesn't feature them.

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Connections

Referenced in Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001)

User Reviews

Frankenstein Conquers The World: Toho does Frankenstein

The legend of Frankenstein and his various adventures have been covered to a crazy degree over the years but right here we have horror legends Toho take a stab at it. Sadly it appears they weren't told very much before they wrote the screenplay.

Assisted once again by a US studio (Which has always been to their detriment) this tells the story of a young boy who is discovered and found to be growing at an incredible rate. Before they know it he's grown disastrously large and broken free of his constraints, just at the same time as a giant monster has appeared on a rampage as well.

You can immediately tell that it's a Toho film, from the sfx to the one bit of score they keep using or mildly remixing. Several of the usual faces are also present including Takashi Shimura who has a blink and you'll miss it role.

The storyline is actually more competently done than many of these Toho monster films but in its place the sfx are a tad worse. The creature effects and that of our Frankenstein are fine, but every once in a while you'll spot something so bad it should have got someones butt fired (I'm looking at you shifty Boar and awful Horse).

What drew the most ire from me were certain logistical issues. For example Frankenstein is of course the name of the Scientist who created the monster not the name of the monster itself. As the boy grows the clothes grow (Hulk style) and various other little things that bothered me more than they perhaps should.

It's more Toho monster cheese, if you like that stuff this will likely appeal otherwise you'll probably scratch your head in amazement just how ridiculous it all is.

The Good:

Fairly well made stuff

The Bad:

Takashi Shimura is wasted

Frequent logistical flaws

Some really poor sfx