Gamera (film)

Gamera
Directed by	Noriaki Yuasa
Produced by	Hidemasa Nagata Yonejiro Saito Masaichi Nagata
Written by	Nisan Takahashi Yonejiro Saito
Starring	Eiji Funakoshi Harumi Kiritachi Junichirô Yamashita
Music by	Tadashi Yamauchi
Cinematography	Nobuo Munekawa
Editing by	Tatsuji Nakashizu
Distributed by	Daiei
Release date(s)	November 26, 1965 (1965-11-26)
Running time	80 min. (Original) 86 min. (USA)
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese English

Gamera (大怪獣ガメラ, Daikaijū Gamera^?, Giant Monster Gamera, released in the United States as Gammera: The Invincible and in 2010 on DVD as Gamera: The Giant Monster) is a 1965 daikaiju eiga (Japanese giant monster film) about a giant turtle named Gamera. The film is similar in nature to the popular Godzilla films, and is also the first in a series of films about Gamera. It was one of five Gamera films to be featured in episodes of the movie-mocking television show Mystery Science Theater 3000.

Plot

The film opens with Gamera's awakening from the accidental detonation of an atomic bomb as a result of an aerial assault by American fighters on Soviet bombers caught crossing into North American airspace. Gamera wastes no time in causing a rampage of destruction, first destroying a Japanese research ship, then making its way to Japan to wreak havoc. In an attempt to stop the giant turtle, Gamera is sedated with a freezing agent on a precipice, and powerful explosives are placed at the base. The explosion knocks the monster on its back, and while it seems as though mankind has scored a victory, this is not the case: Gamera reveals its ability to fly. The monster arrives in Haneda airport and destroys most of Tokyo. The military attempts to lure it to an island with fire, which it eats, and kill it, but the creature is distracted when a volcano erupts. Gamera goes to eat the lava instead. A new strategy, Plan Z, is devised to stop the monster, this time by baiting it into a space rocket bound for Mars. The plan is successful and the Earth is safe from Gamera.

Release

English versions

This was the only film in the original Gamera series to be released to American theaters. It was originally presented in America by World Entertainment Corp. and Harris Associates, Inc. who re-named the film Gammera the Invincible. All subsequent entries in the series were released directly to television by American International Productions Television. Gammera the Invincible's American premiere was in New Orleans on December 15, 1966. Gammera the Invincible was heavily re-edited from its original Japanese version. Scenes were moved around and some were deleted completely. New footage featuring American actors was spliced in to create a more international feel and to replace scenes shot in the original cut featuring American extras. These new scenes featured actors such as Albert Dekker, Brian Donlevy, and John Baragrey. The film was dubbed by Titan Productions, Inc. It features the voices of Jack Curtis and Peter Fernandez, who are best known as voices on Speed Racer and Ultraman.

During the 1980s, Sandy Frank re-dubbed and distributed the original Gamera series on VHS for home video. The Sandy Frank version, titled simply Gamera, is the Japanese version of the film dubbed into English. It does not contain any of the edits or added footage from the Gammera the Invincible version. The only change is the opening credits, which replace the originals, with new ones electronically laid in over a stock shot of the ocean. This is the version that was seen in Mystery Science Theater 3000.

2010 DVD Release

It has been announced that a Los Angeles-based entertainment company, Shout! Factory, acquired the rights from Kadokawa Pictures for all eight of the Showa Gamera films and they will be issuing the original, uncut, Japanese versions on DVD for the first time ever in North America. These "Special Edition" DVDs are being released in sequential order, starting with Gamera: The Giant Monster on May 18, 2010.^[1] The subsequent titles will follow throughout 2010 and early 2011 (tentative), starting with the first sequel, Gamera vs. Barugon (1966) will follow on July 6, 2010.^[2]

DVD releases

Alpha Video

• Released: May 20, 2003

St. Clair Entertainment

• Released: February 19, 2008

Shout! Factory

• Released: May 18, 2010^[3]

Shout! Factory

• Second release: August 2, 2011
• Note: Contained in the MST3K Volume XXI set with the other MST3K Season 3 Gamera episodes, Gamera vs. Barugon, Gamera vs. Zigra, Gamera vs. Gyaos, and Gamera vs. Gurion .

References

1. ^ The Colossal Chelonian Lives! Shout! Factory Unleashes GAMERA on DVD!
2. ^ New Clips: Shout! Factory's Gamera Re-Release!
3. ^ DVD Art and Vintage Stills: Gamera, The Giant Monster Deluxe DVD

External links

• Gamera) at the Internet Movie Database
• Gamera is available for free download at the Internet Archive [more]
• Gamera at AllRovi
• Gamera at Rotten Tomatoes
• "大怪獣ガメラ (Daikaijū Gamera)" (in Japanese). Japanese Movie Database. http://www.jmdb.ne.jp/1965/co004170.htm. Retrieved 2007-07-17. 
• Gamera web archive (Japanese)

Mystery Science Theater 3000

• "Mystery Science Theater 3000" Gamera (TV episode 1988) at the Internet Movie Database
• Episode guide: K05- Gamera

References

• Variety Weekly. December 27, 1967.