WEBVTT - Weirdhouse Cinema Rewind: Godzilla vs. Hedorah 0:00:04.519 --> 0:00:07.960 Hey, welcome to Weird House Cinema. Rewind. This is Rob Lamb. 0:00:08.080 --> 0:00:10.520 We have a new episode of Weird House Cinema coming 0:00:10.520 --> 0:00:13.440 out this week that is going to feature Godzilla, So 0:00:13.640 --> 0:00:17.480 we are going to explore one of our past episodes today. 0:00:17.520 --> 0:00:20.560 This is an episode that originally published seven sixteen, twenty 0:00:20.640 --> 0:00:25.000 twenty one. It is on the a really great Godzilla picture, 0:00:25.160 --> 0:00:30.159 Godzilla Versus Hetera from nineteen seventy one. 0:00:31.840 --> 0:00:38.560 Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:41.760 --> 0:00:45.080 Hey, welcome to Weird House Cinema. This is Rob Lamb. 0:00:45.000 --> 0:00:48.400 And I'm Joe McCormick, and it's Godzilla time on the podcast. 0:00:48.440 --> 0:00:50.800 But maybe at Godzilla you're a little bit less familiar 0:00:50.880 --> 0:00:53.200 with one that was new to me as of this week. 0:00:53.520 --> 0:00:56.600 Today we are doing the Godzilla picture that was too 0:00:56.680 --> 0:00:59.920 hot for Toho, the Godzilla film that is too rat 0:01:00.520 --> 0:01:04.920 it's too dangerous, it must be stopped. It's Godzilla versus Hetera. 0:01:05.360 --> 0:01:08.679 Yes, Godzilla versus Hetera, one I had never seen before. 0:01:09.240 --> 0:01:12.080 And I think you know, I've seen a fair number 0:01:12.080 --> 0:01:15.880 of Godzilla films over time, and I think I tend 0:01:15.920 --> 0:01:18.560 to have watched the ones that were either on TBS, 0:01:18.920 --> 0:01:20.280 back in the day they would show me in like 0:01:20.319 --> 0:01:23.120 the Afternoon when I was a kid, or ones that 0:01:23.160 --> 0:01:25.800 were featured on Mystery Science Theater three thousand later on. 0:01:26.400 --> 0:01:29.119 But there, of course have been tons of Godzilla films 0:01:29.160 --> 0:01:31.240 over the years, and this is one that simply fell 0:01:31.280 --> 0:01:33.480 through the cracks for me. I did not I did 0:01:33.480 --> 0:01:36.280 not know it existed until this week when you said, hey, 0:01:36.440 --> 0:01:38.399 why don't we do a Kaiju movie? Why don't we 0:01:38.440 --> 0:01:41.080 do either this one or that one? And I looked 0:01:41.080 --> 0:01:43.440 and I saw, well, it looks like Godzilla versus Hetera 0:01:43.880 --> 0:01:46.679 is available on HBO Max as part of the Turner 0:01:46.720 --> 0:01:48.320 Classic Films selection. 0:01:48.440 --> 0:01:48.680 There. 0:01:48.800 --> 0:01:50.480 Well, let's do that one. It's the easiest one for 0:01:50.520 --> 0:01:52.760 me to see. And I'm so glad I did. 0:01:53.000 --> 0:01:55.760 The other option we were looking at. It's funny because 0:01:55.760 --> 0:01:57.840 the two movies have a kind of similar premise. The 0:01:57.880 --> 0:01:59.800 other one we were looking at was The Space of Me, 0:02:00.800 --> 0:02:03.240 which does not have Godzilla in it. It's a Kaiju 0:02:03.320 --> 0:02:07.160 movie about an alien microbe that lands on an island 0:02:07.200 --> 0:02:11.880 in the South Pacific and there it transforms some examples 0:02:11.880 --> 0:02:14.720 of local wildlife into giant monsters. I think it makes 0:02:14.760 --> 0:02:17.720 a big squid and a big crab and one other 0:02:17.760 --> 0:02:20.680 thing I don't recall, but in this movie we also 0:02:20.880 --> 0:02:23.760 have an alien microbe I think, coming from a gaseous 0:02:23.840 --> 0:02:26.880 nebula or a speculated by one character later on, from 0:02:27.000 --> 0:02:31.120 a planet covered in sludge, a sledgelike planet, dark sledgie planet, 0:02:31.400 --> 0:02:34.280 dark sluedgy planet that has come to Earth. And whereas 0:02:34.360 --> 0:02:36.480 many aliens would say, take me to your leader, this 0:02:36.560 --> 0:02:39.079 one says, take me to your smokestacks. I need to 0:02:39.080 --> 0:02:39.760 get high. 0:02:40.040 --> 0:02:42.560 Take me to your pollution. Yes. And the one character 0:02:42.560 --> 0:02:44.880 even says, wasn't this good? It can eat up our pollution? 0:02:45.400 --> 0:02:47.600 Like no, it's just too destructive, that's right. 0:02:48.440 --> 0:02:52.320 Yeah, So this is a pollution monster that huffs airborne 0:02:52.400 --> 0:02:56.440 particulates straight out of smoke stacks. He is a broomstone 0:02:56.520 --> 0:03:00.920 beast from space that exudes sulfurous gas and acid and 0:03:01.000 --> 0:03:04.920 poison and is bad news all around. 0:03:05.320 --> 0:03:07.880 Yeah. So one thing about this film is this, First 0:03:07.880 --> 0:03:11.919 of all, this film is very much a Kaiju versus film, 0:03:12.000 --> 0:03:15.359 So it is going to largely hit the same plot 0:03:15.400 --> 0:03:19.280 points you're familiar with. Some new creature presents a threat 0:03:19.280 --> 0:03:23.160 to humanity. An established veteran, in this case, Godzilla, shows 0:03:23.240 --> 0:03:26.800 up to battle it. Human characters watch on as battle proceeds. 0:03:27.880 --> 0:03:29.920 You know, your good guy Monster is going to be 0:03:29.919 --> 0:03:31.320 on the ropes for a little bit, but it's going 0:03:31.360 --> 0:03:34.239 to have a big comeback and eventually win the day. 0:03:34.480 --> 0:03:37.360 So Godzilla versus Heter is going to give you all 0:03:37.400 --> 0:03:41.080 of those points. But there's so much additional weirdness here. 0:03:41.120 --> 0:03:44.120 There's so much visual flare in this film. I feel 0:03:44.120 --> 0:03:47.120 like it really stands apart from pretty much all the 0:03:47.120 --> 0:03:51.400 other Kaiju films that I've seen. I'm actually I seriously 0:03:51.520 --> 0:03:55.360 entertained putting it above Shin Godzilla is my favorite Godzilla movie. 0:03:55.440 --> 0:03:57.760 I was thinking about the same thing. This is a 0:03:57.800 --> 0:04:01.160 new favorite for me, definitely my top three now, and 0:04:01.360 --> 0:04:03.520 much like you, I also have Shin Godzilla near the 0:04:03.520 --> 0:04:06.720 top of the heap. But mainly it's the reason I 0:04:07.000 --> 0:04:09.720 was so enthralled by this movie was its novelty. Having 0:04:09.800 --> 0:04:12.160 seen many Kaiju movies, it has a lot of the 0:04:12.200 --> 0:04:14.760 familiar elements, and in fact, I would say the familiar 0:04:14.800 --> 0:04:18.320 elements are actually the weakest part of this movie as 0:04:18.320 --> 0:04:21.080 far as the big monster meet slam goes. I mean, 0:04:21.080 --> 0:04:24.120 there is a you know, extended thirty minute beat down 0:04:24.200 --> 0:04:26.800 at the end of the movie that is Okay, it's 0:04:26.800 --> 0:04:28.880 not one of the best, but it's also not one 0:04:28.880 --> 0:04:31.560 of the worst. But it is the other elements of 0:04:31.600 --> 0:04:35.120 this movie that really make it an absolute standout, without 0:04:35.160 --> 0:04:38.039 a doubt, the most bizarre Godzilla movie I've ever seen 0:04:38.720 --> 0:04:44.880 in that this movie believes it is art. Yes, absolutely, no, yeah, 0:04:44.960 --> 0:04:47.400 no question about this. It thinks it's art and it's 0:04:47.400 --> 0:04:50.120 making a statement and maybe it's going to change the world. 0:04:50.640 --> 0:04:53.760 Yeah. It's probably the best example of an avant garde 0:04:53.760 --> 0:04:56.720 Godzilla film, and that's one of the reasons why it's 0:04:56.720 --> 0:05:00.160 so watchable. It's also one of the reasons that that 0:05:00.440 --> 0:05:03.400 its director was criticized back in the day and indeed 0:05:03.880 --> 0:05:08.200 never directed another Godzilla film. You'll see his directorial credit 0:05:08.200 --> 0:05:11.840 IMDb for some other Godzilla films, but that's because they 0:05:12.000 --> 0:05:15.320 utilized footage from previous films in those pictures. 0:05:15.600 --> 0:05:19.720 That's right. So the director was Yoshimitsubeno, and you will 0:05:19.920 --> 0:05:23.799 frequently see references to this as the movie that ended 0:05:23.839 --> 0:05:26.360 his Godzilla career. You know, he could have gone on 0:05:26.440 --> 0:05:28.640 to do all kinds of Godzilla stuff, but like I 0:05:28.640 --> 0:05:31.120 said at the beginning, this was just too hot for Toho. 0:05:31.440 --> 0:05:34.279 It was too weird. It was too radical. It was 0:05:34.400 --> 0:05:37.040 rocking the boat. You can't make movies like this. 0:05:37.120 --> 0:05:39.800 Man, Yeah, exactly. There are a lot of stories about 0:05:39.839 --> 0:05:45.600 how producer Tomoyuki Tanaka responded to this. There's at least 0:05:45.600 --> 0:05:49.960 one story in which he said, you've ruined Godzilla and 0:05:50.080 --> 0:05:52.080 there was a lot of anger and I was read. 0:05:52.120 --> 0:05:54.240 There's a lot of There's a great blog post about 0:05:54.240 --> 0:05:57.919 this from Patrick Galvin at Toho Kingdom dot com. You 0:05:57.920 --> 0:06:00.880 can look it up. He has a She Meets Subano 0:06:01.000 --> 0:06:03.039 in memoriam posts that goes through a lot of this 0:06:03.160 --> 0:06:06.039 and talks about his achievements, his you know what he 0:06:06.120 --> 0:06:09.640 gave the Godzilla franchise, but then also how it was 0:06:09.640 --> 0:06:12.760 received at the time. So, yeah, this is a movie 0:06:12.760 --> 0:06:15.440 that was maybe ahead of its time, and I think 0:06:15.520 --> 0:06:18.719 stands the test of time because it is doing things differently. 0:06:19.000 --> 0:06:21.280 So what is it doing differently? I could list a 0:06:21.360 --> 0:06:23.640 number of things. One thing I will say is the 0:06:24.480 --> 0:06:27.920 esthetic differences. It's much more free form than any other 0:06:27.960 --> 0:06:32.560 Godzilla movie I've ever seen in that it inserts things 0:06:32.600 --> 0:06:36.120 that are outside the normal stream of plot development. So 0:06:36.200 --> 0:06:41.039 it has musical numbers, it has animated segments. They're short, 0:06:41.080 --> 0:06:43.040 but there's several of them throughout the movie, and they 0:06:43.040 --> 0:06:45.440 were some of my favorite parts because they're beautiful animation. 0:06:46.240 --> 0:06:49.880 It's almost like a Godzilla movie with elements of like 0:06:49.960 --> 0:06:53.920 the Yellow Submarine movie and another sort of late sixties 0:06:53.960 --> 0:06:58.880 psychedelic films that involved a lot of exciting visuals with 0:06:58.920 --> 0:07:01.279 abstract colors and dancing in a club. 0:07:01.720 --> 0:07:05.279 Yeah. And also yeah, there's also a huge cultural element 0:07:05.400 --> 0:07:08.159 to this as well. There's a there's a sense of 0:07:08.200 --> 0:07:10.840 the youth movement and the youth culture and and the 0:07:11.240 --> 0:07:14.440 and and their rise and their importance and and their 0:07:14.520 --> 0:07:17.360 part in the fight. Generally, in a kaiju movie, who 0:07:17.360 --> 0:07:19.720 do you see fighting the kaiju? Who's raising arms against 0:07:19.760 --> 0:07:21.800 the kaiju? It is the military, right. 0:07:21.680 --> 0:07:22.360 The authorities? 0:07:22.480 --> 0:07:25.600 Yeah, Yeah, and in this we see the authorities playing 0:07:25.600 --> 0:07:29.280 a part but also failing in ways, and it's it's 0:07:29.280 --> 0:07:31.720 the youth who are who are leading the charge at 0:07:31.720 --> 0:07:32.200 one point. 0:07:32.480 --> 0:07:35.200 Yes, in this movie. Ultimately, I think the authorities are 0:07:35.240 --> 0:07:39.120 portrayed as almost entirely incompetent, that like, they are not 0:07:39.240 --> 0:07:42.560 the ones preserving order. Ultimately, it's Godzilla who's the one 0:07:42.600 --> 0:07:46.440 who is preserving order? And Godzilla I was trying to 0:07:46.440 --> 0:07:49.440 think about what Godzilla represents in this movie, because I 0:07:49.480 --> 0:07:51.200 think you can make a case that a lot of 0:07:51.240 --> 0:07:56.920 the Godzilla films have a I mean, you know, it's 0:07:56.920 --> 0:07:59.200 it's hard to say they have a very clear message. 0:07:59.200 --> 0:08:01.760 But to the extent that there is a message in them, 0:08:02.040 --> 0:08:05.880 it's a kind of vague environmental one. It's you know, 0:08:05.920 --> 0:08:08.720 that we have done things to the earth, and in 0:08:08.840 --> 0:08:12.960 doing things to the earth, through maybe weapons testing or industry, 0:08:13.440 --> 0:08:16.520 we have upset the natural order and we have unleashed 0:08:16.560 --> 0:08:20.480 forces that are beyond our control. But like I said, 0:08:20.920 --> 0:08:24.000 I think that that critique is in most Godzilla movies 0:08:24.480 --> 0:08:27.840 very buried under the surface, very vague. In this movie, 0:08:27.920 --> 0:08:31.960 it's the opposite. It's not only overt, it's extremely overt. 0:08:32.000 --> 0:08:36.120 They are screaming in your face with an environmental message. Yeah. 0:08:36.200 --> 0:08:40.679 Yeah, they definitely lean into the idea that Godzilla is 0:08:40.679 --> 0:08:42.800 is not only it's not just a big monster for kids, 0:08:42.840 --> 0:08:45.640 so they acknowledge that, but he is also something of 0:08:46.000 --> 0:08:49.920 unembodiment of the nations of or a culture's will, you know, 0:08:50.360 --> 0:08:57.360 Like like Godzilla represents in a sense humanity struggle against pollution, 0:08:57.559 --> 0:09:01.240 against destructive elements of the world, and the question of 0:09:01.440 --> 0:09:04.400 can Godzilla defeat this enemy is ultimately a question of 0:09:04.440 --> 0:09:06.880 whether we can, whether we have the public will to 0:09:06.960 --> 0:09:07.439 confront it. 0:09:07.840 --> 0:09:11.320 That's another transition I would say. Originally, Godzilla is sort 0:09:11.320 --> 0:09:16.439 of the manifestation of us having unleashed forces beyond our 0:09:16.440 --> 0:09:19.920 control by our upsetting of the natural order. In this movie, 0:09:20.000 --> 0:09:22.720 he is the thing that fights back against the monster 0:09:22.920 --> 0:09:26.480 created by industrial pollution. Yeah, now I have a question. 0:09:26.720 --> 0:09:28.040 I don't know if you know the answer to this. 0:09:28.320 --> 0:09:30.679 One of the fun things we see with the Godzilla 0:09:30.840 --> 0:09:33.480 arc is that in the very first Toho Godzilla movie, 0:09:33.800 --> 0:09:36.720 Godzilla is the antagonist of the film, like, you know, 0:09:36.800 --> 0:09:42.560 this is a dangerous, scary, dark monster that brings great destruction. 0:09:43.200 --> 0:09:45.880 But by the later films, Godzilla is often sort of 0:09:45.880 --> 0:09:49.120 the hero of the film, is portrayed as a force 0:09:49.160 --> 0:09:52.600 who is inherently dangerous, but which ultimately fights against a 0:09:52.720 --> 0:09:56.280 force that is even more threatening or even more malevolent. 0:09:56.760 --> 0:09:58.760 And that's the case in this movie. So I wonder, 0:09:58.920 --> 0:10:02.360 like how exactly that arc develop and is that the 0:10:02.400 --> 0:10:04.600 case for other movies, Like I've watched some of the 0:10:04.640 --> 0:10:07.280 Gamera movies, where you know, Gamera is doing the same 0:10:07.280 --> 0:10:09.400 thing Godzilla is doing in the In the later movies, 0:10:09.640 --> 0:10:12.800 Gamera is good and he's fighting against the bad monsters. 0:10:13.240 --> 0:10:15.520 Was that always the case with Gamera or did Gamera 0:10:15.720 --> 0:10:17.680 start as bad like Godzilla did? 0:10:18.120 --> 0:10:21.520 If memory serves, Gamera followed the exact same track. Guy 0:10:21.559 --> 0:10:23.400 Gamera in the first film is a threat that has 0:10:23.440 --> 0:10:26.560 to be overcome and launched into space, I think ultimately, 0:10:26.600 --> 0:10:29.040 and this would be This would be for a more 0:10:29.040 --> 0:10:32.200 in depth discussion later, perhaps drawing on the work of 0:10:32.200 --> 0:10:34.520 people who've maybe thought longer and harder about this than 0:10:34.559 --> 0:10:36.719 we have. But I imagine there is there are a 0:10:36.720 --> 0:10:40.000 lot of comparisons to be made with the way deities 0:10:40.400 --> 0:10:44.040 change over time, and you know, we can I don't 0:10:44.040 --> 0:10:47.040 know if it would be the exact same trajectory or 0:10:47.040 --> 0:10:49.480 would be kind of an inverse trajectory in some cases, 0:10:49.559 --> 0:10:54.559 But I wonder how you know, in a loose sense anyway, 0:10:54.679 --> 0:10:59.600 Godzilla is a deity. He exists not in the the 0:10:58.880 --> 0:11:02.400 the myth realm of you know of say, like the 0:11:02.440 --> 0:11:05.320 ancient world or even modern religion. But he's in the 0:11:05.320 --> 0:11:09.760 film myth world and is therefore not quite the same 0:11:10.000 --> 0:11:13.240 as our traditional ideas of deity, but perhaps subject to 0:11:13.280 --> 0:11:16.600 some of the same changes in the way we perceive him. 0:11:16.800 --> 0:11:18.679 Well, maybe Before we go on any further, we should 0:11:18.720 --> 0:11:20.000 hit some trailer audio. 0:11:20.280 --> 0:11:22.040 All right, let's have it. This, I believe is from 0:11:22.120 --> 0:11:26.240 the English trailer for Godzilla Versta. 0:11:26.400 --> 0:11:29.439 Out of the Polis of Waters. It came to become 0:11:29.480 --> 0:11:36.319 the most fearful menace that ever threatens manki growing ever 0:11:36.400 --> 0:11:40.480 more deadly on smug Only one course there stand up 0:11:40.480 --> 0:11:46.760 towards over powering evil. Nothing man can do can stop 0:11:46.960 --> 0:11:54.880 the smug Monster and Godzilla save the earth from this 0:11:55.080 --> 0:11:56.200 mastodon of destruction. 0:12:10.920 --> 0:12:14.160 All right, sounds good to me, and we should, of 0:12:14.240 --> 0:12:16.680 course note that in the US, this I think was 0:12:16.679 --> 0:12:19.680 originally released as Godzilla versus the Smog Monster. 0:12:19.960 --> 0:12:22.840 Yeah, that's right, though, from what I understand in the movie, 0:12:22.880 --> 0:12:26.280 the monster is not made of smog. The monster is 0:12:26.480 --> 0:12:31.680 made mostly of waterborne pollutants and then comes out onto 0:12:31.760 --> 0:12:33.120 land to huff the smog. 0:12:33.480 --> 0:12:36.200 Yeah, he's made out of like sludge and minerals and all. 0:12:37.320 --> 0:12:40.880 A quick quick bit of trivia. In Germany, this film 0:12:41.000 --> 0:12:44.160 was released as Frankenstein's Battle against the Devil's Monster. 0:12:44.960 --> 0:12:46.079 That doesn't make any sense. 0:12:47.840 --> 0:12:51.200 This was new to me, but apparently in the German 0:12:51.240 --> 0:12:54.000 release of Godzilla films, it was often explained that doctor 0:12:54.160 --> 0:12:59.240 Victor Frankenstein created the monsters that Godzilla fights, and it 0:12:59.440 --> 0:13:02.680 just had to do with with how they were releasing 0:13:02.720 --> 0:13:04.600 them at the time, so you had multiple toh films. 0:13:04.640 --> 0:13:08.520 Toho did some Frankenstein films about drink Giant Frankenstein's and 0:13:09.720 --> 0:13:11.760 I checked. It's okay if I called them Frankenstein's. I 0:13:11.840 --> 0:13:15.880 checked with the Frankenstein's monster on this. But this sort 0:13:15.880 --> 0:13:18.520 of set the precedent for how you would release a 0:13:18.559 --> 0:13:20.720 big monster movie in Germany. 0:13:20.920 --> 0:13:23.760 I remember reading a few weeks ago about a movie 0:13:23.760 --> 0:13:26.360 I'd never heard of before, that is it is directly 0:13:26.400 --> 0:13:31.360 a Frankenstein kaishuvy, not just called Frankenstein. It's like about 0:13:32.000 --> 0:13:34.880 now that I'm about to say this, this really sounds wrong, 0:13:34.960 --> 0:13:37.760 but I think what it is is a Nazi scientist 0:13:38.040 --> 0:13:44.240 takes Frankenstein's brain to Japan for study and there it 0:13:44.280 --> 0:13:47.920 gets it somehow gets turned into a giant monster. 0:13:48.440 --> 0:13:49.480 Yep, I believe that's right. 0:13:49.720 --> 0:13:52.440 Okay, strange, yeah, right, Maybe. 0:13:52.200 --> 0:13:53.880 We'll come back to it. We were talking about doing 0:13:53.920 --> 0:13:55.760 some Frankenstein films eventually. 0:13:55.440 --> 0:13:56.840 All right, I guess we should come back to talk 0:13:56.840 --> 0:13:59.960 about the director of Godzilla versus Hetera, who was again 0:14:00.040 --> 0:14:01.560 and Yoshimtsubano. 0:14:02.440 --> 0:14:06.559 Yes, director, also co writer. He lived nineteen thirty one 0:14:06.559 --> 0:14:11.240 through twenty seventeen. This was his first and only Godzilla movie. Again, 0:14:11.280 --> 0:14:14.560 you'll see him credited on the Gigan and the Megalon movies, 0:14:14.679 --> 0:14:17.560 but that's just because they utilize older footage. He previously 0:14:17.600 --> 0:14:20.480 served as assistant director and second assistant director on some 0:14:20.520 --> 0:14:24.880 really notable Akira Kurosawa pictures, including Throne of Blood in 0:14:24.960 --> 0:14:29.080 nineteen fifty seven that's that wonderful Samurai Macbeth movie, and 0:14:29.160 --> 0:14:32.000 also The Hidden Fortress in nineteen fifty eight, which I 0:14:32.000 --> 0:14:35.880 think is often cited as one of George Lucas's influences 0:14:35.920 --> 0:14:38.680 in the creation of the original Star Wars picture. 0:14:38.960 --> 0:14:39.880 Both great films. 0:14:40.320 --> 0:14:42.840 Yes, I've also read that Bano was was very much 0:14:42.880 --> 0:14:45.200 a part of the Toho film system. So he came 0:14:45.280 --> 0:14:49.280 up in Toho and he stood under several notable Toho directors. 0:14:49.720 --> 0:14:53.120 I believe his grip on this film is strong, because 0:14:53.440 --> 0:14:56.280 unlike some other Kaiju films, this is one in which 0:14:56.280 --> 0:14:59.560 I detect not just a Toho house style, but I 0:14:59.560 --> 0:15:05.480 feel a really strong, bold, individual director's vision guiding the 0:15:05.520 --> 0:15:06.000 whole thing. 0:15:06.560 --> 0:15:10.280 Yes, absolutely, and I think It's why at the time 0:15:10.320 --> 0:15:13.360 there seems to have been tension with producer Tanaka over this. 0:15:14.920 --> 0:15:17.640 It seems like he he fell out of good graces 0:15:17.640 --> 0:15:19.440 with Toho and ultimately went on to be more of 0:15:19.480 --> 0:15:22.760 a producer. He was, but was EP on the twenty 0:15:22.800 --> 0:15:26.280 fourteen American Godzilla movie, and I believe he's credited even 0:15:26.320 --> 0:15:28.760 though he's occurred after his death. I think he's credited 0:15:28.800 --> 0:15:32.880 on Godzilla King of the Monsters from twenty nineteen and 0:15:33.120 --> 0:15:36.120 twenty twenty one's Godzilla versus calng But yeah, I think 0:15:36.160 --> 0:15:38.160 this is the reason why he was controversial at the 0:15:38.160 --> 0:15:41.200 time but is memorable today. You know, there have been 0:15:41.200 --> 0:15:43.600 so many Godzilla films, how many of them are really 0:15:43.640 --> 0:15:46.720 worth looking up and seeing if you're not a completist, 0:15:47.000 --> 0:15:49.200 I would say this is one that's worth going back 0:15:49.240 --> 0:15:49.680 and seeing. 0:15:49.960 --> 0:15:52.560 Yeah, totally. And it's different than a lot of the 0:15:52.560 --> 0:15:54.280 other best ones, because I would say a lot of 0:15:54.280 --> 0:15:56.640 the other best Godzilla movies, apart from the first one, 0:15:56.640 --> 0:15:59.360 the first one is very dark and gloomy. A lot 0:15:59.400 --> 0:16:02.520 of the other best ones are very bright and lively 0:16:02.680 --> 0:16:06.320 and sort of fast moving and fun. This one is 0:16:06.480 --> 0:16:11.120 also overall dark and gloomy, but it's excellently dark and gloomy. 0:16:11.440 --> 0:16:14.280 Yeah, yeah, all right. So there was another writer on this, 0:16:14.680 --> 0:16:18.080 Takeishi Kimura, who lived nineteen twelve through nineteen eighty eight. 0:16:18.400 --> 0:16:21.080 A studio writer for Toho, he was involved in more 0:16:21.120 --> 0:16:25.600 than thirty films, including some really notable ones including Rodin 0:16:26.200 --> 0:16:29.800 the Mysterians. Oh, he was the writer of Matango. 0:16:30.240 --> 0:16:32.720 Allegedly he believed this was his finest work. 0:16:33.320 --> 0:16:34.840 It is a fine work. We may have to come 0:16:34.880 --> 0:16:38.320 back to Matango. This is about an island where where 0:16:38.800 --> 0:16:45.520 a fungal infection turns humans into my connid mutations. It's 0:16:45.560 --> 0:16:49.360 pretty fabulous, So yes, Mattango's worth checking out. Kimura also 0:16:49.400 --> 0:16:53.320 worked on Frankenstein Versus Beragon. This was a giant Frankenstein 0:16:53.400 --> 0:16:56.880 movie from Toho, The War of the Gargantuans, King Kong 0:16:57.080 --> 0:17:01.920 Escapes Destroy All Monsters, and and of course this wonderful 0:17:01.920 --> 0:17:02.720 Godzilla film. 0:17:02.920 --> 0:17:05.400 Takeshi Kimura is interesting because I was finding a lot 0:17:05.440 --> 0:17:10.159 of very tantalizing biographical details about him online, but not 0:17:10.480 --> 0:17:13.880 in very solid looking sources, and I couldn't find them 0:17:13.920 --> 0:17:17.639 backed up anywhere that looked more solid, So frustratingly, I 0:17:17.680 --> 0:17:20.160 can't report a lot about him with confidence, but if, 0:17:20.160 --> 0:17:23.880 for example, some of the like user submitted biographies I've 0:17:23.880 --> 0:17:26.440 found of him on various sites have any truth to them. 0:17:27.000 --> 0:17:30.040 He was a strange and interesting figure. He was allegedly 0:17:30.080 --> 0:17:33.680 known for writing Toho monster movies with a more gloomy 0:17:33.720 --> 0:17:37.760 outlook and serious political themes, as opposed to the happy, 0:17:37.760 --> 0:17:41.040 go lucky beatdowns of other you know, repeat Kaiju screenwriters. 0:17:41.960 --> 0:17:44.240 Well, as we turned to the cast here, let's go 0:17:44.320 --> 0:17:45.760 right to the beat down. We're going to talk about 0:17:45.760 --> 0:17:48.840 the human characters played by human actors, but let's start 0:17:48.840 --> 0:17:49.840 with the monsters. 0:17:50.119 --> 0:17:53.560 Oh yeah, So here's something about this movie. Despite the 0:17:53.600 --> 0:17:57.000 fact that it has a much darker tone, the Godzilla 0:17:57.119 --> 0:17:59.480 in this movie is kind of sassy. I really detect 0:17:59.480 --> 0:18:03.439 a sense of humor in Godzilla's gestures and expressions in 0:18:03.480 --> 0:18:05.760 this film. There's even a really funny moment later on 0:18:05.840 --> 0:18:09.600 where the military is trying to do something to defeat 0:18:09.640 --> 0:18:13.800 the opposing monster and fails, and Godzilla does almost kind 0:18:13.840 --> 0:18:16.199 of a shrug, like, oh boy, do I have to 0:18:16.200 --> 0:18:17.359 do everything myself? 0:18:18.000 --> 0:18:20.080 Yeah? Yeah, there is a little bit of sas. He's 0:18:20.080 --> 0:18:21.479 a bit of a show boat at times. I mean, 0:18:21.480 --> 0:18:24.639 he's on the ropes a lot in this, but he 0:18:25.200 --> 0:18:26.720 shows he's a little bit of a showboat in a 0:18:26.760 --> 0:18:29.840 few scenes, and he also takes some really inventive bumps, 0:18:30.200 --> 0:18:31.760 like he'll get shot with a laser and do a 0:18:31.760 --> 0:18:34.400 complete front flip. So there are times like that where 0:18:34.400 --> 0:18:37.760 I was really admiring the performance. And indeed the performer 0:18:37.840 --> 0:18:41.919 here is Haruo Nakajima, who lived nineteen twenty nine through 0:18:42.000 --> 0:18:46.359 twenty seventeen. He is kind of an all star of 0:18:46.960 --> 0:18:50.640 the Godzilla franchise. He played Godzilla in twelve consecutive films. 0:18:51.040 --> 0:18:52.800 He was also in Mathra in the War of the 0:18:52.840 --> 0:18:59.040 Gargantua's as well as Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai. Most people 0:18:59.160 --> 0:19:01.879 forget that in original cut of that the Seven Samurai 0:19:01.960 --> 0:19:05.560 battled a giant monster. No, not really, but he played 0:19:05.560 --> 0:19:08.520 a non monster in that. But generally he's considered a 0:19:08.600 --> 0:19:12.679 legend of the rubber monster suit, the rubber suit actor 0:19:12.800 --> 0:19:13.760 par excellence. 0:19:14.119 --> 0:19:15.920 I haven't seen Mosra in a long time, but I 0:19:15.960 --> 0:19:18.439 remember that one is known for being one of the 0:19:18.440 --> 0:19:21.399 best of the meat slams. It's like a really great 0:19:21.520 --> 0:19:22.480 monster throwdown. 0:19:23.640 --> 0:19:28.880 Now, the enemy in this is played by Kimpachiro Satsuma, 0:19:28.920 --> 0:19:31.080 who was born in nineteen forty seven, and as of 0:19:31.119 --> 0:19:34.960 this recording is still alive. And while he plays Godzilla's 0:19:35.040 --> 0:19:37.840 enemy in this picture, Satsuma would go on to play 0:19:37.840 --> 0:19:42.320 the King of Monsters himself after Nakajima retired, So Satsuma 0:19:42.400 --> 0:19:46.520 served as Godzilla from nineteen eighty four through nineteen ninety five. 0:19:46.960 --> 0:19:50.120 Seeing those dates though, did make me a little bit 0:19:50.560 --> 0:19:55.000 sag with sadness as I imagine the transition from Godzilla 0:19:55.200 --> 0:19:58.119 and his monster enemies being a person in a suit 0:19:58.160 --> 0:19:59.600 to being a CGI creation. 0:20:01.280 --> 0:20:03.000 Yeah, I mean, you got to love love the suit, 0:20:03.040 --> 0:20:04.760 and you know there there. I think there have been 0:20:04.760 --> 0:20:08.800 a whole documentaries about about what was required of these gentlemen 0:20:08.880 --> 0:20:13.639 because these were very physical performances. They involve suits that 0:20:13.720 --> 0:20:16.119 were often not very well ventilated and you're, you know, 0:20:16.160 --> 0:20:20.760 you're you're sweating profusely inside them. And as we mentioned, 0:20:20.760 --> 0:20:23.320 like with Godzilla, there's a certain it's not just a 0:20:23.359 --> 0:20:26.800 stammer around and smash a building. There's a certain physicality 0:20:26.840 --> 0:20:30.080 to the performance that really shines through. You have to 0:20:30.119 --> 0:20:34.520 portray more than just brute lizard strength or anything like that. 0:20:34.600 --> 0:20:37.840 There is a character there that the actor is portraying. 0:20:46.240 --> 0:20:48.200 All right, Well, let's get into the human characters. Now, 0:20:48.320 --> 0:20:50.119 most most of these characters are going to be members 0:20:50.119 --> 0:20:53.280 of the Yano family, Theyano family being the key family 0:20:53.320 --> 0:20:57.680 of humans. And let's start with the child. The boy. 0:20:58.200 --> 0:20:58.400 Uh. 0:20:58.480 --> 0:21:03.159 This is here Yuki Kawasi playing Kenyano and he was 0:21:03.240 --> 0:21:05.840 This actor was born in nineteen sixty four. Child actor 0:21:06.560 --> 0:21:09.240 was also I think he showed up in nineteen seventy 0:21:09.320 --> 0:21:13.879 three's Godzilla versus Megalon as well, and he wasn't in much, 0:21:13.920 --> 0:21:18.960 but he was in a TV series called Sorrow Sorrow 0:21:19.119 --> 0:21:22.280 Nu Gundan, which I believe is Army of the Apes 0:21:22.960 --> 0:21:26.119 if you translated. This was eventually cut and released as 0:21:26.160 --> 0:21:29.600 a film in the US by Sandy Frank as Time 0:21:29.640 --> 0:21:32.840 of the Apes Science Theater three thousand. Viewers will be 0:21:32.880 --> 0:21:36.720 familiar with this film, which is a lot of fun. 0:21:36.880 --> 0:21:40.159 But I have never had the chance to watch the 0:21:40.200 --> 0:21:43.040 original TV series, but there's a lot of it and 0:21:43.200 --> 0:21:46.760 it has huge fans in Japan. People still follow it, 0:21:46.840 --> 0:21:48.439 and it seems like there's a lot more like what 0:21:48.560 --> 0:21:50.160 you see in Time of the Apes is very much 0:21:50.160 --> 0:21:54.000 a compressed plot line. There's apparently a lot more going on. 0:21:54.040 --> 0:21:57.360 There's a robot in it, I would love to know more, 0:21:57.400 --> 0:21:59.159 and I'd love to hear from anyone who's watched it 0:21:59.200 --> 0:22:02.320 in full. I don't think it's been really widely available 0:22:02.480 --> 0:22:05.359 on DVD or Blu Ray or even like you know, 0:22:05.720 --> 0:22:07.879