Figure 1.--This is one of several clips from "Gamera vs. Giron". The scene here is from the beginning of the film with the children still on earth. Click on the image to see the scene as the children enter the space ship.

Here we see a Japanese science-fiction film, one of the classic Japanese monster movies from the 1960s and 70s. The film was "Gammera vs Guiron" and also marketed as "Attack of the Monsters". It was released in 1969. There were not only monsters but aliens in this film. One of the main characters was a Japanese schoolboy and his friends a Japanese girl and an American boy. The plot concerned spcec travel, earth;'s sister planet along with the expected cast of battling monsters. The Japanese boy wears short pants and kneesocks, but not a school uniform. The Japanese girl wears a jumper-style dress with white stockings. The American boy wears a baseball-style cap and jeans. This is the usual approach when American boys appear in Japanese films.

Filmology

Here we see one of the Japanese science-fiction film. The film was "Gammera vs Guiron" and also marketed as "Attack of the Monsters". It was released in 1969. The director was Noriyaki Yuasa. The producer was Hidemasa Nagata. The director of photography was Akira Kitazaki. The screenplay was written by Fumi Takahashi. The special effects were supervised by Kazafumi Fujii. The effects are still rather hokey, but gradually improving over the early films.

Release Titles

The film is called "Gamera vs Guiron (Giatt Evil Monster)". I do not know what Giatt means, it may be a Japanese spelling mistake of giant.

Characters

One of the main characters was a Japanese schoolboy and his friends a Japanese girl and an American boy.

Cast

The cast included: Miyuki Akiyama, Eiji Funakoshi, Yuko Hamada, Nobuhiro Kashima, Chris Murphy, and Kon Omura. I'm not sure which of these characters were the Japanese children. I assume Chris Murphy was the American boy. I am not positive, but it seems to me that different children appear in all these Japanese monster films. I wonder if the directors choose unknown children to keep the costs down. Perhaps our Jspanese readers will know about this.

Figure 1.--Here we see the boys on the space ship. Click on the image to see another clip, I think of the children on Terra..

Plot

This film not only monsters but aliens in this film. The plot concerned spcec travel, earth's sister planet along with the expected cast of battling monsters. Gamera is of course a well known figure--the super-turtle. His role is to protect the space-traveling children. I'm not quite sure just whu the children are traveling in space. They start off on Earth as ordinary school children. After taking off on the space ship, the children travel to Terra, Earth's secret twin planet. There they are confronted with Guiron, an ax-headed monster as well as alien babies who dine on the brains of children. Of course Gamera comes to their rescue.

Costuming

The Japanese boy wears short pants and kneesocks, but not a school uniform. The Japanese girl wears a jumper-style dress with white stockings. The American boy wears a baseball-style cap and jeans. This is the usual approach when American boys appear in Japanese films. Notice that the children wear the same clothes throughout the film, a reflection of the low-budget shoots. They may not even be cistumes, but the children's own clothes.

Japan and Monsters

Japan is well known for movie monsters. Godzilla is of course the most famous of Japan's movie monsters, but Gamera was also well known. What we are unsure about is why these monster movies were so popular in Japan. Movies in our modern society are an important part of popular culture. We are unsure, however, what this predelection for monsters tell us about Japan. One notable point is that some of these mosters have a kindly heart, especially for children.

Created: 7:21 PM 11/27/2004
Last updated: 9:25 PM 11/27/2004