a.k.a. Gamera tai Daimaju Jaiga / Gamera vs. Monster X
company: Daiei Co. Ltd.
year: 1970
runtime: 82′
country: Japan
director: Noriaki Yuasa
cast: Tsutomo Takakuwa, Kelly Varis,
Katherine Murphy, Kon Omura
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It’s late 1969. You’ve got a five-picture franchise that you’ve been making on the cheap and reaping high profits that would make any Wall Street low-life jealous, so what do you do? You make a sixth! And that’s exactly what Daiei Motion Picture Company did, adding to their rather shaky series of Gamera, the giant flying turtle movies. Fortuantely, after a ginsu bat, a ginsu octopus, and a ginsu blade, the folks at Daiei decided to go back to basics with their new monster. . . sort of.
As we open, we’re treated to ominous thunderclaps over the Daiei Mark and summarily we find Gamera on a spooky, thunderstorm-enshrouded island. . . but any thought of menace is immediately swept under the rug as Shunsuke Kikuchi’s definitive version of the Gamera March cranks up, and we are treated to an opening titles’ worth of Gamera whooping monster ass [and still done better than Kyle Cooper's similar take for GODZILLA FINAL WARS].
And then we discover that it is 1970. And you know what was big in Japan in 1970? That’s right – Expo ’70! The world’s fair selected Osaka, Japan as its location that year. And of course we know what happens anytime somebody wants to have an event in Japan. Yep, you guessed it – giant monsters are out to get them.
Meanwhile, on lonely Wester Island [get it?] somewhere in the South Pacific, archeologist Dr. Williams along with his two children Tommy [Varis] and Susan [Murphy] are trying to retrieve the mysterious “Devil’s Whistle” artifact for Expo ’70. Just when the oddly phallic-looking stone is in their grasp. . . here comes Gamera, that pesky hero in a half shell. For some reason, he doesn’t seem to want the Devil’s Whistle to be disturbed. Mama Williams is terrified of him, but Tommy explains to her that Gamera is a friend of children and justice because his Japanese pal Hiroshi told him so. Well, 10-year-old heresay isn’t enough to sway Dr. and Mama Williams, and they order Gamera be shot on sight. The natives’ B.B. guns aren’t quite enough to hold Gamera off, but fortunately before Gamera forgets he’s a superhero, a nearby volcano erupts and off he goes to consume the creamy taste of flames. Meanwhile, the humans successfully extract the Devil’s Whistle and whisk it away to a waiting ship.
Back in Japan, Hiroshi [Takakuwa] and his Inspector Clouseau-esque dad [Omura] are working on a small submarine for Expo ’70. The Williams have returned and describe what happened. Hiroshi’s at a loss to explain why Gamera attacked them. Susan even goes so far as to call him a liar about Gamera’s supposed good guy-ness. At any rate, they hoof it over to the Expo ’70s grounds to watch a presentation about the statue. A watching Wester Island diplomat suddenly goes bonkers when he sees the Devil’s Whistle and begins shouting the name “JAIGA!” for no discernable reason and storms out of the room. Hiroshi pontificates on the significance of this Jiger.
Back on Wester Island, a storm comes in and strikes at a lump of rocks and soon GIANT DEVIL BEAST JAIGA crawls forth! Her first stop on a quest for vengeance against the desecrators of her statue? To get a drink of water. Fortunately, before she can get any further, Gamera appears on the scene, apparently still sucking on volcanic flames. After a few dirty tricks from Jiger, like tossing rocks and tail yanks, Gamera stops guessin’ and starts messin’. Jiger has almost literally given up before she cheap tricks him again: she fires spears of solid saliva [you heard me] into Gamera’s limbs and knocks him onto his back. As Gamera kicks about, Jiger tromps into the sea and [literally] jet skis to Japan.
Things aren’t going well in Japan. The crew of the ship which brought the Devil’s Whistle have all become mysteriously ill. And before long, Jiger arrives and begins laying waste to Osaka. Jets and tanks are no match for Jiger and her saliva spears, nor her burning nasal ray. As everyone panics about this new monster and the fate of Expo ’70, Hiroshi wonders where the hell Gamera is.
Well, he’s still on Wester Island, rocking on his shell. After a couple of hit and miss experiments, Gamera is finally able to extract the spears and jet off to the mainland [naturally accompanied by the strains of his theme song]. Jiger is still smashing up downtown Osaka, and now is even skeletalizing hapless victims. Gamera makes it to Japan by nightfall, much to the delight of Hiroshi, Tommy, and Hiroshi’s dad. They bike down to the battlefield to watch the big rumble. Gamera swoops in and proceeds to beat Jiger’s ass some more, ending with him tossing her around by her tail. Outmatched again, Jiger does what works – she cheaps out Gamera by withdrawing him onto her feet with suction and then proceeds to impregnate the giant turtle! With bigger problems than a destructive jet-powered lizard-dinosaur thing, Gamera staggers off to the sea where he collapses at the shoreline – for some reason his head and arm turn cake icing white.
Jiger makes it on to Expo ’70, but the authorities discover that she can be kept in check with the whistling noise the Devil’s Whistle makes. So what do they do? They make a recording of the noise and blast it at her with giant speakers. Amazingly, this strategy is effective in lulling Jiger into a peaceful nap.
With Jiger placated, the authorities turn their attention to reviving Gamera. Thanks to helicopter x-rays, the people at Expo ’70 are able to determine that Gamera has some kind of spot in his lung. Someone wonders if Gamera has cancer, but that is waved away when someone else believes Gamera has a parasite in his body [surprisingly, the least likely explanation is the right one]. But the adults have no clue how to help Gamera. Thinking quicker than a room full of scientists, Hiroshi and Tommy sub-jack his dad’s submarine and take it to travel inside Gamera.
That’s right – it’s FANTASTIC VOYAGE with Gamera. Amazingly, Gamera’s body makes a pretty awesome clubhouse. But almost immediately, they discover the reason behind Gamera’s ailing: a baby Jiger has taken up residence in Gamera’s lung. It tries to shoot saliva at the boys, but all it succeeds in is making a sticky mess. The boys are able to kill the baby monster by throwing a telephone at it [apparently static drives it nuts]. At any rate, the boys return but Gamera still isn’t responding. Again, the kids outwit a room full of scientists and explain how Gamera can be revived by electricity.
Gamera’s hooked up to the electric supply like a monster pair of jumper cables and given the juice. Fortunately, Osaka’s power supply is enough to revive the friend of the children and Gamera’s skin color returns to normal. At the same time, unfortunately, Jiger has woken up and returned to her rampaging – although it amounts to little more than prodding Expo buildings with her head.
Gamera jets to the expo site while the watching children wonder if even he can save Expo ’70 – you know, him being a monster and buildings just being buildings to him. Hiroshi’s dad explains that Gamera somehow knows what’s important to us. Gamera’s ready to rumble and successfully counters every cheat Jiger can toss his way. He withdraws into his shell to avoid her spears. He counters her burning nasal ray by sticking telephone poles in his ears [Gamera has ears?!]. And when Jiger tries to impregnate him again, Gamera beats the injecting needle out of her.
Eventually, Gamera’s had enough and grabs for the Devil’s Whistle, for whatever reason tossed into the sea by Jiger during a fit of rage. When Gamera returns, Jiger tries to jet into the sky after it, but can’t quite match Gamera’s altitude. On one pass, Gamera tosses the whistle into Jiger’s head, much to the shock [and rightfully so] of the spectating children. Jiger collapses onto the ground, dead.
Everyone’s relieved, Expo ’70 can open on time, and the adults learn not to stop believing, or something. Oh, and Gamera picks up Jiger’s corpse and dutifully hauls it back to Wester Island, accompanied by the strains of his theme song. The end.
GAMERA VS. JIGER and the earlier GAMERA VS. GAOS are perhaps the quintessential Gamera films. In a series that was lacking in one way or another by this time, GAMERA VS. JIGER, for the most part, gets it right. Indeed, JIGER maybe be the only film made after GAMERA VS. VIRAS that is as good as the first four films technical-wise. There are rich[er] production values, a cast of non-annoying kids, and little stock footage to offend the eye [other than the opening titles, a little bit of stock of citizens fleeing and inside a shelter are lifted from GAMERA VS. BARUGON, although it does give the film a touch of class]. That’s not to say the movie is flawless though. No, after a jam-packed first half the movie slows down to a snail’s pace for it’s last half. Once Gamera and Jiger’s second battle is over, the film becomes excruciatingly slow [traveling inside Gamera isn't quite as exciting as one would think]. But once Gamera revives, the movie kicks into high gear again.
Noriyuki Yuasa’s direction is back up to snuff, having lost any sense of timing during GAMERA VS. GUIRON. As mentioned before, the movie’s pace is very fast in the beginning and the end. Yuasa only stumbles once Gamera’s been taken out of action. Although, that may more be the fault of screenwriter Niisan Takahashi, who couldn’t seem to come up with anything of interest once inside Gamera’s body. Speaking of Takahashi, he’s hit his stride by this point, churning out what is essentially the same movie over and over – but on this one, it works a little better than the last few go-arounds. Composer Shunsuke Kikuchi makes an encore performance, but sadly most of the score here is recycled from GUIRON. What little is new is much more interesting than his tedious [and somewhat stolen from GOKE BODY SNATCHER FROM HELL] score of the previous movie. But what really shines is this rendition of the Gamera March, beating out even originator Kenjiro Hirose’s rendition from GAMERA VS. VIRAS.
The cast is a rather appealing bunch, chief among them Kon Omura as Hiroshi’s loveable father [fresh from his role as the loveable Kondo [aka Cornjob] from GAMERA VS. GUIRON]. There are quite a few Gamera alumni as Expo 70 scientists [the series used many of the same actors over and over in the way Toho did for Godzilla]. In fact, the only character in the movie that is at all annoying is Hiroshi’s elder sister, who spends the movie barking at her brother and father for inconsequential nonsense. Yuasa did a genius job casting here. It’s too bad he didn’t retain this cast for GAMERA VS. ZIGRA.
Now on to the real reason we watch these films: the monsters. The star monster is miles away better looking than his rather sorry incarnation in the previous year’s GAMERA VS. GUIRON. This Gamera suit would be trotted out again for GAMERA VS. ZIGRA, where it possibly looked even better. Gamera’s much more energetic here than his lethargic activities in GUIRON, flying, rolling, and jumping around all over the place. Jiger, meanwhile, is a standout opponent and one of Gamera’s best. Even with all her outlandish abilities (jet flying, saliva spears, and burning nasal beam), Jiger looks the part of a real prehistoric dinosaur, with her ceratopsian frill and horns, Dimetrodon-like sail, and four-footed posture [the actor even avoids walking on his knees]. Creatively, the design of the monster is more of a back-to-basics approach, but then again, that could be said of most anything after an ambulatory kitchen knife. Jiger’s look and posture recalls Barugon, and her voice may even be derived from his.
Even though GAMERA VS. JIGER could be described as robust compared to the last few Gamera pictures, Daiei itself was on its last legs during production of this and would be unofficially bankrupt the same year. JIGER’s success would do nothing to help the mismanagement problems from the Daiei brass, who went so far as to hide the company’s predicament until 1971. It is unknown what exactly the brass were doing with Daiei’s money since the studio was making very successful pictures for a low cost and, considering its status, it’s a wonder [and testament to Yuasa as a director] that GAMERA VS. ZIGRA was even completed at all. Once the workers discovered they had been working for nothing, they revolted and literally tore Daiei apart, destroying everything [including monster costumes] they could get their hands on. The stills and posters that remain today from the older Daiei films only exist because of people like Yuasa saving them from the rioters. GAMERA VS. ZIGRA would be released through a distribution company called Dainichi the following year, and GAMERA VS. GREAT MONSTER GARASHARP, scheduled for 1972, would never come to fruition. Daiei was officially dead in December of 1971.
It may not be perfect, but GAMERA VS. JIGER is an accomplishment for all involved, and an unpretentious treat for monster movie fans.
