Gamera vs. Barugon is slated for release on special edition DVD from Shout! Factory on July 6th, and is available for pre-order through Amazon.com and other online retailers.

Anxious to capitalize on the unexpected success of 1965′s Gamera, the Giant Monster, Daiei managed to push a bigger budgeted sequel into theaters less than six months after the fact (at the same time slating the production of their period monster trilogy Daimajin, the first of which premiered alongside this film).  Shot in ‘Scope and color by veteran director Shigeo Tanaka (The Great Wall) with …the Giant Monster director Noriaki Yuasa in charge of special effects, Gamera vs. Barugon is both bigger and bolder than its predecessor, and quite the serious affair in spite of the ludicrous monster antics.

The story concerns three entrepreneurs who head into the jungles of New Guinea in search of an enormous, priceless opal discovered (and hidden) there during World War II.  Heading the team is pilot Keisuke Hirata (Kojiro Hongo, Whale God), whose crippled brother Ichiro (Akira Natsuki, Gamera vs. Gyaos) first found the opal.  Accompanying him are seaman Kawajiri (Yuzo Hayakawa, Fires on the Plain), who is just looking to do right by his family, and Onodera (Koji Fujiyama, Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance), who is secretly scheming to keep all the money for himself.  Onodera wastes no time once the cave where the opal is hidden is discovered, allowing a scorpion to sting Kawajiri to death and setting grenades to kill Keisuke before heading back to Japan with the opal in hand.  But in the port of Kobe something goes awry – Onodera’s ship sinks and the opal is lost.  Worse yet, a giant monster with the gruesome ability to freeze everything around him inexplicably rises from the sea and attacks the city.

Unbeknownst to Onodera, Keisuke has survived his ordeal and is in the care of a kindly ex-pat Japanese doctor and his native servant Karen (Kyoko Enami, Whale God).  In their care Keisuke learns some disturbing facts – not only has Onodera fled back to Japan, but the opal he carried with him wasn’t an opal at all!  Returning to Japan with Karen at his side, Keisuke discovers that the worst has come to pass.  The opal, actually the egg of the legendary beast Barugon, has hatched, unleashing the monster on an unsuspecting public.  Feeling understandably guilt-ridden for his involvement in the ordeal, Keisuke heads to Defense Force headquarters and, using Karen’s knowledge of the ancient creature,  begins formulating exotic plans to destroy it.  But Onodera is never far away, and Keisuke soon finds himself contending with a monster of the human kind as well.

Nisan Takahashi’s (Gamera, the Giant Monster) writing for Gamera vs. Barugon presents audiences with a far more traditional (and serious) drama than can be found in either the first or later entries in the franchise.  Focusing on greed early and often, Barugon is the story of a man suckered in by the promises of (undeserved) wealth and is nearly destroyed by it, only to rise and account for his sins as their repercussions run destructively amok about him.  Takahashi presents greed as an ill of cynical modern society, which he contrasts strongly with the simple, traditional village from which the man seeks to profit.  Trust runs thin in Barugon, from Keisuke and his thieving brethren’s tragic ignorance of native warnings to a Defense Force general’s rejection of Karen’s inherited knowledge of the eponymous villain, a fact that results in untold loss of human life.

This may seem like heady stuff for a series renowned for its childish sensibilities, but it works well in Gamera vs. Barugon‘s favor, lending import to the usual giant monster shenanigans.  An unfortunate side effect of this choice in dramatic focus, as should be obvious from the paragraphs above, is the noticeable absence of Gamera himself.  The monster is relegated to a supporting spot well below that of Barugon and the human cast and is allowed just three brief appearances in a film that shares his name!  Gamera is seen destroying Kurobe Dam early on, flies off, and doesn’t appear again for nearly an hour’s time, and then only to be immobilized until the monster-brawl finale.  It’s an issue that Takahashi would soundly resolve in writing the following year’s superior Gamera vs. Gyaos, which follows a similar greed-oriented storyline but integrates its titular hero far more effectively into the drama.

With Gamera vs. Barugon the final element of the series’ trademark formula was established: the presence of outlandish opponents for our favorite fire-eating terrapin to face.  Though his backstory may be serious, Barugon never fails to disappoint in the absurdity department.  Looking like a cross between a chameleon and an alligator with glowing dorsal spines and devilish face horns, the monster’s physical construction is memorable if a bit awkward (the basic form would be revised and improved upon for Gamera vs. Jiger) but is no match for its unlikely special powers.  Taking cold-blooded to a whole new level, Barugon not only lowers the temperature of everything around it but is capable of spewing freezing vapor from the tip of its retractable tongue.  As though that weren’t enough, the glowing dorsal spines possess the dubious ability to emit a deadly rainbow ray, allowing the monster to wreak oddly flamboyant havoc from afar.

Equally bizarre are the methods by which the human cast chooses to deal with Barugon, whose only weaknesses seem to be a lethal aversion to water and an instinctive attraction to shiny gemstones.  Native Karen produces an improbable and perfectly cut 5000 karat diamond with which to exploit the latter, leading to a scheme in which the priceless jewel is inserted into an experimental death ray (!) for the purpose of attracting the monster.  The failure of that leads to the conversion of a giant microwave antenna into the world’s largest mirror (and first ever anti-rainbow defensive weapon), a scheme amusingly dubbed Operation Rear-View Mirror by officials.

With the directorial duties assigned to Shigeo Tanaka, Noriaki Yuasa was free to focus on Barugon‘s pricey effects production.  The results are generally excellent, if substandard in comparison to the work being done by effects maestro Eiji Tsuburaya for rival studio Toho.  The opener, in which a montage of footage from the first film segues into Gamera’s attack on Kurobe Dam (the landing spot for King Ghidrah’s meteor just two years earlier), is easily the most impressive effects sequence of the franchise.   Later moments, like Barugon’s attacks on Kobe and Osaka, are marred a bit by inferior model work, though none of it is so egregious as to diminish the fun (a la the following year’s Yongary, Monster From the Deep).

Featuring moody photography by ace cinematographer Michio Takahashi (Alain Resnais’ Hiroshima Mon Amour) and solid direction from Tanaka, Gamera vs. Barugon is one of the best looking monster films of its time.  Nisan Takahashi’s engrossing drama and an accomplished name cast elevate it well above traditionally low genre expectations.  Barugon was always as favorite of mine as a child, from the moment I first caught the Sandy Frank dubbed version in television syndication, and it has aged remarkably well in the years since then.  Those in the mood for a serious bit of monster cinema are encouraged to indulge.

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Shout! Factory’s excellent handling of Gamera, the Giant Monster left my expectations high for its sequel, which has languished in particularly dreadful condition on domestic home video.  Due out on July 6th, Shout!’s special edition DVD of Gamera vs. Barugon isn’t quite the release I was anticipating, but its minor disappointments aren’t nearly enough to disrupt my otherwise positive feelings about it.

Like the earlier release and all those yet to come, Gamera vs. Barugon has been transferred from the same high definition masters that made their way to Japanese Blu-ray roughly a year ago.  Anamorphic and progressive in the original theatrical aspect ratio of 2.25:1, Barugon features exactly the same framing as the earlier Daiei / Toshiba R2 Japanese DVDs from 2002 but improves upon the quality of those releases in subtly important ways.  Colors appear more accurate in this new transfer, which loses the boosted contrast levels and corrects the yellow / green tinge of the earlier image.  Edge enhancement is no longer an issue, allowing the image to present with occasionally softer but far more accurate fine detail.  Lastly, the print utilized looks to be a good step cleaner than when originally mastered in 2002, and damage is as infrequent and minor as one could hope for.  For those accustomed only to the pan-and-scanned VHS and DVD transfers floating about in the states, this disc will be a revelation, and those who already own the earlier Region 2 discs will see subtle improvements as well (particularly when viewing the disc on high definition screens).  Audio is a solid 2.0 monophonic job that favorably reproduces the original recording.  While there was a decent full-length English dub released to VHS some years ago, only the original Japanese language track is included here.

One of the biggest improvements of this DVD over the 2002 Japanese release is in the subtitle translation, here contributed by August Ragone and Jason Varney.  While I noted a few minor flubs (no more than I can count on one hand) the subtitles here are huge step up from the rudimentary English translation originally provided by Daiei.  They amount to the single best translation the film has ever received, and are presented in an attractive and lean white font that displays well both in SD and HD.  Bravo!

That brings me to the supplements, which is where my heart began to sink a bit for this release.  Supporting the bulk of the supplemental responsibility is a feature commentary track by Jason Varney and August Ragone.  While a bit stilted in delivery (a frequent problem with tracks recorded for older films) the information offered is excellent, with the duo offering plenty of back info for the production and its staff and many a factoid that I’d never heard before.   A trio of image galleries (film stills, ad art, and scans of the original theatrical program for Gamera vs. Barugon and Daimajin) conclude the on-disc extras, leaving that package feeling more than a little light.  Woefully absent are the excellent theatrical trailers for the film, including an advance ad promoting both Barugon and its co-feature Daimajin.

The packaging is of Shout! Factory’s usual high quality with one notable exception: the interior of the insert is simply repeated from Gamera, the Giant Monster.  A similar monster diagnostic was designed for Barugon and can be found in the accompanying booklet and online as downloadable desktop wallpaper.  Otherwise this is another great looking package, with excellent graphic design work based on the original ad art for the film (including the great image of Gamera dragging Barugon beneath the waves).  The included booklet is another winner, featuring an essay by star Kojiro Hongo (originally published in 2001, but newly translated for this release), character biographies, a handful of film stills and the awesome monster diagnostic mentioned above.  On-disc design is pretty unimpressive in comparison, the goofy rainbow-centric menu out of step with both the packaging art and the typography for the menus themselves, but that’s just nitpicking.

While not quite on par with their exceptional Gamera, the Giant Monster, Shout!’s presentation of Gamera vs. Barugon is far from a disaster.  The film looks and sounds better than it ever has domestically, and with a great original subtitle translation to boot.  The rest of the Gamera series appears to be relegated to double feature packages (a la the upcoming Roger Corman’s Cult Classic twofers), a smart decision in the mind of this reviewer.  Though it has limitations to be sure, I say keep your expectations in check and enjoy what’s here – I know I did.  Recommended.

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