Furankenshutain tai Chitei Kaijû Baragon |
Japan • 1965 • 90m •
  • Directed by: Ishirô Honda. • Starring: Tadao Takashima, Nick Adams, Kumi Mizuno, Yoshio Tsuchiya, Kôji Furuhata, Jun Tazaki, Susumu Fujita, Takashi Shimura, Nobuo Nakamura, Kenji Sahara, Yoshifumi Tajima, Kôzô Nomura, Haruya Katô. • Music by: Akira Ifukube.      During WWII, a human heart taken from a certain lab in Europe (Dr. Frankenstein's) is kept in a Japanese lab, when it gets exposed to the radiation of the bombing of Hiroshima. The heart grows in size, mutates and sprouts appendages, and eventually grows into a complete body and escapes. Later, a feral boy with a certain physical deformity (a large head with a flat top) is captured by scientists who refer to the boy as Frankenstein. The creature grows to the height of 20 feet, escapes again, fights police and army, and is practically indestructible. Later, a reptilian monster goes on a rampage. Eventually the Frankenstein creature and the reptile face off in a terrible battle.
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Review:
The thing is, for about fifty minutes this film concerns itself with a group of scientists, led by the dashing American Dr Bowen, trying to capture their escaped specimen. This means for much of its running time the film is more like a prototype Honey I Blew Up The Kid rather than any insane monster action picture. It's not until Kaiju films' answer to Benny Hill - Baragon - turns up (for no reason whatsoever), that the film breaks out the endearing rubber suits and model tanks. This is too little too late however; and the decision to confine the action to a forest means there is little to no building crunching action (apart from a particularly amusing scene where Frankenstein tries to kill a bird with a tree. Yes, a tree.)
Toho's productions of this era usually have a certain camp charm which renders terrible production as a minor concern; but even in terms of camp this one falls pretty short when compared to real classics like the 74 version of Mechagodzilla. The insane concept of the film should mean it stands out from the Kaiju crowd, for better or worse; but this one sinks right in.
Review by wierzbowskisteedman from the Internet Movie Database.
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