Cast:
Kojiro Hongo (Keisuke Hirata), Kyōko Enami (Karen), Yūzō Hayakawa (Kawajiri), Takuya Fujioka (Dr. Satō), Kōji Fujiyama (Onodera), Akira Natsuki (Ichirō Hirata), Yoshirō Kitahara (Professor Amano), Ichirō Sugai (Dr. Matsushita), Bontarō Miake (Self-Defense Force General), Jutarō Hōjō (Self-Defense Force Commander), and Teruo Aragaki (Gamera) Directed by Shigeo Tanaka.
Review:
You may recall that Gamera, the Giant Monster (1965), was directed by Noriaki Yuasa for Daiei Film that was done with outdated equipment that was meant to embe a film involving rats that terrorized a city before the health department shut that idea down. Instead, it was reworked to involve a giant prehistoric turtle let loose in the Arctic by an atomic bomb. It may have been a bit goofy, but it surely made the best of a weird situation and did exactly what one hopes to see from mid 1960s imagination. The surprise hit made in the era of wanting to crib another certain series involving a monster in Japan led to immediate sequelmaking. In this sequel, Yuasa was relegated to special effects only while Niisan Takahashi wrote the screenplay once again after Yunosaburo Saito was originally brought in to provide a story outline that originally thought about ice ages and aliens. This is likely the most notable film made by Shigeo Tanaka, aside from probably The Battle of Hong Kong (1942), a lost film that was the only feature made by Hong Kong during Japanese occupation. The budget was raised from the last one and Takahashi was told to write it as such. While the film underperformed with audiences, there would a Gamera film released year after year until Gamera vs. Zigra (1971), with Yuasa directing every one of these films after this one, which would all involve some sort of monster going up against Gamera.
In a way, you could say this is about on par with Godzilla Raids Again. Both feature a mash of monsters and "human drama", although Gamera is probably closer to the road of being thought of as a friendly beast of the land (the first film had a scene of him rescuing a kid that apparently inspired plenty of letters, to the delight of the filmmakers). The monster introduced here is one that shoots out a rainbow and can freeze out Gamera for a time. Aside from the monsters, there is a focus around the pursuit for an oral and the subsequent chase to find out just what it means with Barugon in importance. Gamera is actually not in a good chunk of it, or at least after they use narration to explain stuff from last time (keep in mind, the series did not start in color). In fact, narration is used quite a few times to talk about what is going to go with the human intervention with monsters, which may or may not seem redundant. The buildup involving the pursuit of the opal through the totally mysterious island is handled just fine, not having the pretense of being anything other than mild tension to what you already know. At any rate, Hongo and Fujiyama are the main players for this part and the ensuing scenes involving the road back home (along with the setup with the fact that the opal is actually an egg, which is where the monster comes in). Hongo makes a quality lead presence in the way one thinks of for a monster film with some sort of dignity, one who would appear as the lead for two further Gamera film that went from first believing they were crazy for casting him to later being grateful for being in the series. Enami does about the same in the "New Guinea villager, just go with it" department while Fujiyama makes a quality adversary in compounded greed that obviously can meet one ending. I do dig the final endgame when it comes to a monster that shoots a beam by using a giant mirror. As a whole, the filmmakers apparently found one thing from the experience in that children apparently felt impatient waiting for the monster mash to get going, but I think you will find a pretty good time here regardless of the 100 minute runtime. It is one that utilizes a good deal of wire props, miniatures, and pyrotechnics (with help from Tsuburaya Productions) for a relatively useful followup film that sets the stage for further Gamera films with useful accomplishment and imagination.
Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.
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