Frankenstein's monster fighting Ghidorah
| Movie | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| German title | Frankenstein's monster fighting Ghidorah | ||
| Original title | San daikaijū: Chikyū saidai no kessen 三大 怪 獣 地球 最大 の 決 戦 |
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| Country of production | Japan | ||
| original language | Japanese | ||
| Publishing year | 1964 | ||
| length | 93 minutes | ||
| Age rating | FSK 12 | ||
| Rod | |||
| Director | Ishirō Honda | ||
| script | Shin'ichi Sekizawa | ||
| production | Tomoyuki Tanaka | ||
| music | Akira Ifukube | ||
| camera | Hajime Koizumi | ||
| cut | Ryōhei Fujii | ||
| occupation | |||
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| chronology | |||
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Frankenstein's monster in the fight against Ghidorah (Japanese original title San Daikaijū: Chikyū Saidai no Kessen , Japanese 三大 怪 獣 地球 最大 の 決 戦 , English Ghidora, the Three-Headed Monster ) is a Japanese fantasy film by the director Ishirō Honda . It is the fifth part of the Godzilla series from the Tōhō studios. It is the first film in the series in which Godzilla helps people and allies with other monsters against a far more powerful monster. It was also the first film to feature the space monster King Ghidorah and the first film where Godzilla met the pterosaur Rodan.
action
The young reporter Naoko Shindō ( 進藤 直 子 ) is visiting a meeting of an astronomy club in Yokohama , where she interviews the chairman. Together they watch a swarm of meteorites burn up in the earth's atmosphere directly over Japan. At the same time, her brother ( 進藤 刑事 , Shindō-keiji ), a criminal investigator, received an order from his superior Okita ( 沖 田 刑事 課 長 , Okita-keiji-kachō ) as a bodyguard for the princess of Sergina (a small fictional country in the Himalayas) Mas Salina Salno ( サ ル ノ 王 女 , Saruno-ōjo ) to assist on her state visit to Japan. Not without reason, because in their country a coup is threatened by the communist opposition, which does not shy away from murder.
On her flight to Japan she is suddenly blinded by one of the meteorites and a strange voice speaks to her and she leaves the plane without further ado before it is destroyed by a bomb explosion. Shortly afterwards, a meteorite crashes into the Kurobe Valley. A team of geologists and astrophysicists now hike into the valley to examine the meteorite, but when they arrive they are suddenly surprised by its high magnetism.
Coincidentally, one of the scientists, assistant professor Murai ( 村井 助 教授 , Murai-jokyōju ) is friends with Naoko and tells her about the meteorite in the presence of her brother. Shindo, on the other hand, has completely different problems, because he learns of the supposed death of the princess. But when suddenly in Kyushu at the crater of the Aso volcano , where the flying lizards Rodan died eight years earlier , a self-proclaimed prophet of an extraterrestrial civilization appears and warns the people of another Rodan, Shindo immediately recognizes her as the princess.
Before long, Rodan actually emerges from the Aso crater and flies north. Meanwhile, Naoko interviews the Shōbijin (Emi and Yumi Itō), who were guests for a TV show in Japan, before they leave. The strange prophetess also appears at the harbor and warns the Shobijin not to go out with the ship, something terrible would happen. Naoko takes care of the confused woman and takes her to a hotel room, not knowing that there is a group of professional killers waiting for her next door, who are directly targeting the princess and who immediately recognize her face. In the hotel room, Naoko also discovers the Shōbijin, who followed the advice of the princess.
And soon the next prophecy of the princess comes true: Godzilla emerges from the waters of the sea and destroys the ship with which the Shōbijin should have gone home. Naoko now meets her brother in the foyer of the hotel, he wants to see the princess, but Naoko stops him. Meanwhile, the killers break into the princess' room and want to kill her, but the Shobijin act immediately and turn off the lights. Exactly at that moment, Shindo and Naoko appear in the room and there is a short and firefight between Shindo and the killers, who shortly afterwards flee over the balcony.
Now the events precipitate: Godzilla appears in the port of Yokohama and goes ashore, the military immediately begins with the evacuation. Suddenly Rodan appears above Yokohama and Godzilla follows him inland. Shindo and Naoko take the princess to Dr. Tsukamoto ( 塚 本 博士 , Tsukamoto-hakase ), because they finally want to know what is wrong with her and how one can help her. Not far from there, Godzilla and Rodan also appear and start fighting. At the same time, the third and most terrible prophecy of the princess comes true: The three-headed dragon monster King Ghidorah breaks out of the meteorite right before the eyes of Professor Murai and his team and attacks the first cities. The princess now explains that she came from Venus and that Ghidorah had devastated her home planet thousands of years ago.
Naoko is now traveling to Tokyo with Murai and the Shōbijin, where they explain the situation to politicians, scientists and military representatives. Together they now decide that the Shōbijin should bring Mothra so that Japan can at least find help in the fight against this overwhelming power of monsters at its side. Shortly afterwards, King Ghidorah appears over Tokyo and devastates the entire city within a few minutes. Meanwhile, the killers have found the princess and are now breaking into Tsukamoto's laboratory and there is another exchange of fire with Shindo. At that moment Murai and Naoko also come back and together Murai and Shindo manage to chase the gangsters away.
Together with Tsukamoto and the princess, they all drive to the place where Godzilla and Rodan are fighting, because Mothra has now appeared and is now trying to convince the two wild monsters to help her in the fight against Ghidorah. This now also appears in the vicinity and falls on the surrounding villages, thereby triggering a stone avalanche, which buries the killer’s vehicle under itself. However, one can escape alive with a sniper rifle.
Mothra has not succeeded in getting Godzilla and Rodan on her side, she now sets off without having achieved anything to fight King Ghidorah by herself, but the relatively small caterpillar has no chance against the overpowering dragon monster alone. Suddenly Godzilla and Rodan appear and help her. In the heat of the moment, Shindo, Murai and the others overlook the fact that the princess has run away. In the process, however, she is targeted and shot by the killer. Immediately she rushes to help Shindo and is also injured in the arm. At the last moment, the battle of the four monsters triggers a rock avalanche, which pulls the killer down with it.
Now only the battle of the monsters rages, in the course of which Mothra crawls on Rodan's back and spins Ghidorah from above with sticky silk threads, while Godzilla grabs his tails and throws him into a ravine. Then he is beaten with stones until he retreats back into space.
Now that everything is over, the princess says goodbye to Shindo and his friends and flies back to her country to ensure peace and freedom there once and for all. And the Shōbijin and Mothra also return to their island, while Godzilla and Rodan watch after them.
Trivia
This was on the one hand the last film in which Godzilla was allowed to cause damage as a malicious monster, but on the other hand it was also the first film in which he made common cause with other monsters for the first time and stood by people in need.
For the pterosaur Rodan (originally Radon ) this was the second appearance after his debut in The Flying Monsters of Osaka ( Sora no Daikaijū Radon ) from 1956, here he was also allowed to fight Godzilla for the first time. For Godzilla himself it was the 5th appearance in his series, for Mothra the third appearance and for the three-headed dragon monster King Ghidorah it was the debut.
San Daikaijū: Chikyū Saidai no Kessen was only dubbed in German in 2011, 47 years after it was released in Japanese cinemas. Until then, the film was one of only two Godzilla films that never came out in German. The remaining is Gojira, Minira, Gabara: All Kaijū Daishingeki ; this was only published in German translation in 2013.
Frankenstein - duel of the giants and its predecessor Frankenstein - the horror with the monkey face ushered in the trend that a "Frankenstein" appeared in the German title of Japanese horror films, although the film in question had nothing to do with the character of the scientist by Mary Shelley . Because of the success of the two Frankenstein films, several films from the Godzilla series, which actually have nothing in common with Frankenstein, were advertised as a sequel to this film in Germany for financial reasons. Although this film was only released on DVD in 2011 - much later - the company 8Films, which released the film, decided to name it "Frankenstein", which is to be understood as an homage to the old films of the Godzilla series. In terms of title, the film fits perfectly into the DVD collection, as most Godzilla films retained their German cinema titles for DVD release and have not been changed or corrected. It was also ensured that the dubbing corresponded to the early 60s, so that if you watch the Godzilla films chronologically, there would be no discrepancies and what should be understood as a homage to the old synchros.
reception
“A naive fantasy film that is a link in the exegesis of Japanese monster films because Godzilla appears as the savior of mankind for the first time. In some passages the trick is excellent, in others sloppy to outrageous, the boundaries between conscious self-irony and involuntary comedy are never quite discernible. Especially in the unfinished, amateurish style, the film develops a peculiar charm. ”- Lexicon of international film. The film also got mixed opinions on the Rotten Tomatoes website , where critics rated the film 75 percent positive. The audience did not get that good result, where 59 percent of the audience liked the film.
The film grossed around $ 43.6 million in Japan.
Web links
- Ghidorah in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Certificate of release for Frankenstein's monster in the fight against Ghidorah . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , April 2011 (PDF; test number: 127 538 V).
- ^ Ghidrah - The Three-Headed Monster. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed April 7, 2017 .
- ^ Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (San daikaijû: Chikyû saidai no kessen) (1964). Retrieved August 7, 2019 .
- ↑ Ghidorah the Three-Headed Monster (1964) | Ultimate Movie Rankings. Retrieved November 30, 2019 (American English).