Jūjin Yuki Otoko

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Movie
Original title Jūjin Yuki Otoko
Country of production Japan
original language Japanese
Publishing year 1955
length Original: 95 minutes,
US version: 63 minutes
Rod
Director Ishirō Honda
script Takeo Murata
production Robert B. Homel ,
Minoru Sakamoto ,
Tomoyuki Tanaka
music Masaru Satō
camera Tadashi Iimura ,
Lucien N. Andriot
cut Shûichi Anbara
occupation

US occupation:

Jūjin Yuki Otoko ( Japanese 獣 人 雪 男 ) is a kaijū film by Godzilla director Ishirō Honda from 1955 . Its American version, for which new scenes with western actresses were filmed, was called Half Human - The Story of the Abominable Snowman .

action

The five friends Takashi, his girlfriend Machiko Takeno, her brother Nakada and Gen and Kaji go on a ski trip. Despite Takashi's warnings, Gen and Kaji decide to go ahead. When the group returns to their accommodation, there is no trace of Gen and Kaji; in the meantime a blizzard has come up.

The friends hope that the two have arrived at the hut below the mountain, where the five friends of Machiko's older brother are expected, but the numerous phone calls in the hut remain unanswered. Machiko sees the shadowy figure of Chika in the snowstorm. The young woman lives in a remote village in the mountains that avoids contact with the outside world. When the phone rings in the accommodation, Machiko and Takashi hear screams and a gunshot through the receiver. In the meantime, Chika disappears unnoticed by the others.

The next day a search for Gen and Kaji starts. Gen's body is found, which shows significant injuries, as well as dragging marks from Kaji as well as tufts of fur and oversized footprints. The search for Takeno is unsuccessful and can only be continued in the spring after the snow has melted.

In spring, an expedition headed by Professor Koizumi sets out. Despite the slim chance of finding Takeno alive, Takashi at least wants to know what happened. Professor Koizumi also wants to find out if there is a bipedal primate in the area . In a pub they meet a man who is carrying a monkey in a cage. When he and his superior Ōba, who is on the hunt for the animals for the circus, learn of the purpose of the expedition, they decide to keep an eye on the expedition.

During the night the snowman penetrates Machiko's tent and, startled by Machiko's scream, takes flight. Takashi chases after the creature and ends up in Ōba's camp, where he is beaten by Ōba's men and thrown into a ravine. Chika takes him to her village and tends his wounds. The villagers are worried when a stranger arrives. The tribal chief, Chika's grandfather, instructs Chika to make a sacrifice to the snowman, who is worshiped as a deity in the village. When Chika finds out on her return that Takashi has been delivered to the vultures in the meantime, she reproaches her grandfather. However, the latter rebukes them and beats them up. In the mountains, Chika meets Ōba and his people and takes them to be Takashi's friends. Ōba gives Chika a ring and creeps Chika's trust. In the meantime, the snowman finds Takashi and frees him from his bonds.

On their search, Ōba and his people discover that there is a second mountain being, namely the son of the snowman. First they catch the son and finally the snowman as well when he tries to free his son. When the chief finds the ring that Chika had received from Ōba, Chika has to confess that she told Ōba and his people about the cave of the Snowman. The villagers try unsuccessfully to prevent the snowman from being transported away; here the chief of Ōba is shot. In the meantime, the snowman's son manages to free himself and his father from his bonds. When Ōba then kills the son, the snowman kills Ōba and ravages the village.

After Takashi's return to his friends' camp, the Snowman approaches and kidnaps Machiko. The friends discover the destroyed village and let Chika lead them to the snow man's cave. There you will find Takeno's bones and remains of his diary entries. According to the records, the Snowman rescued the injured Takeno and provided him with food and shelter. Inside the cave the group finds numerous snowman bones as well as toadstools . Professor Koizumi suggests that the snowman population perished from eating the toadstool. When the snowman rushes with machiko, Chika attacks him with a knife. He is shot by Takashi and falls, dragging Chika with him, into a lake of boiling sulfur .

Background information

Jūjin Yuki Otoko was Ishirō Honda's first film after Godzilla (1954). With Momoko Kōchi , Akira Takarada and Sachio Sakai, three actors from Godzilla also appeared in Jūjin Yuki Otoko .

In 1958, a US version of the film called Half Human - The Story of the Abominable Snowman , in which the anthropologist Dr. John Rayburn tells his colleagues the story of the Snowman. In the US version, the American distributor cut the 95-minute original version by half and added 20 minutes that were subsequently rolled, so that the US version is 63 minutes long. The film title comes from the fact that the son of the snow man is dissected in the US version and turns out to be half human. The film company Tōhō made the costume of Snowman's son available for re-shooting the scenes in the US version. Instead of Masaru Sato's original music, the US version features archive music; In his role as narrator, David Carradine speaks his text in the form of a voice-over about the Japanese dialogue.

In Germany, Jūjin Yuki Otoko and Half Human - The Story of the Abominable Snowman were never shown.

literature

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