GORATH- MONSTER OF THE WEEK 4 REVIEW
Stan G. Hyde
GORATH - YOSEI GORASU - 1962 - 89 MINUTES - NORTH AMERICAN RUNNING TIME 77
MINUTES
Personally, I believe Ishiro Honda and Eiji Tsuburaya have been greatly
wronged by North American film historians. When their films together are
reviewed they are often dismissed as camp, or more often the men are
pitied because they made one serious movie -GODZILLA- and then had to
spend the bulk of their careers turning out sequels.
Of course, nothing could be further than the truth. They worked
together on many different types of SF films. There are the
transformation movies (the H-MAN, the HUMAN VAPOR, and at least one spooky
masterpiece about the desolution of human morals and the human physical
form, known in North America under it's (camp) title ATTACK OF THE
MUSHROOM PEOPLE. It could easily be remade by David Cronenberg tomorrow
if not for that title). They established the ground rules of the
Japanese giant monster genre, which gave a moral underpinning to a genre
(the dinosaur movie) which previously had only two thematic outlets (1.
The Lost World 2. Entertainment Gone Wrong - surprisingly enough, even
JURASSIC PARK stays true to these forebears, the KING KONG roots of North
American dino movies.) Finally, they picked up where George Pal left off,
and painted the space adventure movie on a bigger canvas - BATTLE IN OUTER
SPACE, THE MYSTERIANS, and GORATH.
If you were growing up and going to movies in the late fifties/early
sixties then Honda and Tsuburaya were the main practictioners of the big
screen, epic SF films (with a few late films by Pal like THE TIME MACHINE,
or ATLANTIS THE LOST CONTINENT coming out too). Like Pal, the FX
technology of the time wasn't quite caught up to their imaginations, which
didn't stop them for one minute from dreaming out loud in widescreen and
technicolor.
. . . is it any wonder that a kid who grew up in the sixties/early
seventies loves them so much. They were what there was to imprint on if
you were a science fiction fan, or a monster fan, at least until 2001 came
out. Both men deserve a major re-evaluation, not in their own country,
where they are respected for their work, but in North American, where
their films are undervalued - in part because of poor dubbing and
re-edited American versions that destroy the original pacing. (And in
part simply because they were working in Japan.)
Which brings me to GORATH.
Frankly, this is a movie that takes Philip Wylie's WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE
and tops it. The plot, for those who have never seen it, involves a
celestial object code-named GORATH which is far more massive than the
Earth, but smaller in size (at the time, it probably was inspired by the
Neutron stars - but in fact it is a remarkable prescient depiction of a
proposed object called a "BROWN DWARF") which is heading into the Solar
System from deep space. The first ships to encounter it, a British ship
called the INTREPID and a Japanese ship called THE HAWK, are drawn into
the object and destroyed, but not before they make the crucial
calculations that reveal that the object is going to collide with Earth.
(Technical quibble: don't turn around and try to run away. Next time,
point the spaceship's nose toward the GORATH, accelerate, and use
gravitational attraction to produce extra speed to slingshot around GORATH
- it's called a hyperbolic orbit . . . but nobody seems to have heard of
it here.) Anyhow, there's a large cast of characters including the team
of the HAWK's sistership the EAGLE, who want to get out into space and do
their part, girl friends and daughters of the astronauts, and scientists
who want to convert the Earth into a spaceship . . .
Er, did we hear that right - convert the Earth into a spaceship!!! By
building a series of thrusters all over the continent of Antarctica, the
scientists plan to move Earth out of GORATH'S ORBIT! (I'm not sure if
this Earth as a spaceship idea had been done in SF previously - I know it
appears as part of Stanley Schmidt's SINS OF THE FATHERS much later, and
piecemeal bits of Earth are moved around in James Blish's CITIES IN FLIGHT
- but as far as moving the Earth around on film - I know Honda and
Tsuburaya were their first, and I think the concept is original with them
too.)
Well, GORATH plunges into the system. Saturns rings evaporate.
Halley's comet is destroyed. The Earth takes flight. Our MOON IS
DESTROYED! (and -yup, just like Jim Walsh pointed out- if you see the
Japanese version, a giant prehistoric walrus called MAGMA is released to
play havoc with the Earth's booster system, a section confusingly edited
out in the American version.) The EAGLE rendezvous with GORATH using
vehicles that would have done George Pal proud - the kind of thing that
most of us would recognize as classic Chesley Bonestall, but which we
should probably recognize as classic Shigeru Komatsuzaki (Japanese SF
illustrator - if you love SF illustration and can find Kokuen's WORLD OF
KOMATSUZAKI (1991) - buy it!)
Finally, floods, earthquakes, landslides, antarctica inundated with
floodwaters . . . and the Earth slides out of Gorath's way. Now all we
have to do is PUT THE EARTH BACK IN IT'S ORBIT. It'll take more power . .
. but with all the people of the world working together.
"...all the people of the world working together"
Right, one more value I picked up from "campy Japanese SF films."
I generally check out Phil Hardy on these films before I do these
reviews. His incorrect plot synopsis leads me to believe that he hadn't
seen the film at all this time, however there is on interesting detail "
The movie also features a convincingly executed space walk three years
before Leonov became the first man to leave his spacecraft in flight."
In fact, though I seldom see the film cited in english-language SF
histories, there are a number of important SF images occuring here for the
first time on film - especially the Earth with rocket flame erupting from
the South Pole, an image which would later appear as a painting by Kelly
Freas . . .
THE VERSIONS
Well, every effort has been made to elevate the English-language
version of this film. Voice-over narration and some characters are played
by an actor who often worked for George Pal (I think his name is Paul
Frees, but I could be wrong. He's the guy who is making the "tape
recordings for future generations" in WAR OF THE WORLDS) - which lends the
whole work a little borrowed dignity. However, the producers also chose
to eliminate some of the film's soundtrack and replace it with -what else-
the sound of the martian death ray (also WAR OF THE WORLDS) when GORATH
approached. .. and what worked for the chrome, cobra-serpent doesn't
exactly cut it for an onrushing planetoid.
My impression is that Ifukube's score is also cut and pasted, sometimes
replaced, in the American version (Sorry to be uncertain. I own a legit
copy of the film, but it's so poorly recorded that sometimes I couldn't
tell.)
As well, really odd cuts appear in the American film besides Magma.
For instance, the two girls at the beginning of the film watch the night
launch of the HAWK from their car. In the American version, the
conversation ends before the HAWL leaves to be replaced by a "really
cheap" diagram of the solar system and a pointer to explain what's going
on to us. The American versions shuffles the launch of the EAGLE around
so that we see it twice, leading to the impression that Honda and
Tsuburaya are cheating on footage. When the crew of the HAWK go to their
doom because of GORATH's gravitational attraction, they shout out "Banzai,
banzai, banzai" but I guess only bad Japanese fighter aces were supposed
to do that at the time, so it's been excised here. Finally, when the crew
of the EAGLE commandeer a helicopter and fly into town to demand of the
politicians why they can't go to make observations of GORATH, they all
sing a sort-of collage team/fighting spirit sort of song. I guess I
understand why it was cut, but I like the song . . .
There are many more small cuts, and this film cries out for a point by
point comparison sometime . . . however, for now I'd just urge people to
try to find a subtitled, scope print if they can. (I know Video Daikaiju
has one, and I bet Jay Johnson probably has one too . . . Other dealers?)
THE MONSTER
Magma, only available in the Japanese version. A giant walrus/seal
creature - which if I'm not mistaken later made an appearance on ULTRA-Q
(as Todola maybe? - Jim C where are you? What's the Walrus' name?)
He's so cute that all my kids were sad to see him go. Although
excising him from the American version is probably in keeping with making
this a "serious" science fiction film, it does make one wonder why the
scientists are hopping into their V-Tol (Vertical Take Off and Landing)
Vehicle and shooting laser beams at an earthquake.
THE MODEL KITS
I've seen kits from ULTRA-Q that could easily be converted (Correct
me if I'm wrong, but I believe it's the same suit exactly.) There's a
Volks Jr. resin kit, and I've seen pictures in the back pages of a vinyl
from Paradise that actually pairs this creature up with Godzilla! (Maybe
I was dreaming . . .) THIS TIME I AM DESPERATE FOR DETAILS. If any of
you out there have info on kits of Magma -particularly the old Paradise
one- please pass it along to <sh...@axionet.com> (more than just the
standard request for info this time!!! thanks.)
THE SPECIAL EFFECTS
Tsuburaya - 'nuff said. The God of Fx. The only part I had some
reservations with was the teams of scientists arriving in the antarctic.
Instead of shooting large models in the big water tank, they shot a static
model of very small scale ships and moved the camera. However, the VTOLs,
Spacecraft, Laser-drilling mecha . . . all that stuff is so neat that I
can live with the fact that Eiji felt he just had to show us a second's
worth of footage of a whole fleet arriving at the South Pole before he
turned the earth into a rocket. Also features an SFX shot that includes
the moon and earth in one shot behind a rocket heading for saturn- a 60's
first I think.
Dream big when you dream . . .
THE PEOPLE
Great cast including Takashi Shimura (GODZILLA, SEVEN SAMURAI) doing a
very different scientist than Dr. Yamane. There's a love story with some
passion (a dead lover's picture gets tossed into the street by a
love-hungry astronaut), a fighting song (in the Japanese version),
scientists making "really big plans," scientists who behave with real
courage as they sacrifice themselves to learn about GORATH, grieving
daughters and lovers, and even some decent politicians.
Like INDEPENDENCE DAY, this features a "cast of many" but they're all
likeable and convincing.
the ULTRA CONNECTION
Besides the reuse of Magma in an ULTRA-Q episode, the V-tols from this
film (slightly refitted) became the vehicle of choice for the Science
Patrol in Tsuburaya's 1966 television series ULTRAMAN. In a bizarre
co-incidence (?), Nihei Masaya plays a character name "Ito" in the
American version of the film. He also played "Ito" in Ultraman. Always
one of my favorite comic players, I have to wonder if this American dub
was created after 1966 or if this is just a strange co-incidence (is it
also true in the Japanese version?)?
I guess, after his time as an Eagle crew member and his stint helping
move the Earth back into it's orbit, Ito joined up with the Science
Patrol. Cool . . .
MY RATING
Ifukube score, all nations of Earth pulling together to turn the planet
into a rocket, a rousing fight song in a bouncing helicopter, and a giant
walrus . . .
Hey, this is what TohoScope was made for.
10 out of 10.
(I haven't had quite the time I usually have for these reviews, so
please forgive and correct any inaccuracies on my part . . . but see this
one . . .
ONE LAST NOTE
The film SAYANORA JUPITER from Toho in the early 80's replayed this
scenario and is virtually a remake. Except, this time it isn't Earth but
Jupiter that is turned into a spacecraft, it's gravitation luring away a
protostar that will otherwise destroy Earth. Magma has been replaced with
an enigmatic lifeform that lives in the clouds of Jupiter, dolphin-loving
hippies protest the project and try to bomb it out of existance, the
astronauts explore Jupiter instead of Gorath . . . but it's remake enough
that there is a character called "Eiji Honda" - and a monument is left to
him on the moon when he dies. It's worth a view. (Effects by Koichi
Kawakita.)
Wonder if we could get a crater on Mars named after Ishiro and Eiji if
we worked hard enough?????
Best, Stan
TwoZbar
Great review, Stan! Finally, someone has given Gorath the respect that it
deserves! (Have you ever considered writing a Japanese film review book
to counter all those ignorant American ones?)
You are quite correct; the giant walrus costume for Magma was also used
for the monster Todola in the 27th episode of Ultra Q "The Disappearance
of Flight 206." ("Todo" literally means "big seal" with the "La" tacked
on like they do with most monster names.) The Magma was added to the
script by producer Tomoyuki Tanaka who felt that a giant monster was need
to spice things up. Can't say that I agree with him; the film is great as
a straight science fiction piece, as you have pointed out. Granted, I can
understand why he would believe a monster was needed at the box-office; I
remember seeing Gorath in the theaters in the seventies and the newspaper
ads said "Gorath -the Son of Godzilla" just to lure the audiences in!
The actor who played both Ide/Ito in Ultraman and the Eagle crew member in
Gorath is Masanori Nihei (some say his name is Masanari Nihei, but I go by
the Encyclopedia of Godzilla by Gakken - a Japanese book, not Ed G's
book). He also appeared in several episodes of Ultra Q in comical roles
(his staple). Actually, all things considered, Gorath was one of his more
"serious" performances!
I'd like to add something about the sequence where the Hawk is destroyed
by Gorath. In my opinion, this is one of the most powerful scenes in any
science fiction film. I was blown away by this scene when watching the
American version as a kid and blown away again when I saw the Japanese
version as an adult (and there's no monsters in it!) Nothing equals the
feeling when Jun Tazaki as the Hawk captain becomes aware of his crew's
impending fate and asks them to "die like soldiers." (This makes the
edited "Banzai" cuts that much more important and the effect is further
emphasized when the captain's daughter returns home to find everyone
mourning his death). In retrospect, none of the new Toho films have
anything remotely as powerful to offer. This is how the beginning of
"Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla" should have been; instead of the faceless
NASA crew being killed by the approaching Space Godzilla, a longer scene
like the one in Gorath (with characters that we actually care about) would
have set the film nicely.
Take care,
Jim