Gamera: The Giant Monster
Movie Information:
- Release Date: November 27, 1965
- Production Company: Daiei
- Distribution Company: Daiei
- Original Runtime: 86 minutes
- Atlernate Titles:
- Japanese: 大怪獣ガメラ
- Hepburn: Daikaiju Gamera
- Literal Translation: Giant Monster Gamera
- Original U.S. Title: Gammera the Invincible
Cast
Eiji Funakoshi as Doctor Eiji Hidaka
Junichiro Yamashita as Aoyagi
Michiko Sugata as Nobuyo Sakurai
Harumi Kiritachi as Kyoko Yamamoto
Yoshiro Kitahara as Mr. Sakurai
Bokuzen Hidari as Old Farmer
Jun Hamamura as Professor Murase
Jutaro Hojo as Self-Defense Force Commander
Yoshio Yoshida as Eskimo Chief
Kenji Oyama as Minister of Defense
Jun Osanai as Chidori Maru Captain
Koji Fujiyama as U.S. Arctic Base Commander
Ichigen Ohashi as Mr. Ueda
Munehiko Takada as Soviet Representative
Kenichi Tani as Officer
Tsutomu Nakata as Toshio's Uncle
Yuji Moriya as News Announcer
Osamu Maruyama as Atomic Energy Research Institute Chief
Yoshiro Uchida (Himawari) as Toshio Sakurai
Toshio Maki as Atomic Energy Research Institute Staff A
Kazuo Sumida as Atomic Energy Research Institute Staff B
Rin Sugimori as Police Station Chief
Fumiko Murata as Old Farmer's Wife
Tetsuo Takeuchi as Japan Broadcasting Station Announcer
Kyosuke Shiho as Fish Seller A
Ken Nakahara as Fish Seller C
Kazuo Mori as Chidori Maru Radioman
Shinji Sayama as Fish Seller B
Hiroya Kita as Chidori Maru Navigator
Kenji Ohba as Self-Defense Force Soldier B
Yasuo Araki as Self-Defense Force Soldier A
Daigo Inoue as Self-Defense Force Adjutant
Shin Minatsu as Sapporo Broadcasting Station Announcer
Akira Shimizu as Dancing Youth
Shinichi Matsuyama as Operator A
Ikuji Oka as U.S. Fighter Pilot
Ryuji Fujii as Official at Haneda Airport
Keiichiro Yamane as Geothermal Station Engineer
Wakayo Matsumura as Customer
Chizuru Ko as Stripper A (deleted scene)
Ryoko Oki as Stripper B (deleted scene)
Takehiko Goto as Self-Defense Force Cessna Pilot
Toichiro Kagawa as Operator B
Ichiro Ise as Reporter A
Shinji Sahara as Reporter B
Hajime Munechika as Reporter C
Himawari Theatrical Troupe
M. Apanay (Abdul Apanay)
Richardson as U.S. Arctic Base Personnel
Strahan as U.S. Arctic Base Personnel
Ronson as U.S. Arctic Base Personnel
Brown (Hank Brown) as U.S. Arctic Base Personnel
Hartman as U.S. Arctic Base Personnel
Crew
Director: Noriaki Yuasa
Planning: Yonejiro Saito
Screenplay: Niisan Takahashi
Photography: Nobuo Munekawa
Sound: Toshikazu Watanabe
Lighting: Yukio Ito
Art Director: Akira Inoue
Music: Tadashi Yamauchi
Editor: Tatsuji Nakashizu
Assistant Director: Shima Abe
Production Manager: Hiroaki Uejima
Visual Effects Photography: Yonesaburo Tsukiji
Visual Effects Art Director: Akira Inoue
Composites: Kazafumi Fujii
Lighting: Mamoru Ishizaka
Assistant Director: Kiyoshi Ishida
Production Manager: Kiyoshi Kawamura
Alternate Versions
United States
Gallery
Theatrical title: Gammera the Invincible
- Release Date: December 15, 1966
- Production Company: Harris Associates
- Distribution Company: World Entertainment Corporation
- Dub Studio: Titan Productions, Inc.
- Runtime: 86 minutes
Cast
Albert Dekker as Secretary of Defense
Brian Donlevy as General Terry Arnold
Diane Findlay as Sergeant Susan Embers
John Baragrey as J.T. Standish
Dick O'Neill as General O'Neill
Mort Marshall as Jules Manning
Alan Oppenheimer as Doctor Contrare
Steffen Zacharias as Senator Billings
Thomas Stubblefield as Captain Lovell
Gene Bua as Lieutenant Clark
Bob Carraway as Lieutenant Simpson
John McCurry as A1C Hopkins
Walter Arnold as American Ambassador
Louis Zorick as Russian Ambassador
Robin Craven as British Ambassador
Dub Cast
Bernard Grant as Doctor Eiji Hidaka
Larry Robinson as Aoyagi
Lucy Martin as Nobuyo Sakurai
Paulette Rubinstein as Kyoko Yamamoto
Peter Fernandez as Mr. Ueda, U.S. Fighter Pilot
Jack Curtis as News Announcer
Corrine Orr as Toshio Sakurai
Kenneth Harvey as Narrator, Chidori Maru Navigator
William Griffis as Additional Voices
Crew
Assistant Director: Sid Cooperschmidt
Art Director: Hank Aldrick
Sound: Murray Rosenblum
Editing: Ross-Gaffney
Assistant to Producer: Fran Wolf
Production Associate: L. Jeffrey Norwalk
Director of Photography: Julian Townsend
Script Supervisor: Barbara Robinson
Dialogue Director: Robert Myerson
Additional Dialogue: Richard Kraft
Gamera Theme Song Writer: Wes Farrell
Gamera Theme Song Arrangment and Conductor: Artie Butler
Executive Producer: Ken Barnett
Associate Producer: Rober Baron
Iterations
- Theatrical
- Notes:
- New scenes were filmed and replaced scenes of English-speaking actors playing military personnel at the beginning of the movie. More scenes were filmed with Brian Donlevy and Albert Dekker as US military men looking for a plan to stop Gamera.
- One shot of Gammera at the power plant is unique to this version.
- Several small edits were made to quicken the pace and a few library music tracks were added. A widescreen version was released on VHS in 1999 by Neptune Media.
- 16mm
- Notes:
- While the theatrical version opened with a World Entertainment Corp. logo, 16mm prints of the US version feature an NTA (National Telefilm Associates) logo.
- Bootleg DVD
- Notes:
- Some DVD versions (most notably the one released by Alpha Video) shuffle the order of the credits. In the theatrical and 16mm versions, a new US scene of military personnel is placed between the main title and the opening credits. In the altered DVD versions, a digital fade connects the main title and credits, which are then followed by the originally sandwiched scene.
King Features Entertainment - Home Video title: Gamera
- Release Date: Circa 1987
- Dub Studio: Anvil Studios
- Runtime: 86 minutes
Dub Cast
Sean Barrett as Doctor Eiji Hidaka
Jay Benedict as Chidori Maru Navigator, Fish Seller B, Chidori Maru Radioman, News Reporter, Additional Voices
Liza Ross as Catherine (Harumi Kiritachi), Old Farmer's Wife
Garrick Hagon as Alex (Junichiro Yamashita)
Constantine Gregory as Professor Murase
Jesse Vogel as Self-Defense Force Commander, Toshio's Uncle, Fish Seller A, Additional Voices
Bob Sherman as Chidori Maru Captain, Fish Seller C
Bob Sessions as Soviet Representative, News Announcer, Additional Voices
Peter Marinker
Iterations
- Notes:
- In the 1980s, distributor Sandy Frank acquired the rights to five classic Gamera films, had new video versions prepared, and distributed them under King Features Entertainment. Released as "Gamera", Frank's version is the original Japanese version dubbed by an uncredited dubbing studio, though it is suspected to have been dubbed at Anvil Studios in England.
- This dub was made without the original music & effects track construct.
- The main title and opening credits are overlaid on a shot of ocean waves and are moved to the beginning of the movie.
- Although this version is technically uncut, two scenes during Gamera's rampage at the power plant are moved around.
- This version was released on video and laserdisc by Celebrity Home Entertainment in 1987 and played on Mystery Science Theater 3000 twice. (Once in 1988 and again in 1991).