is a 1965 ''

kaiju is a Japanese media genre that focuses on stories involving giant monsters. The word ''kaiju'' can also refer to the giant monsters themselves, which are usually depicted attacking major cities and battling either the military or other monster ...

'' film directed by

Ishirō Honda was a Japanese filmmaker who directed 44 feature films in a career spanning 59 years. The most internationally successful Japanese filmmaker prior to Hayao Miyazaki, his films have had a significant influence on the film industry. Honda enter ...

with special effects by

Eiji Tsuburaya was a Japanese special effects director and cinematographer. Known as the he worked on 250 feature films in a career spanning 50 years. He is regarded as one of the co-creators of the ''Godzilla'' series, as well as the main creator of the ' ...

. The film stars Nick Adams,

Kumi Mizuno is a Japanese actress best known for appearing in several Toho kaiju films of the 1960s and early 1970s. Early life Mizuno was born Maya Igarashi on 1 January 1937 in Sanjō Niigata prefecture, Japan. She was acquainted with Giant Baba, her jun ...

and

Tadao Takashima (27 July 1930 – 26 June 2019) was a Japanese actor and jazz musician. He appeared in more than 100 films, including the Toho productions '' King Kong vs. Godzilla'', ''Atragon'', and ''Frankenstein vs. Baragon''. He also performed in stage ...

, with Koji Furuhata as

Frankenstein ''Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' is an 1818 novel written by English author Mary Shelley. ''Frankenstein'' tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a sapient creature in an unorthodox scientific ex ...

and

Haruo Nakajima was a Japanese actor best known for playing Godzilla in 12 consecutive films, starting from the original ''Godzilla'' (1954) until ''Godzilla vs. Gigan'' (1972). He also played various other giant monsters in '' kaiju'' films, including ''Mothra ...

Baragon is a fictional monster, or ''kaiju'', which first appeared in Ishirō Honda's 1965 film '' Frankenstein Conquers the World'', produced and distributed by Toho. Depicted as a four-legged, horned dinosaur-like creature with large ears, Baragon a ...

. An international co-production of Japan and the United States; it was the first collaboration between Toho Co., Ltd and

Henry G. Saperstein Henry Gahagen Saperstein (June 2, 1918 – June 24, 1998) was an American film producer and distributor. Biography The son of Aaron Saperstein and Beatrice Pearl Saperstein, Henry's father owned five independent cinemas in Chicago. Henry was ed ...

. In the film, scientists investigate the origins of a mysterious boy and his resistance to radiation that makes him grow to monstrous size, while a second monster ravages the countryside. ''Frankenstein vs. Baragon'' was theatrically released in Japan on August 8, 1965, followed by a theatrical release in the United States on July 8, 1966 by

American International Pictures American International Pictures (AIP) is an American motion picture production label of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. In its original operating period, AIP was an independent film production and distribution company known for producing and releasing fi ...

under the title ''Frankenstein Conquers the World''. The film was followed by ''

The War of the Gargantuas is a 1966 '' kaiju'' film directed by Ishirō Honda, with special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya. Referred by film historian Stuart Galbraith IV as a "quasi–sequel" to '' Frankenstein vs. Baragon'', the film was a Japanese-American co-production; ...

'', released on July 31, 1966.

Plot

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

, Nazi officers confiscate the living heart of the

Frankenstein Monster Frankenstein's monster or Frankenstein's creature, often referred to as simply "Frankenstein", is a fictional character who first appeared in Mary Shelley's 1818 novel ''Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus''. Shelley's title thus compares ...

from Dr. Riesendorf and pass it on to the

Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrender ...

, who take it to a research facility in

Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui h ...

for further experimentation. As the experiments begin, Hiroshima is bombed with a nuclear weapon by the Americans. Fifteen years later, a feral boy runs rampant in the streets of Hiroshima, catching and devouring small animals. This comes to the attention of American scientist Dr. James Bowen and his assistants Drs. Sueko Togami and Ken'ichiro Kawaji. A year later, they find the boy hiding in a cave on a beach, cornered by outraged villagers. Bowen and his team take care of the boy and discover that he is building a strong resistance to radiation. The former Imperial Navy officer Kawai, who brought the heart to Hiroshima's army hospital, is now working in an oil factory in

Akita Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Provinces and prefectures" in ; "Tōhoku" in . Its population is approximately 966,000 (as of 1 October 2019) and its ge ...

, when a sudden earthquake destroys the refinery. Kawai catches a glimpse of a non-human monster within a fissure before it disappears. Meanwhile, Bowen and his team find out that the strange boy is growing in size due to an intake of

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, respo ...

. Afraid of his strength, the scientists lock and chain the boy in a cage and Sueko, who cares for him, feeds him some protein-filled food to sustain him. Bowen is visited by Kawai, who tells him that the boy could have grown from the heart of the Frankenstein Monster, as the boy was seen in Hiroshima more than once before. At Bowen's advice, Kawaji confers with Riesendorf in Frankfurt. Riesendorf recommends cutting off a limb, speculating that a new one will grow back. Sueko and Bowen strongly object to this method. Ignoring Bowen's suggestion to think it over, Kawaji tenaciously attempts to sever one of the limbs of the boy-turned-giant, now called "Frankenstein". He is interrupted by a TV crew, who enrage Frankenstein with bright studio lights and Frankenstein breaks loose. Frankenstein visits Sueko at her apartment before disappearing. A severed hand of Frankenstein's is found, proving Riesendorf's theory (the hand then dies due to lack of protein). Unbeknownst to Bowen and his team, the subterranean burrowing dinosaur

ravages various villages. The Japanese authorities and media believe this to be Frankenstein's doing and Frankenstein narrowly escapes being hunted down by the

Japan Self-Defense Forces The Japan Self-Defense Forces ( ja, 自衛隊, Jieitai; abbreviated JSDF), also informally known as the Japanese Armed Forces, are the unified ''de facto''Since Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution outlaws the formation of armed forces, the ...

. Before Bowen and his team dismiss Frankenstein, Kawai returns to tell them that Frankenstein may not be responsible for the disasters; it could be the monster (Baragon) he saw in Akita. He tries to convince the authorities, but to no avail. Kawaji still wishes the scientists luck in finding and saving Frankenstein. Bowen, Sueko and Kawaji attempt to find Frankenstein on their own. To Bowen and Sueko's shock, Kawaji reveals his plans to kill Frankenstein by blinding him with grenades in order to recover his heart and his brain. Kawaji presses on to find Frankenstein, but finds Baragon instead. Kawaji and Bowen try in vain to stop Baragon with the grenades. Frankenstein emerges in time to save Sueko and engages Baragon. The monsters battle until Frankenstein snaps Baragon's neck. Then the ground beneath them collapses and swallows them up. Kawaji states that the immortal heart will live on and they may one day see him again, but Bowen believes that Frankenstein is better off dead.

Cast

Production

Toho had always been interested in the Frankenstein character as, in 1961, producer Tomoyuki Tanaka commissioned a film project called ''Frankenstein vs. the Human Vapor''. Acting as a sequel to the 1960 film ''

The Human Vapor is a 1960 Japanese science fiction film directed by Ishirō Honda, with special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya. The film is the story of a librarian (Yoshio Tsuchiya), his love for a dancer and his ability to change into a gaseous form. Plot Whil ...

'', the Mizuno character from that film finds the Frankenstein Monster's body and revives him so that he can help him use the Frankenstein formula to revive his beloved girlfriend Fujichiyo (who had died at the end of said film). As a rough draft of the story was being written by

Takeshi Kimura , better known by his pen name , was a Japanese screenwriter who wrote many films for Toho studios. Kimura scripted several films for director Ishirō Honda, including ''Matango'', '' Frankenstein vs. Baragon'', ''The War of the Gargantuas'', ''Ki ...

(using the pen name Kaoru Mabuchi), it was ultimately cancelled before the draft was finished. In 1962, Toho purchased a script from an independent producer from America named John Beck called ''King Kong vs. Prometheus''. Beck had stolen the story treatment (which was originally called ''King Kong Meets Frankenstein'') from

Willis O'Brien Willis Harold O'Brien (March 2, 1886 – November 8, 1962) was an American motion picture special effects and stop-motion animation pioneer, who according to ASIFA-Hollywood "was responsible for some of the best-known images in cinema history," ...

and had

George Worthing Yates George Worthing Yates (14 August 1901 in New York City – 6 June 1975 in Sonoma, California, Sonoma) was an American screenwriter and author. His early work was on Serial (film), serials shown in cinemas; he later progressed to feature films, ...

flesh it out into a screenplay. Toho wanted to have

King Kong King Kong is a fictional giant monster resembling a gorilla, who has appeared in various media since 1933. He has been dubbed The Eighth Wonder of the World, a phrase commonly used within the franchise. His first appearance was in the novelizat ...

fight their own monster

Godzilla is a fictional monster, or '' kaiju'', originating from a series of Japanese films. The character first appeared in the 1954 film ''Godzilla'' and became a worldwide pop culture icon, appearing in various media, including 32 films produc ...

instead of the giant Frankenstein monster in the original story and, after working out a deal with Beck as well as

RKO RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orpheu ...

, the copyright holder of King Kong at the time, produced ''

King Kong vs. Godzilla is a 1962 Japanese ''kaiju'' film directed by Ishirō Honda, with special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya. Produced and distributed by Toho Co., Ltd, it is the third film in both the ''Godzilla'' and ''King Kong'' franchises, as well as the first T ...

''. In 1964, Henry Saperstein approached Toho to co-produce ''Frankenstein vs. Godzilla'' with his company

United Productions of America United Productions of America, better known as UPA, was an American animation studio active from the 1940s through the 1970s. Beginning with industrial and World War II training films, UPA eventually produced theatrical shorts for Columbia Picture ...

. The story would pit Godzilla against a giant Frankenstein Monster. Takeshi Kimura was hired to write the screenplay with Jerry Sohl and Reuben Bercovitch writing the story and synopsis for the film. The story dealt with the heart of the original Frankenstein monster becoming irradiated and growing into a giant Frankenstein Monster. Afraid the giant would start eating people, Godzilla would be awakened from slumber in the Kurile Trench by the JSDF and goaded into a fight with the Monster in hopes of destroying him. The story would end with natural disasters defeating the monsters as Godzilla disappears into a raging river flow, and the giant Frankenstein Monster disappears into magma caused by an erupting volcano. Toho was not fond of the logistics of the story, so the idea was dropped. When the ''Godzilla'' series would resume later that year,

Mothra is a fictional monster, or ''kaiju'', that first appeared in the 1961 film '' Mothra'', produced and distributed by Toho Studios. Mothra has appeared in several Toho ''tokusatsu'' films, most often as a recurring character in the ''Godzilla'' ...

was brought in as Godzilla's next opponent for the film ''

Mothra vs. Godzilla is a 1964 Japanese ''kaiju'' film directed by Ishirō Honda, with special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya. Produced and distributed by Toho, Toho Co., Ltd., it is the fourth film in the Godzilla (franchise), ''Godzilla'' franchise. The film stars Ak ...

'' instead. In 1965, Toho and UPA would revive the project into this film. A new dinosaurian opponent named

was created to replace Godzilla as Frankenstein's opponent and the script was slightly altered. Most of the concepts from the original story treatment were retained in this version, such as the irradiated heart of the Monster, the Monster's relentless pursuit of food and a natural disaster defeating the Monster during the climax. In addition, most of the characters from the original story, such as research scientist Dr. Bowen (played by Nick Adams), would be retained. In the American version,

Jerry Sohl Gerald Allan Sohl Sr. (December 2, 1913 – November 4, 2002) was an American television scriptwriter and science fiction author who wrote for ''The Twilight Zone'' (as a ghostwriter for Charles Beaumont), '' Alfred Hitchcock Presents'', '' The Out ...

would get credit for a synopsis and executive producer Reuben Bercovitch would get credit for the story. Koji Furuhata earned the role of Frankenstein through an open audition. Furuhata wore green contact lenses to emulate a Caucasian look, a flat-head prosthetic and brow resembling Jack Pierce's Frankenstein Monster design and large shirts and loincloths. Honda had originally wanted to explore more of the science-gone-wrong theme, but was forced to change the story in the middle to reach a climactic monster battle. Nick Adams delivered all of his lines in English, while everyone else delivered their lines in Japanese.

Alternate ending

had requested an alternative ending for the international release in which Frankenstein battled a

giant octopus ''Enteroctopus'' is an octopus genus whose members are sometimes known as giant octopus. Etymology The generic name ''Enteroctopus'' was created by Alphonse Tremeau de Rochebrune and Jules François Mabille in 1887 and published in 1889, join ...

, who eventually defeated Frankenstein by dragging him into a lake. This resulted in the cast and crew being reassembled after principal photography and post-production had wrapped, as well as building a new set and building a new prop to represent the giant octopus from foam, latex and sawdust initially moulded over a wire frame for support during construction. Despite filming the new ending, Saperstein ended up cutting it regardless because he believed the giant octopus "wasn't that good". When the film was in production, trade magazines listed this film's title as ''Frankenstein vs. the Giant Devilfish''. Honda had stated that the reason why the giant octopus ending was initially requested was because the American co-producers were "astonished" by the giant octopus scene in ''

'' and wanted a similar scene in this film. Honda also confirmed that various endings were shot, stating: "In fact Mr. Tsuburaya had shot five or six final scenes for this film. The infamous giant octopus is only one of these endings." Honda also expressed that the alternate ending was never intended to be released on the Japanese version, stating: "there was never any official plan to utilize the sequence; but an alternative print with that ending was accidentally aired on television surprising many Japanese fans because it was not the ending they had remembered from the original theatrical release."

Release

Theatrical

The film was released in Japan on August 8, 1965, two days after the 20th anniversary of the

Hiroshima bombing The United States detonated two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August 1945, respectively. The two bombings killed between 129,000 and 226,000 people, most of whom were civilians, and remain the on ...

. The film grossed ¥93 million during its Japanese theatrical run. The film was released theatrically in the United States as ''Frankenstein Conquers the World'' on July 8, 1966 by

. This version was dubbed in English by Titan Productions and restored Adams' original English dialogue.

Home media

In June 2007,

Tokyo Shock Media Blasters, sometimes abbreviated as MB, is an American entertainment corporation that was founded by John Sirabella in 1997 and is based in New York City. It is in the business of licensing, translating, and releasing to the North American ...

released ''Frankenstein vs. Baragon'' on a two-disc DVD, the first time the film was released on DVD in North America. This version includes the original Japanese theatrical version, the American version (running at 84 minutes), and the international version with the alternate giant octopus ending (running at 93 minutes). All three versions were presented in widescreen. The international version (titled ''Frankenstein vs. the Giant Devilfish'') features an audio commentary by Sadamasa Arikawa, the film's special effects photographer. Disc two features two Japanese trailers, deleted scenes and a photo gallery, which was provided by Ed Godziszewski (editor of ''Japanese Giants'' and author of ''The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Godzilla''). In November 2017,

Toho is a Japanese film, theatre production and distribution company. It has its headquarters in Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Osaka-based Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group. Outside of Japan, it is best known as the producer an ...

released the film on

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...

in Japan. This release also includes an HD remaster of the international version. In September 2022,

The Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scholars, cinep ...

announced to have acquired the Japanese version to stream on their site the Criterion Channel.

Sequel

The following year, Toho released a sequel titled ''

'', also co-produced with UPA. In the film, pieces of Frankenstein's cells mutate into two giant humanoid monsters: Sanda (the Brown Gargantua) and Gaira (the Green Gargantua). The former is a benevolent and peace-loving creature, while the latter is murderous and savage. Apart from a reference to a severed hand, UPA obscured all references to Frankenstein in the American version and the names of the monsters were changed to the Brown Gargantua and the Green Gargantua. Gaira and Sanda would later appear in two of Toho's ''

tokusatsu is a Japanese term for live action film or television drama that makes heavy use of practical special effects. ''Tokusatsu'' entertainment mainly refers to science fiction, War film, war, fantasy, or Horror film, horror media featuring such te ...

'' series, ''

Ike! Godman is a Japanese tokusatsu Kyodai Hero kaiju television series by Toho. It ran from October 5, 1972, to April 10, 1973. It was pulled from reruns on September 28, 1973, and it was replaced by '' Ike! Greenman''. While on air Monday through Saturd ...

'' and ''

Ike! Greenman is a tokusatsu television series Kyodai Hero kaiju produced by Toho in 1973. It ran from November 12, 1973, to September 27, 1974. It emerged as a follow-up series to ''Ike! Godman'', but the two share no continuity. Compared to the anthology-lik ...

'', before remaining absent for over 40 years, with Gaira making his latest appearance in a 2008 ''Go! Godman'' special.

Notes

References

Bibliography

* * * ''

Famous Monsters of Filmland ''Famous Monsters of Filmland'' is an American genre-specific film magazine, started in 1958 by publisher James Warren and editor Forrest J Ackerman. ''Famous Monsters of Filmland'' directly inspired the creation of many other similar publicat ...

'' #39 (June 1966), cover and pp. 10–24 (pictures and plot summary) * * * * * * * *

External links

* * * *
''フランケンシュタイン対地底怪獣 (Furankenshutain tai Chitei Kaijū Baragon)''
at

Japanese Movie Database The , more commonly known as simply JMDb, is an online database of information about Japanese movies, actors, and production crew personnel. It is similar to the Internet Movie Database but lists only those films initially released in Japan. Y. ...

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