Lovesusti The Worst Film Ever

ChanBot i must have seen a different film!!

MamaGravity good back-story, and good acting

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

JLRVancouver Ostensibly a sequel to 1965's "Frankenstein Conquers the World", the connection between "War of the Gargantuas" and that film is pretty tenuous (especially if watching an English-dubbed version* in which the name 'Frankenstein' is never used). Apparently, despite Frankenstein's supposed demise at the end of FCtW, some of his tissue developed into a savage green clone named 'Gaira' AND either the original Frankenstein survived to become the mellow brown giant 'Sanda' OR both 'Gargantuas/Frankensteins' are clones grown from the discarded tissue (this is far from clear). The evil Gaira dispatches a giant octopus, sinks a ship (where he demonstrates an appetite for humans), and then attacks an airport (an amazing miniature set considering its brief screen-time). As usual, the JDF's conventional weapons are useless against the marauding colossus but the new maser cannons carve him up pretty badly. At this point Sanda appears and the two monsters go into hiding. An American professor working in Japan (a non-dancing Russ Tamblyn) points out to the military that, if a fragment of the original Frankenstein's tissue begat the behemoths (one or both), then blowing Gaira to pieces would be ill advised. This complicates anti-Frankenstein strategies, but the gigantic pair begin to fight each other so the JDF is off the hook for saving Japan (yet again). The humanoid 'Gargantuas/Frankensteins' are a bit of a departure for Toho's monster factory but are surprisingly engaging. The miniature cityscapes that they destroy are as good as any in the Showa-era Godzilla films and in general, the optical effects (maser beams, back projections, mattes, etc) are quite effective. The presence of Russ Tamblyn (best known for his energetic choreography in "West Side Story" (1961) or "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" (1954)) adds little to the film (apparently he was a pain in the ass to work with) and the American professor character was likely included to make the film more marketable in the USA. His assistant (Akemi Togawa (Kumi Mizuno)) supposedly worked with a young Sanda (hence the inconsistency with Sanda being a clone of the original Frankenstein), which is all very confusing, as Kumi Mizuno was in FCtW and did interact with the young Frankenstein, but as a character named Dr. Sueko Togami. While definitely a kaiju film not to be thought about too carefully, "War of the Gargantuas" is fast-paced, well-executed, and quite entertaining in a silly sort of way. * there appear to be a number of versions in circulation, I am commenting on the Classic Media subtitled Japanese version on DVD.

a_chinn Two giant Godzilla sized Kaiju go toe-to-toe in this entertaining Japanese monster movie. Gaira is the giant green violent savage gorilla-like monster from the sea and Sanda is the giant brown peaceful gorilla-like monster who lives in the mountains. The film starts with the green one going on a puny human killing spree. The puny humans almost kill the green monster when the brown monster shows up to rescue it's brother. After the green one recovers, it resumes killing puny human and the brown one realized he must stop the green one. The two fight a slow motion battle in a miniature Tokyo, which is a whole lot of fun for Japanese monster movie fans. Compared to other Kaiju films, this one consistently features giant monsters throughout and didn't make it's audience wait through dull talky exposition between rubber suited monster battle. Overall, "The War of the Gargantuas" a must see for fans of rubber suited actors smashing miniature sets.

tarwaterthomas Well do I remember this two-monster rally, because I saw it in the summer of 1972 on KTLA, Channel 5, from Los Angeles (we just had it added to our cable lineup). The movie starts with a fishing boat being attacked by a gigantic octopus, complete with red glowing eyeballs. And just when the five-men crew couldn't have it any worse, along comes a green-skinned gargantuan humanoid. It rips the octopus apart, sinks the fishing boat, and goes after the crewmembers who are swimming for their lives. Most of them don't make it. Dr. Paul Stewart (played by Russ Tamblyn) is understandably perplexed. It couldn't be his creature, although it escaped five years ago. Well, one thing leads to another and it turns out that Green Gargantua is an offshoot of Dr. Stewart's Brown Gargantua. Brown Gargantua is kind and gentle, while Green Gargantua is evil through and through. The Japanese military does not know the difference and does not care. As far as they're concerned, both monsters are a menace. There are some good scenes to be had: when Green Gargantua is electrified by a series of electrodes planted in a river and is fired on by several space-age laser weapons on mobile vehicles. Dr. Stewart warns that if both monsters are blasted to bits, the surviving cells will multiply and there will be thousands of Gargantuas overrunning the world. There's another scene of a night club chanteuse (played by Kipp Hamilton, who was Carol Burnette's sister-in-law) singing "The Words Get Stuck In My Throat" while she's dropping sharps and flats all over the floor while the house lights are off. And no sooner does she get through than Green Gargantua picks her up and lifts her upwards like King Kong did with Ann Darrow in the 1933 film. Then he drops her from a height of 50 feet. The movie certainly lives up to the title and it's one of my guilty pleasures. It was released in the U.S. as a double feature and paired with MONSTER ZERO; both films made it to the silver screen in 1970. And by the time THE WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS was released, Russ Tamblyn's acting career had basically gotten away from him. By 1970, he'd already starred in some craptactular flicks directed by one of the worst movie makers ever to work in Hollywoodland, Al Adamson. And how about the ending scene where a convenient underwater volcano in Tokyo Bay erupts and destroys both Gargantuas----or does it? The way the movie ended left the possibility of a sequel and as it turns out, there was a proposed movie that would have had Godzilla fighting one of the Gargantuas. Unfortunately, it was never made. If you get the Classics Media DVD release, you get the English-language version and the original Japanese version (it's only 88 minutes long, while the Americanized version runs 92 minutes long). This is tarwaterthomas saying, enjoy this flick.

BaronBl00d Well, I have an awfully big spot in my heart for the Toho Godzilla films of the 60's and 70's. I had never seen this one, learned it was a sequel to a film about Frankenstein I also had never seen, and ended up thoroughly enjoying it. I saw the American version where just about every vestige that might relate itself to Frankenstein Vs. Baragon had been eliminated. Here we have two gargantuas - Gaira and Sanda - clearly related yet very different. One is green. The other beige if you will. One, the green one, spends most of its time in the sea, the other on land. One hates bright lights. The other does not mind at all. One eats people. The other is friendly toward people. The list of comparisons and contrast could go on even longer. What does appear to be true is that the green one came from the brown one when it scraped some of itself somewhere or somehow its cell scattered thus creating Gaira. Gaira is the bad one. Sanda is the good one. Anyway, before we get to their "epic" battle we find that the brown one had once been small and studied at a scientific institute led by the blandest, hip-looking scientist alive - Amerian Russ Tamblyn. Tamblyn looks SO bored throughout the picture and utters his lines with absolutely no conviction at all. He is just awful in this. Fortunately for us, his pretty assistant does a good job. Toho regular Kumi Mizumo gives this film some much needed pulse. But lest you believe the living humans are the most important characters in the film - they are really the two monsters and director Ishiro Honda. The opening scene with Gaira and the squid and the ship was very compelling. The miniature sets and those cool tank-like machines that emit electrical currents also were most impressive. Honda was always a very good director. American producer and president of American International Pictures Henry Saperstein barely gives Honda any credit for his name is jumbled with all the other film credits while his name(Saperstein's) is huge - several times. Yeah, he was a big shot! This is a pleasant film with some great scenes and also some funny scenes - not though I am sure they were meant to be. As I said the opening scene is probably the best. But the scene where Gaira is temporarily defeated by those cool machines is another great scene as is the scene where the two monsters meet in the deserted city and finally take their fight to the sea. Gaira also eats a woman on screen - something I never recall seeing in a Godzilla picture. But we also get a ridiculous scene of a beautiful American redhead(the lovely and unfortunately shortly-lived Kipp Hamilton) crooning a ridiculous song("The words get stuck in my throat") when Gaira comes up from behind and attacks. How about the scene with the uber-happy hikers? And there is Russ Tamblyn. He is VERY bad. Notwithstanding all of that, I enjoyed War of the Gargantuas immensely.