the Invincible Gamera Movie Review

This fun monster flick was Japanese Daiei Studio's answer to Godzilla. Gamera, a monstrous prehistoric turtle with huge tusks, is released from his arctic tomb by an ill-timed atomic explosion. Able to breathe fire and fly (presumably a side-effect of that pesky ol’ radiation), the Shelled Wonder zooms around destroying things and generally causing panic. The first and probably the best of the Gamera series, this one is in black and white and portrays the mighty turtle as a villain. A turtle-obsessed little boy named Kenny, however, foreshadows Gamera's later role as “Friend to Children Everywhere.” Dubbed in English. Like Godzilla, the American theatrical version of Gamera was altered to include added scenes featuring Anglo actors – in this case, Brian Donlevy and Albert Dekker as U.S. military men. This version has almost completely disappeared in favor of the current, more straightforward video incarnation. After this initial outing, director Noriaki Yuasa stepped down to concentrate on only the special effects. The giant turtle returned for seven silly sequels full of juvenile hijinks aimed at children (which also succeeded in dragging the Godzilla series down to the same level), before returning for a surprisingly good semi-remake in 1985. AKA: Gamera; Gammera; Daikaiju Gamera.

1966 86m/B JP Eiji Funakoshi, Harumi Kiritachi, Junichiro Yamashiko, Yoshiro Uchida, Brian Donlevy, Albert Dekker, Diane Findlay, John Baragrey, Dick O'Neill, Yoshiro Kitahara; D: Noriaki Yuasa; W: Fumi Takahashi; C: Nobuo Munekawa. VHS, LV JFK, SNC