General Gamera Thread

[Godzilla21]

Interesting bit of trivia. Gamera vs Gyaos actually out earned Son of Godzilla at the box office in 1967

[Terasawa]

Interesting bit of trivia. Gamera vs Gyaos actually out earned Son of Godzilla at the box office in 1967

Where'd you hear that, the audio commentary on the Arrow set?

[Godzilla21]

Interesting bit of trivia. Gamera vs Gyaos actually out earned Son of Godzilla at the box office in 1967

Where'd you hear that, the audio commentary on the Arrow set?

Nope a book. I think one of Lemays

[Terasawa]

Interesting bit of trivia. Gamera vs Gyaos actually out earned Son of Godzilla at the box office in 1967

Where'd you hear that, the audio commentary on the Arrow set?

Nope a book. I think one of Lemays

Thanks! It seems like a lot of the Showa Godzilla & Gamera financial figures are obscure, or at least fragmented across many different sources. For example, Japanese Wikipedia has a gross for SoG (uncited, however) while a budget for Gamera vs Gaos was estimated by Yuasa in Monsters Are Attacking Tokyo. It's all minorly frustrating.

[Godzilla21]

Where'd you hear that, the audio commentary on the Arrow set?

Nope a book. I think one of Lemays

Thanks! It seems like a lot of the Showa Godzilla & Gamera financial figures are obscure, or at least fragmented across many different sources. For example, Japanese Wikipedia has a gross for SoG (uncited, however) while a budget for Gamera vs Gaos was estimated by Yuasa in Monsters Are Attacking Tokyo. It's all minorly frustrating.

Let me go through the books I own to find it for you. It was something I learned of in the last few months and I've only read 2 or 3 books since then. Hang tight

Ok it was one of Lemay's books. The one on the film writer's. He has a chapter on 1967, page 94. He even mentions that The X From Outer Space outgrossed SOG! Wow!

[Spuro]

Interesting bit of trivia. Gamera vs Gyaos actually out earned Son of Godzilla at the box office in 1967

It's no wonder Toho originally intended Destroy All Monsters to be the last film.

[Godzilla21]

Where'd you hear that, the audio commentary on the Arrow set?

Nope a book. I think one of Lemays

Thanks! It seems like a lot of the Showa Godzilla & Gamera financial figures are obscure, or at least fragmented across many different sources. For example, Japanese Wikipedia has a gross for SoG (uncited, however) while a budget for Gamera vs Gaos was estimated by Yuasa in Monsters Are Attacking Tokyo. It's all minorly frustrating.

Ok it was one of Lemay's books. The one on the film writer's. He has a chapter on 1967, page 94. He even mentions that The X From Outer Space outgrossed SOG! Wow!

[Kaltes-Herzeleid]

So far I've re-watched both Gamera 3 and 1 in 4K on my Arrow steelbook release. Been a real treat experiencing these films in that level of quality and with vastly superior subtitles to boot.

[StreamOfKaijuness]

Oh man that strangely reminds me how Yuasa sounded gleeful that when the American occupying force saw some of Tsuburaya's movies they thought it was real war footage. "Ha ha his work is so good they think that's real battle footage! What a loser!' Yuasa is quite a character and you wouldn't have to change much if there was a manga centering around him making the Gamera movies.

From David Milner’s July 1996 interview with Noriaki Yuasa (translated by Yoshihiko Shibata), which was reprinted in the extra book that came with Arrow’s limited-edition Gamera set:

David Milner: Were you surprised by the great success of Gamera?

Noriaki Yuasa: Yes. I'm not sure why it was so successful. It reflected the spirit of the mid-1960's. Maybe that's why.

The people who took part in the production of the Godzilla movies had been involved in World War II, so I can understand why they made Godzilla (1954) the way they did, but to me, showing casualties was outrageous. I had a very strong reaction against it. It was not an accurate portrayal of the aftermath of war.

Toho cooperated with the military during the war. For example, special effects footage that it created showing American planes being shot down was passed off as real footage. I think Toho's executives felt guilty about that.

Hydrogen bombs were part of Gamera, but only provided the explanation for Gamera's appearance. They were not used to symbolize man's malevolence. I think that may be another reason for Gamera’s success.

To me and the other people who worked in the Japanese film industry during its Golden Age, successful movies were no surprise. They seemed natural. However, Japanese filmmakers react very differently nowadays. If they have a hit, they feel like they've conquered the world.

Yuasa seems to have been commenting not on the quality of Toho’s special effects work, but on what he perceived to be the hypocrisy of Toho cooperating with the Japanese government to produce war propaganda films during WWII only to later release films like Godzilla with such bold antiwar themes and imagery. That’s along the same lines as something else Yuasa said in that same interview:

DM: Did you find working with child actors difficult?

NY: I love children, and am a little childish myself. If you focus on having them perform for one scene at a time, you can work with them.

My feelings regarding children come from my childhood experiences. During World War II, most of the adults I knew, including many of my teachers, continually stressed the importance of nationalism. However, after Japan was defeated and many political parties were formed, a teacher of mine switched from being a nationalist to a Communist and then started openly advocating Communism. This was very traumatic for me. So, I made Gamera a guardian whom children could rely on and trust.

Having been born in 1933, Yuasa was a kid during WWII and he came of age in the war’s aftermath, so his perspective is certainly unique compared to those of Ishiro Honda or Eiji Tsuburaya.

[Kaltes-Herzeleid]

Yuasa seems to have been commenting not on the quality of Toho’s special effects work, but on what he perceived to be the hypocrisy of Toho cooperating with the Japanese government to produce war propaganda films during WWII only to later release films like Godzilla with such bold antiwar themes and imagery. That’s along the same lines as something else Yuasa said in that same interview:

DM: Did you find working with child actors difficult?

NY: I love children, and am a little childish myself. If you focus on having them perform for one scene at a time, you can work with them.

My feelings regarding children come from my childhood experiences. During World War II, most of the adults I knew, including many of my teachers, continually stressed the importance of nationalism. However, after Japan was defeated and many political parties were formed, a teacher of mine switched from being a nationalist to a Communist and then started openly advocating Communism. This was very traumatic for me. So, I made Gamera a guardian whom children could rely on and trust.

Having been born in 1933, Yuasa was a kid during WWII and he came of age in the war’s aftermath, so his perspective is certainly unique compared to those of Ishiro Honda or Eiji Tsuburaya.

Wholesome as hell, really. Stuff like this just deepens my appreciation not just of Showa Gamera, but the character himself as a whole. Thanks for posting this.

[LSD Jellyfish]

Oh man that strangely reminds me how Yuasa sounded gleeful that when the American occupying force saw some of Tsuburaya's movies they thought it was real war footage. "Ha ha his work is so good they think that's real battle footage! What a loser!' Yuasa is quite a character and you wouldn't have to change much if there was a manga centering around him making the Gamera movies.

From David Milner’s July 1996 interview with Noriaki Yuasa (translated by Yoshihiko Shibata), which was reprinted in the extra book that came with Arrow’s limited-edition Gamera set:

David Milner: Were you surprised by the great success of Gamera?

Noriaki Yuasa: Yes. I'm not sure why it was so successful. It reflected the spirit of the mid-1960's. Maybe that's why.

The people who took part in the production of the Godzilla movies had been involved in World War II, so I can understand why they made Godzilla (1954) the way they did, but to me, showing casualties was outrageous. I had a very strong reaction against it. It was not an accurate portrayal of the aftermath of war.

Toho cooperated with the military during the war. For example, special effects footage that it created showing American planes being shot down was passed off as real footage. I think Toho's executives felt guilty about that.

Hydrogen bombs were part of Gamera, but only provided the explanation for Gamera's appearance. They were not used to symbolize man's malevolence. I think that may be another reason for Gamera’s success.

To me and the other people who worked in the Japanese film industry during its Golden Age, successful movies were no surprise. They seemed natural. However, Japanese filmmakers react very differently nowadays. If they have a hit, they feel like they've conquered the world.

Yuasa seems to have been commenting not on the quality of Toho’s special effects work, but on what he perceived to be the hypocrisy of Toho cooperating with the Japanese government to produce war propaganda films during WWII only to later release films like Godzilla with such bold antiwar themes and imagery. That’s along the same lines as something else Yuasa said in that same interview:

DM: Did you find working with child actors difficult?

NY: I love children, and am a little childish myself. If you focus on having them perform for one scene at a time, you can work with them.

My feelings regarding children come from my childhood experiences. During World War II, most of the adults I knew, including many of my teachers, continually stressed the importance of nationalism. However, after Japan was defeated and many political parties were formed, a teacher of mine switched from being a nationalist to a Communist and then started openly advocating Communism. This was very traumatic for me. So, I made Gamera a guardian whom children could rely on and trust.

Having been born in 1933, Yuasa was a kid during WWII and he came of age in the war’s aftermath, so his perspective is certainly unique compared to those of Ishiro Honda or Eiji Tsuburaya.

Thank you for sharing this. This is really important to distinguish Godzilla and Gamera, and makes my appreciation for both franchises grow exponentially, even including some of the darker intricacies.

[Terasawa]

Ok it was one of Lemay's books. The one on the film writer's. He has a chapter on 1967, page 94. He even mentions that The X From Outer Space outgrossed SOG! Wow!

Thanks! I'll have to ask him where he gets his '60s Japanese box office figures.

[Angilasman]

Nope a book. I think one of Lemays

Thanks! It seems like a lot of the Showa Godzilla & Gamera financial figures are obscure, or at least fragmented across many different sources. For example, Japanese Wikipedia has a gross for SoG (uncited, however) while a budget for Gamera vs Gaos was estimated by Yuasa in Monsters Are Attacking Tokyo. It's all minorly frustrating.

Let me go through the books I own to find it for you. It was something I learned of in the last few months and I've only read 2 or 3 books since then. Hang tight

Ok it was one of Lemay's books. The one on the film writer's. He has a chapter on 1967, page 94. He even mentions that The X From Outer Space outgrossed SOG! Wow!

Never knew exact figures, but not surprising: the fact that the previous two movies made less money and didn't receive theatrical distribution in the US were why DAM was conceived as a spectacular finale to cap the series off.

Plus, Gamera vs. Gyaos is widely regarded as the highlight of the Showa series (enough so that the '90s reboot is essentially a remake of this particular film), established the formula for the series, and even Ishiro Honda liked the film - sending a congratulatory letter to the screenwriter!

Come to think of it: knowing Honda's dissatisfaction with being pigeonholed as a sci-fi spectacle director instead of the wide array of films he did in the '50s, I imagine Honda admired that Gamera vs. Gyaos was able to combine domestic situations and small town drama into a kaiju movie. A possible inspiration for All Monsters Attack?

[daveblackeye15]

Sweet got my Showa/Heisei set and the steel box for the Heisei Trilogy.

[daveblackeye15]

And I just noticed on the Showa Arrow Collection: there is something from Super Monster. The three women are flying. LOL. It's like the only original things you can take from that film is them or Xenon and I don't know if you can put in a portion of Xenon without Disney getting angry.

[Kaltes-Herzeleid]

[tbeasley]

There's so much cool BTS stuff from the Heisei trilogy it's incredible.

[Mac Daddy MM]

Got the recently released Showa Gamera boxset with the Heisei set en route. I haven't watched a Gamera movie since Arrow initially announced the Complete Collection that I was forced to miss out on for various reasons. Now that I'm sitting down and having myself a Gamerathon, I nearly forgotten how much I like Barugon and Gyaos. Being able to watch the American version of Gamera for the first time in 10+ years is a great treat as well. It's weird that since I already had the releases from a while ago that had good transfers, it is STILL weird watching these movies with great sound and audio. It seems like just yesterday when I couldn't even make out details in the Showa films thanks to the crappy releases that predated.

I'm on Viras now, and I know this is where the Showa era starts to run its course. Barugon remains my favorite of the Showa Gamera films, with Guiron and Gyaos following. Gamera vs. Guiron will forever be my greatest guilty pleasure ever.

[Kaltes-Herzeleid]

Re-watching Gamera Vs. Gyaos two or so days ago makes me sad so many dismiss Showa Gamera. I absolutely love the Heisei trilogy (their my favorite films of all time for fucks sake) but I think it's wrong to ignore an entire part of a character's history like that. I do think there's value to be had in the best of Showa Gamera.

[Vakanai]

Re-watching Gamera Vs. Gyaos two or so days ago makes me sad so many dismiss Showa Gamera. I absolutely love the Heisei trilogy (their my favorite films of all time for skreeonks sake) but I think it's wrong to ignore an entire part of a character's history like that. I do think there's value to be had in the best of Showa Gamera.

I'd like to go back to a more Showa take on Gyaos - as a singular Gamera-sized foe, instead of multiple smaller enemies.