Talkback: The Human Vapor (1960)

[Mr_Goji_and_Watch]

Couldn't find an earlier thread, apologies if there's one already.


Anyways, let's discuss The Human Vapor. I thought it was brilliant, truly one of Honda's best science fiction films. His skills as a director are really put to the test, and boy does he deliver. The blocking and editing is masterful all throughout, and the ending is truly spectacular. I don't wanna spoil it, but it's drawn out perfectly. Kimura and Honda's writing is on point, and the relationship between the titular character and a famous dancer is brilliantly unraveled. Speaking of the human vapor, Yoshio Tsuchiya is absolutely devilish in this role. It's criminal that it hasn't gotten an English subtitled release in the west, it's a really fantastic crime thriller/drama. I really encourage everyone to try to watch it.

[MechaGoji Bro7503]

Since when do you apologize

I've been meaning to track this down, I've seen some decent prices on EBay. Thankfully I haven't spoiled myself on anything regarding the film.

[ThunderScore]

James Hong dubbed Tsuchiya in the US version, quite well IMO.

[PitchBlackProgress]

I agree 100% with everything said, this film is a genuine Toho masterpiece, if I had to pick a favorite non-daikaiju film, it’d be this one lol.

[Terasawa]

For Kinema Junpo in ‘09, Japanese critics ranked this as one of the 200 best Japanese films of all time, one of only four Toho tokusatsu films to make the list. The original Godzilla, The Last War, and House were the others. (In my opinion House doesn’t really fit that category but I figured someone would complain if I hadnt mentioned it.)

[Space Hunter M]

[Joseph Goodman]

Did that "Trio" transfer of this film ever run anywhere else? It was on Amazon Prime at one point, but it isn't there now.

[Terasawa]

It aired on Trio during a Quentin Tarantino-hosted marathon probably close to 15 years ago. Besides that I believe it was issued on video, although most video releases were transfers from 16mm.

[Tohosaurus]

Was it ever put on R1 DVD? I don't think I've ever seen that (and how I've never gotten to see it). Bummer that it never went to DVD from, say, MB, that put out a lot of non-Godzilla tokusatsu on DVD for us. Today with the decline of home media outside of streaming, there's probably as limited a market as ever for a DVD of this.

[UltramanGoji]

Yeah, this is one of the few Showa-era Toho Sci-Fi films that didn't make it to R1 DVD. A shame, but at least we have torrenting so it's not like it's impossible to see this film.

[tbeasley]

MGM has Human Vapor along with Gorath and The Last War but they've never done anything with them.

[Terasawa]

Gorath is on Comet TV a few times a year, I would say that’s more than you give them credit for. Hell, even Vapor has been shown on tv, though not in the last decade. The only one MGM has apparently never done anything with is War, and that’s understandable as it’s a bad Americanization of a talky and dated Japanese drama.

True they aren’t on DVD. As has been said many times, MGM only has poor film elements and pretty cruddy video masters for these three titles. They’re not going to undertake extensive restorations of each film for them to sell poorly on video.

[PitchBlackProgress]

Wish Vapor got a Blu-ray releases

[Mr_Goji_and_Watch]

Some HD screenshots from the version available on Japanese iTunes and I think Japanese Amazon Prime Video.

btw you can see (who I assume to be going by their hat) Honda and his crew reflected on car windows in some shots. Just a little funny detail I've never seen mentioned anywhere else.

Spoiler:

Guess it's not a masterpiece anymore /s

[MechaGoji Bro7503]

I've been meaning to post about this about this, it's a very interesting film that I tracked down with the help of a friend.

It's great! Yoshio Tsuchiya was great as he usually is, I felt for Mizuno as he essentially wondered into what would end up taking his life. The climax with him watching Fujichiyo perform one final time was unique and heartbreaking, you could see her put her heart into it while knowing it won't end happily. I'll definitely being rewatching this in the future, it deserves more praise. The more I view it the more things I'll pick up.
Also points for having Yoshibumi Tajima. Kunio Miyauchi did a nice job for his first film score, I'm more familiar with his tie in songs for the toku flicks of the '70s, but the main theme here is great.

A cool fact I found is that there was a stage adaptation of this with Kumi Mizuno in 2009!

[LSD Jellyfish]

I`m currently going through a phase of watching a lot of the Toho produced horror and disaster films; I`ll definitely watch this soon.

Added in 2 days 9 hours 32 minutes 9 seconds:
That feel when you mix this up with the H-Man and accidentally watch a vastly inferior film. Oh well. Human Vapor tomorrow I suppose!

[Mr_Goji_and_Watch]

I`m currently going through a phase of watching a lot of the Toho produced horror and disaster films; I`ll definitely watch this soon.

Added in 2 days 9 hours 32 minutes 9 seconds:
That feel when you mix this up with the H-Man and accidentally watch a vastly inferior film. Oh well. Human Vapor tomorrow I suppose!

Did you like it

[LSD Jellyfish]

I`m currently going through a phase of watching a lot of the Toho produced horror and disaster films; I`ll definitely watch this soon.

Added in 2 days 9 hours 32 minutes 9 seconds:
That feel when you mix this up with the H-Man and accidentally watch a vastly inferior film. Oh well. Human Vapor tomorrow I suppose!

Did you like it

Oh yeah I liked it a lot.

One thing I appreciated is how the human vapor was a "day-time killer". I thought it was really horrific how he could just show up anywhere and wasn`t scared to. He wasn`t like a typical slasher villain or monster that waits for people alone and in the dark.

I also liked the tragic backstory, and the tragic ending. A lot of beautiful imagery and cinematography here and there.

I think there were some moments it dragged, but overall it gets a high recommendation from anyone who likes the showa aesthetic.

[Stump Feet]

The Human Vapor might just be my second most beloved non-Godzilla film Toho’s ever done with Seventh Samurai and War of the Gargantuas coming in real close behind it.

A must watch if you’re into Toho’s non-kaiju films.

[Terasawa]

I'm not gaga about this the way some are but I think it's a strong film. I don't particularly like either Mihashi or Sata's performances or the characters they play but the rest of the cast delivers. Especially Tsuchiya, who gives his strongest tokusatsu performance until probably Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah. The first decade of Toho tokusatsu/genre movies is my favorite in part because of films like this. It's unfortunate that Toho would eventually focus solely on Godzilla movies. I love Godzilla vs. Gigan but how many more ideas like this did Takeshi Kimura have kicking around?