A Toho
and Hammer co-production, the film was first proposed
back in 1976; however, delays kept pushing it back tell
it ended up being a project for 1978, with an advance
poster already created. Although some reports point
that the film might have still been in production as
late as 1979 before the movie was finally canned.
Work on the film had actually already commenced on
Toho's part by the time that the financial backing from
Hammer fell through. Special effects guru Teruyoshi
Nakano had already designed and created the Nessie prop
by the time the project was finally axed. This wasn't
the first time a co-production between Toho and a foreign
company resulted in one of the companies pulling out
after production had started though, the first being
the TV version of Varan
in 1958. However, after the rights issues involving
another failed joint venture, Latitude
Zero (1969), following its initial theatrical
release, this project was most likely best deemed left
unfinished. This film wouldn't mark the end of the Nessie
prop, however, as special effects director Nakano would
bring the creature back as the Dragon in his last film,
Princess
from the Moon, done in 1987.
The cast from the project, as stated on the poster,
are: Bryan Forbes as director, Teruyoshi Nakano as special
effects director, David Frost, Euan Lloyd, Michael Carreras,
and Tomoyuki
Tanaka as producers.
The project is also sometimes referred to by its longer
title: Nessie: The Loch Ness Monster.
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