Directed by Ishiro Honda, Half Human (known in Japan as Monster Snowman) was the first creature film from Toho after Godzilla (1954) and Godzilla Raids Again (1955). It reunited Godzilla stars Akira Takarada, Momoko Kochi and even Sachio Sakai in another supporting role right beside the duo who are acting as a couple once more. It sounds like a really exciting concept headed by a great crew and dependable cast, though it was plagued by controversy regarding its portrayal of the mountain people as backwards in a very stereotyped manner to its then mountainous region inhabits. This was the reason it was never released on video, only seen by theatrical, bootleg or TV syndication. The heavily altered American version, which we’ll be reviewing today, ultimately became the most widely seen edition of the film through its video releases.

In 1957, DCA (Distributors Corporation of America) , perhaps best known for distributing the infamous Ed Wood’s Plan 9 From Outer Space, acquired rights from Toho to release the feature under the title Half Human. DCA added new footage featuring American actors, headlined by John Carradine, an actor whose career spanned both A-list productions and B-movie classics. Carradine narrates the story to three fellow scientists, including Morris Ankrum, best known for his roles in 1950s science fiction films such as Invaders from Mars, Earth vs. the Flying Saucers, and The Giant Claw.  It was the 2nd Toho/Japanese Kaiju feature to have an American release pre-dating the more successful Rodan (1956) by a few months (Half Human’s May 1957 issue was a limited showing while it had a more widespread showing in December of 1958).

In terms of the American version’s plot, Dr. John Rayburn has just returned from Japan. He is explaining the details of his trip to two colleagues about the discovery of a giant abominable snowman. This is shown within flashbacks completely free of dialogue, with only Rayburn’s narration providing the context.

For the flashbacks, it starts off with two young men that are killed during a blizzard. This occurs under strange circumstances as their murder is heard on the phone by their three friends waiting out on a blizzard before joining back with them. With help from the police, they find the corpses of their two friends and large footprints from a strange humanoid creature. They return to the mountain once the snow thaws with a larger expedition to find the creature. The young man, Takeshii, is injured while alone, but is discovered and cared for by a young woman in her village that’s isolated in the mountains. The villagers take great offense and tie Takeshii over a cliff where he is saved by the abominable snowman. This makes him question its aggressiveness. Circus men, wanting to exploit the creature, successfully kidnap the beast. It ends up being saved, though, by its young son. In a chaotic struggle, the young beast is killed and the enraged father kills all the circus men. He continues on a rampage, destroying and killing almost all the local villagers. Takeshii and the expedition come across the still enraged Snowman as he kidnaps Takeshi’s girlfriend, Takeno. The surviving villager, who saved Takeshii earlier, leads the expedition in the cave. Once there she fights off the snowman to where they both fall into a hot lava pit to their deaths. Takeno is saved, and the body of the young son is taken to the United States for preservation and study by Dr. John Rayburn.

DCA provides a good example of how NOT to do added footage for a foreign film. It fails where Godzilla King of the Monsters succeeded. In King of the Monsters, Raymond Burr was creatively inserted in the story where he was interacting with the cast members as he was actually there, and if you didn’t point it out, it was difficult to tell at first.

Half Human, instead, went the less ambitious route by placing scientists in a room recalling the actual event, and this is where we depend on Dr. Rayburn’s reciting of the story for EVERYTHING. There’s no attempt made to even have the audience get to know or develop with its Japanese characters since we had to spend the most time with them. There’s also no attempt to get to know any of the scientists. They are just there listening and commenting on Rayburn’s story as he was actually there in the middle of the action, even though we do not see him once in any of the Japanese segments.

As for the acting, it’s very standard for a B film. While the Japanese segments seem stronger, we go at it here from expression. It is nice to see Takarada and Kochi looking near exactly how they did from Godzilla (1954) while they play a more routine couple. Sachio Sakai is also welcome face, although just like King of The Monsters, his role in the American versions is severely reduced to almost nothing whereas the Japanese version has him for a much larger role.  Akemi Negishi, best known as the dancing native mother in King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962), is the standout in both versions as the young villager who saves Takarada and fights off the Snowman. Here you can see the struggle of her character between the village traditions and being a more helpful person, and the pains through her eyes expressed towards the snowman her people worshiped only to be killed by it. She expressed great acting that can be seen in even the altered version of this.

For the American footage, John Carradine headlines the entire story. I have always really liked John Carradine, and the fact he was used instead of a forgettable standard B film actor saved this from being a complete bore. Seeing a member of the Universal Horror Classics Monsters standing next to an official Toho Kaiju suit (the young snowman) was very pleasing for me. Although John’s acting can be a “hit and miss” depending on the project. Here he plays John Rayburn as your basic scientist without much context outside him telling the story. The other scientists are just there as an “audience” to his narration with Morris Ankrum making an appearance as a mortician-like doctor for the Snowman corpse.

Thankfully some highlight special effect scenes are kept, so if this was your only source for the 1955 film over the years, you did get to see it just enough. I really do love the suit, and glad to see many of the stronger scenes were still kept in. One interesting fact with the American version was they shipped the original suit, the young snowman child, to the United States to be used for the American footage as John Carradine and the cast are standing next to the actual Toho suit.

Masaru Sato’s score is replaced with American stock music. None of it’s at all memorable, even compared to the more memorable stocks used for Gigantis the Fire Monster but it at least moves the pace along like your typical B-movie of the era.

At a short 63 minutes, it probably took me longer to reflect and write this review than the film was. To me, it’s not the all time worst Americanized adaptation (which belongs to the messier Varan the Unbelievable). The Snowman footage, and Carradine’s presence make this barely enjoyable for me. Plus, at this point, any science fiction B film from the 1950s feels like a comfort watch so I can’t say I was not enjoying myself though you can see its major flaws and where it went wrong. It makes you appreciate the American cut of King of the Monsters more since we see what they could have possibly done for the worst.