Story |
A scholar
and his student disembark to a small area in the Tohoku
region to gather research concerning the natives' mountain
god: Baradagi. However, during their expedition, they
stumble upon the root of the natives' lore: a giant,
spike incrusted, monster called Varan, who quickly kills
both of the researchers. The creature then moves on
and wipes out the nearby Iwaya village before submerging
underwater.
It isn't long before word of the monster reaches the
Japanese government, and an Anti-Varan Headquarters
is established by the Ministry of Defense. Meanwhile,
Sugimoto, a biology professor, concludes from his research
that this monster is a Varanopode, a creature which
lived some 185 million years ago. An expert in the field,
the Ministry of defense quickly enlists Sugimoto's aid
after his discovery, and he joins the attack squad being
positioned near the Tohoku region.
Once fully mobilized, the military wastes no time in
beginning their assault, as they shell the nearby lake
with toxic chemicals to drive out the beast. Varan responds
to the attack, emerging from the surf as nearby tanks
and rocket launchers unload a volley of shots at the
creature. The attack proves ineffective, though, as
Varan begins to march through the defense lines. During
the creature's raid, a nearby tree is toppled over and
Yuriko, a reporter, is caught underneath it. Kenji,
one of Sugimoto's aids, arrives just in time to save
the girl from the monster's advance. The pair runaway
and take shelter in a nearby cave, while Varan remains
in close pursuit and blocks off their exit. Professor
Sugimoto, running off a hunch, advises the military
to fire their flares toward the mountain to distract
Varan. The professor's hunch proves to be well founded,
as the creature leaves the mouth of the cave and climbs
the mountain where the flares were fired. However, unexpectedly,
Varan raises his arms to reveal large flaps of skin
which the monster uses to glide away from the mountain
and into the ocean.
Varan quickly swims through the current and arrives
near Haneda airport, in Tokyo, by nightfall. Having
evacuated the area, the military prepares for another
confrontation with the monster, as nearby battleships,
tanks and jets all focus their attacks on the creature.
As before, though, the conventional weaponry has no
effect. Fortunately, the military has one final means
of attack, and begins to prepare a large quantity of
Special Gunpowder, a powerful new explosive, to utilize
against the creature. Kenji makes the first strike:
driving a truck laced with the explosives near the monster,
which is then detonated as Varan approaches it. Once
again, though, the attack proves unsuccessful. The professor,
falling back on his earlier hunch, requests that the
military launch a light bomb into the sky, filled with
the Special Gunpowder set on a timed fuse. The request
is fulfilled, and Varan acts as Sugimoto had hoped,
eating the flare while its in mid-air. The creature
is then rocked with an explosion that hits from inside,
as Varan retreats back into the water. He is too late,
though, as a final explosion detonates from his own
body, destroying the creature.
|
Background |
The original
version of Varan
(1958), this project started as a made for TV film that
was being produced by Toho and AB-PT, a division of
ABC, following the success of Toho's kaiju pictures
in the US theatrical arena. For the movie, Toho reunited
most of the key players who worked on Rodan
(1956), including director Ishiro
Honda, producer Tomoyuki
Tanaka, writer Shinichi Sekizawa, special effects
director Eiji
Tsuburaya, and composer Akira
Ifukube. The film was intended to be shown through
ABC for American audiences, and Toho constructed the
picture accordingly: filming in black and white and
on a full screen, 1.33:1, aspect ratio.
However, like Latitude
Zero (1969), the US backing for the project
fell through. When this occurred, though, Toho had already
finished most of the film. Ifukube's score was ready
to go and most of the principal shooting was already completed.
Consequently, Toho then prepared to adapt Varan for a
theatrical release in Japan, instead of throwing away
the work and money that had already been spent on the
project. To do this, Toho had the writers draft another
screenplay, adding many new segments to the film. These segments included
the early side plot with the butterflies and the struggle
with the Iwaya villagers, while rewriting most of the
scenes involving dialogue. More special effect shots
were commissioned as well, including the lengthy water
battles seen in the final product. Ifukube was also
hired to re-score the film, allowing the composer to
reconstruct the score utilizing a bigger orchestra,
while also composing music for the added scenes.
Despite Toho's continued commitment to the project,
though, several problems arose in adapting the movie.
The most apparent being that the film had to be completed
in black and white to match the footage that had already
been done, while Toho had been doing color special effects
movies since 1956 with The
Legend of the White Serpent. The other was
that the film had to be prepared to be shown in a Toho
Scope, 2.35:1, aspect ratio, while the already completed
footage was shot at full screen. To solve this dilemma,
the already completed footage was cropped greatly in
order to match with the new scenes.
The newly completed film was released in Japanese theaters
on October 14th, 1958; however, fascination with the
film's troubled production lived on in the decades to
come. In 1996, Ifukube's score for the televised version
of the film was released by Futureland as additional
tracks on their Varan CD. In 2005, Toho released
Varan on DVD, including the televised version
as an extra. As expected, the feature was incomplete,
with some footage missing, although most of the audio
had been recovered. The feature also revealed that the
film was intended to be a mere 54 minutes in length,
while also being broken down into two smaller episodes,
each 26 minutes in length. Sadly, the footage was cropped
for a 2.35:1 aspect ratio, instead of the TV version's
original full screen dimensions. This feature was also
reprinted on Tokyo Shock's 2005 release of the movie
under Varan
the Unbelievable.
|
Monsters |
Aliens, SDF, Misc |
Varan |
M24
Chaffee Tank, F86F
Saber Jet, Missile
Launcher Trucks, Sikorsky
S-51 Helicopter, Landing
Craft | |