| Article |
| Gallery |
| Gammera the Invincible | |
 Theatrical release poster | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Sandy Howard Noriaki Yuasa |
| Produced by | Ken Barnett Robert Baron Masaichi Nagata |
| Written by | Richard Kraft Niisan Takahashi |
| Starring | Brian Donlevy Albert Dekker Eiji Funakoshi |
| Music by | Tadashi Yamauchi Artie Butler The Moons |
| Cinematography | Julian C. Townsend Nobuo Munekawa |
| Editing by | Ross-Gaffney Inc. |
| Distributed by | Harris Associates, Inc. |
| Released | December 15, 1966 |
| Running time | 86 minutes |
| Budget | $???,??? |
| Gross revenue | $???,??? |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Preceded by | Gamera |
| Followed by | War of the Monsters |
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The super-monster even the H-bomb cannot destroy...
CAN PLAN "Z" STOP GAMMERA THE INVINCIBLE |
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— Tagline |
Gammera the Invincible is a Kaiju film directed by Sandy Howard and Noriaki Yuasa. It is a heavily re-edited American adaptation, commonly referred to as an "Americanization", of the 1965 Japanese film Gamera.[1] The film was a Japanese-American co-production, with the original footage produced by Daiei, Shots and scenes were moved around, while some were deleted completely.
Plot[]
An atomic explosion awakens Gammera, a giant fire breathing turtle monster from his millions of years of hibernation. Enraged at being roused from such a sound sleep, he takes it out on Tokyo.
Cast[]
- Brian Donlevy as Gen. Terry Arnold
- Albert Dekker as Secretary of Defense
- Diane Findlay as Sgt. Susan Embers
- John Baragrey as J.T. Standish
- Dick O'Neill as Gen. O'Neill
- Mort Marshall as Jules Manning
- Eiji Funakoshi as Dr. Hidaka (Stock footage)
- Michiko Sugata as Nobuyo (Stock footage)
- Harumi Kiritachi as Kyoke (Stock footage)
- Bob Carraway as Lt. Simpson
- Alan Oppenheimer as Dr. Contrare
- John McCurry as A1C Hopkins
- Steffen Zacharias as Sen. Billings
- Walter Arnold as American Ambassador
- Thomas Stubblefield as Captian Lovell
- Louis Zorich as Russian Ambassador
- Gene Bua as Lt. Clark
- Robin Craven as British Ambassador
- Yoshiro Uchida as Toshio Sakurai (Stock footage)
- Teruo Aragaki as Gammera (uncredited)
- George Hirose as Japanese Ambassador (uncredited)
Other Crew[]
- Produced by Ken Barnett
- Assistant directing by Sid Cooperschmidt
- Production design by Hank Aldrich
- assistant to producer Fran Wolf
- director of archive (Stock) footage Noriaki Yuasa
- Written by Niisan Takahashi (Credited as Nizo Takahashi as a misreading of the kanji in his Japanese name)
Alternate titles[]
- RiffTrax: Gammera the Invincible
- Gamera: the Invincible
- Gammera
Production[]
Gamera was the only film in the original Gamera series to receive a theatrical release in the United States. It was originally presented in America by World Entertainment Corp. and Harris Associates, Inc., who released it under the title Gammera, The Invincible, with two "m"s. All subsequent entries in the series spelled the main character's English name "Gamera," and were released directly to television by American International Television. Gammera, The Invincible's American premiere was in New Orleans on December 15, 1966.
Gammera, The Invincible was heavily re-edited from its original Japanese version. Shots and scenes were moved around, while some were deleted completely. The subplot involving Aoyagi's one-sided relationship with Kyoko was removed and Toshio's role in the plot was de-emphasized. Gamera's implied origins and connections to the Atlantean continent were also excised, and authorities are made initially unsure of Gamera's existence. New footage featuring American actors, including Albert Dekker and Brian Donlevy, was spliced in to create a more international feel and to replace scenes shot in Japan featuring American characters, in a style similar to the U.S. release of Godzilla, King of the Monsters!. Unused effects footage obtained from Daiei was also reinserted, as establishing shots and extensions to Gamera's attack on the geothermal power plant and Toshio's encounter with Gamera at the oil refinery.
Legacy[]
In 2017, an incomplete 35mm print of Gammera, The Invincible was acquired and scanned by Legend Films, Inc. and released in high definition on Amazon Video for streaming and download. Arrow Video has announced that the "Gammera" version of the film will be included in the complete Gamera set coming out this summer.
Gammera, The Invincible was dubbed by Titan Productions, Inc. It features the voices of Jack Curtis and Peter Fernandez, who are best known as voices in the English dubs of Speed Racer and Ultraman. A 1999 VHS by Neptune Media was the first version to present the film in its original aspect ratio.
In 1985, Sandy Frank Enterprises commissioned a new dub of the film, possibly recorded at Anvil Studios, which was first released on VHS on July 14, 1987, on Celebrity Home Entertainment's "Feature Creatures" label. A planned computer-colourized version of the film was scrapped when results of a Celebrity poll showed fans would prefer the original black and white release. Titled Gamera, the Sandy Frank version is based on the Japanese version of the film, albeit with minimal differences. Credits are superimposed over footage of ocean waves and placed at the beginning of the film, although the sequence with Gamera escaping the Arctic ice remains in the film, sans credits. Gamera's raid on the geothermal power plant was also edited differently in this version.
Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode[]
Gamera, along with the other four Sandy Frank Gamera movies, was mocked twice on Mystery Science Theater 3000, first on KTMA TV 23, a UHF station in the St. Paul-Minneapolis area, and later in the show's third season. Kevin Murphy, who played Tom Servo in the show from seasons 2-10, later riffed the "Gammera, The Invincible" version of the film with Bill Corbett, who played Crow from seasons 8-10, and Michael J. Nelson for Rifftrax.
Region 1 DVD releases of the film by Shout! Factory and Mill Creek Entertainment present it in its original uncut Japanese version with English subtitles, under the English title Gamera: The Giant Monster. The Gammera, The Invincible version of the film will be released for the first time on Blu-ray by Arrow Video as part of its Gamera: The Complete Collection box set, which also includes the original Japanese cut under the title Gamera.