Frankenstein Conquers the World
Theatrical poster for Frankenstein tai Chitei Kaijū (1965)
Directed by	Ishirō Honda
Produced by	Tomoyuki Tanaka Henry G. Saperstein
Written by	Reuben Bercovitch Takeshi Kimura
Starring	Nick Adams Tadao Takashima Kumi Mizuno
Music by	Akira Ifukube
Cinematography	Hajime Koizumi Sadamasa Arikawa
Editing by	Ryohei Fujii
Distributed by	Toho American International Pictures
Release date(s)	August 8, 1965 July 8, 1966
Running time	93 min. 87 min. (USA)
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese
Followed by	War of the Gargantuas
IMDb profile

Frankenstein Conquers the World, released in Japan as Frankenstein tai Chitei Kaijū (フランケンシュタイン対地底怪獣, Furankenshutain tai Chitei Kaijū^?, lit. "Frankenstein versus Subterranean Monster") and Toho's official English title is Frankenstein vs. Baragon, is a tokusatsu kaiju/horror film produced in 1965 by Toho Company Ltd. This film features a Japanized version of the Frankenstein Monster, who becomes giant-sized to fight a giant subterranean monster, Baragon. Image File history File links Frankenstein_Conquers_the_World_1965. ... Ishirō Honda (本多 猪四郎 Honda Ishirō, May 7, 1911 in Yamagata Prefecture – February 28, 1993) was a Japanese film director. ... Tomoyuki Tanaka (田中友幸) was a Japanese movie producer, most famous for creating the Godzilla movies. ... Takeshi Kimura (February 4, 1912 – January 1988) was a Japanese screenwriter who wrote many films for Toho studios. ... Nick Adams born Nicholas Aloysius Adamshock (July 10, 1931, Nanticoke, Pennsylvania -- February 7, 1968, Hollywood, California), was an American actor. ... Akira Ifukube (伊福部 昭 Ifukube Akira, 31 May 1914 – 8 February 2006) was a Japanese composer of classical music and film scores, perhaps best known for his work on the soundtracks of the Godzilla movies. ... The English-language version of Tohos famous logo, used from the early 1960s to the late 1990s. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... The early AIP logo. ... is the 220th day of the year (221st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1965 (MCMLXV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the 1965 Gregorian calendar. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... is the 189th day of the year (190th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the 1966 Gregorian calendar. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Japan. ... War of the Gargantuas, released in Japan as Frankenstein no KaijÅ«: Sanda tai Gaira , lit. ... Icons of tokusatsu in the late 1970s: Spider-Man, Kamen Rider Stronger, Kamen Rider V3, Battle Fever J, Ultraman Jonias, as well as the manga and anime icon Doraemon Tokusatsu ) is a Japanese word that literally means special effects. ... KaijÅ« (怪獣) is a Japanese term that generically translates to monster. ... “Horror Movie” redirects here. ... Year 1965 (MCMLXV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the 1965 Gregorian calendar. ... The English-language version of Tohos famous logo, used from the early 1960s to the late 1990s. ... Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus is a novel by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. ... Baragon ) is a fictional kaiju that was first featured in the 1965 Toho produced film, Frankenstein vs. ...

This was also the first of three Toho-produced films to star Hollywood actor Nick Adams, who starred in two other films: Monster Zero and The Killing Bottle. While American critics usually look down on the late actor's appearances in these films, American tokusatsu fans still think Adams to be the best, most charismatic foreign actor to appear in any Japanese genre film. The English-language version of Tohos famous logo, used from the early 1960s to the late 1990s. ... ... Nick Adams born Nicholas Aloysius Adamshock (July 10, 1931, Nanticoke, Pennsylvania -- February 7, 1968, Hollywood, California), was an American actor. ... Monster Zero is a 1965 film. ... Icons of tokusatsu in the late 1970s: Spider-Man, Kamen Rider Stronger, Kamen Rider V3, Battle Fever J, Ultraman Jonias, as well as the manga and anime icon Doraemon Tokusatsu ) is a Japanese word that literally means special effects. ...

Synopsis

The prologue is set in World War II, circa 1945. Nazis break into the laboratory of Dr. Reisendorf and confiscate the heart of the Frankenstein Monster, which he was busy experimenting on. The Nazis travel by submarine to the Pacific. The Allied Forces then bomb their submarine, but not before the Nazis pass the heart (contained in a locked chest) to the Imperial Japanese Navy, who take it back to Hiroshima to be experimented on. But just as they were about to begin, Hiroshima was bombed by the Allied Forces, and the heart was lost . . . Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... Year 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar). ... Nazism in history Nazi ideology Nazism and race Outside Germany Related subjects Lists Politics Portal         Nazism or National Socialism (German: Nationalsozialismus), refers primarily to the ideology and practices of the Nazi Party (National Socialist German Workers Party, German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP) under Adolf Hitler. ... This article is about the independent states that comprised the Allies. ... For other uses, see Hiroshima (disambiguation). ...

15 years later, a savage boy runs rampant in the streets of Hiroshima, catching and devouring small animals such as dogs and rabbits. This comes to the attention of American scientist Dr. James Bowen and his assistants Sueko Togami and Ken'ichiro Kawaji, who investigate, and find him hiding in a cave on a beach, where a mob of outraged villagers had almost caught him. While the strange boy catches media attention and is taken care of by the scientists, another astounding event evades the public's eye. Once the boy is taken to the hospital, it is discovered that he is caucasian and his body is building a strong resistance to radiation rather than getting sick from it. Trinomial name Canis lupus familiaris The dog (Canis lupus familiaris) is a domestic subspecies of the wolf, a mammal of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. ... For other uses, see Rabbit (disambiguation). ... For the peoples actually from the Caucasus, see Peoples of the Caucasus. ...

The Former Naval Captain Kawai, who brought the Frankenstein heart to Japan in WWII, was working in an oil factory in Akita Prefecture, when a sudden earthquake shakes the factory and collapses a tower, beneath which he saw the ghastly face of a giant floppy-eared reptile with a glowing horn. Akita Prefecture ) is located in the Tōhoku Region of northern Japan. ...

Meanwhile, Dr. Bowen and the scientists find that the strange boy is growing due to intake of protein. Afraid of his strength, the scientists lock and chain the boy in a jail cell, and Sueko, who really cares for him, feeds him some protein food to sustain him. Meanwhile, Dr. Bowen is visited by Kawai, who tells him that the boy could have been mutated from the heart of the Frankenstein Monster, as the boy was seen in Hiroshima more than once before. At Bowen's advice, Dr. Kawaji confers with the aging Dr. Reisendorf in Frankfurt. Reisendorf tells Kawaji of the story of the Frankenstein Monster, and noted of his virtual immortality, due to the intake of protein. He is recommended to cut off the monster's arm or leg, and a new one would grow back. When relating this to his fellow scientists upon his return to Japan, Sueko strongly objects to this method, fearing that nothing may grow back. Even when Bowen suggests that they wait a little longer to think it over, Kawaji tenaciously attempts to sever one of the now-gigantic monster's limbs. He is interrupted by a TV crew, who Kawaji allows to film the monster, whom they enrage by shining bright studio lights at his face. The monster, heretofore known as "Frankenstein," breaks loose and is on the run from the Japanese police. He even has a tender encounter with Sueko on the balcony of her apartment before he has to run away . . . A representation of the 3D structure of myoglobin, showing coloured alpha helices. ...

While Frankenstein is on the run, he travels around to many places, from Okayama (where he eats more animals) to Mount Ibuki, where his primitive childlike activities (throwing trees at birds and trying to trap a wild boar) end in disaster. Okayama (岡山市; -shi) is the capital city of Okayama Prefecture in the Chugoku region of Japan. ... Mount Ibuki is a mountain in Japan, straddling the border between the Gifu and Shiga prefectures. ...

But unbeknownst to Bowen and the scientists, Baragon, the monster Kawai saw earlier, goes on a rampage. Tunneling under the earth, he pops out and ravages villages, eating people and animals, and leaving destruction in his wake. People believe this to be Frankenstein's doing, and the misunderstood monster is wrongly hunted down by the military, narrowly escaping. Before Bowen and his assistants have no choice but to dismiss Frankenstein, Kawai returns to tell them that Frankenstein may not be responsible for the disasters; It could be the monster (Baragon) he saw in Akita! He tries to convince the authorities, but to no avail. Kawaji still wishes the scientists luck in finding Frankenstein.

Bowen, Sueko and Kawaji then form a search party and venture into the forest land they believe Frankenstein to be hiding. But Kawaji, to the shock of Bowen and Sueko, then proclaims to kill him, believing that Frankenstein could be dangerous by nature, and not even Sueko could possibly tame him! He intends to blind him with chemical grenades and capture him to recover his heart and brain. Kawaji presses on to find Frankenstein, and instead finds Baragon! Kawaji and Bowen try in vain to stop the monster with the grenades, but it is about to eat Sueko, until Frankenstein comes to the rescue! The cataclysmic battle between the two giant monsters then begins.

Alternate Ending

The unfortunate Giant Octopus drove many fans up the wall. This monster appeared on several stills from Frankenstein Conquers the World, but no one could spot it in the film. Ishiro Honda explains apologetically: "The movie was made in co-production with an American company Benedicts Productions. The bosses were so astonished by the octopus scenes from King Kong Vs. Godzilla, they begged to include her into the screenplay, even in spite of logic. So we shot some scenes with the Giant Octopus but, in the end, they were left out of the picture."

For accuracy, it should be added that after many years, in the American video edition of Frankenstein Conquers the World, that edited-out scene was tagged on as an “alternative ending.” The management of Benedicts Productions stood by their guns, however, when in the following co-production (War Of The Gargantuas,1966) the octopus rolled through the screen officially and in its full glory.^[1]

Parallels to the Source Material

There are many references to the 1931 Frankenstein film adaptation, which is no doubt the most iconic representation of the monster featured in the famous book by Mary Shelley. Frankenstein is a 1931 science fiction film from Universal Pictures directed by James Whale and very loosely based on the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. ... This article is about the 1818 novel. ... Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (née Godwin) (30 August 1797 – 1 February 1851) was an English romantic/gothic novelist and the author of Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus. ...

• In general, the monster is referred to by the name of his creator ("Frankenstein"), as opposed to "The Frankenstein Monster" (which Dr. Bowen did refer to him as once in this film).
• The look of the monster is similar to the "flathead" Frankenstein Monster designed by master makeup artist Jack Pierce.
• The mob of people chasing the monster on the beach is similar to the mob of villagers chasing the monster.
• Kawaji occasionally acts as the Fritz character from the 1931 film, when he plots something against the creature against Dr. Bowen's orders or unbeknownst to him.
• the monster Baragon killed many people, and Frankenstein wrongly gets the blame, as nobody is yet aware of Baragon.
• The fire in the forest (when Frankenstein fights with Baragon), being similar to the fire on the windmill, on which Dr. Frankenstein confronts the creature at the end of said film.

Jack Pierce (May 5, 1889 in Greece – July 19, 1968), born Janus Piccoulas, was a Hollywood make-up artist most famous for creating the iconic make-up worn by Boris Karloff in Universal Studios 1931 adaptation of Mary Shelleys Frankenstein. ...

The Sequels

• The sequel to this film is War of the Gargantuas (titled Furankenshutain no Kaijû: Sanda tai Gaira in Japan). In said film, pieces of Frankenstein's cells mutate into two giant humanoid monsters: Sanda (the Brown Gargantua) and Gaira (the Green Gargantua). The former is a benevolent and peace-loving creature, the latter is murderous and savage.

• Baragon became one of the living monsters on monsterland in Destroy All Monsters.
  • However, United Productions of America, the US co-producers, obscured all references to Frankenstein in the American version. Probably because the two monsters could not be recognized as "Frankenstein" monsters. However, reference is made to a severed hand.
• Producer Tomoyuki Tanaka had originally commissioned a film called Frankenstein Vs. the Human Vapor (フランケンシュタイン対ガス人間 - Furankenshutain tai Gasu Ningen), with a draft written by Kimura. This also follows up with The Human Vapor (1960), as Mizuno finds the Frankenstein Monster's body, and revives him, so that he can help him use the Frankenstein formula to revive his beloved girlfriend Fujichiyo (who died at the end of said film). This was also supposed to be Toho's co-feature with the Japanese release of My Fair Lady.

War of the Gargantuas, released in Japan as Frankenstein no Kaijū: Sanda tai Gaira , lit. ... This article is about the film. ... United Productions of America, better known as UPA, was an animation studio of the 1940s through 1970s, and a distributor of Japanese films from Toho Studios from the 1970s onward. ... The Human Vapor, known in Japan as The First Gas Human (ガス人間第一号 - Gasu ningen dai ichigo), is a tokusatsu film produced and released by Toho Studios in 1960. ...

Cast

• Dr. James Bowen - Nick Adams (voice actor：Gorou Naya)
• Dr. Ken'ichirou Kawaji - Tadao Takashima
• Dr. Sueko Togami - Kumi Mizuno
• Captain Kawai - Yoshio Tsuchiya
• Murata, Captain submarine - Yoshifumi Tajima
• Hiroshima military Hospital army Surgeon - Takashi Shimura
• Dr. Reisendorf - Peter Mann (voice actor：Kazuo Kumakura)
• Tazuko Tooi, Inpatient - Keiko Sawai
• Residential Landlord - Ikio Sawamura
• TV Director - Haruya Katou
• TV illumination man A - Yutaka Nakayama
• TV illumination man B - Senkichi Oomura
• TV photographer - Yasuhiko Saijou
• TV photographer assistant - Yukihiko Gondou
• Policeman, Okayama prefectural police - Jun'ichirou Mukai
• Farmer - Toshihiko Furuta
• Farmer - Jirou Suzukawa
• Farmer - Junpei Natsuki
• Hospital office manager - Yutaka Sada
• Hospital office worker - Keiji Sakakida
• Hospital personnel - Ryouji Shimizu
• Hospital personnel - Hideo Otsuka
• Hospital personnel - Minoru Ito
• Reporter of weekly magazine - Hideo Shibuya
• Motoki - Ren Yamamoto
• University professor - Shigeki Ishida
• Newspaper publishing company employee - Kenzou Tabu
• Journalist A - Kouzou Nomura
• Journalist B - Tadashi Okabe
• Journalist C - Masaaki Tachibana
• Journalist D - Kazuo Hinata
• Dr. Suga - Nobuo Nakamura
• Okabe, Inspector Okayama Police - Nadao Kirino
• Division Director Okayama Police - Jun Tazaki
• Tadokoro, Okayama Assistant Inspector - Kenji Sahara
• Policeman of Okayama Police - Akio Kusama
• Policeman of Okayama Police - Ryuutarou Amami
• Osaka Police Office executive officer A - Susumu Fujita
• Osaka Police Office executive officer B - Hisaya Itou
• Osaka Police Office executive officer C - Shin Yoshida
• Osaka Police Office executive officer D - Saburou Kadowaki
• Tunnel Worker - Shouichi Hirose
• Oil field engineer - Mitsuo Tsuda
• Hiroshima military hospital army Surgeon assistant - Takuya Yuki
• Hiroshima military hospital personnel - Haruya Sakamoto
• Self-Defense Force executive officer A - Yoshio Kosugi
• Self-Defense Force executive officer B and Captain pleasure boat - Rinsaku Ogata
• Crew of pleasure boat - Yoshikazu Kawamata
• Visitor of pleasure boat - Kazuko Tani
• Visitor of a hut - Noriaki Inoue
• Visitor of a hut - Noriko Takahashi
• Visitor of a hut - Sachiko Mori
• Worker of Himeji Castle - Yoshiko Miyata
• Inpatient - Toriko Takahara
• Inpatient - Hideko Ookawa
• Youth of village - Daisuke Inoue
• Policeman of village - Shigeo Katou
• Member of firefighting team of village - Kazuo Imai

Nick Adams born Nicholas Aloysius Adamshock (July 10, 1931, Nanticoke, Pennsylvania -- February 7, 1968, Hollywood, California), was an American actor. ... Goro Naya (納谷悟朗 Naya Gorō, born November 17, 1929) is a veteran seiyū who was born in Hakodate. ... Yoshio Tsuchiya (born 18 May 1927) is a Japanese actor who has appeared in such films as Akira Kurosawas Seven Samurai (as the firebrand farmer Rikichi) and Red Beard, and Kihachi Okamotos Kill!. External links Yoshio Tsuchiya at the Internet Movie Database Categories: ... Yoshifumi Tajima (born 4 August 1918) is a prolific actor best known for his role as Kumayama in Mothra vs. ... Takashi Shimura as the doomed bureaucrat Watanabe in Ikiru. ... Peter Mann (born September 9, 1970) is an Australian rules footballer. ... Kenji Sahara (佐原 健二 Sahara Kenji) (born May 14, 1932) is a Japanese actor. ... Susumu Fujita (8 January 1912 - 23 March 1991) was a Japanese actor who played the lead role in Akira Kurosawas first feature Sanshiro Sugata. ... Noriaki Inoue (b. ... Daisuke Inoue was Born May 10, 1940 in Osaka. ... Kazuo Imai (今井和雄) (born September 24, 1955) is a Tokyo-based guitarist who plays in a rigorous and original free improvisation idiom. ...

Monsters

• Frankenstein - Koji Furahata
• Frankenstein (young) - Sumio Nakao
• Baragon - Haruo Nakajima

Haruo Nakajima (born January 1, 1929 in Yamagata, Japan) is a Japanese actor. ...

Trivia

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

• The US version has extended footage not seen in the Japanese version. One was in the scene when a giant-sized Frankenstein bursts through a wall, escaping the prison building. The rubble falls on a military soldier, who Frankenstein almost steps on, to his own shock. Shortly later, after his encounter with Sueko on the balcony of her apartment, Frankenstein is chased by a police car, which accidentally overturns, and he lifts the car and hurls it onto the street before running away. This was because Henry G. Saperstein, the US co-producer, wanted a more aggressive monster.
• There was an alternate ending not used in either version, but included as an extra in Toho's video releases. After Frankenstein finally kills Baragon, Oodako (the giant octopus) emerges from the lake and grabs him with its tentacles. Frankenstein, exhausted from his fight with Baragon, loses the struggle and both he and Oodako at last fall into the lake. The rest of the ending (Bowen, Sueko and Kawaji reflecting on the situation, and the closing shot of the forest on fire) is the same. This was the ending Henry G. Saperstein wanted, but Ishiro Honda didn't like it. It is very unnatural that an octopus comes out of a lake. Saperstein eventually agreed and used the regular ending (Frankenstein and the dead Baragon are both swallowed by an underground cave-in) instead.
• director Honda feels a deep impression to a monster of Boris Karloff which he watched in the old days and comments on it when it hit production with the feeling that therefore is solemn at all by this movie.
• director Honda and Tsuburaya catches this Frankenstein as a new creature not a Kaiju and comments when I kept direction in mind.
• Akira Ifukube of a composer used a rare musical instrument of a bassflute for a theme of this movie. Only 1 had this musical instrument in those days in Japan.
• Shinkansen Hikari whom Dr. Bowen rode was completed one year of this movie ago.
• Biwa-ko Oohashi the bridge of the scene where Frankenstein appeared from Lake Biwa-ko was completed the year before this movie.
• The original idea fo the film was to have Frankenstein fight Godzilla. The plot was to have had the army awaken Godzilla as a way to deal with the monster. However, the fight scenes were thought to have been too implausible so the film was scrapped.
• Frankenstein's makeup was designed by Keizo Murase, who also designed the Baragon and Varan suits.

Image File history File links Broom_icon. ... Oodako (Ö-dako), or Daku, is a giant octopus from the movie, King vs. ... Ishirō Honda (本多 猪四郎 Honda Ishirō, May 7, 1911 in Yamagata Prefecture - February 28, 1993) was a Japanese film director. ... KaijÅ« (怪獣) is a Japanese term that generically translates to monster. ... Akira Ifukube (伊福部 昭 Ifukube Akira, 31 May 1914 – 8 February 2006) was a Japanese composer of classical music and film scores, perhaps best known for his work on the soundtracks of the Godzilla movies. ... For the record label, see Shinkansen Records. ... Hikari (ひかり) is a Japanese word that means light. Hikari may refer to: Hikari, Chiba, a former town located in Sousa District, Chiba, Japan Hikari, Yamaguchi, a city located in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan Hikari (Shinkansen), a train service running on the Tokaido/Sanyo Shinkansen, Japan Hikari (song), a song by Utada... Reeds on the shore of Lake Biwa Lake Biwa, or Biwa-ko (琵琶湖), is the largest fresh water lake in Japan, located in Shiga Prefecture, northeast of the former capital city of Kyoto. ... This article is about the character itself. ...

DVD release

• Includes US version, International,and Japanese version.
• Audio Commentary by special effects cinematographer Sadamasa Arikawa
• Image Gallery
• Deleted Scenes and Bloopers
• Manga Adaption

Notes

References

Famous Monsters of Filmland. June 1966 (#39). Cover, and p.10-24. (pictures & plot summary) Famous Monsters of Filmland #14, October 1961 issue. ...

External links

• Frankenstein Conquers the World at the Internet Movie Database
• DVD Review: Frankenstein vs. Baragon
• Gojiman's World
• フランケンシュタイン対地底怪獣 (Frankenstein tai Chitei Kaijū) (Japanese). Japanese Movie Database. Retrieved on 2007-07-17.