Monster From A Prehistoric Planet (aka Gappa
– The Triphibian Monster/1967/Cheezy Flicks DVD)
Picture:
C- Sound: D Extras: C- Film: C
To cash
in on the giant monster cycle Toho launched with Godzilla, Nikkatsu tried to
have their own hit with Daikyo Gappa
aka Monster From A Prehistoric Planet
aka Gappa – The Triphibian Monster
in 1967. It had the same kind of
interesting model work, same people in giant monster suits, same battles with
the Japanese military attacking the monsters without any solid results and same
cast of caring characters trying to save the town proving it deserved to be
saved.
However,
this is one of the wackier entries into the cycle including a native boy with
dark skin being an obvious Japanese actor in black face (!!!), a Jurassic
Park-like theme park gone bad and baby dinosaur hatched from an egg whose
disappearance brings his angry parents in search of him. Clichéd and definitely cheesy, Director
Haruyasu Noguchi does as good a job as anyone at Toho ever did with such
material making it one of the most interesting entries of the classic period,
no matter how laughable.
The
butchered 1.33 X 1 image is a very soft, likely TV print version of the film with
the sides of the image cut off, resulting in tunnel vision. The color is poor and this film was
originally a 2.35 X 1 film in NikkatsuScope, so purists will want to get a copy
like that instead. The PCM 16/48 2.0
Mono is really low, rough and compressed, so be very careful of playback levels
and volume switching. Trailers and
Intermission shorts are the only extras.
- Nicholas Sheffo