Cheap Gammera the Invincible (DVD) (Sandy Howard, Noriaki Yuasa) Price

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The first and worst of the jet-powered super-turtle movies
"Gamera" ("Daikaiju Gamera") is the first of the series of Japanese monster movies about Gamera, the legendary jet-powered flying turtle. Another one of those pesky nuclear explosions in the frozen north awakens Gamera from his deep sleep under the ice. Searching for energy, Gamera heads for Japan where it will up to the National Defense force and scientists, aided by Toschio (Yoshiro Uchida), a young boy who likes turtles and has a strange sympathetic link to the monster, to end his destructive rampage. "Gamera" was produced by Daiei Studios, who was obviously trying to come up with an answer to Toho Studios' "Godzilla."

The good news is that this is the most serious film in the series, but the bad news is that it is also the most tedious with its scenes of boring dialogue alternating with scenes of miniatures being destroyed. Fortunately the Army has that "Plan Z" that works so well and Gamera has a soft spot that stops him from stomping children. The fact the film is in black & white actually works for the cheap special effects, which never look this good again in the original series. The "Americanized" version features poor Brian Donlevy as General Terry Arnold and Albert Dekker as the Secretary of Defense. Their presence only serves to make the dubbed Japanese actors look funnier. Oh, and Toschio is now named "Kenny," which must be some in-joke lost to the records of humankind.

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Visions Of Terrapins Float Through The Sky
It's hard to believe that I was already in college when this came out. And that I had to sneak away from the local art theaters to watch this at a downtown Saturday kid's special. Yes, as the dust of an atomic squabble between the US and the USSR settled and a man in a giant turtle suit climbed out of the ice, I was stuffing my mouth with popcorn - with real butter in those days.

The basic film is pretty simple minded. Japanese scientists investigating Eskimos witness an atomic accident that releases a giant turtle. After a short flying tour of the world, Gammera descends on Japan and Tokyo for an extended lunch. An irritating young boy names Toshio races about telling everyone not to kill the terrapin from hell. Which is moot, since nothing can kill him. Does the Earth get saved? Or is the turtle toast? I'm not telling, but anyone who has ever watched a Japanese monster movie should have no trouble guessing.

What I missed in my adolescent popcorn days was that Gammera is about 60% biting satire about scientists, news writers, and politicians (both US and international). It makes you wince a bit to realize that the filmmakers had no delusions about how silly we all are. And how many double standards we have. There were moments when I wasn't sure if I was wincing at the humor or the acting. The latter is classic Japanese sci-fi - awful.

The transfer is nothing to sing about, unfortunately. It looks like a copy of a copy. Which is probably exactly what it is. Even so films like these have a certain timelessness, like bomber jackets and BurmaShave signs. So, if you to once had a mouthful of popcorn on the Saturday matinee, I salute you. Some things never change.

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GAMERA!!!!
This is the best Gamera flick of its series.This is what started it all.The reason I did't give it a 5 because to me and Im not trying to be hard on this movie it resembles to much like
Godzilla in a way.But overal its a must have Gamera Film plus its uncut and original.Theres not more comments just get it.HG