Dogora (1964)
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Dogora (宇宙大怪獣ドゴラ is a Uchū Daikaijū Dogora, lit. Giant Space Monster Dogora)1964 tokusatsu kaiju film produced by Toho Company Ltd. It was released to Japanese theaters on August 11, 1964.
Plot
After a giant jellyfish-like alien called Dogora comes to Earth and sucks up all the coal in the Tokyo area, a band of citizens, including a scientist, a diamond broker and a police inspector, band together to try and find a way to kill it after missiles and shells prove ineffective. After several attacks, the main characters find that wasp venom can be used to kill the beast. An artificial substance of equal power is hastily manufactured and after a long while, the mammoth Dogora is finally defeated.
Staff
- Main article: Dogora (film)/Credits.
Staff role on the left, staff member's name on the right.
- Directed by Ishiro Honda
- Written by Shinichi Sekizawa (screenplay), Jojiro Okami (story)
- Produced by Tomoyuki Tanaka, Yasuyoshi Tajitsu
- Music by Akira Ifukube
- Cinematography by Hajime Koizumi
- Edited by Ryohei Fuji
- Production design by Takeo Kita
- Assistant directing by Ken Sano
- Special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya, Teruyoshi Nakano
Cast
Actor's name on the left, character played on the right.
- Yosuke Natsuki as Komai
- Yoko Fujiyama as Masayo Kirino, Dr. Munakata's assistant
- Hiroshi Koizumi as Kirino
- Akiko Wakabayashi as Hamako, Diamond thief
- Nobuo Nakamura as Dr. Munakata
- Seizaburo Kawazu as Chief Diamond thief
- Robert Dunham (as "Dan Yuma") as Mark Jackson
- Susumu Fujita as Defense Force Executive Officer Iwasa
- Jun Tazaki as Police chief
- Yoshibumi Tajima as Tada, Thief
- Hideyo Amamoto as Maki, Thief
- Nadao Kirino as Gen, Thief
- Akira Wakamatsu as Matsu, Thief
- Haruya Kato as Sabu, Thief
- Jun Funado as Detective Nitta
- Yasuhisa Tsutsumi as Ginza policeman
- Koji Iwamoto as Dr. Munekata's assistant
- Mitsuo Tsuda as Defense Corps executive
- Takuzo Kumagai as Defense Corps executive
- Chotaro Togin as Coal truck driver
- Shoichi Hirose as Thermal power plant staff
- Yutaka Nakayama as Coal truck assistant
- Yoshiyuki Uemura as Diamond transport, passenger
- Shiro Tsuchiya as Thermal power plant staff
- Jiro Tsuzukawa as Thermal power plant staff
- Haruya Sakamoto as Diamond transport, driver
- Hideo Shibuya as Journalist
- Yutaka Oka as Transport company manager
- Ichiro Chiba as Tenpodo staff
- Shinjiro Hirota as Tenpodo staff
- Toku Ihara as Drunk
- Tadashi Okabe as Ginza policeman
- Wataru Omae as Radio lab researcher
- Koji Uno as Thermal power plant worker
Appearances
Monsters |
Weapons, Vehicles, and Races |
Gallery
- Main article: Dogora (film)/Gallery.
Soundtrack
- Main article: Dogora (Soundtrack).
Alternate Titles
- Giant Space Monster Dogora (Uchū Daikaijū Dogora, literal Japanese title)
- Space Monster Dogora (English Japanese title)
- Dagora, the Space Monster (United States)
- X 3000 - Phantoms Against Gangsters (X 3000 - Fantome gegen Gangster, Germany)
- Dogora: The Monster from the Great Swamp (Dogora: Il Mostro Della Grande Palude, Italy)
U.S. Release
Toho had an English-language version of Dogora prepared[1] in Hong Kong by Ted Thomas's Axis Productions.[2] Because Robert Dunham primarily spoke Japanese for his role in the film, his voice was dubbed into English by another actor.[3]
In April 1965, Dogora played at the Toho Theatre in Honolulu, Hawaii, in Japanese with English subtitles. A newspaper ad in the Honolulu Advertiser referred to it as Space Monster Dogora.[4]
Dogora was licensed for U.S. release to American International Pictures. Its television unit, American International Television, first offered the film to television stations as Dagora, the Space Monster in the "Amazing '66" syndication package starting in 1965.[1] It would later be included in AITV's "SciFi 65" package.[1] Dogora was not re-dubbed for AITV's release; this version featured no on-screen credits of any kind, only the new opening title.[1]
As Dagora, the Space Monster, the film was never officially issued on home video, although unlicensed copies from Video Yesteryear were produced in the 1980's and 90's.[5] Media Blasters released the film on DVD on July 15, 2005 under its Tokyo Shock label; audio options on the disc included the original Japanese audio with removable English subtitles and the original Toho international dub.[6]
Video Releases
Tokyo Shock DVD (2005)
- Region: 1
- Discs: 1
- Audio: Japanese, English (Mono 1.0)
- Special Features: Original trailer, production gallery, previews for other Tokyo Shock kaiju releases
- Notes: Out of print. Picture is slightly cropped.[7]
Toho DVD (2005)
- Region: 2
- Discs: 1
- Audio: Japanese (Mono 1.0 and Surround 5.1)
- Special Features: Audio commentary by Yosuke Natsuki, original trailer, interview with Teruyoshi Nakano and Keizo Murase (26 minutes), photo gallery, booklet
- Notes: Does not include English subtitles.
Though Dogora is not available on Blu-ray, an HD version can be rented or purchased on the Japanese versions of Amazon Video and iTunes.
Videos
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Trivia
- Originally, Dogora was titled "Space Mons" (スペース・モンス and was meant to be released in 1962. Supēsu Monsu)[8]
References
This is a list of references for Dogora (film). These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: [1]
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