Legend of Dinosaurs and Monster Birds (1977)
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Legend of Dinosaurs (TV 1987)
Legend of Dinosaurs and Monster Birds (恐竜・怪鳥の伝説 Kyōryū Kaichō no Densetsu) is a 1977 Japanese tokusatsu kaiju film produced by Toei. It was released to Japanese theaters on April 29, 1977.
Plot
A young woman named Hiroko Takami wanders barefoot in the lush Aokigahara, the famous Sea of Trees region of Mt. Fuji, when she suddenly falls into cavern. Awakening after her extreme fall, Hiroko finds herself in an icy cave full of large eggs taller than she is. When one of the eggs start to hatch, revealing a glowing green eye covered in slimy yoke, she goes into hysterics and flees into the outside until she is discovered by a nearby mountain construction crew.
Before falling into a coma and dying soon after, Hiroko babbles on about what she saw to a reporter and her story airs on a televised news report that is seen by geologist and part-time employee for Universal Stone Company Ltd., Takashi Ashizawa, while awaiting an airplane flight to Mexico. Upon hearing about the fossilized-yet-still-living eggs, Takashi cancels his Mexican assignment, quits his job with Universal Stone, and sets off to Mt. Fuji to find it.
When he arrives at the small village bordering Fuji's Saiko Lake, Takashi immediately heads into the heavily forested Jukai region when a sudden tremor occurs and he is knocked out. He later awakens in his father's old cabin near Saiko Lake, discovering that he was rescued by an old friend of the family, Shohei Muku. The two reminiscent, revealing that Takashi's father was a biologist stubbornly obsessed with discovering living dinosaurs in and around Fuji.
Takashi quickly gets back to fossil-hunting and heads toward the Jukai once again. As he cruises through the nearby village, he greets two women named Akiko Osano, an underwater photographer and former lover of his, and Junko Sonoda, Akiko's assistant who’s studying the history of the region.
Soon afterwards, bizarre events and tragedies occur around the Saiko Lake community starting with a young couple in a paddle boat disappear without a trace, seemingly dragged beneath with great force. Later, a murdered diver is pulled up from the lake, blood running down from his eyes, and livestock begin to vanish mysteriously. Takashi begins developing a theory that a dinosaur is indeed alive and stalking the Saiko Lake area.
He shares his theory with a professional seismologist and old colleague of Takashi's father who notes that the activities surrounding Saiko Lake is only a sliver of strange environmental phenomenon happening across the world. He continues stating that the appearance of a living dinosaur will cause magnitude 5.0 earthquakes, suggesting an Apocalyptic cataclysm is forthcoming. Takashi doesn't take the seismologist's concerns seriously, however, reaffirming that he's only in this for the money.
Takashi's living dinosaur theory gains credence when Junko stumbles upon a headless horse corpse lying in the road at night and Takashi later finds it lodged in a tree while taking photographs of some strange tracks left behind in the mud. The following day, Takashi sits in his father's cabin and develops a possible theory as to what type of creature that could have killed the horse and placed the remains in a tree for safekeeping. He decides that the creature must be a living Plesiosaurus and shares his minimal proof and hypothesis with a very skeptical Shohei who insist the culprit is just an abnormally large snake.
Takashi's theory proves correct when a Plesiosaurus really does appear before onlookers at a bay-side festival shortly after attacking and devouring two local pranksters while their surviving friend is sent into terrified hysterics from witnessing gruesome incident firsthand. The giant Plesiosaur continues to terrorize the community by crushing in a cabin home and devouring its lone lady inhabitant. Later, during the fog-drenched evening, Junko is calmly resting on an inflatable raft while Akiko is scuba-diving well below. Tragically for poor Junko, she is attacked and worn down by the Plesiosaur who eventually devours her by chomping off her body from the chest downwards. Junko’s horrific death is witnessed by Akiko upon her return to the floating raft.
No longer being able to ignore the continuing fatalities, the previously apathetic Saiko Lake authorities finally take action against the roving creature by ordering helicopters, radar, and underwater camera equipment to locate the beast as well as inviting various scientists to help in the search, including Takashi and his seismologist friend.
During the search operations, a stetson-wearing scientist of lesser renown (or a reporter - it’s never made clear) shares his theory that the presence of a Plesiosaur might also conjure up a Rhamphorhynchus, a prehistoric flying reptile. However, his claims are laughed at by the local authorities, forcing the scientist to enlist Shohei to lead him through the mountains and locate the icy cave of stone eggs. Tensions run high as the search for the Plesiosaur becomes fruitless: with their budget running low and the various scientists abandoning the search early, the Saiko Lake authorities decide to simply bomb the lake with depth-chargers in a last ditch effort to exterminate the lake monster.
Unfortunately, news of the depth-chargers doesn't reach Takashi who has gone diving to find the Plesiosaur for himself, no longer concerned about the money and wanting to see the murderous beast with his own eyes in a desire to honor his father's legacy and for his own piece of mind. Akiko dives in to save Takashi, forcing the two in seeking safety within an underwater cave entrance to avoid the deadly blasts above. Although safe from the explosives, the two come across the severed head of a woman that sinks pass before them. Further into the cave, Takashi and Akiko come to its end and find the icy cave of stone eggs. To their horror, however, they discover the newly mutilated bodies of Shohei and stetson-wearing scientist, both having been killed by recently hatched Rhamphorhynchus.
Having reached full adult size since its hatching, the Rhamphorhynchus flies towards the bay area where it encounters and immediately attacks the Saiko Lake villagers and authorities, snatching up one victim in its giant claw before fatally dropping him back to earth. Terrified in a mass panic, the people take cover near the unused depth-chargers while the authorities try desperately to fend off the flying beast with rifles. In a disastrous turn of events, one of the Saiko Lake authority figures accidentally shoots his rifle into one of the depth-chargers, causing an explosive chain-reaction that obliterates everyone present.
Unharmed by the humans' devastating blunder, the Rhamphorhynchus flies back to Mt. Fuji.
Having found their way out of the subterranean nest, Takashi and Akiko enter the outside woods but an earthquake begins to rip the ground apart, unleashing volcanic gas into the air: the once dormant Mt. Fuji is on the verge of erupting.
Seeking escape from the impending eruption, Takashi and Akiko's path is blocked by the Plesiosaur whose slumber has been disturbed by the sudden quake. The lumbering lake monster chases after the two divers and back into the cave from width they emerged from, trying to grab the two humans within with its long snake-like neck and dagger-like jaws. Just then, the Rhamphorhynchus arrives and bellows out a challenge to the Plesiosaur, leaving Takashi and Akiko alone to battle the winged intruder.
As the two prehistoric monsters brutally battle each other, resulting in the Plesiosaur losing one of its eyes to the Rhamphorhynchus' stabbing beak, Takashi and Akiko uses the opportunity to escape but are met with more danger by the continuous tremors and volcanic gases bursting all around them. The Plesiosaur is able to pin the Rhamphorhynchus to the ground with its striking neck and precedes to smother the winged opponent with its bulbous body until Mt. Fuji finally erupts.
The incredible eruption sends the two giant reptiles into a fiery chasm below as the ground gives way, ending their respective reigns of terror. Akiko almost falls to her death before Takashi is able to grab her by the hand. The film then ends while leaving the two protagonists' fates ambiguous.
Staff
Staff role on the left, staff member's name on the right.
- Directed by Junji Kurata
- Written by Masaru Igami, Isao Matsumoto, Ichiro Otsu
- Produced by Keiichi Hashimoto
- Music by Masao Yagi
- Cinematography by Sakuji Shiomi
- Edited by Isamu Ichida
- Production design by Yoshimitsu Amamori
- Special effects by Fuminori Ohashi
Cast
Actor's name on the left, character played on the right.
- Tsunehiko Watase as Setsu Serizawa
- Shotaro Hayashi as Akira Taniki
- Nobiko Sawa as Akiko Osano
- Satoko Kyoshima as Junko Sonoda
- Fuyukichi Maki as Masahira Muku
- Kinshi Nakamura as Hideyuki Sakai
- Hiroshi Nawa as Masahiko Miyawaki
- So Takizawa as Jiro Shimamoto
- Yusuke Tsukasa as Susume Hirano
- Go Nawata as Hiroshi Sugiyama
- Yukari Miyazen as Hiroko Takami
- Masahiro Arikawa as Seitaro Shintaku
- Tamikashi Karazawa as Uemura
- Sachio Miyashiro as Kobayashi
Appearances
Monsters
- Plesiosaurus
- Rhamphorhynchus
Production
Legend of Dinosaurs and Monster Birds was shot on location at Mount Fuji. Principal photography began on October 12, 1976.[1]
Gallery
- Main article: Legend of Dinosaurs and Monster Birds/Gallery.
Alternate titles
- The Legend of Dinosaurs (United States)
- The Monsters of Prehistory (Les Monstres de la préhistoire; France)
- Earthquake 10° (Terremoto 10°; Italy)
- God of the Sea (Denizlerin tanrisi; Turkey)
- Giants of Prehistoric Times (Giganten der Vorzeit; West Germany)
U.S. release
Legend of Dinosaurs and Monster Birds was dubbed into English for international export by Frontier Enterprises.[1] Television producer and distributor Sandy Frank acquired U.S. television and home video rights to the film from Toei. In 1987, Frank sold the film, now titled The "Legend of Dinosaurs", in a television syndication package through King Features Entertainment with other Japanese productions he'd licensed; The "Legend of Dinosaurs" and these other titles were also released to home video by Celebrity Home Entertainment that same year. On May 28, 1989, The "Legend of Dinosaurs" was featured as the final episode of the movie-mocking television series Mystery Science Theater 3000 during its original broadcast on the Minneapolis-area station KTMA.[2]
Videos
|
Video releases
Tokyo Shock DVD (2007)
- Region: 1
- Discs: 1
- Audio: Japanese, English (2.0 Mono)
- Subtitles: English
- Special Features: Still gallery, two trailers for the movie, four trailers for other Tokyo Shock titles
- Notes: Out of print.
Trivia
- Despite the film's title, neither of the titular creatures are actually dinosaurs, as the plesiosaur is classified as a marine reptile, while the rhamphornycus is classified as a flying reptile.
- Dinosaurs including an archaeopteryx were present in the early planning stages for the production, however, before being replaced by the aforementioned creatures.[3]
- Italian movie posters for the film featured a gigantic Tyrannosaurus towering over a skyscraper in place of the film's plesiosaurus.
- Legend of Dinosaurs and Monster Birds was the only Japanese monster movie to be released in the Soviet Union, and became something of a cult film. Interestingly, it wasn't the prehistoric creatures that caught the attention of audiences, but the depiction of a foreign capitalist country with its modern advancements.[4]
- The box cover art for Celebrity Home Entertainment's VHS release for the film confusingly features a photo of two completely different plesiosaurus props from the otherwise unrelated 1978-1979 series, Dinosaur Corps Koseidon.
References
This is a list of references for Legend of Dinosaurs and Monster Birds. 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]
|
|
| ||
Comments
Showing 22 comments. When commenting, please remain respectful of other users, stay on topic, and avoid role-playing and excessive punctuation. Comments which violate these guidelines may be removed by administrators.
<comments voting="Plus" />
|
|
