Magic Serpent (1966)

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Image gallery for Magic Serpent


Magic Serpent
The Japanese poster for Magic Serpent
Alternate titles
Flagicon Japan.png Great Mystic Dragon Battle (1966)

Directed by Tetsuya Yamanochi
Producer Shigeru Okada, Takesuke Shinkai
Written by Masaru Igami (screenplay),
Mokuami Kawatake (story)
Music by Toshiaki Tsushima
Distributor ToeiJP
American International TelevisionUS[1]
Running time 86 minutesJP
(1 hour, 26 minutes)
84 minutesUS
(1 hour, 24 minutes)
Aspect ratio 2.35:1
Rate this film!
3.63
(8 votes)

Magic Serpent (怪竜大決戦,   Kairyū Daikessen, lit. Great Mystic Dragon Battle) is a 1966 tokusatsu kaiju and ninja fantasy film produced by Toei Company and based on the Japanese folktale "The Tale of the Gallant Jiraiya." It was released to Japanese theaters on March 5, 1966, and to American television syndication via American-International Television in 1970.[1]

Plot

in the Oumi Kingdom, ruled peacefully by Lord Ogata, was raided by his corrupt general Daijo Yuki, who was assisted by an evil ninja named Orochimaru , who slew the lord and his wife, who in turn trusted their young son Ikazuchi-Maru to their soldiers, who escaped the kingdom in a small boat. Orochimaru goes after them, transforming into a giant serpent. He sank the boat and almost succeeded in killing Ikazuchi-Maru, until a giant eagle flew in, injured Orochimaru, and saved the young boy.

Staff

Staff role on the left, staff member's name on the right.

  • Directed by   Tetsuya Yamanochi
  • Written by   Masaru Igami
  • Based on the story "The Tale of the Gallant Jiraiya" by   Mokuami Kawatake
  • Produced by   Shigeru Okada, Takesuke Shinkai
  • Music by   Toshiaki Tsushima
  • Cinematography by   Motoya Washio
  • Edited by   Tadao Kanda
  • Production design by   Seiji Yada
  • Assistant director   Yuji Makiguchi
  • Special effects by   Akiyasu Tawarazaka, Shigeru Akatsuka, Kunio Kunisada, Gaimi Kaneko
  • Theme song performed by   Young Fresh
    • Lyrics by   Masaru Igami
    • Composed by   Toshiaki Tsushima

Cast

Actor's name on the left, character played on the right.

  • Hiroki Matsukata   as   Ikazuchimaru Ogata / Jiraiya
  • Tomoko Ogawa   as   Tsunade
  • Ryutaro Otomo   as   Orochimaru
  • Bin Amatsu   as   Daijo Yuki
  • Nobuo Kaneko   as   Dojin Gama
  • Izumi Hara   as   Spider Woman
  • Kensaku Hara   as   Zenbei
  • Yumi Suzumura   as   Osaki
  • Takao Iwamura   as   Koshirota
  • Toshio Chiba   as   Momobe
  • Daizen Shishido   as   Ikkansai
  • Kenji Kusumoto   as   Jihei
  • Kuniomi Kitani   as   Donen
  • Michimaro Otabe   as   Honai
  • Masataka Iwao   as   Kido
  • Shinichiro Hayashi   as   Samanosuke Ogata
  • Chiyo Okada   as   Kureha
  • Akira Shioji
  • Mitsukazu Kawamura
  • Katsuki Chikamatsu
  • Masatoshi Oya, Seizo Fukumoto   as   Ninja

Appearances

Monsters

  • Giant Toad
  • Giant Dragon
  • Giant Eagle
  • Giant Spider

Gallery

Main article: Magic Serpent/Gallery.

U.S. release

Magic Serpent was released directly to television in the United States by American International Television in 1970. Despite the existence of an English dub commissioned by Toei, AIP-TV had the film dubbed at Titan Productions, where voice actor Bret Morrison directed and gave voice to several supporting characters. AITV's version of the film is uncut, save for the opening credits: in Toei's version, the credits play over a montage of Jiraiya's training throughout his adolescence, while AITV editors Emil and Eli Haviv shortened the credits and used a montage of still shots of the Giant Dragon as a backdrop. The song "Forward, Jiraiya!" was also replaced by instrumental music from elsewhere in the film. Additionally, all of the monsters' roars were replaced with those of existing monsters: the Giant Toad uses Rodan's roar, the Giant Dragon uses Godzilla and Gaira's roars, the Giant Eagle uses Mothra's roar, and the Giant Spider uses Kiyla's roar.

Alternate titles

  • Great Mystic Dragon Battle (literal Japanese title)
  • The Magic Serpent (U.S. DVD title)
  • Grand Duel in Magic (international English title)
  • Grand Duel of Ninjas (Singapore English title)
  • Monsters of the Apocalypse (Les Monstres de L'Apocalypse; French theatrical title)
  • Ninja Apocalypse (French video title)

Video releases

Retromedia/Image Entertainment DVD (2004)

  • Region: 1
  • Discs: 1
  • Audio: English (2.0, Titan Productions dub)
  • Subtitles: None
  • Special features: None
  • Notes: Cropped to 1.33:1. Packaged with Return of the Giant Monsters. Retromedia added sound effects to the film to justify the copyrighting of this "special edition."

Toei Video DVD (2004)

  • Region: 2
  • Discs: 1
  • Audio: Japanese (1.0)
  • Subtitles: Unknown
  • Special features: Theatrical trailer, textless trailer

Videos

Trailers

Japanese Magic Serpent
trailer and textless trailer

Miscellaneous

Clip from the international
English dub of Magic Serpent
Comparison of the two
English dubs of Magic Serpent

Trivia

  • Fragments of an international English dub for Magic Serpent appear on the film's French theatrical dub. The complete dub remains undiscovered.
  • Toei reused the Giant Toad and Giant Dragon suits for their 1967 TV show Masked Ninja Akakage, although the former lost its nasal horn.[2]
  • Promotional artwork featuring the Giant Toad would later be reused and heavily altered by Yamapro to become the Pachimon monster Shirako.
  • Magic Serpent was loosely remade in 1970 as Young Flying Hero, a Taiwanese martial arts fantasy that also features a giant toad and dragon monster as a major set piece.[3]

External links

References

This is a list of references for Magic Serpent. 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]

  1. 1.0 1.1 Craig, Rob (2019). American International Pictures: A Comprehensive Filmography. McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. pp. 243, 429. ISBN 9781476666310.
  2. Dragon and Toad Are (Not) Friends.jpg
  3. Tarkas, Tars (22 July 2009). "Young Flying Hero (Review)". TarsTarkas.NET.

Comments

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