Sadamasa Arikawa

Sadamasa Arikawa Born June 17, 1925 Tokyo, Japan Died September 22, 2005 (aged 80) Occupation Special effects cinematographer, director of special effects First work Eagle of the Pacific (1953) Notable work Godzilla (1954)

Sadamasa Arikawa (有川 貞昌 (さだまさ),   Arikawa Sadamasa), also known as Teisho Arikawa (有川 貞昌 (ていしょう),   Arikawa Teishō), was a Japanese special effects director and cameraman. A protégé of Eiji Tsuburaya, he worked in some capacity on every Toho science-fiction film from 1954 to 1968, with the exception of King Kong Escapes. Arikawa succeeded Tsuburaya as the special effects director of the Godzilla series toward the end of the latter's life, beginning with Ebirah, Horror of the Deep and ending with Destroy All Monsters. His final film for Toho was 1970's Space Amoeba, after which he parted with the company due to Tsuburaya's death and the subsequent dissolution of Toho's in-house special effects department. Another of Tsuburaya's students, Teruyoshi Nakano, took over effects on the Godzilla series in 1971. Arikawa transferred to International Television Films, Inc., where he collaborated with Toho on the television series Warrior of Love Rainbowman in 1972. He also worked on two foreign films in the late 1970s: the 1977 Hong Kong film The Mighty Peking Man, on which he reunited with several former Toho staff, and the 1978 Taiwanese film The Phoenix. Arikawa passed away at age 80 due to lung cancer on September 22, 2005.

Selected filmography

Assistant special effects cinematographer

• Godzilla (1954)
• Invisible Man (1954)
• Godzilla Raids Again (1955)
• Rodan (1956)

Special effects cinematographer

• Half Human (1955)
• The Mysterians (1957) [with Shuzaburo Araki]
• The H-Man (1958) [with Shuzaburo Araki]
• Varan (1958) [with Shuzaburo Araki]
• Monkey Sun (1959)
• The Three Treasures (1959)
• Battle in Outer Space (1959) [with Shuzaburo Araki]
• The Secret of the Telegian (1960)
• The Human Vapor (1960)
• Mothra (1961)
• The Last War (1961)
• Gorath (1961) [with Motoyoshi Tomioka]
• King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962) [with Motoyoshi Tomioka]
• Matango (1963) [with Motoyoshi Tomioka]
• Atragon (1963) [with Motoyoshi Tomioka]
• Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964) [with Motoyoshi Tomioka]
• Dogora (1964) [with Motoyoshi Tomioka]
• Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964) [with Motoyoshi Tomioka]
• Frankenstein vs. Baragon (1965) [with Motoyoshi Tomioka]
• Invasion of Astro-Monster (1965) [with Motoyoshi Tomioka]
• The War of the Gargantuas (1966) [with Motoyoshi Tomioka]

Director of special effects

• Ultra Q (TV 1966) [episodes 2 and 17-19]
• Ultraman (TV 1966-1967) [episodes 37 and 38]
• Ultraseven (TV 1967-1968) [episodes 4 and 6]
• Ebirah, Horror of the Deep (1966) [uncredited]
• Son of Godzilla (1967)
• Destroy All Monsters (1968)
• Space Amoeba (1970)
• Warrior of Love Rainbowman (TV 1972)
• Warrior of Love Rainbowman: The Professional Killer (1973) [compilation film]
• The Mighty Peking Man (1977) [uncredited; with Keizo Murase]
• The Phoenix (1978) [as Sam Arikawa]

Gallery

• 

  Arikawa (second from right) during filming of Godzilla (1954)

• 

  Arikawa (center) directing Haruo Nakajima and Hiroshi Sekita for Ebirah, Horror of the Deep

• 

  Arikawa (far left) in a publicity photo for Destroy All Monsters with Ishiro Honda, Eiji Tsuburaya, and Tomoyuki Tanaka

• 

  Arikawa with Masao Fukazawa in the Minilla suit on the set of Son of Godzilla

• 

  Arikawa gives instructions to Masao Fukazawa on the set of Son of Godzilla

External links

• Henshin! Online obituary, dated 10/3/05

References

This is a list of references for Sadamasa Arikawa. 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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