The Volcano Monsters: Difference between revisions
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O0680085013989246241.jpg|''Tyrannosaur'' and ''ankylosaur'' suits | O0680085013989246241.jpg|''Tyrannosaur'' and ''ankylosaur'' suits | ||
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Godzillavolcanomonsterscolour2.jpg|[[wikipedia:James Cagney|James Cagney]] (?) posing with the ''tyrannosaur'' suit while wearing makeup for ''the Phantom'' used in the 1957 [[wikipedia:Lon Chaney|Lon Chaney]] biopic ''[[wikipedia:Man of a Thousand Faces (film)|Man of a Thousand Faces]]'' | |||
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Revision as of 05:29, 8 January 2024
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The Volcano Monsters was an unmade 1957 American film that would have reused considerable footage from the 1955 Godzilla film Godzilla Raids Again. After a group of Hollywood producers who had previously worked on Godzilla, King of the Monsters! struck a deal to distribute Godzilla Raids Again in the U.S. They changed plans and hired writers Ib Melchior and Ed Watson to create an original screenplay for a new film incorporating special effects and pandemonium sequences from Godzilla Raids Again, changing Godzilla and Anguirus to regular dinosaurs on the loose in San Francisco. Financier and production company AB-PT Picture Corp. delayed shooting and scrapped the film for unknown reasons, even after receiving new monster suits built by Toho to use in new special effects shots and hiring Howard Anderson to provide special effects. By January 1959, Godzilla Raids Again had been conventionally re-edited, dubbed, rescored and retitled Gigantis, the Fire Monster, and released theatrically by Warner Bros. in May of that year.
Plot
Paleontologists investigate a prehistoric cavern, unearthed in the eruption of Japan's Noshiro volcano. Inside, the scientists discover two enormous dinosaurs, theorized to be related to Tyrannosaurus rex and Ankylosaurus, both still living thanks to a specific mixture of volcanic gases. Arrangements are made for the dinosaurs and the gases to be studied at a university laboratory in San Francisco. En route, however, the tyrannosaur is lost at sea during a turbulent storm.
No longer subdued by the volcanic gas, the ankylosaur awakens and heads for Golden Gate Bay, where the tyrannosaur has surfaced. Being prehistoric rivals, the monsters resume their ancient battle and destroy the city's Chinatown. The tyrannosaur kills its opponent and returns to the sea. Some time later, it surfaces at an island in the Arctic Ocean, where scientists theorize that the monster will lay its eggs. U.S. Navy jets bombard the island, trapping the dinosaur under tons of ice, where it will be preserved for scientists to study.
Meanwhile, a monstrous claw emerges from the Noshiro cavern.[7]
History
Edward Barison, Harry Rybnick and Richard Kay,[1][8][note 1] who had previously been involved in the localization and U.S. distribution of Godzilla, King of the Monsters!, acquired U.S. rights to Toho's Godzilla Raids Again.[9] Unhappy with the film's story, the three men decided instead to make a new U.S. film while reusing pandemonium and special effects shots from Godzilla Raids Again.
Rybnick hired Ib Melchior and Ed Watson to co-write a new story and screenplay, with Forrest J Ackerman acting as their agent and announcing the screenplay assignment in March 1957 in the science fiction fan magazine Nebula.[9][10][11] Melchior and Watson created a story about two unnamed, regular dinosaurs on the loose in San Francisco, and they delivered a final draft titled The Volcano Monsters on May 7, 1957.[8] Their script specifies which shots from Godzilla Raids Again were to be used, along with notes to cut all views of Japanese faces and all footage of Godzilla's atomic ray.[12] Despite this, Ackerman reported in the fan magazine Imaginary Tales in May 1957 that "Godzilla returns – and meets up with Anzilla, another prehistoric [Japanese] monster – in The Volcano Monsters, an English version co-scripted by Ib Melchior & Ed Watson. The nightmares from [Japan] raise a hullaballoo [...] in this Topaz presentation."[13][note 2]
Barison, Rybnick and Kay were set to produce the film, now called Volcano Monsters, through American Broadcasting-Paramount Theatres Pictures Corporation (AB-PT Pictures Corp.).[8][12] Originally launched as Am-Par Pictures Corp. on November 19, 1956 and changing its name on February 21, 1957,[14] AB-PT Pictures Corp. was formed as the wholly-owned subsidiary[15] and production wing of American Broadcasting-Paramount Theatres, Inc. with the intent of addressing declining U.S. theatrical production rates and directly producing films for the AB-PT circuit. An established distributor would handle distribution through other U.S. theatrical circuits and to other countries following runs at AB-PT theaters. Films would be shot on the Republic Pictures lot and processed at Consolidated Film Laboratories in Hollywood and New York. Film budgets would be in the range of $250,000 to $500,000.[16][17]
Melchior and Watson's screenplay for The Volcano Monsters called for the addition of numerous new special effects shots requiring the use of mattes, rear projection, prosthetics of the dinosaurs' spikes and feet, miniature buildings, and monster suits based on the designs of Godzilla and Anguirus. Howard Anderson was hired to produce the new special effects shots, and Toho built two monster suits that they shipped overseas. In May 1957, while working as an assistant to Paul Blaisdell on the filming of Invasion of the Saucer Men at Howard Anderson's studio, special effects technician Bob Burns found the tyrannosaur and ankylosaur suits inside of two crates; in a 1996 interview, Burns described the physical condition of the tyrannosaur suit:[12][18]
The suit was in really bad shape, it looked like they were going to really have to patch it up, because it had burn holes all over it – you could really see where they had shot that thing up, and where they had run lines when they were shooting fireworks into it. I used to wear monster suits, and I'd have hated to be the guy in that thing! It There was actually a hole on the inside where it had burned through. I'm sure the actor who was inside that thing got burned. They didn't really fix it up at all.
A day before the final draft was delivered, AB-PT Pictures president Irving H. Levin announced that Volcano Monsters was slated to begin production on June 17, 1957, and this date was reported in both Motion Picture Daily and The Hollywood Reporter.[19][1] Two days later, The Hollywood Reporter gave a start date of June 18 for the film; in the same issue, AB-PT took out a full-page advertisement for the world premiere of their first two films, Beginning of the End and The Unearthly, along with a list of films in production and in preparation, including Volcano Monsters in the latter category.[20][21] In Chicago on May 14 before an audience of over one hundred American Broadcasting-Paramount Theatres executives, Levin asserted that the seven films currently on AB-PT Pictures' slate fulfilled the exhibitors' aim of "highly gimmicked and exploitable" product.[22]
On June 12, 1957, AB-PT finalized a deal with Republic Pictures whereby Republic would physically distribute their theatrical product in the U.S., its territories and Canada following runs at AB-PT circuits; at this point, Volcano Monsters was still one of the seven properties scheduled for 1957.[5] AB-PT's production of Volcano Monsters was evidently delayed, as a progress report written by Irving H. Levin and published in Independent Film Journal on June 29 of the same year indicated Volcano Monsters was forthcoming but had still not begun shooting.[6] By July 17 of the same year, the AB-PT Pictures 1957 slate consisted of ten films, no longer including Volcano Monsters.[23]
On November 18, 1957, Forrest J Ackerman took out an advertisement in The Hollywood Reporter, listing the script of The Volcano Monsters by Ib Melchior and Ed Watson as one of Ackerman Agency's activities.[24] From September 1957 to July 1958, Ackerman continued to report in fan magazines that The Volcano Monsters was forthcoming.[25][2][3][4] On November 19, 1958, after making only four films, AB-PT ceased theatrical production operations following eight months of inactivity, and heads Irving H. Levin and Harry L. Mandell bought the AB-PT Pictures subsidiary.[9][8][26]
The fate of the tyrannosaur and ankylosaur suits is unknown. It is also unknown why The Volcano Monsters was never produced, or why the tyrannosaur suit appeared to have been extensively used already when Bob Burns inspected it. On January 21, 1959, Variety announced that Paul Schreibman had re-edited, dubbed, rescored Gigantis from an "original, which was tabbed Anguirus."[27] Schreibman's re-edit was released as Gigantis, the Fire Monster by Warner Bros. in May 1959.[28]
Gallery
First page of the screenplay of The Volcano Monsters
AB-PT Pictures advertisement in The Hollywood Reporter announcing Volcano Monsters as "in preparation" (May 9, 1957)
Tyrannosaur suit under construction
Ankylosaur suit under construction
Modelers Teizo Toshimitsu, Eizo Kaimai, Yasuei Yagi, and Yoshio Suzuki with the tyrannosaur and ankylosaur suits
Tyrannosaur and ankylosaur suits
Tyrannosaur suit
James Cagney (?) posing with the tyrannosaur suit while wearing makeup for the Phantom used in the 1957 Lon Chaney biopic Man of a Thousand Faces
Trivia
- The tyrannosaur and ankylosaur suits that Toho created for use in The Volcano Monsters differ in design from the respective Godzilla and Anguirus suits used in Godzilla Raids Again. The tyrannosaur suit was later dubbed "Gigantis Godzilla" in official publications and merchandise, with companies such as Marmit and more recently Super7 creating figures based on it.
Notes
- ↑ In an interview with Brett Homenick, Ib Melchior recalled that Paul Schreibman was one of the three producers who hired him to write the screenplay instead of Richard Kay. When interviewed by Steve Ryfle, Schreibman was not aware of The Volcano Monsters. A news item in The Hollywood Reporter states that Harry Rybnick, Edward Barison, and Richard Kay were the three producers, with no mention of Schreibman.
- ↑ Paul Schreibman was president of Topaz Film Corp. When interviewed by Steve Ryfle, Schreibman was not aware of The Volcano Monsters.
References
This is a list of references for The Volcano Monsters. 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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Bibliography
- Ryfle, Steve (1998). Japan's Favorite Mon-Star: The Unauthorized Biography of "The Big G". ECW Press. ISBN 1550223488.
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