Legend of Dinosaurs and Monster Birds (1977)
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The "Legend of Dinosaurs" (TV 1987)
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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's Kyoto Studio. It was released to Japanese theaters on April 29, 1977.
Plot
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“I knew that『plot』wasn't up to much.” This plot synopsis is missing or incomplete. Please help by editing this section. |
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To be added.
Staff
Staff role on the left, staff member's name on the right.
- Directed by Junji Kurata
- Associate director Tomoomi Yoda
- Written by Masaru Igami, Isao Matsumoto, Ichiro Otsu
- Planned by Keiichi Hashimoto
- Music by Masao Yagi
- Theme song "Legend of Distant Blood"
- Performed by Eiichi Miyanaga
- Lyrics by Keisuke Yamakawa
- Composed and arranged by Masao Yagi
- Cinematography by Sakuji Shiomi
- Edited by Isamu Ichida
- Production design by Yoshichika Amemori
- First assistant directors Kazuo Noda, Mitsukazu Kawamura
- Monster modeler and operator 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
- Stone dinosaur eggs
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)
- Legend of the Dinosaur (Легенда о динозавре; Soviet Union)
- The Monster Birds Against the Island of the Dinosaurs (Los pajaros monstruo contra la isla de los dinosauros; Mexico)
Foreign releases
U.S. release
Legend of Dinosaurs and Monster Birds was dubbed into English for international export by Tokyo-based 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 that he had licensed; Celebrity Home Entertainment released the film to VHS the same year. Strangely, the cover art featured photos of two Futabasaurus props from the otherwise unrelated 1978-1979 television series Dinosaur Corps Koseidon. 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]
A 2007 DVD release by Tokyo Shock included both the film's original Japanese audio with English subtitles, and its English dub.
Soviet Union release
Legend of Dinosaurs and Monster Birds was released theatrically in the USSR in 1979, with a Russian-language dub commissioned by the studio Mosfilm and a shortened 80 minute runtime. The first Japanese monster movie to be released in the Soviet Union, it recorded 48,700,000 admissions, the 17th-most for a foreign film at the time, and became something of a cult film.[3] According to Gregory Pflugfelder, "For many Russian viewers, this was a rare glimpse into everyday life in a capitalist economy. People were not taking note of the dinosaurs and monster birds—it was the Polaroid cameras!"[4]
Videos
Trailers
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Video releases
Tokyo Shock DVD (December 18, 2007)
- Region: 1
- Discs: 1
- Audio: Japanese, English (2.0 Mono)
- Subtitles: English
- Special features: Still gallery, two trailers for the film, four trailers for other Tokyo Shock films
- Notes: Out of print.
Discotek Media Blu-ray (November 29, 2022)[5]
- Region: A
- Discs: 1
- Audio:: Japanese, English
- Subtitles: English
- Special features: Trailers
Trivia
- Despite the film's title, neither of the titular creatures are actually dinosaurs or ancient birds, though both are animals that lived alongside them; Plesiosaurus is a marine reptile genus, while Rhamphorhynchus is a pterosaur genus.
- Other dinosaurs, including an Archaeopteryx, were present in the early planning stages for the production before being replaced by the aforementioned creatures.[6]
- Italian posters for the film featured a gigantic Tyrannosaurus towering over a skyscraper in place of the film's Plesiosaurus.
- Additionally, Italian magazine advertisements for the film oddly included the giant octopus from It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955) to the proceedings.
- Stock footage of both the Plesiosaurus and the Rhamphorhynchus were briefly used in the final few episodes of the 1985-1986 series MegaBeast Investigator Juspion as members of the villainous Megabeast Empire.[7][8]
- The 2021 film Zillafoot makes a brief mention of the (otherwise unseen) Disco-Plesiosaur, a humorous homage to the main creature and the soundtrack of Legend of Dinosaurs and Monster Birds. The Disco-Plesiosaur is described as a lake monster who lives near Mt. Fuji and can summon forth "funky beats" (i.e., music) to force humans into dancing before its presence.
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]
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