Monkey Sun (1959)
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A masterpiece of entertainment, with dreams and adventure for children and adults alike! (大人も子供も楽しめる夢と冒険の娯楽大作!)
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— Tagline |
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An immortal fairy tale of ancient China
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— English tagline[2] |
Monkey Sun (孫悟空 is a Son Gokū, lit. Sun Wukong)1959 tokusatsu fantasy action film produced and distributed by Toho. An adaptation of the Chinese novel Journey to the West, it was released to Japanese theaters on April 19, 1959, as a double feature with I Want to Be a Shellfish.[3] It is the second version of this story by director Kajiro Yamamoto and special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya, after the two-part 1940 film Enoken's Sun Wukong.[4]
Plot
The magical Chinese trickster Sun Wukong leads a group of Buddhists through demonic trials.
Staff
- Main article: Monkey Sun/Credits.
Staff role on the left, staff member's name on the right.
- Directed by Kajiro Yamamoto
- Written by Takeo Murata, Kajiro Yamamoto[b]
- Based on the story Journey to the West by Wu Cheng'en
- Executive producers Tomoyuki Tanaka, Jin Usami[a]
- Music by Ikuma Dan
- Cinematography by Hajime Koizumi
- Edited by Yoshitami Kuroiwa
- Production design by Takeo Kita
- 1st assistant director Susumu Kodama
- Director of special effects Eiji Tsuburaya
Cast
Actor's name on the left, character played on the right.
- Norihei Miki as Sun Wukong
- Fukutaro Ichikawa as Tang Sanzang
- Nobuo Chiba as Zhu Bajie
- Zeko Nakamura as Sha Wujing
- Reiko Dan as Pon
- Yoshio Kosugi as King of Devils
- Toru Yuri as Minister Kinkaku
- Yasuko Nakada as Minister Ginkaku
- Toshiaki Minami as Minister Dokaku
- Hideyo Amamoto as Secretary-General
- Arihiro Fujimura as Cooking teacher
- Michiyo Yokoyama as Messenger Suttonbe
- Teruko Mita as Tang Sanzang's mother
- Susumu Fujita as Wang Xiang
- Yu Fujiki as Swordsman Chikujin
- Shoichi Hirose as Native chief
- Kaoru Yachigusa as Tsui Lan
- Heihachiro Okawa as Tsui Lan's father
- Atsuko Ichinomiya as Tsui Lan's mother
- Musei Tokugawa
- Shiro Tsuchiya as Chamberlain of Japan
- Kazumi Wakabayashi as Little girl
- Fumie Noguchi as Elder sister
Appearances
Characters and monsters
Gallery
- Main article: Monkey Sun/Gallery.
Alternate titles
- Sun Wukong (literal Japanese title)
- The Adventures of Sun Wu Kung (alternate English title)[2]
Theatrical releases
Video releases
Kinema Club VHS (1999)
- Tapes: 1
- Audio: Japanese
- Notes: Available through mail-order only. Out of print.
Toho DVD (2021)[1]
- Region: 2
- Discs: 1
- Audio: Japanese (mono)
- Subtitles: Unknown
- Special features: Trailer and still gallery; other special features unknown
- Notes: To be released on May 26.
Videos
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Trivia
- Though no English version of this film is known to exist, the book Distributed by Toho: Special Effect Movies 1954-1999 provides an English title of Monkey Sun.[4] Prior to this, the English title The Adventures of Sun Wu Kung had been used in the Toho Films 1960 guide.[2]
Notes
References
This is a list of references for Monkey Sun. 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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