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The Human Vapor (1960)

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Image gallery for The Human Vapor
Credits for The Human Vapor
The Human Vapor soundtrack


Transforming Human Series
← The Secret of the Telegian
The Human Vapor
None →
The Human Vapor
The Japanese poster for The Human Vapor
Alternate titles
Flagicon Japan.png The First Gas Man (1960)
Flagicon global.png The Human Vapour (1960)
See alternate titles
Directed by Ishiro Honda
Producer Tomoyuki Tanaka
Written by John Meredyth Lucas (story),
Takeshi Kimura (screenplay)
Music by Kunio Miyauchi
Distributor TohoJP, Brenco Pictures CorporationUS
Rating Unrated
Running time 92 minutesJP
(1 hour, 32 minutes)
81 minutesUS
(1 hour, 21 minutes)
Aspect ratio 2.35:1
Rate this film!
4.36
(11 votes)

This page is for the film and stage production. For the titular kaijin, see Human Vapor. For the television series, see Human Vapor (series).
“
Half man...half beast! Born of woman Re-created by outer space! - Yet, loves like a man!
Half human! Half beast! It destroys! It kills!
Is he man or astro-man?
„ 

— American tagline

The Human Vapor (ガス人間㐧1号[a],   Gasu Ningen Daiichigō, lit. "The First Gas Man") is a 1960 tokusatsu science fiction film directed by Ishiro Honda and written by Takeshi Kimura based on a story by John Meredyth Lucas, with special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya. Produced by Toho, it is considered to be the third film in the studio's Transforming Human Series, after The H-Man and The Secret of the Telegian. It stars Tatsuya Mihashi, Kaoru Yachigusa, Keiko Sada, Hisaya Ito, Yoshibumi Tajima, Yoshio Kosugi, and Fuyuki Murakami. The film was released to Japanese theaters by Toho on December 11, 1960. Brenco Pictures Corporation released an edited English-dubbed version of the film to American theaters on May 20, 1964.

Plot

Paper.gif This section is a stub. Please help out by adding information.

The film tells the story of Mizuno, a librarian who has been given the ability to become vapor after a scientist performs an experiment on him. Mizuno uses this power to engage in criminal activities, robbing banks to give the money to his love interest, the dancer Fujichiyo. Police Lieutenant Kenji Okamoto and his reporter girlfriend Kyoko (Keiko Sata) work together to solve the criminal case and attempt to bring things to a peaceful conclusion.

Staff

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

Cast

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

  • Tatsuya Mihashi   as   Detective Okamoto
  • Kaoru Yachigusa   as   Fujichiyo Kasuga
  • Yoshio Tsuchiya   as   Mizuno, the Human Vapor
  • Keiko Sada   as   Kyoko Kono
  • Hisaya Ito   as   Doctor Tamiya
  • Yoshibumi Tajima   as   Sergeant Tabata
  • Yoshio Kosugi   as   Detective Inao
  • Fuyuki Murakami   as   Dr. Sano
  • Bokuzen Hidari   as   Jiya
  • Takamaru Sasaki   as   police chief
  • Minosuke Yamada   as   Official Hayama
  • Tatsuo Matsumura   as   Editor Ikeda
  • Yoyo Miyata   as   bank manager
  • Ko Mishima   as   Detective Fujita
  • Kozo Nomura   as   Kawasaki
  • Ren Yamamoto   as   Nomura, robber
  • Somesho Matsumoto   as   Fujichiyo's teacher
  • Yasuhisa Tsutsumi   as   police officer
  • Akira Yamada   as   man in the library
  • Shoichi Hirose   as   guard
  • Tetsu Nakamura   as   Tobe, journalist
  • Toki Shiozawa   as   Satoyo, wife
  • Jiro Kumagai   as   Kajimoto
  • Kamayuki Tsubono   as   Policeman Ozaki
  • Rinsaku Ogata   as   Policeman Nakatani
  • Keiji Sakakida   as   guard
  • Yutaka Oka   as   audience member
  • Keisuke Yamada   as   police chief
  • Yukihiko Gondo   as   detective
  • Akio Kusama   as   police chief
  • Mitsuo Matsumoto   as   Kamata
  • Koichi Sato   as   audience member
  • Hiroshi Akitsu   as   librarian
  • Hideo Shibuya   as   bank clerk
  • Masaaki Tachibana   as   reporter
  • Tadahiko Kuroda   as   audience member
  • Minoru Ito   as   reporter
  • Wataru Omae   as   reporter
  • Ko Hayami   as   Fujichiyo's driver
  • Jiro Suzukawa   as   deceased bank clerk
  • Shinjiro Hirota   as   man in jail
  • Kazuo Imai   as   reporter (uncredited)
  • Takashi Narita   as   audience member (uncredited)
  • Akijiro Mitsu   as   detective (uncredited)
  • Haruo Nakajima   as   bank patron with black glasses (uncredited)
  • Hiroko Terasawa
  • Yoshishiro Fujita
  • Shotaro Kashiwa
  • Kojuro Kineya
  • Kyutaro Yoshimura
  • Katsushiro Kineya
  • Wakisuke Kineya
  • Kazushi Kineya
  • Kazusaburo Kineya
  • Kazunosuke Kineya
  • Nobuhide Hosei
  • Kishiro Katata
  • Kisaburo Katata
  • Kisaku Katata
  • Hiroshi Fukuhara

English dub

Appearances

Monsters

Gallery

Main article: The Human Vapor/Gallery.

Soundtrack

Main article: The Human Vapor/Soundtrack.

Alternate titles

  • The First Gas Man (literal Japanese title)
  • The Human Vapour (international title)
  • A Cloud of Terror (Una nube di terrore; Italy)
  • The Secret of the Gas Man (O Segredo do Homem Gasoso; Brazil)

Theatrical releases

Foreign releases

U.S. release

U.S. The Human Vapor poster

The Human Vapor was released theatrically on the West Coast of the United States in 1964 by Brenco Pictures Corporation as a package with Gorath. The two films were later released more widely in the U.S. starting in the late 1960s. The U.S. version re-structured the film from a police procedural to a narrative focused around, and narrated by, Mizuno. It contains innumerable edits; music and effects alterations; and stock footage and outtakes from the 1955 Samuel Fuller film noir House of Bamboo, which was shot entirely in Japan. The Human Vapor, along with The Last War and Gorath, is part of the Samuel Goldwyn film library owned by MGM, though none of them have ever received official home video releases in the United States.

United Kingdom release

Iver released The Human Vapor to VHS in the UK in December 1981. The U.S. edit, including English dubbing, was used for this release.[2]

Stage adaptation

Gashumanno1.jpg

Toho produced a stage adaptation of The Human Vapor in October 2009, with a cast that included Kumi Mizuno.[3] No recording of the show has surfaced, although it was broadcast on NHK on February 26, 2010.[4]

Unmade sequel

Main article: Frankenstein vs. The Human Vapor.

After The Human Vapor proved a box office success in both Japan and the United States, producer Tomoyuki Tanaka began to plan for a sequel entitled Frankenstein vs. The Human Vapor. The sequel's premise would revolve around Mizuno, having actually survived the film's climax, seeking out Frankenstein's monster in order to find the secret of his immortality and use it to revive his love interest, who perished in the climax. However, the film never came to pass, although Frankenstein's monster would later appear in Toho's Frankenstein vs. Baragon in 1965.

Video releases

DVD Toho DVD (2002)

  • Region: 2
  • Discs: 1
  • Audio: Japanese (Mono, 5.1)
  • Subtitles: Japanese
  • Special features: Isolated score, audio commentary by actress Kaoru Yachigusa, Japanese theatrical trailer, still galleries of publicity materials, Toho sci-fi props, and actors

TOHO Visual Entertainment Blu-ray (2021) [Transforming Human Series][5]

  • Region: A
  • Discs: 2
  • Audio: Japanese (Mono, 5.1, isolated score)
  • Subtitles: Japanese
  • Special features: Audio commentaries for The H-Man (Kenji Sahara), The Secret of the Telegian (Tadao Nakamaru), and The Human Vapor (Kaoru Yachigusa)
  • Notes: Packaged with Invisible Man, The H-Man, and The Secret of the Telegian.

Videos

Trailers

Japanese The Human Vapor trailer
U.S. The Human Vapor trailer
U.S. The Human Vapor trailer

Miscellaneous

Ending of the Italian version, combining the editing of the U.S. version with the music and newspaper insert of the Japanese version

Trivia

  • The surf rock band Man or Astro-man? is named after one of Brenco Pictures' taglines for The Human Vapor.[citation needed]
  • In 2009, the film ranked 65th in Kinema Junpo's list of the 200 best Japanese films of all time.[6]

External links

Notes

  1. ↑ While The Human Vapor's Japanese title was originally written using the irregular kanji 㐧 (dai; "number"), it is commonly substituted for the synonymous 第 (dai) in modern media, such as in the title of its 2009 stage adaptation or on its Japanese streaming listings. Furthermore, while the film's posters and screenplay write its title with the kanji 一 (ichi; "one"), most other sources including the film's title card and promotional materials use the numeral 1.

References

This is a list of references for The Human Vapor. 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 1.2 1.3 Galbraith IV, Stuart (1996). The Japanese Filmography: 1900 through 1994. McFarland. p. 223. ISBN 0-7864-0032-3.
  2. ↑ Branaghan, Sim. "Monsters From An Unknown Culture: Godzilla (and friends) in Britain 1957-1980 - Part 4". SMGuariento.com. Retrieved 9 August 2024.
  3. ↑ ガス人間第１号公式ブログ　シアタークリエにて10月3日～10月31日　製作：東宝
  4. ↑ TV放映！舞台版ガス人間第１号今週金曜
  5. ↑ "Transforming Human Series Blu-ray 2 Disc Set". Amazon.co.jp. Retrieved 25 August 2021.
  6. ↑ Ishiro Honda: A Life in Film, from Godzilla to Kurosawa. Wesleyan University Press. p. 171. ISBN 9780819570871.

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