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The H-Man (1958)

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Image gallery for The H-Man
The H-Man soundtrack


Transforming Human Series
← None
The H-Man
The Secret of the Telegian →
The H-Man
Japanese poster for The H-Man
Alternate titles
Flagicon Japan.png Beauty and Liquid Men (1958)
See alternate titles
Directed by Ishiro Honda
Producer Tomoyuki Tanaka
Written by Takeshi Kimura, Hideo Unagami
Music by Masaru Sato
Distributor Toho,
Columbia PicturesUS
Running time 87 minutesJP,
79 minutesUS
Aspect ratio 2.35:1
“
Molecular man terrifies the world!
„ 

— English tagline

The H-Man (美女と液体人間,   Bijo to Ekitainingen, lit. Beauty and Liquid Men) is a 1958 tokusatsu science fiction film produced by Toho It is considered to be the first entry in Toho's Transforming Human Series, followed by The Secret of the Telegian and The Human Vapor. It was released to Japanese theaters on June 24, 1958 and to American theaters on May 28, 1959.

Plot

X no sunglasses.PNG “I knew that『plot』wasn't up to much.”
This plot synopsis is missing or incomplete.
Please help by editing this section.

To be added.

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.

  • Yumi Shirakawa   as   Chikako Arai
  • Kenji Sahara   as   Doctor Masada
  • Akihiko Hirata   as   Inspector Tominaga
  • Koreya Senda   as   Doctor Maki
  • Makoto Sato   as   Uchida
  • Yoshifumi Tajima   as   Detective Sakata
  • Eitaro Ozawa   as   Inspector Miyashita
  • Yoshio Tsuchiya   as   Detective
  • Kamayuki Tsubono   as   Detective
  • Tadao Nakamaru   as   Detective
  • Nadao Kirino   as   Waiter Shimazaki
  • Kan Hayashi   as   Police Officer
  • Mitzuo Tsuda   as   Police Officer
  • Akio Kusama   as   Police Officer
  • Jun Fujiro   as   Nishiyama
  • Hisaya Ito   as   Gangster Misaki
  • Haruya Kato   as   Mattchan
  • Shigeo Kato   as   Matsu
  • Ko Mishima   as   Gangster Kishi
  • Tetsu Nakamura   as   Gangster Mr. Chin
  • Toshiko Nakano   as   Apartment Manager Mrs. Okami
  • Minosuke Yamada   as   Chief of Inspectors
  • Senkichi Omura   as   Sailer Daichan
  • Shin Otomo   as   Gangster Hamano
  • Machiko Kitagawa   as   Hanae
  • Akira Sera   as   Horita
  • Naomi Shiraishi   as   Mineko
  • Ayumi Sonoda   as   Emi

Appearances

Monsters

Weapons, Vehicles, and Races

Alternate Titles

  • Beauty and Liquid Men (Literal Japanese Title)
  • The H Man (L'Homme H; France)
  • The Horror Creeps Through Tokyo (Das Grauen Schleicht Durch Tokio; Germany)

Gallery

Main article: The H-Man/Gallery.

Soundtrack

Main article: The H-Man (Soundtrack).

Theatrical Release

  • Japan - June 24, 1958
  • United States - May 28, 1959
  • West Germany - May 29, 1959
  • Italy - September 1959
  • Sweden - November 2, 1959
  • Finland - December 11, 1959
  • Australia - 1959
  • France - 1959
  • Mexico - February 25, 1960
  • Denmark - March 12, 1962

U.S. Release

American The H-Man poster

The H-Man was released by Columbia Pictures in the United States in 1959. Columbia cut approximately eight minutes of footage from the film in order to improve the pacing and remove some of the less convincing special effects shots. The American cut of the film also removed any mention of the H-Men retaining their human memories.

In 1987, Columbia renewed their license for the film and retains the American distribution rights to this day. In 2009, it released the original Japanese cut of The H-Man, as well as the American edit, through Sony on DVD in a triple feature with Mothra and Battle in Outer Space.

Reception

The H-Man was positively received by critics after its American theatrical release. A New York Herald Tribune film critic at the time called it, "A good-natured poke at atom-bomb tests... The picture is plainly making a case against the use of nuclear bombs. At the same time, there is a great deal of lively entertainment in the story involving police, dope smugglers, scientists and some very pretty Japanese girls."

The H-Man has been praised for blending various film genres, most notably Japanese mafia or "Yakuza" films and science-fiction kaiju films which were both popular at the time, and for Eiji Tsuburaya's special effects. The H-Man later inspired two other Toho films revolving around human-sized superpowered kaijin, The Human Vapor, also directed by Ishiro Honda, and The Secret of the Telegian, directed by Jun Fukuda.

Video Releases

Toho DVD (2005)

  • Region: 2
  • Discs: 1
  • Audio: Japanese (2.0 Mono, 3.1, 5.1 Surround)
  • Subtitles: Japanese
  • Special Features: Audio commentary by actor Kenji Sahara and writer Kenji Konuta, ""The Staff Reflect on The H-Man" documentary (45 minutes), Japanese theatrical trailer

Sony DVD (2009)

  • Region: 1
  • Discs: 3
  • Audio: Japanese (2.0 Mono) and English (2.0 Mono)
  • Subtitles: English
  • Special Features: Audio commentary by Steve Ryfle and Ed Godziszewski (Mothra and Battle in Outer Space), trailers
  • Notes: Packaged with Battle in Outer Space and Mothra.

Anolis DVD + Blu-ray (2017)

  • Region: 2 (DVD) and B/2 (Blu-ray)
  • Discs: 1
  • Audio: Japanese, English (2.0 mono)
  • Subtitles: German (for the Japanese version only)
  • Special Features: Two audio commentaries (the first by Dr. Rolf Giesen and Jörg M. Jedner, the second by Jörg Buttgereit, Bodo Traber and Alexander Iffländer), gallery of promotional materials (4 minutes), film program gallery (1 minutes), still gallery (3 minutes), German theatrical trailer, 16-page booklet

Videos

Trailers

Japanese The H-Man trailer
American The H-Man trailer
German The H-Man trailer

References

This is a list of references for The H-Man. 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. ↑ Toho Special Effects All Monster Encyclopedia. Shogakukan. 23 July 2014. p. 19. ISBN 4-096-82090-3. Check date values in: |date= (help)

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