Starring Tamio Kawaji, Yoko Yamamoto, Yuji Kodaka, Koji Wada, Tatsuya Fuji
Directed by Hiroshi Noguchi
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)
A publishing magnate sends a team to the South Seas to bring back unusual animals for his new theme park, but they return with a newly hatched dinosaur, whose parents are soon on its trail.
Also known as Daikyoju Gappa, this movie came from Japan's Nikkatsu studio, who did not to the best of my knowledge make a lot of kaiju films, and I believe this may have been their first one. The film is pretty derivative, as the plotline is reminiscent of Gorgo, and the movie is obviously following in the footsteps of Gojira and other Japanese monster films, but I found the production very enjoyable on its own merits. The special effects, led by Akira Watanabe, are of fairly fine quality, with many of the miniatures the Gappa monsters destroy looking convincing, and the creatures' flight scenes well-executed. The plot is pretty simplistic, and we've seen many similar characters in other kaiju productions, but good use is made of darkness and shadow to heighten the attack sequences, and the production values are on par with some of Toho's best work.
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