Friday, August 31, 2012

DER GOLEM-JAPANESE STYLE



My buddy Kelly Greene and I enjoyed watching a couple of Japanese films yesterday afternoon. The films, DAIMAJIN and RETURN OF DAIMAJIN were both made in 1966 along with a third Daimajin film.

The trilogy is a weird mash-up of two sub-genres of films that the Japanese film industry excelled at: the samurai film and the giant monster movie. In both films, innocent villagers are enslaved by evil warlords and forced to perform back breaking labor before being rescued by Majin, a giant stone statue of a samurai warrior that comes to lumbering life in the last reel and saves the day.

The giant monster material is held back until the very end of both films but the action is well worth the wait. Using a combination of a man in a rubber suit, mechanical puppets/statues, rear-screen projection, miniature sets and other special effects, these sequences are extremely impressive. Majin is not the comic hero that Godzilla eventually became. He's a grim, implacable force of nature that will not stop until all of the bad guys and the chief villain are utterly destroyed.

The production values are first rate, there's lots of beautiful scenery of Japanese mountains and forests and the sets, costumes and weapons are authentic looking. The first film is the better of the two with it's focus on an exiled prince and princess trying to regain their kingdom. In the second film, four young boys set off to pray to the Majin for help in rescuing their fathers and brothers who are woodcutters forced to toil in a sulfur mine.

We'll definitely seek out the third film which is also confusingly named RETURN OF DAIMAJIN in the United States. It's an offbeat concept that works surprisingly well and just goes to prove that no matter how many films I've seen, there's still more stuff out there that I don't know about and haven't seen. Thumbs up.

10 comments:

  1. Thank you! I saw these as a kid, and often wondered if they held up, so I've been looking for an opportunity to revisit them. Looking forward to it.

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    1. Japanese version of the legendary Bohemian stone monster Golem from Czechoslovakia/Czech Republic in media & literature in Japanese history. Thanks! From:Wayne

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    2. Daimajin he is an invincible warrior god of heart of stone and guardian of nature in Japanese mythology & legend. Thanks! From:Wayne

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    3. Serialized in comics/manga inspired from the legendary giant stone god Daimajin the stone warrior & guardian of nature in Japanese legend.Thanks! From:Wayne

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    4. Soon to be a reboot of the 1966 fantasy/kaiju film by 2016 to be filmed by early summer of 2015 by Daiei Cinema released by Sony Pictures next year soon. Thanks for the information. From:Wayne www.sonypictures.com

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  2. Kyle: I really enjoyed these films and I hope you like them as an adult just as much as you did when you were a kid!

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    1. He is the legendary stone warrior god in Japanese mythology he is the god of nature(forests & mountains) inspired from 1966 film & television series from 2010 also in comicbooks/manga animated series/anime action figures dolls & media from Japan. Thanks for the information. From:Wayne

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    2. Daimajin will face Godzilla in showdown soon in films television & media soon. Thanks for the information. From:Wayne

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    3. Daimajin stone god hero of the 1966 fantasy/kaiju film from Daiei Pictures from Japan soon to be a reboot of the classic film underway soon in 2016 next year. Thanks for the information. From:Wayne

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  3. Daimajin the hero of the 1966 fantasy/kaiju film created by Daiei Pictures from Japan. Thanks for the information. From:Wayne

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