In Memoriam :: Farewll to the King: Haruo Nakajima

Today is a sad day, for Haruo Nakajima has left us. For those unfamiliar, he was the man in the monster suit from Godzilla King of the Monsters (1956) through Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972), bringing a cultural icon to life as he tore down cities, fought monsters and kicked Kilaak ass. That'd be ten films in total. He also played Rodan, Varan, Baragon, a giant robot in The Mysterians (1957), a giant walrus in Gorath (1962), a killer mushroom in Mantango (1963), a Gargantua, and one of the goofiest version of King Kong of ever in King Kong Escapes (1967).

As to whether he should be designated as an actor or a stuntman or suit specialists, I think the correct answer is all of the above. He was a legend. He was my hero. He was Godzilla. And he was and will forever be one of my favorite attractions on the big screen. Thanks for bringing the Big Guy to life for all those years. Sayonara, Nakajima-san.

 Haruo Nakajima  

1929-2017 

 

Favorites :: Vintage Tuneage :: How Nature Points Up the Folly of Men

Video courtesy of Dinovideos100.

Blue Öyster Cult:

Eric Bloom, Donald Roeser, Allen Lanier, 

Joe Bouchard, Albert Bouchard

In Memoriam :: Happy Trails, Herb.

When I was a kid growing up in the 1970s, my comic book buying was very sporadic. Purchases were usually made every six months or so, basically whenever the whole family was hauled to the barbershop for a mass haircut, which was located right next to the Central News Stand, which had a wall of comics to peruse through. (Also, a huge amount of porn, which brought tri-annual picket lines from the local demagogues. Lines I remember defying and breaking through. Even the Lord Almighty couldn't keep me from my funny books. Anyhoo... ) A virtual 4-color Nirvana it was, and if you behaved in the barber's chair, your reward was a comic book. And whenever, by some miracle, I behaved, I usually blew my reward on a copy of The Incredible Hulk -- because what child can resist the story of a gentle giant that no one understands but his woman with a penchant for city-leveling temper tantrums and the mass of army men charged with capturing him, amIright?

Thus and so, began a decades long love of old Jade Jaws. Sure, my version of the story was severely truncated but at least some effort was made back then to treat each issue as if it was the very first one you read, allowing new readers to get up to speed and others, like myself, to get caught up on what we'd missed. (As usual, my timing sucked enough to miss out on issues #180 and #181, which could've helped pay off my house, but, no. Of COURSE I got #182... ) And if you were really lucky, and good at the con game, you could get your hands on one of those Treasury Editions, which were super-sized reprints featuring whole story arcs of your favorite characters. Hell yeah!

Herb Trimpe was the artist on the Hulk when I got hooked. Trimpe is probably best known for his work on The Incredible Hulk, which, for my money, was the best rendition of the character ever put on paper -- especially if John or Marie Severin were doing the inks. The artist drew the mag for nearly seven years straight, where he famously rendered the first appearance of Wolverine (in those aforementioned missed issues. No. I AM NOT BITTER. AM NOT! AM NOT! AM NOT!)

And while the stories were cool, full of monsters, and kind of a head-trip, it was the art that kept bringing me back. Trimpe's drawings simply exploded off the page, with fists or feet or whole bodies breaking through the panel and plane. His art was fluid and you'd swear you could see it move from panel to panel and feel each landed punch. I loved his splash pages, and would spend hours perusing all the details in his massive double-spreads.  He was also amazing at depicting tech and military equipment. Trimpe was instrumental in the formation of the Hulkbusters, who constantly hounded our hero, even though he usually made short work of their tanks, aircraft and artillery.

After he left the Hulk, Trimpe sort of became Marvel's go-to artists for their licensed properties and toy-lines, including Godzilla and the Shogun Warriors (and he later helped launch G.I. Joe), where his layouts and forced perspective work to give the King of the Monsters and those giant battle-bots size and scale were pretty damned amazing in my book.

In fact, I think Trimpe runs second only to King Kirby, himself, when it came to these kind of nightmare creatures, kit-bashed doodads and cosmic whiz-bangery. And I kind of bristle when Trimpe is tagged as the Poor Man's Kirby or Kirby-Lite. It's funny, but I found out later that the artist actually favored the work of Jack Davis and the boys at EC Comics. So much so, that Stan Lee had some of his first work redone and told him to be more like Kirby in the future. And so, being a good employee, that's what Trimpe did, to great effect.

I could go on rambling, but I think I can bring this tribute down to a succinct point. I grew up with this artist. He was the first artist whose style I recognized. He was formative. He will always be one of my favorites. He was my Kirby. Rest in peace, sir. And thank you.

Herbert W. "Happy Herb" Trimpe

(1939-2015)

Movie Poster Spotlight :: Foreign Jobs :: A Set of Italian Photobustas for Ishirô Honda's Destroy All Monsters (1968)

Destroy All Monsters (1968) Toho Company :: American International / P: Tomoyuki Tanaka / D: Ishirô Honda / W: Ishirô Honda, Takeshi Kimura / C: Taiichi Kankura / E: Ryôhei Fujii / M: Akira Ifukube / S: Akira Kubo, Jun Tazaki, Yukiko Kobayashi, Yoshio Tsuchiya, Kyôko Ai

Happy 60th Anniverary, Big Guy.

Video courtesy of Yoko Higuchi.

Godzilla: King of the Monsters

1954-2014

And Counting.

Vintage Review Spotlight :: Gojira vs. Godzilla! Who Will Be Crowned King of the Monsters! Either Way, We Win!

Way back in the year 2000, after the world breathed a huge sigh of relief over the whole Y2K whiff and eBay found itself burdened by a sudden glut of mint, never-removed from the box gas-masks and survival rations, I was both relieved and excited for the impending premiere of Godzilla 2000, marking the Big G's return to the American cineplex after a fifteen year hiatus -- with no Matthew Broderick, Dean Devilin, or Roland Emmerich anywhere in sight. Woo to the Hoo! Also, way back then, I decided it was high time I finally reviewed our hero's debut film -- both of them: the original Gojira and the domestically re-tooled Godzilla King of the Monsters. And this I did, and a good time was had by all.

Coming just nine years after the atom bombs fell to end World War II, and directed by a man who witnessed firsthand the destruction and devastation those bombs caused, these, and several other factors and influences converged by chance, circumstance and a little bad luck to create the film Gojira. Seems fledgling producer Tomoyuki Tanaka was in some trouble when his current Indonesian based film fell apart over some hassles concerning the necessary work-permit visas. With a cast, crew and money to spend but no movie to expend them on, during the flight back to Japan, Tanaka, while looking at the vast Pacific below, began wondering what beasties might be lurking just below the surface and hit upon an idea. Only two years prior Japanese cinemas had been hit with the original King Kong for the first time and The Beast from 20000 Fathoms soon followed to much box-office success, making it no small wonder, then, that Tanaka decided Japan needed a giant monster of its very own.

At the time of Gojira's release back in 1954, somber message and poignant symbolism aside, Toho Studios was taking a huge financial risk by putting that much money into what was essentially just a giant monster movie. And even though the end-result proved a big hit in Japan, to help defray some of the production costs, the studio opened an office in Los Angeles to help find and secure American distributors for all of their films. (Remember, Toho's Seven Samurai was released the same year.) Serendipitously, in Hollywood, with the major studios imploding, several smaller, independent companies were crawling out of the woodwork looking for a piece of the box-office pie, willing to snatch up almost anything. Honestly, looking overseas for more product made far better sense financially for these smaller companies; distributing already made films meant less expense and more profits, right? And with the resurgent sci-fi and monster boom of the 1950's already well-cemented, taking on a film like Gojira and turning it into Godzilla was an absolute no-brainer.

Look, I'm not breaking any new ground by stating that even though both films share a lot of the same footage they wound up being two completely different films. One, an allegory for mankind's retribution from the  atomic bomb personified, the other a wild creature feature with lots of mayhem and destruction. The former featuring a fraying love-triangle, the other featuring a guy who talks to the back of a lot of other people's heads. And I love them both unconditionally on their own merits. And if you'd like to know more about my thoughts on the history, making of, and meaning of this burgeoning franchise that's very dear to me, follow on through to the full reviews with the links provided below.

Other Points of Interest:

Full film review of Gojira at 3B Theater.

Poster campaign for Gojira at the Archive.

Full film review of Godzilla King of the Monsters at 3B Theater.

Poster campaign for Godzilla King of the Monsters at the Archive.

For the record, the whole thing will probably make a lot more sense if you start with the Gojira review first. Now get to stompin'!
   

Gojira (1954) Toho Eiga Company / P: Tomoyuki Tanaka / D: Ishirô Honda / W: Ishirô Honda, Shigeru Kayama, Takeo Murata / C: Masao Tamai / E: Kazuji Taira / M: Akira Ifukube / S: Takashi Shimura, Momoko Kôchi, Akihiko Hirata, Akira Takarada

Godzilla: King of the Monsters (1956) Toho Company :: Jewell Enterprises Inc. :: Embassy Pictures Corporation :: TransWorld Releasing Corp. / EP: Joseph E. Levine, Terry Turner / P: Tomoyuki Tanaka, Edward B. Barison, Richard Kay, Harry Rybnick / D: Ishirô Honda, Terry O. Morse / W: Ishirô Honda, Shigeru Kayama, Takeo Murata, Al C. Ward / C: Masao Tamai / E: Kazuji Taira, Terry O. Morse / M: Akira Ifukube / S: Raymond Burr, Takashi Shimura, Momoko Kôchi, Akihiko Hirata, Akira Takarada, Frank Iwanaga

Ephemera :: Signs of the Season.

Inner-Scrooge dissolving. Cannot ... maintain ... the Grinch. 

ERROR! ERROR! ERROR!

Scenes from the Morgue :: Godzilla vs. Hercules (February, 1965)

(February, 1965)

Yes, sadly, in an effort to shore things up I've made the decision to archive Scenes from the Morgue and post all further pulp film ads here. This wasn't an easy decision by any means, but, I came to the conclusion it would be better, for my sanity if nothing else, to concentrate on just one blog instead of four or five and felt it would be easiest to make the ads a regular feature here. Fear not, the old Morgue will not be purged and will be left up for your viewing and re-viewing pleasure. In fact, now that I've finally figured out how to post the images properly, meaning at a size you can actually appreciate, a lot of those old ads will probably be re-posted here at some future date. Meantime, enjoy this new feature at Micro-Brewed Reviews, and raise a glass to the old Morgue one last time.

-- The Management.xxxx

Ephemera :: Signs of the Season :: Go Go Oh Christmas Tree!

Image courtesy of @AlsBoy.

Now, I'm usually pretty Grinchy during the Holiday Season but this, this made my heart grow ten times today.

Favorites :: Cameos : There Goes the Neighborhood : Always: Sunset on Third Street 2 (2007)

Always: Sunset on Third Street [Ōruweizu: San-chōme no Yūhi], was a Japanese film by Takashi Yamazaki based on a popular and long running manga by Ryōhei Saigan of the same name. This endearing, slice-of-life family drama set in post-war Tokyo was a huge hit both financially and critically and nearly swept through its native Academy Awards, winning 14 of 15 categories, making a sequel a no-brainer to the execs at Toho. Almost all of the cast and characters returned for Always: Sunset on Third Street 2, which also included this fantastic dream sequence:

Greatest. Cameo. Ever.