Monster from a Prehistoric Planet (Daikyoju Gappa)
Directed by Hiroshi Noguchi
Written by Iwao Yamakazi and Ryuzo Nakanishi
1967/Japan
Manson Corporation/Nikkatsu
First viewing/Amazon Prime
[box] President Funazu: Like it? I call it Playmate Land.[/box]
In a year of goofy monster movies, this is second rate. I blame part of that on the English dubbing.
As usual, Japanese scientists travel to a tropical island to do some questionable experiments and come upon an infant monster. Of course, they must take it home, largely at the insistence of a greedy promoter. Mommy and Daddy Gappa come to the rescue and all but destroy Tokyo in the process.
The movie is in color but I liked this still.
This combines a bird-lizard monster a la The X from Outer Space and the sentimentality of Son of Godzilla. It lacks the inadvertent hilarity of both, though.
