Eiji Tsuburaya: A Poetry of Special Effects
Here enlisted are all Sci-Fi, Fantasy & War related Tokusatsu works of Toho, back then in the good old Golden Age of japanese event films. Covering SFX master Eiji Tsuburaya's best and most recognizable works for the big screen in correct chronological order, beginning with his first works as head for Toho's special effects department, up to his last active involvement in 1969. 15 years of beautiful aesthetics and well crafted dreams of modern folklore!
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- DirectorIshirô HondaStarsDenjirô ÔkôchiHiroshi Nihon'yanagiMasao ShimizuJapanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, a brilliant tactician, is a loyal subject of the emperor, despite his grave misgivings about leading Japan's navy into war with the United States. He opposes the attack on Pearl Harbor, but overruled, leads his forces to the best of his ability.
- DirectorIshirô HondaStarsRyô IkebeMariko OkadaRentarô MikuniA squadron of Japanese fighter pilots at a lonely Rabaul airbase realises that they are never going to win the war when they understand that Japanese military tactics have little regard for life. Seeking the companionship of any woman who will have them, they spend their days indulging in every fantasy in order to escape the overwhelming fear of death looming just over the horizon.
- DirectorIshirô HondaStarsTakashi ShimuraAkihiko HirataAkira TakaradaAfter a dinosaur-like beast - awoken from undersea hibernation by atom bomb testing - ravages Tokyo, a scientist must decide if his similarly dangerous weapon should be used to destroy it.
- DirectorMotoyoshi OdaStarsSeizaburô KawazuMiki SanjôMinoru TakadaA car strikes an unseen object. Blood spreads from an invisible source, which becomes visible as the bleeding man dies. He carries with him a suicide note dedicated to his only friend, who is also an invisible man. An eager young reporter tracks down Takemitsu Nanjo, a war veteran who makes his living visibly, painting his face like a clown's and carrying advertising signs. His favorite neighbor is a little blind girl whose mother is running afoul of local gangsters. The gangsters have been terrorizing the city as "the invisible gang," wrapping themselves up in scarves and trenchcoats so as to be visible to their victims, even though they are supposed to be invisible underneath. Once they discover Nanjo, who is defending his only friends, they beat him and leave him for dead.
- DirectorMotoyoshi OdaIshirô HondaStarsHiroshi KoizumiSetsuko WakayamaMinoru ChiakiScout pilots for a fishing company are startled to discover a second Godzilla, whose battle with rival monster Anguirus threatens to destroy Osaka.
- DirectorIshirô HondaStarsAkira TakaradaAkemi NegishiMomoko KôchiA yeti terrorizes people on top of Mount Fuji.
- DirectorShirô ToyodaStarsRyô IkebeShirley YamaguchiKaoru YachigusaLavish Japanese-Chinese coproduction based on an ancient Chinese legend about a man who falls in love with a snake goddess in human form.
- DirectorIshirô HondaStarsKenji SaharaYumi ShirakawaAkihiko HirataA mining engineer investigates the deaths of his colleagues, discovering prehistoric nymphs and a creature capable of flying - and wrecking havoc - at supersonic speeds.
- DirectorKôzô SaekiStarsAkira TakaradaKiiton MasudaHanshirô IwaiMusical-comedy about nine soldiers deserted on an island in South Pacific.
- DirectorIshirô HondaStarsKenji SaharaYumi ShirakawaMomoko KôchiShortly after a giant robot destroys a village, aliens from outer space arrive offering friendship. Will the people of Earth tie these two events together?
- DirectorIshirô HondaStarsYumi ShirakawaKenji SaharaAkihiko HirataWhen a narcotics deal goes sour and a suspect disappears, leaving only his clothes, Tokyo police question his wife and stake out the nightclub where she works. His disappearance stumps the police - until a young scientist appears who claims that H-Bomb tests in the Pacific, evidenced by a "ghost ship" that has turned up in the harbor, have created radioactive creatures - "H-Men" - who ooze like slime and dissolve anyone they touch.
- DirectorIshirô HondaMotoyoshi OdaStarsKôzô NomuraAyumi SonodaKoreya SendaOriginal Japanese version. Research in the Tohoku region comes across a monster known to the locals as the mountain god Baradagi.
- DirectorKajirô YamamotoStarsNorihei MikiFukutarô IchikawaNobuo ChibaThe mythical adventures of the legendary Chinese trickster Monkey, who must outwit a variety of wily demons who stand in the way of him and his fellow Buddhist travelers. Though portrayed as a literal, if rather anthropomorphized, monkey in the original legends, this film substitutes the spindly comic actor Norihei Miki, sans makeup.
- DirectorShûe MatsubayashiStarsRyô IkebeTatsuya MihashiAkihiko HirataA story set in the time of WWII about one of the most famous Japansese submarines fighting through hardships to achieve its final goal
- DirectorHiroshi InagakiStarsToshirô MifuneYôko TsukasaAkihiko HirataA prince, framed for murder and starved for affection from his father, is sent on a quest.
- DirectorIshirô HondaStarsRyô IkebeKyôko AnzaiMinoru TakadaThe nations of the Earth unite in a common cause to fight off an invader from outer space.
- DirectorJun FukudaStarsKôji TsurutaYumi ShirakawaSeizaburô KawazuMen are being murdered by a psycho called "The Telegian," who uses a matter-transmitting device to locate his victims.
- DirectorShûe MatsubayashiHugo GrimaldiStarsYôsuke NatsukiToshirô MifuneKôji TsurutaLt. Koji Kitami is a navigator-bombardier in Japan's Naval Air Force. He participates in the Japanese raid on the U.S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbor in 1941 and is welcomed with pride in his hometown on his return. As Japan racks up victory after victory in the Pacific War, Kitami is caught up in the emotion of the time and fights courageously for the standard of Japanese honor. But his assuredness of his government's righteousness is shaken after the Japanese navy is defeated in the debacle of Midway.
- DirectorIshirô HondaStarsTatsuya MihashiKaoru YachigusaYoshio TsuchiyaA librarian is subject to a scientific experiment which goes wrong and transforms him into 'The Human Vapour'. He uses his new ability to rob banks to fund the career of his girlfriend, a beautiful dancer. The Human Vapour is ruthless in his quest for money and kills anyone who stands in his way, especially police. He soon becomes Tokyo's most wanted criminal. Can he be stopped before he kills again?
- DirectorHiroshi InagakiStarsToshirô MifuneKyôko KagawaYuriko HoshiMohei is a wandering swordsman. He arrives in the city of Osaka, where the Toyotomi clan accepts him and comes to depend upon his courage and his battlefield skills. Those skills are sorely tested when Osaka Castle is besieged by the army of the opposing Tokugawa clan.
- DirectorIshirô HondaStarsFurankî SakaiHiroshi KoizumiKyôko KagawaAn expedition to Infant Island uncovers a native tribe and twin tiny fairy priestesses of a mythical deity, who sets out to rescue the pair after they are kidnapped by a greedy businessman.
- DirectorHiroshi InagakiStarsToru KoyanagiHisako SakabeToshirô MifuneGen is a lonely orphan boy. His sole sense of companionship comes from an imaginary friend, the god Prince Fudo-Myo. Prince Fudo-Myo comes to the boy's rescue in times of difficulty.
- DirectorShûe MatsubayashiStarsFurankî SakaiAkira TakaradaYuriko HoshiThis Japanese film speculates on the events which lead the U.S. and the Soviet Union into a nuclear Armageddon.
- DirectorIshirô HondaStarsRyô IkebeYumi ShirakawaAkira KuboA Tokyo scientist and his colleagues shift Earth to avoid a red-hot planet on a collision course.
- DirectorIshirô HondaNorman TokarStarsTadao TakashimaYû FujikiKenji SaharaThe advertising director of a pharmaceutical company seeks to boost the ratings of their sponsored TV program by capturing King Kong, who breaks loose and battles a re-emerged Godzilla.
- DirectorShûe MatsubayashiStarsToshirô MifuneYûzô KayamaTakashi ShimuraLt. Col. Senda resists the idea of sending Japanese fighter pilots on suicide missions. He believes that what is really necessary for Japan to regain momentum in the war is for the air force to gather its most brilliant pilots into an elite squadron and use the unit to pinpoint attacks on the Americans. Disrespected by the kamikaze pilots who think the "non-suicidal" pilots are afraid, the unit redeems itself by stunning victories. But success leads the military leaders to expect too much of the unit, and new orders portend disaster.
- DirectorKengo FurusawaStarsMakoto SatôYôsuke NatsukiYûzô KayamaDuring World War I, Japanese planes assault a lone German enemy outpost.
- DirectorIshirô HondaStarsAkira KuboKumi MizunoHiroshi KoizumiShipwrecked survivors slowly transform into mushrooms.
- DirectorSenkichi TaniguchiStarsToshirô MifuneTadao NakamaruMie HamaSukezaemon, a pirate, is shipwrecked in a strange corner of the world. With his companion, a wizard named Sennin, Sukezaemon becomes entangled in a plot by the evil premier to succeed the dying King Raksha.
- DirectorIshirô HondaShûe MatsubayashiStarsTadao TakashimaYôko FujiyamaYû FujikiWhen an ancient underground civilization and their snake-like guardian plots to reclaim the surface world, those of the surface fights back.
- DirectorHiroshi InagakiStarsKôshirô MatsumotoYôsuke NatsukiMakoto SatôAfter defeat at the Siege of Osaka several survivors attempt to deliver a young prince to safety.
- DirectorIshirô HondaStarsAkira TakaradaYuriko HoshiHiroshi KoizumiWhen opportunistic tycoons refuse to return Mothra's egg to Infant Island, its people must decide if they are willing to answer Japan's own pleas for help when Godzilla arises near Nagoya.
- DirectorIshirô HondaStarsYôsuke NatsukiYôko FujiyamaHiroshi KoizumiAn amorphous cellular life-form descends from the atmosphere to consume carbon in the form of diamonds.
- DirectorIshirô HondaStarsYôsuke NatsukiYuriko HoshiHiroshi KoizumiA detective protects a princess who prophecies Earth's destruction by a powerful alien dragon, which Mothra and her fairies - aided by Godzilla and Rodan - must battle against.
- DirectorFrank SinatraStarsFrank SinatraClint WalkerTatsuya MihashiDuring WW2, a platoon of Marines crash-lands on a tiny Pacific island occupied by a small Japanese unit.
- DirectorSeiji MaruyamaStarsToshirô MifuneSô YamamuraMakoto SatôIn 1943, the Aleutian island of Kiska, Alaska was fortified by a small contingent of Japanese soldiers. When word arrived of an impending attack by an overwhelming force of Americans, the Japanese Navy attempted one of the most daring and unlikely evacuations in military history. This is that story.
- DirectorIshirô HondaStarsNick AdamsKumi MizunoTadao TakashimaAn American scientist and his Japanese colleagues study a mysterious feral boy who is seemingly resistant to radiation, while a subterranean dinosaur ravages the Japanese countryside.
- DirectorKengo FurusawaStarsHitoshi UekiReiko DanFubuki Koshiji
- DirectorIshirô HondaStarsNick AdamsAkira TakaradaJun TazakiAstronauts encounter the Xiliens, who ask Earth to rid their planet of "Monster Zero", but when one astronaut romances a mysterious woman, he uncovers the Xilien's true intentions.
- DirectorSenkichi TaniguchiStarsToshirô MifuneTatsuya MihashiMakoto SatôOsami, a soldier-of-fortune from Japan, joins with priest Ensai in a quest for the ashes of the great Buddha. Their journey takes them to a kingdom in the Middle East, where they find intrigue and romance in the court of an evil king.
- DirectorShirô MoritaniStarsYûzô KayamaMakoto SatôTatsuyoshi Ehara
- DirectorIshirô HondaStarsRuss TamblynKumi MizunoKenji SaharaA giant, cannibalistic humanoid's rampage through Tokyo is halted by his more docile twin, but neither their reunion nor their scientist caretakers can prevent their eventual duel.
- DirectorJun FukudaStarsAkira TakaradaKumi MizunoChôtarô TôginFour men searching for one's brother are shipwrecked on Letchi Island, where they encounter Godzilla, a monstrous lobster, and terrorists who have enslaved the natives of Infant Island.
- DirectorIshirô HondaStarsRhodes ReasonMie HamaLinda MillerThe evil Dr. Who captures King Kong to dig for Element X when his robot duplicate, Mechani-Kong, is unable to do the job, but Kong soon escapes and battles his doppelganger.
- DirectorJun FukudaStarsTadao TakashimaAkira KuboBibari MaedaA reporter stumbles upon weather experiments on a tropical island, discovering giant mantises, a castaway woman, and an infant monster that Godzilla must learn to raise as a son.
- DirectorIshirô HondaJun FukudaStarsAkira KuboJun TazakiYukiko KobayashiIn 1999, a race of she-aliens, the Kilaaks, brainwash Earth's monsters into attacking major cities, prompting a team of astronauts to stop the invaders while the monsters battle Ghidorah.
- DirectorSeiji MaruyamaStarsToshirô MifuneYûzô KayamaYôko TsukasaA biography of one of the only beloved postwar figures of Japan's disastrous Pacific War. A common-sense soldier knows the war is doomed, but gamely goes ahead and does the best with what he's given.
- DirectorIshirô HondaStarsAkira TakaradaJoseph CottenCesar RomeroA journalist is saved by a giant submarine captained by a 200-year-old man who takes him to an underwater paradise city where no one ages. That's when monsters and mutants sent by the captain's rival, a 200-year-old scientist, attack.
- DirectorSeiji MaruyamaStarsToshirô MifuneTatsuya NakadaiYûzô KayamaJapan and Russia clash in what comes to be known as the Russo-Japanese War. An attempt by the Japanese fleet and army to take Port Arthur fails, and a Russian fleet bears down on the Sea of Japan.