1964's "Dagora, the Space Monster" ("Uchu Daikaiju Dogora" or Giant Space Monster Dogora in Japan) was Toho's quasi-remake of "The H-Man" done with a lighter touch and very little monster action, effectively ringing down the curtain on hybrids of crime and horror. Television satellites above Japan are absorbed by a single celled amoeba that soon develops a hunger for diamonds, wreaking havoc with all too human diamond smugglers who find themselves on the hot seat for the disappearance of vast quantities of the hard stuff, even a safe door silently removed without any trace. When coal is also seen flying through the air, a scientist determines that a major component of both diamonds and coal is carbon, and will likely turn to devouring mankind eventually. The original story idea found a futuristic Earth facing an invisible alien invasion, duly changed to produce a genuine monster unlike even the blob-like H-MAN, the full sized puppet placed in a tub of water and manipulated with wires to replicate the actual movements of a jellyfish reaching down from the clouds. The rain of coal being sucked up into its gigantic maw is perhaps Eiji Tsuburaya's most impressive visual, people and vehicles floating at various times for a truly disorienting effect. Disappointing box office likely led to a decision to concentrate on tried and true monsters like Godzilla, nothing more experimental than "Frankenstein Conquers the World," "The Green Slime," "Latitude Zero," or "Yog - Monster from Space."
Review of Dogora
