The War of the Gargantuas (フランケンシュタインの怪獣 サンダ対ガイラ, lit. Frankenstein's Monsters: Sanda vs. Gaira) is a 1966 Japanese kaiju film directed by Ishiro Honda and written by Honda and Kaoru Mabuchi, basing the script off of a story by Reuben Bercovitch.
Dubbing History[]
After its release in 1966, Toho International commissioned Hong Kong-based dubbing group Axis International to dub The War of the Gargantuas. This is the only known dub from the group to be recorded in 1966, with other films from that year being dubbed later in 1967. This is known because Ted Thomas, Axis' main dubbing director, was out of the country on a year-long trip with his then-wife and voice actress, Linda Masson. Curiously, the export dub is sometimes misattributed to Frontier Enterprises, a Japan-based dubbing group, due to it being claimed so in the 1998 books Japan's Favorite Mon-Star: The Unauthorized Biography of the Big G and Monsters Are Attacking Tokyo! The Incredible World of Japanese Fantasy Films.
The War Of The Gargantuas' export dub cast consists of an unknown male with a Canadian accent with no current theories to his name, Barbara Laney, Hal Archer, Nick Kendall, John Wallace, Warren Rooke, and Barry Haigh. The roles of the unknown individual, Warren Rooke, and Barry Haigh are significant because this is the earliest known dub they appear in, with all becoming main dubbers of the "Golden Age" of Hong Kong dubbing, and the latter two going on to have some of the longest careers in Hong Kong dubbing.
The export dub was not theatrically released in the United States and received no distribution in the U.S. or the Commonwealth. This led to the export dub becoming obscure and largely for several decades before it was included in streaming versions of the film first appearing in 2017. Before this, there was a release on a Dutch-subtitled VHS distributed by Video Movies Leerdam, and the export trailer was included on Toho's 1992 Laserdisc and 2002 DVD releases of the film. In addition to this, the export dub had confirmed theatrical play in India and the Netherlands.
A co-production with United Productions Of America, the film received a separate U.S. dub, likely in part due to new footage filmed specifically for its release in the United States. Riley Jackson would direct and write the dub, with the sessions being recorded at Glenn Glenn Sound. Due to issues regarding the recording of Russ Tamblyn's voice, he was brought in to re-dub his dialogue, which was made difficult by Russ ad-libbing most of his lines during filming. The War Of The Gargantuas' US dub cast consists of Russ Tamblyn, Virginia Gregg, an unknown male dubber of American descent, Jim Boles, Sam Edwards, Riley Jackson, Richard Krown and various other unknowns. After completion, the dub for this film would be shelved until both were released as a double feature with Monster Zero by Maron Films in 1970
Cast[]
| Character | Original Actor | Axis Dub | Glenn Glenn Sound Dub |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dr. Paul Stewart | Russ Tamblyn | ¿? | Russ Tamblyn |
| Dr. Akemi Togawa | Kumi Mizuno | Barbara Laney | Virginia Gregg |
| Dr. Yuzo Mamiya | Kenji Sahara | Hal Archer | ¿? |
| Professor Kita | Nobuo Nakamura | Nick Kendall | Jim Boles |
| Major General Hashimoto | Jun Tazaki | ||
| Lt. Col. Kazama | Nadao Kirino | Warren Rooke | Sam Edwards |
| Hirai | Yoshibumi Tajima | John Wallace | ¿? |
| Chief Izumida | Hisayo Ito | Barry Haigh | ¿? |
| JSDF Staff Officer | Kozo Namura | Warren Rooke | ¿? |
| JSDF Radio Announcer | ¿? | ¿? | |
| JSDF Pilot | Mitsuo Tsuda | Barry Haigh | Jim Boles |
| Fisherman | Seishiro Kuno | ¿? | ¿? |
| Lounge Singer | Kipp Hamilton | Kipp Hamilton Barbara Laney |
Kipp Hamilton Virginia Gregg |
| Radio Announcer | ¿? | Warren Rooke | Riley Jackson |
| Old Fisherman | Ikio Sawamura | ¿? | |
| Diver | Toku Ihara | Hal Archer | Riley Jackson |
| Air Traffic Controller | Wataru Omae | ¿? | |
| JSDF Soldiers | Yasuhisa Tatsumi Haruya Sakamoto Kuniyoshi Kashima |
Warren Rooke Hal Archer Barry Haigh Nick Kendall |
Jim Boles Sam Edwards Riley Jackson |
| Maritime Authority Officers | Bin Furuya ¿? |
Warren Rooke Barry Haigh Nick Kendall John Wallace |
¿? |
| Reporters | Tadashi Okabe Yoshio Katsube Minoru Ito Masaaki Tachibana Hideo Shibuya Yutaka Oka |
Warren Rooke Barry Haigh Hal Archer Nick Kendall |
¿? |
External Links[]
- The War Of The Gargantuas at the Internet Movie Database