Half Human
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| Half Human | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical poster for Half Human (1955) |
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| Directed by | Ishirō Honda Kenneth G. Crane (US release) |
| Produced by | Tomoyuki Tanaka Robert B. Homel (U.S. release) |
| Written by | Takeo Murata |
| Starring | Momoko Kōchi Akira Takarada Akemi Negishi Sachio Sakai Nobuo Nakamura John Carradine (US scenes) Russell Thorson (US scenes) Robert Karnes (US scenes) Morris Ankrum (US scenes) |
| Music by | Masaru Satō (Japanese version) |
| Cinematography | Tadashi Iimura; Lucien N. Andriot (U.S. scenes) |
| Editing by | Kenneth G. Crane (U.S. version) |
| Distributed by | Toho Distributors Corporation of America Inc. (DCA) (1958 US release) |
| Release date(s) | 1955 (Japan) December 1958 (USA) |
| Running time | 63 min. (USA) |
| Language | Japanese English |
| IMDb profile | |
Half Human (獣人雪男 Jū jin yuki otoko ?), is a tokusatsu film produced and released by Toho Studios in 1958. The film was made by Toho's legendary Godzilla directing/special effects/producing team of Ishirō Honda, Eiji Tsuburaya, and Tomoyuki Tanaka. This was Honda's second venture into the kaiju (or monster) movie genre, after the original Gojira (1954). Reportedly one of Honda's better efforts, the film has been unavailable for public viewing for decades because the film's depiction of a native tribe with similarities to the minority Ainu and burakumin peoples is felt to be offensive by today's standards.
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[edit] Plot
The story concerns the discovery of a giant prehistoric snowman in the Japanese Alps. When an expedition attempts to capture the monster, they capture the monster's son instead. They use the young snowman as bait for the adult, but the larger snowman attacks the expedition. Eventually both snowmen fall into a crater.
[edit] U.S. release
The 1958 U.S. release of this film was extensively cut and re-edited. New scenes with actors John Carradine and Morris Ankrum were shot and inserted into the film. However, the U.S. edition of this film is the only version that has been made available for home video, due to the reported banning of the original Japanese film. In this version, the American stars reveal elements of the plot before they are shown occurring. It runs a mere 63 minutes, even with all the American padding.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
[edit] References
Famous Monsters of Filmland. November 1982 (#189), p.56.
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