Varan the Unbelievable (1962)

Ishiro Honda directed this Japanese monster film that sees a giant reptilian monster emerge from a lake, having been re-awakened by an undersea earthquake(or some such thing!) It was a local legend to the primitive people who live nearby, but the creature(called Varan) causes havoc before it decides to attack Japan. The military and scientists unite to defeat this creature any way they can. Obvious copy of Godzilla isn't bad, but is just too unoriginal and unremarkable to be at all memorable. Best viewed in the original Japanese language version, which is on the DVD, rather than the re-edited American version, which is seldom seen now.

This is not a review, but I want to post this here to help stave off some confusion. The DVD called "Varan The Unbelievable", released by Tokyo Shock in May 2005, catalog number TSDVD-0511, is not the film listed on IMDb as "Varan the Unbelievable (1962)", or "The Monster Varan (1962)". It is instead the film listed on IMDb as "Daikaijû Baran (1958)". "Baran" is the Japanese word that has a transliteration in English as "Varan"."Varan the Unbelievable" was an American-produced adaptation of the material, similar to the American adaptation of the original Godzilla (Gojira, 1954). Varan was originally to be a joint US/Japanese production, but that deal fell through. Toho, the Japanese production company, went ahead and did Varan anyway, and a few years later, the American version was produced, with a different title and with additional material directed by Jerry A. Baerwitz. It doesn't help the confusion that Tokyo Shock decided to release their DVD under the American title of "Varan the Unbelievable", but surely that was done because that's the title that Americans know the film under.How do you know what version you watched? Well, the American version has an American actor, Myron Healey, and a plot about trying to desalinize water. It's also only 70 minutes long. The Japanese film is about 90 minutes long, has no American actors, and Varan (or "Baran") makes his first (offscreen) appearance when scientists from Tokyo make a trip to a remote, mountainous village to research the sighting of a butterfly previously only known to exist in Siberia. The Japanese version also has a different musical score, but since music is a bit difficult to describe well in words (other than technically), that's not a great way for most folks to tell which version they've watched.To make matters even more confusing, the Tokyo Shock DVD has a truncated Japanese television version of Daikaijû Baran, clocking in at about 50 minutes, which dispenses with both the desalinization and the butterfly plots. Also, at least some people have reported seeing a color version of the film. I don't know which version that would be, but the Tokyo Shock DVD has the original, black & white widescreen Japanese version from 1958. I would have much preferred if Tokyo Shock would have put the American adaptation of Varan on the DVD as an extra, as the Japanese television version is just the same film with a bunch of edits for time and there are a few scenes rearranged to try to create something more coherent given the cuts. Tokyo Shock probably didn't put the American film as an extra because of some licensing or royalty issue. I can also imagine Toho objecting to it. Note that there's a good commentary track for the film with Murase Keizo, who was in charge of special effects models on the film (he's not credited on either IMDb listing).We should reserve this listing for reviews of the American version, and review the Japanese original version at the listing for Daikaijû Baran (1958) instead.

Varan was one of the few Japanese monsters that didn't catch on in Japan after the success of Godzilla and Rodan I have seen the original version of the film and it is a very good example of the kaiju eiga genre. However, this version is a piece of garbage. The scenes where Myron Healy "interacts" with the populous of the island are awkward and you can tell immediately that the film was done by two different crews. Also, the print that is used by the American company is so dark you can barely make out the monster and they pretty much do away with one of the best scores ever composed by Akira Ifkube and replace it with some stock music that was originally used in "The Amazing Colossal Man". If Toho wants to sue the Americans for butchering one of their films, I will be glad to show up as a witness.

I thought this movie was going to feature the great Japanese monster Varan, as he flies and attacks a city, with a good and powerful plot. After sitting through this travesty, I learned that this is a highly edited American version of the Japanese classic. This version was butchered so badly that you hardly see any of the original Japanese cast and the soundtrack for Varan's roar sounded like somebody with a cold. The monster scenes were edited poorly and the story changes significantly from the original. From this database, I discovered that Akira Ifukube actually scored this movie. I only heard one small verse of Akira Ifukube's music in the movie. The rest of his music were replaced by stock music. The American version tag-line for this movie is "Move over Godzilla! Varan is coming!" From the way Varan was executed out in this movie version, Varan wouldn't stand a chance against Godzilla. In addition, the acting was pretty dull and boring, which created an overall dreary picture. Therefore, I recommend you let this video, if you have it, gather dust and try to find the original version, titled "Giant Monster Baran." I haven't seen it by the time of this review, but I heard it is much better than this butchered version; for starters, you can see more of the monster in that version. I can't wait to see the original.Grade D--