Dogora

Starring:Yosuke Natsuki, YÃ´ko Fujiyama, Hiroshi Koizumi, Nobuo Nakamura, Robert Dunham, Akiko Wakabayashi, Jun Tazaki, Susumu Fujita, SeizaburÃ´ Kawazu, Eisei Amamoto, Haruya Kato, Yoshifumi Tajima, Nadao Kirino, Akira Wakamatsu, Hironobu Wakamoto, Yasuhisa Tsutsumi, Shoichi Hirose, IchirÃ´ Chiba, Wataru Omae, Koji Uno
Director: IshirÃ´ Honda
Studio: Tokyo Shock
Product Type: DVD

Description

Born in Outer Space, It attacks, Destroys, Annihilates! Dogora Monster from the eternal dark beyond! An abrupt, increase in diamond thefts throughout the world pits international diamond smugglers against themselves and foreign affairs department detectives, however man is not responsible for the thefts. Strange things begin to happen; a satellite with a diamond core disappears; smokestacks and large amounts of coal from a giant factory are mysteriously sucked into the atmosphere! A world-renowned scientist suspects it's a powerful force from outer space and without warning great Jellyfish-like monsters begin to descend upon the earth! Mutated space cells that thrive on the earth's carbon multiply, filling the skies and causing mass destruction consuming steamships, railway locomotives, and jeopardizing the human race in the process.

Customer Reviews:

Great Effects, Not So Great Movie.......2007-02-11

This one is for Tohophiles only. This rarely seen Japanese giant monster flick from the early sixties boasts very high production values, a nice "forgotten" Ifukube theme, a unique and very interesting kaiju, and stand-out effects work by Tsburaya and crew. Dogora is a gigantic semi-tranlucent cross between a jellyfish and a squid - reminiscent of one of those sea creatures you've seen that lives at the very bottom of the deepest oceans. It floats in the upper atmosphere semi-concealed within a monsterous storm cloud, lowering itself to earth to suck tons of coal (and diamonds), on which it feeds. No obvious man in a rubber suit is this creation. It is very impressively realized by the Toho special effects team using a mix of marionettes, sophisticated optical work, and cell animation. Given a bigger budget with fewer and less outlandish effects set pieces, the talent of Toho's effects team during this period is really showcased in this film. Everything is a notch above in the effects department, and Dogora arguably has the best effects of the Showa era.

Despite this - and Honda's direction, this film is for Tohophiles only for it is a failed experiment. Seems crime dramas were popular at the time in Japan, along with giant monster movies. It is apparent Toho tried to marry the two, and the contrived story to make that marriage happen simply doesn't work. As others have alluded, it's like watching two different movies - a Japanese giant monster flick and a 60's diamond heist drama. There are long lags between effects sequences and the diamond heist crime drama "movie" is too slowly paced, dated, foreign, and not very involving.

As a result - despite what might be the greatest kaiju of them from Eiji Tsuburaya and its evocative and menacing execution, Dogora is a "one off" kaiju and the film itself (it pains me to say) deservedly forgotten. It is, however, absolutely recommended to Tohophiles who are hooked on the kaiju films from the 60's, for its outstanding effects work, forgotten Ifukube score, and its curio value.

Oh boy, what garbage........2006-09-18

I forgotten how silly this movie was. That monster design (or lack of one) must have been a sign of how low the budget was. It's too fake looking and not very scary. Also, why does everyone fire guns and not show them reloading?!

With one of my favorite movie lines ever!.......2006-04-04

All I can add to the previous adorations of this archetypical 1960's atomic monster movie is that Dagora kind of looks like somebody took a fake vomit from a gag shop, and then sprayed on some glue, glitter, & rhinestones. My favorite scene is when the gangsters are "casing" an apartment building from their Corvair-like car & the police approach them, asking what they're doing there, hanging out. The woman among the gangsters gestures at an open window with its curtains blowing through. The men of the gang all giggle and one of them says "She's airing out her room,", which sends the police on their way. Why this still seems so absurdly funny nearly 40 years later, I can't tell you...

A Unique Kaiju Film.......2005-10-28

I'm glad I finally got to see this film. Dogora is interestingly represented using both props and animation. It's a little short on extras, but contains the most obvious ones: the original Japanese theatrical trailer and a photo gallery.

Dogora will bore ya!.......2005-08-31

This ToHo movie will do what most Japanese films never do and that's bore the hell out of you. Dull Dull Dull. An alien that eats diamonds shows up and mucks up diamond robbers. Too much diamond robber stuff too little monster.

Dogora - Ouvrons les yeux (Original French ONLY Version)

Average customer rating:

Sound and vision: no more, no less

Dogora - Ouvrons les yeux (Original French ONLY Version)

ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Art House & International | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Foreign & International | Stores | DVD | Video
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ASIN: B000E6508W

Customer Reviews:

Sound and vision: no more, no less.......2006-06-04

Robert Altman famously once convinced John Williams to score his home movies: with Dogora it looks like Leconte managed to score the full Bulgarian State Orchestra for his home video of a trip to Cambodia, not to mention a professional cameraman and editor in Jean Marie Dreujou and Joelle Hache. At first sight this appears to be one of those image-driven new age documentaries along the lines of Baraka, but it quickly becomes apparent that this is a film without agenda or even much in the way of basic construction beyond work, travel, sleep and sporadic moments of play: instead, it's an indulgence from a director who finally gets the chance to fulfil his desire to make a film without actors or plot, but purely an impressionistic series of images. Since Leconte has always had a great eye, this is by no means an unpleasant way to spend 80 minutes, although it does show up the limitations of the HD video system it was shot on. While it definitely looks better on the small screen than the big despite its 2.35:1 ratio and has surprisingly rich color, there's still a lack of depth to extreme long shots and the system doesn't cope well with fast foreground motion at all. But perhaps the most bizarre thing is Etienne Perruchon's score, which never gets further East than the Caucasus, displaying a surprisingly heavy Russian influence. Even the lyrics, supposedly written in the non-existent language of Dogorien (shouldn't that be Doggerel?) sound at times like a hymn of praise to tractors and the collective farm system. And it seems a horrible misstep to score a sweatshop sequence with upbeat music. Parts of it are very good, but you can't help feeling at times that you're listening to a rejected score from East-West.

The French DVD has no subtitles, which is no problem since there is no dialogue at all, and offers a 2.35:1 transfer, trailer, brief featurette on the recording of the score (unsubtitled) and, in most editions, a nicely produced book containing Leconte's diary notes of the shot.

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