"The Human Vapor", 1960 horror/sci-fi movie review part one....

 

 Release date: December 11, 1960  Length: 91 minutes, subs by Mr. Unknown

Directed by Ishiro Honda, special effects once again done by Eiji Tsuburaya

Also goes by the title of The Gas Man which is what the man called himself

 The first color movie in Japan came out in 1951 but those kinds of films weren't too common for a while. That movie was "Carmen Comes Home" which I have seen and was quite good. By 1968 about 90% were in color, don't have the stats but bet half were in color from the period of 1959-64. It may sound strange but I think the quality of the picture was higher in Black and White back then, just so much clearer could be the better term though perhaps it's just me. Noticed that watching this movie, not that the quality was bad but not as good/clear as most of the B/W movies I've seen from that era. I'm no expert at the process of making movies but have heard at first the quality of color films wasn't as high as B/W ones, not just in Japan but in America and other countries but of course that problem had to be solved well over sixty yeas ago. There is one other reason I have noticed for the quality of B/W films being higher back then and it was to do with the dimensions. The sizes of this video was very odd for they were 624x256 and did notice how the pi.cture weren't as clear but now I'm starting to ramble on....

 Maybe it's because I've become so used to viewing things in B/W, the previous film I reviewed was that way along with the last drama plus two old American series I've been watching off and on are also in B/W. This was another joint venture by the director Ishiro Honda and the special effects master Eiji Tsuburaya, they must have worked on forty of these sci-fi/horror films together. Was reading this was the third and final film in the Transforming Human series, know that "The H-Man" was the first film but don't know what the other was. Let me hunt for it but did see the "H-Man" but only once though I do have the boxset it's from. Did label this as The Invisible Man as I did review two earlier films with that theme and this one does to an extent also. Those previous two were good and so far this one movie is, am writing this up after viewing the first 47 minutes and often need a break at the halfway mark.

 Main Cast: That above pic is from the TOHO online store, they have many old posters, magazines and such for their sci-fi and horror films. The cast is a huge one but there weren't that many major characters and I've seen quite a few in other ancient films. Such as the first character of Yoshio was also in the 1954 "The Invisible Man" film that I reviewed a month ago, he was in so many of those horror and sci-fi movies in the 1950's and 60's.  

Yoshio Tsuchiya as Mizuno.... He had no first name, it was never said in the movie nor listed at any site. Mizuno seemed like your average man who worked as a librarian at a college library, though he enjoyed the work was becoming quite bored with it. Previously Mizuno had been a pilot for the Japanese Defense Forces but a heart condition forced him to resign and he sure missed the excitement. Years later a professor named Sano recruited him for a project which he claimed would help future astronauts. But in a way the experiment was a failure as it gave Mizuno the ability to transform into the Gas Man which was very similar to being invisible. Actually to Mizuno the testing wasn't a failure as being invisible allowed him to attain his greatest wish which was meeting the dancer Fujichiyo, more on her below. Being invisible changed the kind of person Mizuno was as he went from being very humble to being a killing bank robber and it was to please Fujichiyo so in a way this was a love story though a twisted one....

Tatsuya Mihashi as Okamoto.... Detective for the Tokyo PD, it was never mentioned what area this was set in. He seemed to be close to the reporter Kyoko who I think was really hoping Okamoto would ask her out which never happened. Okamoto was a stern detective but also had a soft side to him.

Kaoru Yachigusa as Fujichiyo Kasuga.... A very popular dancer who had semi-retired as she hadn't been on stage for over a year. The rumors were Fujichiyo was sick but also some felt she had financial problems(true) despite coming from a wealthy family, her parents were always against their daughter dancing. Fujichiyo hooked up with Mizuno shortly after he began robbing banks and all the money was to go for the comeback of Fujichiyo as Mizuno had such a crush on her. Fujichiyo was so torn on whether to accept the money for it was stolen, in the end run she did but despised herself for doing so but did have a master plan for accepting Mizuno's money which was revealed at the end of the movie.

Keiko Sato as Kyoko Kono.... Chieko didn't have a long career and that's a shame as she was one cutie. This was her first film and she was in eight more in the next 2 1/2 years but after that only appeared in three episodes of a drama and that was it for her acting career. Kyoko was a rookie reporter in this film and one who knew the detective Okamoto well despite there being over a ten year ago difference. 

 Yoshifumi Tajima as Sergeant Tabata.... You did see screenshots of Tajima in the "Ultra Q" drama that I recently finished recapping, he played an editor named Seki. In this movie he was Okamoto's superior and at the end had to make a huge decision.... to kill the Gas Man which had to be done however by doing that two innocent people would also be killed, Tabata's decision was to.... hah hah,  read the review!!!!

Hisaya Ito as Tajima.... Scientist who often helped the police out on cases. He too was baffled at how a man could rob banks and leave no evidence, not a large role but at the end it was Tajima's suggestion which led to the death of the Human Vapor aka Gas Man.

Fuyuki Murakami as Dr. Sano.... The doctor who experimented on Mizuno and turned him into the Human Vapor but that wasn't Sano's plan. Which was of to study ways to make astronauts better prepared for outer space but his testing got out of hand, some men had died prior to Mizuno. But he was the first to be turned invisible(!) and for that (mis)deed Mizuno had strangled Sano to death.

 Bokuzen Hidari as Jiya.... Fujichiyo's much older attendant and helped out with her dancing shows as he played the Shamisen and another instruments in her shows. Jiya was extremely loyal to her which at the end did cost him his life, that final show is the second screenshot.  

Yoshio Kosugi as Inao.... Detective who was killed halfway through by the Gas Man, that's him in the top screenshot. In the second one from left to right is Kyoko's editor Fuji, another reporter for the paper named Tobe and on the end is the desk editor Ikeda. None had much screen time but we did see them here and there, especially Tobe.

Somesho Matsumoto as Osaki.... Mainly a chamber music tutor but has arranged the majority of Fujichiyo's recitals. He was too busy to work on her comeback show but when offered 200,000 yen of course Osaki had a change of heart though in the end was never at Fujichiyo's final performance.

 That above character list is longer than most other movies and while not many had huge roles all did have at least one or two important scenes so added in everyone. There are quite a few trailers on YT, have one below and undecided if to have another for the next post which of course has part two of the review. This trailer is a very good one, perhaps better than the movie itself.... not to say it was bad which it wasn't but was expecting more horror or sci-fi which could have been because of viewing these trailers.

 

 

 It's not always easy finding photos for some women who appeared in these older movies but that wasn't much of a problem with Kaoru Yachigusa who is right above. She had the lead female role playing the dancer Fujichiyo and that bottom pic above is from the movie and she's with the Human Vapor! What a long and interesting career Kaoru had, she was born in 1931 and acted up until 2019 which was the year she passed away at the age of 88. Kaoru won so many awards during her seventy year career, in the movie she was a dancer/singer and she truly was talented doing both as she had been in the esteemed Takarazuka revue for a decade, they were known for their plays and operas. Know I've seen Kaoru in so many things but can't pick out what they were, her face was so familiar to me but couldn't place what films I had seen her in and do recommend checking out her bio.

 Once before mused if there was a way to stop after this intro section which is long and takes a while to do yet is my favorite part of doing a movie review. There is much info above about the characters and what took place yet of course many details aren't discussed but at times am so beat after doing the above don't want to continue on! Was hoping that this review would be shorter than "The Rainbow Man" movie but did take the same amount of screenshots so it'll probably be the same length. But have said when reviews are a bit longer than usual it means that film was quite good and interesting but not sure yet if that was the case for this movie. I did enjoy this but thought it was going to be different than what it was, perhaps a bit more horror and special effects. As a matter of fact we never saw the Human Vapor in action until the 40 minute mark and think that's enough rambling for now. In the film the man who became a Human Vapor referred to himself as the Gas Man so will call him both but won't be talking much about him until the end of this first part, the second part of course is the next post.

**** Not sure if how much was robbed from banks will be mentioned often but if so here's how the Yen looks today versus then. In 1960 100 yen would be worth about 604 yen in 2024, so the 200,000 mentioned early on would be 1.2 million yen in purchasing power today. Second edit: When you look at these paragraphs they've usually seemed to be too long to me yet but noticed they're easy to read and don't take much time so perhaps the length is fine, is it because of writing this on a laptop?

 Most of the first half hour and in a way whole film was much like a crime movie or drama, nothing wrong with that and what took place was interesting. In the top screenshot a police car was chasing a vehicle that had just committed a bank robbery, not a lucrative one as the thief only grabbed 200,000 yen. In the police car were two officers along with one detective whose name was Okamoto, that's him in the second screenshot above and also the last two as he had a very large role in the film. The fleeing car couldn't quite make a sharp turn on the mountain road and tumbled down a sharp ravine where it caught on fire. Okamoto and the officers weren't far behind and were shocked there was no one in the car. They trio searched the area and the only other thing nearby was a villa which was owned by a woman named Fujichiyo Kasuga, she's the woman dancing in the third screenshot. Her attendant Jiya told the police the pair were alone which Okamoto found hard to believe and the search ended there. The next day Okamoto was back at the bank trying to piece together how the crime happened and that too was like the car crash as what took place was mysterious. That security man guarding the main bank vault above had been saying 'Halt' to the Human Vapor man though we never saw it, after that is when the robbery took place and the guard had been strangled to death. Okamoto did work with a few other competent detectives, none could figure out how this robber got into the vault for the doors needed two keys to open.

 One of the keys was held held by the vault attendant who was also strangled to death but still had his key. Two keys were needed and the other was always at the bank's main branch and it was still there so.... how did this robber get into the vault area?!?! Of course some may have been quietly pondering if it was an invisible man and that line of thinking will soon prove to be the correct one, should be noted once in the vault area the safe was not locked. The woman in the bottom two screenshots above was close to the detective Okamoto, her name was Kyoko Kono. She was a young reporter who worked for a large newspaper whose name was never mentioned, there was a fifteen year age difference but the pair knew each other well. Okamoto was asking Kyoko about the dancer named Fujichiyo Kasuga who will be the main woman in this film, Kyoko was surprised Okamoto didn't know more about her. Fujichiyo had been and guess still was a popular dancer but hadn't been on stage for over a year. There were some rumors floating around about her having health issues but those were false. The other story was of Fujichiyo having financial problems and that was the correct reason she had been missing for over a year. Fujichiyo had come from a wealthy family but they were against her dancing career and after a while had cut off all financial support. So while Fujichiyo was popular and her recitals/shows were well attended it takes a lot of money to hold those and was why she had to stop performing. It was early in the movie but Okamoto had mused to his colleagues that perhaps this robber who had escaped hid out at Fujichiyo's villa and the money was for her, this robbery had to be at least the tenth done in the past month or so. 

 You can see Okamoto telling his superior Tabata in the top two screenshots about his suspicions involving Fujichiyo yet he has zero evidence against her being a part of any robbery. Okamoto had also told the reporter Kyoko about his suspicions and she agreed to help him as the pair became a team and don't think it was for the first time. Kyoko went to Fujichiyo's mountain villa for an interview, she heard that Fujichiyo will be holding a comeback dance recital and an interview would definitely help ticket sales. However Kyoko got the brush off from Fujichiyo who said she had an appointment and rushed off to Tokyo, her villa was a bit outside the city. Not far away waiting outside of Kyoko's car was Okamoto, they took up pursuit and Kyoko told the detective Fujichiyo was acting mighty suspicious. Yet her destination was just a college library and why would she have to rush off there? Seeing as how Fujichiyo already met Kyoko Okamoto followed her in and watched Fujichiyo take out a few massive books from the main desk, soon Okamoto introduced himself to the librarian as a detective. 

 This was a key scene and we didn't realize that for a while, will give away a spoiler but only a paragraph or two early. The librarian is that man in the third to last screenshot, his name was Mizuno. Remember that name well as Mizuno is also the.... Human Vapor or as he called himself Gas Man! We viewers didn't know that yet and Mizuno explained to Okamoto that Fujichiyo had been coming in regularly looking at their books featuring old time attire for dance recitals. Okamoto and we viewers saw Fujichiyo skimming through those books and she truly was doing research on dresses and such for her upcoming comeback recital. However we also later learned that there was more than met the eye and Mizuno had slipped an envelope to Fujichiyo, the contents was money and probably from the previous day's bank heist. After that library stop Fujichiyo went to visit the man in the bottom screenshot above, his name name was Osaki who was a very respected chamber music instructor. It seemed that Osaki had arranged a few of Fujichiyo's previous recitals and he was a master at them, she wanted his help for her comeback performance. However Osaki had said he was extremely busy as he had so many new students and projects but when Fujichiyo offered him 200,000 yen(!) Osaki quickly accepted. That was over $8,000 back in 1960 so that was a lot of money but Osaki never did attend the comeback show of Fujichiyo's which was also her final one!

 Final segment for this post but didn't quite make it to the halfway point of the film. Above Okamoto was discussing the comeback recital that Fujichiyo will soon be holding to his superior Tabata who seemed like a decent boss but won't mention him too often. Okamoto was saying that holding a dance recital is one expensive endeavor and it's easy to understand that even when you're popular financial problems could arise. Fujichiyo had been spending so much money recently on this performance, to Okamoto it was proof enough to him that somehow Fujichiyo had been involved in these bank robberies. But how was the question and to date the total stolen from banks was over 50 million yen!!!! We haven't learned yet who the Human Vapor was though I did give a spoiler earlier, that identity will be revealed near the beginning of the next post. There was a man who called Kyoko's newspaper and talked with her, this man claimed to be the man responsible for the bank robberies! If so that would be the scoop of the year for her though Kyoko let her senpai Tobe take the call, the man said he would be robbing the Sanzoku bank in Nakano the next day at 3:00 pm, was this mysterious robber actually turning himself in? Nakano is a part of Tokyo so at this point had an idea where the action was taking place, it's just west of Shinjuku. That man in the middle screenshot above was the person collared by the police the next day as he arrived like he said at 3:00 pm, that may have been the easiest arrest in history for the police.

 Too easy thought Okamoto who led the arrest team, while Kyoko was overjoyed above with her huge scoop Okamoto was naturally skeptical. With good reason as we viewers knew this man arrested wasn't the Human Vapor aka Gas Man and even Kyoko's celebration began to go flat. There were too many reasons why this man wasn't the true culprit, he couldn't give any details about the previous ten robberies plus just didn't fit the profile of a criminal. By the next day he had been released as this unnamed man was just looking for attention but would it have been worth being sent to prison for crimes he didn't commit????. Now Okamoto is focusing more than ever on Fujichiyo and deep down he was fully confident she was involved with the robberies but of course didn't commit. them. Okamoto showed up at her recital rehearsal, Fujichiyo tried to brush off his probing questions which backfired as Okamoto dragged her to his station. There the questioning was even tougher on Fujichiyo who still wouldn't reveal any info such as where she got suddenly got all of this money to hold a comeback recital. Even if she had stolen it or knew the person that did Fujichiyo said she wasn't stupid enough to spend so much and throw suspicion on her. That was reverse psychology as Fujichiyo indeed had been spending the stolen money, easily over 20 million yen as that's what it would take to hold such a large dance recital. Okamoto had enough of Fujichiyo avoiding the truth so locked her in a cell with ten other lowlife women, actually Fujichiyo didn't mind being locked up as it meant she wouldn't have to have contact with the.... Human Vapor! Why that is will be explained in part two of the review which is the next post, this was a 91 minute movie yet this post only went up to the forty minute mark. Below are more screenshots of what took place in the forty minutes, don't think part two will be much longer than this post even with describing the action in ten more minutes.