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

 

 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 picture 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. 

 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 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 had 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 two key scenes. While I probably recap 75% of the dramas I watch bet the percent for movies is 10% at the most and I do tend to watch more of them than dramas. There just isn't time to write posts up for many plus I watch the vast majority on my DVD player as I'm old fashioned so there's no way to take screenshots. For a brief spell did have a series going where I would do a post for the last five films I had viewed, would have a paragraph explaining what the movie was about and also have a trailer. 

 Should get back to that series which wasn't too popular yet it did draw many comments. Below is the trailer for the last film I viewed which was "Ikiru" aka To Live and was from 1952. It's the fifth time I've viewed it and it was directed by the master Akira Kurosawa who may be the most known Japanese director of all time though I slightly prefer Ozu movies. This film was my second favorite one from Kurosawa, hard to describe the movie as it was tragic yet in a way uplifting  and made you think about the way most of us lead humdrum lives which we may not realize. For instance the main story was of the lead character Watanabe getting stomach cancer and only having six months to live. He had worked for the city of Tokyo for over thirty years but realized he had accomplished zero at his job over that time, he tried to fix that with the remaining time he had to live. You really won't find many better films than this one so highly recommend it, the trailer for it below is subbed in English.

 

 Not sure what we be up next for movie reviews as there's so many to view and don't think I can go wrong with any of them. However think it may be wise to watch some other kind of film besides one in the sci-fi/horror/mystery genre so I don't get tired of them. An older actress who was/is such a huge fave of mine is Setsuko Hara and once again just viewed her 1957 movie "Tokyo Twilight" so wouldn't be doing that film. But there is one from 1948 I haven't viewed which is "A Woman in the Typhoon Area" so that could be up next followed by another of Setsuko's films and she was in too many to count. Very rarely give out grades for these older movies and dramas, just view and do posts for them as I'm such a huge fan of these older ones. If you have read other reviews you may know what my tastes are like and usually do enjoy sci-fi/horror films. This one I would recommend but not very highly, really thought it would be much better or different so that could be my fault. The ending was suspenseful plus the overall story was good but it was more of a detective/crime plot than one dealing with a man who could turn into a gas creature. Maybe it's also because I have viewed too many of these kinds of movies lately which is why I said a break was needed from them. So overall this was good yet really just so-so, it was a solid crime story but was really lacking on horror and the sci-fi special effects.

 But am glad I viewed this and often when I write up a review the movie tends to improve in my eyes and hopefully that will be the case for part two of the film.... to a slight extent that did happen. It's a 91 minute movie but part one only went up to the forty minute mark, will try not to make this much longer than usual and am hoping at the most just one extra paragraph will be needed. When the previous post ended the dancer Fujichiyo Kasuga had been arrested by the detective Okamoto for Fujichiyo had remained mum on where she's obtained over 20 million yen to hold a comeback dance recital. The money had come from the creature in this film the Human Vapor though we haven't met him yet but that will begin off this part two. Actually we did meet the Gas Man as he refers to himself but weren't aware at the time who he was. Though Fujichiyo was put in a jail cell it didn't appear she minded that as she seemed to have become a bit frightened of this eerie man and she does feel guilty about accepting stolen bank money but still won't reveal to Okamoto where it came from.

 Sure you read the above review, hope so as I won't have much time to talk about what has taken place. But near the end of that first post a man had claimed to be the Human Vapor aka Gas Man and allowed himself to be arrested, it was just a hoax as the man was seeking attention, But that made the real Human Vapor realize what may happen if he doesn't tell the reveal his true identity which finally happened at the forty minute mark. The Gas Man was Mizuno, we met him briefly in the first recap and he was a college librarian. The main detective Okamoto had also met Mizuno at that library as he had followed Fujichiyo there, in that top screenshot above Mizuno had arrived at Okamoto's precinct to reveal to all that he is the Gas Man. Will be skipping back and forth between Human Vapor and Gas Man, the second is what Mizuno called himself and they both mean the same. Of course everyone at Okamoto's police station were a bit skeptical of Mizuno's confession so he told the police that they should go to a local bank and there Mizuno would demonstrate how the crimes were done. That's what the third through fifth above screenshots show as Mizuno transformed into a true Vapor like form and was able to squeeze through the very think openings between the bars. It seemed back then banks only locked the area just outside a vault and left the safe containing money unlocked so once someone got into that area it was easy to grab a huge amount of cash but of course getting into that area was close to impossible. **** To transform into the Human Vapor Mizuno would put his right hand on his heart and concentrate intently into changing his form which worked instantly.

 Of course it was easy for Mizuno in a vapor form to pull off a heist, naturally the police and bank officials were stunned at this demonstration. However the Vapor Man was using the police for another robbery(!) as Mizuno strangled the vault guard and was able to carry a wad of cash away in the fifth screenshot, that special effects scene was solid. The police didn't realize until it was too late that Mizuno had pulled a robbery off right under their noses and with this heist the amount stolen now stands at 56 million yen! Plus the count stands at four guards killed but Mizuno was never a cruel or violent man, transforming into the Gas Man had some negative side effects. Because of what had taken place the police had kept Fujichiyo under arrest, it was more so for her protection. When Mizuno learned of her situation he paid the precinct a return visit and told them to release Fujichiyo which the police refused to do, that left Mizuno with no alternative. So he ended up killing his fifth and sixth persons which were the jail guards, Mizuno then opened both the male and female cells so all escaped but one person refused to leave who was Fujichiyo. That did confuse Mizuno and Fujichiyo told him what was happening had gotten way out of control, though Fujichiyo hadn't officially committed any crimes she felt it wiser to remain in a cell. Mizuno had no answers to Fujichiyo's thoughts so soon left plus the escaped criminals were all rounded up and placed back in their cells. **** Right around this point is when we learned perhaps the most important detail of this case which was that Mizuno was so in love/infatuated with Fujichiyo and had been for years. The pair had never met until recently when Mizuno approached her and said he would pay for Fujichiyo's comeback recital which she reluctantly agreed to and had been accepting the money knowing Mizuno had stolen it. So in a nutshell this was a Love Story though a very twisted one. 

 The first two paragraphs were a bit long but that stretch from the forty to fifty minute mark had so much happen. Now the police know that Mizuno aka Gas Man is responsible for at least six killings and eleven bank heists, he's quit his job at the college library but the police still haven't released Mizuno's name and what he has done to the public. However Mizuno wants all to know how he became this Human Vapor and invited a trio from Tokyo's largest paper to interview him. The newspaper Kyoko worked for and we didn't see as much of her in the second half of the film. In this interview Mizuno told his story of what had happened and it was all a huge error but one that Mizuno thought made him a Superman! At one time Mizuno had been a pilot for the Japanese Defense Forces, a heart condition meant he had to quit that position. Mizuno was known to be an ace pilot and a year or so after he left Mizuno was confronted by a noted biology doctor named Sano who worked on many projects for the Defense Forces. Sano is in the third, fourth and seventh screenshots above, his current project was trying to help astronauts survive better while in space. To Mizuno this seemed like a very important project and offered to help Sano out and was paid 20,000 yen but as you can see above the experiment went awry or did it(?), could Sano have known what took place would happen? Mizuno was put in a coma for ten days though didn't realize that until after and high radiation beams were sent into his body, Sano did have good intentions at first but had to know what may happen to Mizuno.

 Such as turning into a vapor man when the experiment ended and at first Mizuno was so irate. Sano did confess that others had also been his 'guinea pigs' and all had perished during the testing, Hearing that plus seeing what his condition was sent Mizuno over the edge and Sano became his fist victim, all of the deaths were by strangulation. However Mizuno soon learned how to use this power to turn himself into a vapor man which meant he was also partially invisible. Mizuno used that to his advantage as he began to rob banks and the reason for that was to finally meet with Fujichiyo who was his ultimate dream woman! Of course someone that could turn into vapor frightened Fujichiyo to no end but she yearned so badly to make a return to dancing as she had been so popular but as mentioned a few times holding recitals is so expensive. So while Fujichiyo didn't commit the robberies she was an accessory in a way but being popular again was all that mattered to her as she and Mizuno both used each other. Don't think anything happened between the two such as them spending a night together but not 100% sure on that either. So that was the story Mizuno told the newspaper men and just as he finished the police broke in, they may have followed the media men. Okamoto led the charge and guns were blazing but somehow Mizuno was able to turn into the Gas Man and went through the wall, the meeting was on the fifth floor of a hotel and somehow Mizuno escaped unharmed though he didn't have any other kinds of special powers. The bullets didn't harm Mizuno and perhaps because he was in a vapor state he may have floated from the fifth floor to the ground.

 Final segment, do leave out a few details of what took place but nothing ever major. Against the wishes of her recital arranger Osaki in the top screenshot Fujichiyo was determined to go on with this comeback recital and had the backing of Mizuno. Who in the second screenshot above was telling Fujichiyo that only she matters to him and though a sci-fi/horror film it was also a twisted love story. Won't reveal what took place at the end as that is coming up very shortly but wonder if Fujichiyo began to plan out at this time how her recital(and life!) would end? Nothing else had worked for Okamoto and his colleagues so perhaps they thought letting the recital take place would be the best thing for them and the police could make whatever kind of plan to capture the Human Vapor to take place there. The recital was going to be held in a large theater so one worry would be how to protect everyone attending. But even if there was no one there it still left the question of how to nab or kill the Human Vapor as he seems untouchable and bullets pass right through him! He was only in two scenes but both were important, the character was also important who is in the third and fifth screenshots above. His name was Tamiya who was a scientist, 1960 was before forensics was fully developed so Tamiya would help out when details of those kinds of evidence needed to be analyzed.

 Tamiya wasn't positive what kind of gas arose out of Mizuno when he became the Human Vapor but had an idea of what it may be and if so could have a solution. Which was by using a highly flammable substance called U.M. Gas on Mizuno aka the Human Vapor, Tamiya felt confident that would destroy the creature. Tamiya's theory was proven correct however there were a few problems, one was that he said Mizuno should be in a large area or room, such as a warehouse. But time was short and there was no way to fool Mizuno into going to some other building, the next best alternative was the theater where Fujichiyo was holding her comeback dance recital. That was a large enough place, Okamaoto and the his colleagues arrived early enough to prevent any fans from entering. One other worry of Tamiya's was if the gas spewing from the Human Vapor was dangerous, could it be fatal if one was around him for a stretch of time? The press was at the theater in full force and were so irate for being kept in the dark about the Human Vapor by the police, a few dozen were able to barrel through the police line and filled the seats in the hall where Fujichiyo was having one last mini rehearsal which actually became her final performance. The bottom two screenshots show what was happening during this scene, you can see Fujichiyo dancing while Mizuno had a front row seat to her performing with many of the press behind him. Meanwhile the scientist Tamiya had brought five cannisters of the U.M. Gas to to the theater and hooked them up to the ventilation system, it was released slowly into the theater but was undetectable and not dangerous in its current form.

 Down to about four minutes to go, what took place is in the top eight screenshots below and the others are from what else took place in the second half of the movie. The reporters were getting edgy that the Human Vapor hadn't shown up and their moaning infuriated Mizuno so much he did turn into the monster! The media fled but Mizuno got into a scrap with one which almost cost the man his life, Fujichiyo had witnessed everything and asked for all to stop until her performance was finished. While that was going on the U.M. Gas had by now filled up the theater and as mentioned didn't have much of a smell. But the gas had to be ignited to be effective and what a decision it was for Tabata as by lighting the gas two innocent people would die, Fujichiyo and her aide Jiya. Tabata said to hold off on the ignition and wonder what he would have done if Fujichiyo hadn't made the decision for him? After her recital was done Fujichiyo came down and hugged Mizuno in relief, don't think she had ever cared for the man and all along hated herself for using that stolen bank money. With less than a minute to go while embracing Mizuno aka the Gas Man Fujichiyo lit her hidden lighter, as you can see below the theater was quickly in flames with her, Jiya and Mizuno perishing. So obviously Fujichiyo had to be aware of what the police plans were with the U.M. Gas which is why she had the lighter and may have thought the police wouldn't activate the gas if she and Jiya were in the theater. That ended the film, the finale or actually last twenty minutes were quite good and after writing this review up did think the movie was better the second time around! What I mean by second time is by looking at the screenshots and writing what took place is like viewing a movie again. If I had to give this a grade it would be about a B- which is decent but was expecting a better movie. Thanks for reading these two posts and comments are always welcome but doubt if there's many old time movie fans here.