In the ’60s, Frankenstein Was Transplanted to the Far East & the Old West in Delightfully Weird Ways
Mary Shelley truly created a cultural monster when she published Frankenstein in 1818, a monster that was really let loose with the advent of motion pictures. Since the beginning of movies, the tale of the titular doctor and his creation (who have often been conflated by those who call the monster “Frankenstein”), this story has been one of the most frequently depicted onscreen.
There have been feature films that were straight-up adaptations of the novel, as well as variations that use the shell of the story and characters, but place them in other times and settings — with sometimes wild results.
A few of the wildest Frankenstein-based features hit theaters in the 1960s, both here in the States and in Japan.
Frankenstein vs. Baragon (aka Frankenstein Conquers the World) (1965)
Courtesy Everett Collection
Around the time that Japan’s Toho Studios was putting its own take on King Kong in a couple of wild features (1962’s King Kong vs. Godzilla and 1967’s King Kong Escapes), it was also a partner in adapting the Frankenstein monster for an equally bonkers film that — fittingly, given its subject — was ultimately brought to life by the stitching together of different parts, ideas and even endings.
The first of three collaborations between Toho and American producer Henry G. Saperstein, Frankenstein vs. Baragon premiered in Japan in 1965, followed by a 1966 release in the States, where it was retitled Frankenstein Conquers the World. It was led by American actor Nick Adams, and familiar Toho faces like Tadao Takashima and Kumi Mizuno.
The story behind its development dates to the early ’60s and is nearly as strange as the movie itself, with several ideas getting stops and starts — plots centered around titles like King Kong vs. Frankenstein and even Frankenstein vs. Godzilla.
One potential concept had been Frankenstein vs. the Human Vapor, and that would have been intriguing to see in the hands of the film’s director, Ishiro Honda.
Most famous for helming the original Godzilla (1954) and several other entries in the franchise, Honda also directed terrific, more people-focused sci-fi productions during that era, including The Human Vapor (1960). These films had similar elements to the tragedy and moral questions about science found in Mary Shelley’s original Frankenstein novel, and Honda was interested in bringing those themes to his Frankenstein film.
To an extent, they can still be found there, even if, to the director’s disappointment, the studios insisted that a kaiju be added to the story for a final battle. At least that monster, the subterranean Baragon, became a fan-favorite who popped up in subsequent Toho films (Baragon is played here by suit acting pioneer Haruo Nakajima, who portrayed Godzilla and other kaiju during this era).
Up to the rather forced ending (which is even more forced in the American version, which also has Frankenstein fighting a giant octopus out of nowhere), Frankenstein vs. Baragon is an intriguing take on the classic story.
It starts in the waning days of World War II in Europe, as Nazis hand over the immortal heart of Frankenstein’s monster to their Imperial Japanese allies, who take it by submarine to a laboratory in Hiroshima — just a few days before the city is leveled by an atomic bomb. Out of the now irradiated heart grows a feral boy, who is eventually befriended by scientists years later as he continues to grow … and grow … to gigantic size.
To his credit, Honda and his crew, notably special effects supervisor Eiji Tsuburaya, combining makeup that gives the boy a look reminiscent of the classic Karloff appearance (complete with a squarish head) and his towering, Kong-like presence, imbue this “Frankenstein” and his plight with the sort of pathos often found in tales about both the undead creature and the gigantic ape. That emotion, and the film’s exciting moments, are enhanced by another great musical score from Akira Ifukube.
The War of the Gargantuas (1966)
Courtesy Everett Collection
A year after Frankenstein vs. Baragon, in their third and final collaboration, Toho and Saperstein, through his United Productions of America (UPA) studio, produced a sequel of sorts that was released in Japan: the cult classic The War of the Gargantuas, also directed by Honda, who was helped again by Tsuburaya’s effects and an often rousing Ifukube score.
Led again by an American actor, this time Russ Tamblyn, this film finds pieces of the original Frankenstein’s cells mutating into two gigantic, hairy, humanoid monsters: the benevolent Sanda (the Brown Gargantua), and the savage and murderous Gaira (the Green Gargantua).
As you can see from the trailer above, this film also features a giant octopus (presumably a different octopus from the one seen in Frankenstein Conquers the World). But it is at least cool-looking, as are the Gargantuas, who are sort of like a Kong/Frankenstein monster combo.
Gargantuas was not released in U.S. theaters until 1970 (on a double-bill with Monster Zero, the English language version of the Godzilla movie Invasion of Astro-Monster, which was the second collaboration between Toho and UPA, and again featured Adams as a lead).
Later that decade it started becoming a familiar staple on creature feature shows. The movie’s status as a cult classic likely stems from those appearances, and from being name-dropped as a creative inspiration by the likes of Brad Pitt, Guillermo del Toro, Quentin Tarantino and Tim Burton, who discusses his fondness for Gargantuas in this video.
Jesse James Meets Frankenstein’s Daughter (1966)
LMPC via Getty Images
Sources say that the horror Western Jesse James Meets Frankenstein’s Daughter was shot in just eight days, and anyone who has seen this film, one of the last directed by prolific B-movie filmmaker William Beaudine, would not doubt that.
Despite its title, Jesse James Meets Frankenstein’s Daughter finds James (John Lupton) actually up against Frankenstein’s granddaughter, Dr. Maria Frankenstein (Narda Onyx), after the evil scientist transplants an artificial brain into the skull of James’ slow-witted pal, Hank (Cal Bolder), who becomes a monster named Igor.
This movie was produced to appear on a double feature bill with Beaudine’s also very quickly shot and ultra-cheap Billy the Kid Versus Dracula, which likewise places audiences in the dubious position of rooting for an infamous Western outlaw against a classic public-domain monster.
Playing Dracula in that latter film is the legendary John Carradine, the amazing acting talent who just kept grinding away in movie after movie even late into his career and life. While he seemed to have never met a screenplay that he said “no” to, Carradine did admit that Billy the Kid Versus Dracula was the only film that he regretted doing, if that tells you anything about the quality of these flicks.
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