Seeing 'House' in 35mm!

A poster for House (1977) at the Shin Bungeiza. Photo by Brett Homenick.

On Friday, March 6, I returned to the Shin Bungeiza theater for a screening of House (1977), the infamous pseudo-horror movie directed by Nobuhiko Obayashi. The screening was in 35mm, and it was my second time to see it this way. Even though it is well-regarded in the West, largely due to the fact that it's been available through the Criterion Collection for years, I have my own thoughts.

I first saw House long before it had any kind of reputation outside Japan. I bought an unsubtitled bootleg in 2002, which I ordered just because I knew it was a "Toho horror movie" from the '70s. I watched maybe a third of it, but it was giving me none of what I was looking for in such a flick, so I remember turning it off after a while, figuring I'd finish it later. (I never did.)

At the end of 2010, I picked up the Criterion DVD and gave it a proper viewing for the first time. At the time, I thought of it as weirdness for its own sake and not much else. I also found the experience a bit depressing, as it really seemed to end the production of Showa-era genre films with a whimper. Then, in July 2016, I caught a screening of it in Japan and liked it a bit better than I had before, I guess. Even though I no longer despised it the way I used to, I still didn't think its reputation in the West was deserved.

With Prof in July 2016.

So that's where things stood when I went into screening. I more or less expected to have a repeat of my 2016 experience, in other words, thinking the movie was OK but overrated. Unfortunately, my opinion is a bit closer to where it was in 2010 but perhaps not quite as negative.

I was more or less onboard with the movie in the first half, but the directionless chaos of the second half wore me out. Absurdity is fine in movies, but, when it just meanders about in random ways, I lose interest after a while. I also got the sense the filmmakers thought they were being much more clever than they actually were, which is always annoying.

Believe it or not, my favorite parts of the movie had nothing to do with its overhyped weirdness. There were wistful shots in the film that, for lack of a better word, evoked a sense of nostalgia. I found myself wishing I were watching that movie instead of this one. Sometimes you don't need singing cats or dancing skeletons to make a good movie.

After the screening, there was a Q&A with a film critic, but, as we have learned from the positive reviews of this movie in the West, "one has to dismiss everything they know about film criticism" when reviewing House, and "the 'rules' of film criticism are almost impossible to apply to it," so I'm not sure what they were going for there.

DEEP DIVE: What Japanese Godzilla Movie Did Yoshimitsu Banno Work on After 'Smog Monster'?

Yoshimitsu Banno in April 2013. Photo by Brett Homenick.

By now, you've likely heard the old yarn about how producer Tomoyuki Tanaka was furious at director Yoshimitsu Banno after seeing Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster (1971) for the first time and angrily declared that the filmmaker had "ruined Godzilla." Of course, this apocryphal account has been debunked elsewhere on this blog, but it's a claim so blatantly false that it can be debunked even further. 

When Tomoyuki Tanaka was planning to relaunch the Godzilla series in the years following the disappointing box-office returns of Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975), three science-fiction authors were tapped to develop stories for the proposed film: Yoshio Aramaki, Taku Mayumura, and Ryu Mitsuse. Nowadays, these names have been included in other articles about the making of the production that would eventually become The Return of Godzilla (a.k.a. Godzilla 1985, 1984). 

With Yoshimitsu Banno in April 2013.

Usually, these write-ups point to Tomoyuki Tanaka as the one who selected the writers to pen possible Godzilla scenarios, but this seems not to be the case. So, if it wasn't producer Tanaka, then who was it?

According to the man himself, it was Yoshimitsu Banno. In 1978, Banno became head of the planning department of Toho Eizo Co., Ltd., and it was in this capacity that Banno selected the aforementioned SF authors to submit their stories. According to Banno, Tanaka rejected their treatments for budgetary reasons. 

Hiring three science-fiction writers to develop a major, SFX-laden motion picture for Toho had worked well in the past. This formula ultimately led to the creation of Mothra (1961) after science-fiction authors Shinichiro Nakamura, Takehiko Fukunaga, and Yoshie Hotta were hired by Tanaka to flesh out the story for that production. Unfortunately, in the case of The Return of Godzilla, the formula didn't produce the same results.

The information contained in this blog post comes from a conversation the author had with Mr. Banno on April 2, 2013, supported by contemporaneous notes. 

DEEP DIVE: So How Did Godzilla Get His Name, Anyway?

Godzilla is just as curious as you are to know how he got his name. Photo by Brett Homenick.

 

Most of us have heard the stories about how Gojira got his name. It's a combination of the Japanese words for "gorilla" and "whale," and may have been the nickname of a rather imposing Toho employee (though there is plenty of reason to doubt that anecdote).

But what about the name Godzilla? Much less has been written about it over the years. The basic rundown we usually get is that it was named by Toho, not the American distributors, and that it was likely chosen because it's an approximation of the Japanese name Gojira, with "God" suggesting the creature's divine-like power, and "zilla" suggesting its reptilian origin. (I specifically remember reading this hypothesis in Jim Harmon's The Godzilla Book back in the mid-1990s.)

But it turns out that there's quite a bit more to the story than what usually gets told. So, without further ado, let's jump right in.

Since Toho wanted to export its ambitious 1954 monster epic overseas, Toho head of production Iwao Mori asked producer Tomoyuki Tanaka to create a name for the overseas title. Tanaka had several meetings with the advertising department and proposed three possible titles to Mori. These titles were GOJIRA, GOZILA, and GODILA. Tanaka's recommendation was the third name, as it combined Gojira with the English word "god."

However, Mori advised adding two "l's" because the English "r" doesn't have the same sound as the Japanese "ra." Mori was quite familiar with foreign countries, considering he had traveled in Europe and the United States from December 1925 through April 1926 to learn about the film industries there, on top of having read a lot of Western books following the end of World War II. (Moreover, according to Mori's Japanese Wikipedia page, he had just returned from another tour of the U.S. prior to becoming Toho's head of production in 1952.)

Mori also suggested replacing the "j" of Japan after "God" with the "z" of the Z flag and asked a foreigner he knew to check the pronunciation of the name he had just concocted. As a result, Godzilla (pronounced and spelled the way we all know it today) was born.

So where did I find this information? Do I have a super-secret contact at Toho? Did I unearth Iwao Mori's personal diary? Was I in the room when it was all decided?

Surprisingly enough, the answer to all the above questions is no. I actually found this information in Osamu Kishikawa's liner notes for Toho's LaserDisc release of Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964). I was at a gathering of tokusatsu fans in Tokyo for which the attendees brought rare items to pass around and share with their fellow devotees.

While checking out the LaserDiscs that one of the attendees brought, I was stunned to find the explanation of how Godzilla got his name staring right back at me. It was an amazing find, and one I discovered quite by accident. 

Still, I have to agree with William Shakespeare, who once famously wrote, "What's in a name? That which we call a gorilla-whale by any other word would swat as many jets.”

DEEP DIVE: Did Tomoyuki Tanaka Tell Yoshimitsu Banno He 'Ruined' Godzilla?

Yoshimitsu Banno in July 2016. Photo by Brett Homenick.

It's a story that just won't go away. For decades, it's been repeated countless times that, during the production of Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster (1971), producer Tomoyuki Tanaka, furious at Godzilla's flying scene, told writer-director Yoshimitsu Banno that he "ruined" Godzilla. 

But is that how it really happened? The yarn still gets spun to this day, but sources are rarely cited. In order to shed some much-needed light on this situation, let's take a look at what Yoshimitsu Banno and special effects director Teruyoshi Nakano have actually said about it. 

In an unpublished manuscript about his film career that Banno sent to me in November 2012, he described Tanaka's reaction after seeing Smog Monster in Japanese:

「ゴジラ対ヘドラ」の完成試写会が終わってから病院を出てこられた田中プロデューサーは、作品を観た後、私に向って不機嫌な顔で一言。「性格を変えられては困るんだよな」

In the English-language version of the manuscript Banno sent me to proofread, Banno described Tanaka's reaction this way (which is presented exactly as Banno sent it to me in November 2012):

Tanaka producer who came out the hospital after the completion film preview of “Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster” told me with an ill-humored face, "It is no good to change the character."

Banno has consistently told the story this way since I first met and interviewed him in July 2005. I've never heard or read Banno tell the story any other way, except when other Americans have purportedly quoted him on the matter. 

In my July 2005 interview with him, Banno states that he was unaware Tanaka was supposedly angry over the situation until he read about it in a book sometime after Tanaka's passing in 1997. 

According to another account recently told online, Tanaka was more upset at Banno for going around him to get approval for Godzilla's flying scene than he was over the flying scene itself, but, as demonstrated by the quotes above, this version is also false.

In 1978, Banno became director of Toho Eizo's planning section. In 1989, he became managing director of Toho Eizo Bijutsu, retiring from that position in 1994. Suffice it to say, this seems like an unusual career trajectory for someone who "ruined" one of Toho's most profitable franchises and was on the outs with a powerful producer like Tomoyuki Tanaka. 

Teruyoshi Nakano in June 2015. Photo by Brett Homenick.

We can safely rule out Banno as the source of the oft-repeated anecdote that he was told he "ruined" Godzilla. But I have also read that, while Banno himself may not have said it, SFX director Teruyoshi Nakano has been quoted as saying that Tanaka was angry and told Banno that Banno did indeed ruin Godzilla. 

On the evening of October 9, I was privileged to spend an evening with Mr. Nakano on his birthday. During the evening, I had an opportunity to ask him about the Smog Monster controversy. I made sure to specify the two different accounts that have been told and asked him which one was correct. Mr. Nakano recounted his memory of the events, which matched Banno's version completely. Mr. Nakano went even further to suggest that newspapers may have exaggerated the story.

Given all the above, it is more than a little difficult to believe that Tanaka furiously told Banno he ruined Godzilla. We may never know exactly what happened after Tomoyuki Tanaka saw Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster. But, when two of the principals directly involved corroborate each other, you have to lend that version some credence. 

New Kazuki Omori Interview on Vantage Point Interviews

Kazuki Omori in May 2019. Photo by Brett Homenick.

When I visited Osaka at the end of May, I had the privilege of interviewing Heisei Godzilla series director Kazuki Omori for the second time. Unfortunately, there was only enough time to cover Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989) and Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991), but there's plenty of great information.

The interview can be found here. Enjoy!

MAJOR SPIELBERG MEMORIES: Daniel Kahl Remembers Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991)

 "You can tell your son about it when he's born..." sez Kent Gilbert (left) to Daniel Kahl in Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991).

Originally published in G-FAN #76

The name Daniel Kahl may not register with many G-fans, but his memorable role in 1991’s Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah certainly does. In the film, Mr. Kahl played Major Spielberg, a naval officer during World War II, whose sighting of the Futurians’ time machine would inspire his son to change the cinematic world forever. Fifteen years after filming it, Mr. Kahl discussed his role with G-FAN’s Brett Homenick.

Brett Homenick: Please tell me about your background before you moved to Japan.
Daniel Kahl: Born in Southern California in 1960. Been intrigued by Japan since I was a kid. Had several Japanese-American friends. Started learning karate after watching Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon. This experience especially got me hooked on Japan.

BH: What made you decide to come to Japan?
DK: I wanted to find out what made Japan tick. I knew that Japan was becoming an economic powerhouse, so I thought I'd come and see how. Maybe it would lead to an interesting career. I first came as an exchange student to a high school in Nara Prefecture. I wanted to continue learning karate there, but most Japanese high schools don't have karate teams. So I did judo instead which, as all its practitioners are aware, is also a great sport.

BH: How'd you get your start in acting there?
DK: Long story. After Nara, I lived in several different places around Japan -- all way out in the country. I learned Japanese the hard way. No teachers, just picked it up from the locals. So my Japanese is -- how shall I describe it -- nuanced. I guess you could say my Japanese is considered very rural, with a definite twang. Very few foreigners living here have spent as much time out in the countryside as I did. And even fewer have picked up the dialects.
Anyway, I started working as a TV reporter for several of the Japanese networks. Mainly human interest stories -- food, travel, etc. Somehow, my funny Japanese clicked with the viewers, and I've been working on TV now for 18 years. It's hard to explain why I have been so lucky and have such a fun job. But if you imagine a Japanese guy who learned all his English in Alabama, you might be able to approach my "image.” The incongruence of the face and the accent just makes people smile. Acting, as in the Godzilla flick, however, is very much a sideline to my main work. Things are a bit different in the TV industry here.
        There are lots of full-time and fully dedicated "movie actors" in Japan, but on TV, dramas usually throw in a few famous personalities (pundits, celebrities, talents, or whatever you would call the "famous for being famous" crowd). I've been in half a dozen TV drama series where I usually play a character very similar to my actual self -- a sort of clueless but funny foreigner who speaks hopelessly messed up (yet still perfectly correct) Japanese. Godzilla (vs. King Ghidorah) was a totally different experience for me. Number one, all my lines were in English. I seldom use any English at all in my regular work. Number two, it was a movie, made for theaters. Real celluloid versus the video technology I always work with. Hence, very bright lights, heavy make-up, CG (where you can't actually see the UFO flying overhead), and lots and lots of waiting around for the sun to be at the right angle.

Major Spielberg (Daniel Kahl) ponders what to tell his son, Steven, about his sighting a UFO.

BH: How'd you land your part in Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah?
DK: The Godzilla series also often uses famous personalities from Japanese TV. One day, my agent got a call. Kent (Gilbert) and I were in the same agency at that time. I strongly suspect that they wanted Kent real bad, and I got thrown in to sweeten the pot, like the whistle in the Cracker Jack box.

BH: What was your reaction to the infamous "Major Spielberg" line when you first read it?
DK: What an honor! It blew me away.

BH: What was it like on your day of shooting? What happened that day?
DK: It's pretty much a blur now. We traveled by train down to Yokosuka Naval Base, south of Tokyo. Got there about eight in the morning, I think it was. After being admitted to the base, one of the staff directed us to board a destroyer of the Japan Maritime Self Defense Forces. In the hold, we changed into uniforms and got made up. Mind you, this is on a destroyer, so there is not a lot of room, and you have to watch your head everywhere you go. Hatch door frames are pretty low. Not much of a problem for me, but Kent is pretty tall. Anyway, we were ready to roll by eight-thirty. Didn't start shooting till maybe four that afternoon. Spent a lot of the day exploring the destroyer. That was cool. Ate in the mess, talked to the sailors. I'd never been on one before, so I made the most of it. Kent did, too.

BH: How was Kazuki Omori as a director?
DK: Hm. That's a toughie. I only "worked” with him for less than an hour, and he had a lot on his mind right then. Of course, the guy is a pro and thinks of everything. Like most Japanese directors, he's pretty obsessed with perfection. But when you're working with guys like Kent and me, you have to make exceptions. He did, and everything was over quickly.

BH: The movie made waves in the West for allegedly being anti-American. What do you think about that?
DK: As I'm sure all your readers know, every Godzilla movie is anti-American. That 's what makes them so much fun. But Japanese artistic anti-Americanism is like French artistic anti-American. They do it because it's chic, not because they hate Americans. Japanese people like America and Americans just fine. They may not be too happy about the Iraq situation and would definitely have done it differently, but hey, they've got troops there. That's loyalty. That's friendship. But thumbing your nose at America is almost a prerequisite to get any movie produced nowadays, especially in America. Because filmmakers at least have to appear as though they have some political integrity, they take their jabs at America, and the masses pronounce it cool. It's pretty sly when you think about it. Movie-makers don't have to make tough, real decisions in life. But it is oh so easy to appear like you are serious about an issue. Nuff said.

BH: What did you think of the film?
DK: I wish I had had a more involved part. But just being Mr. Spielberg's dad for a day was a story I will tell my grandkids.