Furankenshutain tai chitei kaijû Baragon (1965)

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Frankenstein Conquers the World is Ishiro Honda's take on Mary Shelley's, or rather Universal's, famous monster, so it's nuts. Start with the Nazis raiding Dr. Frankenstein's lab during World War II and stealing the monster's immortal heart. They ship it to Japan when the Americans drop the bomb right on the Tell-Tale Heart. 15 years later, it's grown a body, and not long after that, it grows to giant size and fights Baragon, a dinosaur that looks like a big puppy and who will return a couple times in Godzilla movies. Like I said. What Honda's film keeps from the classic Frankenstein stories is the public's mistrust, and of course the gentle monster, who is little more than a big gangly cave teen, is hounded by the army and framed for Baragon's crimes. Sadly, the monster fights aren't that spectacular, which comes mostly down to the setting. There aren't a lot of miniatures to destroy and most of the fight takes place in a cave, so could be pulled from a regular-sized 1,000,000 B.C.-type film. Just a caveman wrestling a big lizard. Still, it's got a funky premise and a sympathetic and unusual monster. 4 years 5 months ago