DOGORA
DOGORA (1964) is definitely one of the stranger Japanese giant monster flicks. Giant Jellyfish like monsters come to Earth to eat diamonds and carbon. They don't seem to really care or even notice man but they do manage to destroy some property and be a pain in the ass. In the meantime, there is a semi-comedic subplot about diamond thieves and the cops chasing them. The diamond thieves are great in that they reminded me of the kind of crooks you'd see in "Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C." episode where Sgt. Carter has to settle their hash after Gomer pisses them off trying to buy something nice for his beard/girlfriend, Luanne. I think the crook story is largely meant to be comedic and would probably work better if you were Japanese and you were in 1964. The Dogora themselves, there are several, look cool. I'm not sure but they seem to be puppets possibly filmed in water except for the bridge attack where the tentacles seem to be drawn animation. They obviously don't have the various personality quirks of a Godzilla but do have a kind of otherworldly beauty to them. I got the same feeling watching them float around as I do watching real jellyfish in an aquarium, they're trippy, weird and slightly hypnotic. Akiko Wakabayashi, who also was in Honda's GHIDRAH, plays a gangster moll and is gorgeous. Her demise on the beach was a masterful set up visually and I expect to see it in a Tarantino movie eventually. There is a token American but no Burr, Tamblyn or Adams. This guy is chasing the diamonds and is mostly there for comedy. The ending with the hornet venom doesn't make a whole lot of sense but it doesn't really matter. I suppose DOGORA is probably closer to the gangster/monster pictures like THE H-MAN and THE HUMAN VAPOR than anything else.