Originally published on Set The Tape
Ancient underwater kingdoms, giant sea dragons, and a kick-ass submarine that would make the Thunderbirds jealous are just some of the draws to 1963’s New Year blockbuster, Atragon, which took Japan by storm and became a beloved cult classic.
Atragon is a loose adaptation of the two books, The Undersea Kingdom by Shigeru Komatsuzaki and The Undersea Warship: A Fantastic Tale of Island Adventure by Shunrō Oshikawa. But, according to some sources, the original intention was not to adapt and combine these two properties. Screenwriter Shinichi Sekizawa was originally hired to adapt The Undersea Warship alone. The novel from 1900 was a popular book in Japan, and was one that Sekizawa had read as a child. But when he was hired to adapt it he did not go back and re-read it, but instead adapted it from his memories of the book, and merged the story with that of The Undersea Kingdom.
Whilst not reading the work you’re adapting and adding in a second source might normally get you in a bit of trouble, Toho liked his version of the script, though they did have one addition for him. As with other recent films that were not built around the Kaiju sub-genre, Atragon added a giant monster at studio insistence. It would go on to join films like The Mysterians and Gorath, which were made to include the monsters Moguera and Maguma respectively. Atragon would feature Manda, a sea serpent that was originally envisioned as a giant rattlesnake. However, during the design process, the snake would evolve into a more traditional Chinese dragon, in part due to 1964 being the Year of the Dragon.
Atragon deals with the mysterious undersea kingdom of the Mu Empire, which reveals its presence to the surface world in an attempt to take over the planet, threatening mass destruction if the other nations don’t bow to its will. Thus begins a quest to find a missing World War II Captain, Jinguji (Jun Tazaki), who has been missing since the war. It’s believed that Jinguji is creating a special submarine which could be the only weapon capable of going up against the Mu Empire’s advanced technology. A group sets out to find Jinguji, including his daughter Makoto (Yōko Fujiyama) and her photographer love interest Susumu (Tadao Takashima). The mysterious captain is eventually found on a remote island, where he’s finishing up the creation of his sub. Whilst he at first refuses to help, not caring about the coming Mu conflict, when Makoto is kidnapped it spurs him into action.
Filming for Atragon began in September of that year, leaving just three months to produce the film for release. Due to the extensive special effects shoots that were done for the recently released Matango, which was also directed by Atragon‘s director Ishirō Honda, the special effects filming for Atragon had only two months. Whilst this is shorter than other special effects heavy films it actually ends up working somewhat to the film’s benefit. It means that the story and the characters are given a larger focus, with less of the film given over to spectacle. But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t some impressive moments to be found here.
There is a sequence of large-scale destruction when the Mu Empire attacks Japan, causing earthquakes that devastate Tokyo that is particularly impressive. Though most impressive is the titular Atragon, the submarine that Captain Jinguji creates. With a huge drill on the end, the submarine is capable of boring into the underwater city. There’s even a sequence where the submarine bursts out of the water and flies around Jinguji’s tropical island. The film’s lavish sets created for the Mu Empire are also well done, and over 70,000,000 yen spent on the construction it was a fairly large production by standards at the time, and you can really see the money being spent well on screen.
Sadly, one area where the film does fall down a little is in the area that is studio mandated: the inclusion of Manda. Manda doesn’t look great, and whilst there are some sequences of the dragon swimming through the water that look okay, though clearly just a marionette puppet, when it’s battling the Atragon sub you can really see the seams. The poor quality of the creature compared to the other aspects of the film really does highlight that the film just didn’t need it. Atragon could easily stand on its own as a story without the dragon being thrown in, though it seems like executives interfering with creative decisions that result in a weaker end product is something that is far from a modern problem.
Atragon is a decent movie, a film that’s large parts adventure film in the kind of vein that will appeal to people who love the super-marionette shows like Thunderbirds and Stingray. It’s an intriguing project, not for what you’re given on screen (though that is good) but for the unusual creation of it. The melding of two different stories, the studio interference, the rushed production, all could have sunk it, but instead it managed to navigate those troubled waters brilliantly.
Atragon was released in Japan on 22nd December 1963.
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