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| All photos courtesy of Toho |
The Transforming Human Series AKA The Mutant Trilogy, is a set of three tokusatsu films from Toho that all share the basic concept of creating new types of humans with science experiments. They include The H-Man (1958), The Secret of the Telegian (1960), and The Human Vapor (1960). Each film has a kaijin, a human monster with unique abilities. Kaijin differs from kaiju in that they are humanoid in appearance and subsequently much smaller. In English, it is analogous with "supervillain" or perhaps "mutant." While movies involving kaiju tend to be epic in scope, stories featuring kaijin are more intimate and often character studies.
The H-Man (1958):
The H-Man, the "H" meaning hydrogen, mixes together a gangster flick with a sci-fi creature feature and gives equal time to both genres. One night, during a torrential downpour in Tokyo, a drug smuggler named Misaki (Hisaya Itō) is killed while trying to escape a crime scene. His physical body is missing and only his clothes are left behind. The local police are befuddled and question his longtime girlfriend Arai Chikako (Yumi Shirakawa) a cabaret singer. It turns out that Misaki has been turned into a so-called "liquid man" from exposure to high radiation levels in the rain and he isn't the only one to have this fate.
The idea of using radioactive rain as a catalyst is interesting because it could be referencing the infamous "black rain" that fell after atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The rain was a mixture of radioactive fallout and soot from the numerous fires caused by the blast, and many people were exposed to it and developed radiation sickness or other related health issues. It is revealed later in the film that there are numerous liquid people living in the sewer system underneath Tokyo, a hidden shame of the fires of war.
Unfortunately, the investigation parts of the narrative drag a bit, but there is a truly horrifying flashback to a fishing boat where the crew is accosted by a liquid person and subsequently melted into piles of goo. There are a lot of narrative similarities with Ishirō Honda's later film The Human Vapor, which also has a fiery climax.
The Human Vapor (1960):
"I am no longer a human being, therefore I am no longer subject to human law."
The first half of The Human Vapor is a more standard affair, a police procedural following Detective Okamoto (Tatsuya Mihashi) as he follows the trail of a puzzling bank robber who seems to leave little trace after their crimes. Okamoto's bubbly news reporter girlfriend Kyoko Kono (Keiko Sata) tags along on his investigation and although he is nonplussed at the idea of her helping, she proves to be invaluable to his search. Seeing the contrast between Okamoto's serious demeanor and Kyoko's down-to-earth relatability is amusing and it keeps the tone fairly lighthearted.
Once the intrepid duo makes a break in the case, after they find out a local dancer named Fujichiyo (Kaoru Yachigusa) has been funding her performances with stolen money from the bank, the narrative takes a darker turn. It turns out that the bank robber is a local librarian named Mizuno (Kaoru Yachigusa) who has been funding her performances with stolen money from the bank, and the narrative takes a darker turn. It turns out that the bank robber is a local librarian named Mizuno (Yoshio Tsuchiya), and he has a startling talent--he can turn himself into wispy smoke at will. He uses this ability to both bypass the security at the banks and murder the guards by entering their lungs and asphyxiating them. It seems like an awful way to go, and Mizuno doesn't show much remorse for his actions. He is in love with Fujichiyo and steals the money to give to her for her art. Mizuno is given the unfortunate nickname "gas man" and gains notoriety with the public for his antics.
Mizuno's appearance firmly shifts the film into sci-fi/horror territory bolstered by Eiji Tsuburaya's fantastic special effects work. His shift from man to vapor is convincing looking, and Tsuchiya's calm and chilling performance locks in the aesthetic. Mizuno's situation is tragic, he was changed into a monster by a reckless science experiment through no fault of his own, and he tries to use his powers to gain the love of a woman who just might be the last connection he has to being a human being. Things do not end well for him, but ironically, though he could go anywhere as a formless vapor, he could not exist in our world as a solid man.
The Secret of the Teligan (1960)
Jun Fukuda took over director duties for The Secret of the Teligan, making this the only one in the series not directed by Ishiro Honda. Like the other two films, it is a mixture of genres, one part a detective mystery and one part a creature feature.
A man is murdered at an amusement park, and Detective Kobayashi (Akihiko Hirata), reporter Kiriokais (Koji Tsuruta) and police commissioner Onosaki (Yoshio Tsuchiya) are on the case. The victim was an owner of a local nightclub. He also had ties to the military and was a soldier assigned to protect a scientist working on crazy electricity-based weapons. This scientist had a side hustle transporting stolen gold from the war effort. One of the soldiers, Lance Corporal Tsudo (Tadao Nakamaru), opposed money laundering and was supposedly murdered for his trouble. In actuality, Tsudo used the scientist's electronic teleportation device to commit murders and gain revenge. He would warn his victims of their impending death, stab them with a bayonet, then teleport away from the crime scene.
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| Photo courtesy of Toho |
Most of the film is concerned with the investigation and following leads. The sci-fi elements are less fantastical in this story, but the narrative concerning the flashbacks to the war is much more poignant. Tsudo isn't a bad guy; he just has a strong sense of honor and would have rather had the gold dispersed amongst the Japanese victims from the war than have it line the coffers of already wealthy warmongers. Yet again, at the end of the day, the actual monsters are men.
--Michelle Kisner