Varan (1958) Japanese version
Near the village of Iwaya in the Tohoku region of Japan is a butterfly that normally is only native to Siberia. Biology Professor Doctor Sugimoto (Koreya Senda) sends two of his students to the area to investigate the phenomenon. The students are killed under mysterious circumstances. Local natives blame a god they call Baradagi. The press eats it up.
A young reporter named Yuriko Shinjo (Ayumi Sonoda) is the sister of one of the men killed. She is determined to find out what really happened. She tells Sugimoto that she is going to the remote village to investigate. One of Sugimoto’s students Kenji Uozaki (Kozo Nomura) volunteers to go with her. Yuriko also brings with her a reluctant photographer named Horiguchi (Fumito Matsuo).
The trio comes across a young boy, named Gen (Takashi Ito), and his dog. The boy brings them to a village ceremony for their god Baradagi. The priest tells them they must leave. In the meantime a horrible sound is heard coming from a nearby lake. The lake is shrouded in fog and it is forbidden to go there. Gen’s dog runs toward the noise and Gen runs after it. The three visitors run to find Gen. The god the village call Baradagi comes out of the lake and destroys the village. It then returns to the lake.
Yuriko, Kenji and Horiguchi report their findings to Professor Sugimoto. The professor identifies the monster as a Varanopode, a pre-historic creature that lived 185 million years ago. The animal is named Varan. Troops are sent to the lake from The Defense Agency to destroy the monster. The soldiers manage to piss off the monster. Varan spreads his arms and membrane-like wings are extended. Varan flies away from the lake and heads for Tokyo.
“Varan” was released in Japan in1958 and was directed by Ishiro Honda. The Japanese version of the movie runs about 87 minutes and was produced by TOHO studios. Originally TOHO intended for Varan to be a three part television series in cooperation with ABC Television. The success of Rodan in the US prompted the decision.
Varan was created as a Godzilla-Kappa hybrid. Since the movie was supposed to be for television TOHO filmed it in black and white. When the American company backed out of the agreement TOHO repackaged the film for theatrical release. Director Ishiro Honda was not happy with the final outcome of the film.
In 1962 an American version of the film was done and released to theaters. The American version changed the entire plot of the film. Most of the film was cut and new footage was filmed changing the cast and basically the entire story. The only thing left was monster footage and people running. Even some of that was altered and some scene sequences were changed.
Varan was the first Toho kaiju film to use stock footage from previous films. Much of the final Defense Forces assault at Haneda Airport is from Godzilla and Godzilla Raids Again. Stock footage of Godzilla from the 1954 film is used here to represent Varan's feet and tail smashing into buildings.
Which movie is better? It’s all a matter of opinion. Most people like the original version better and I can see why. The original does have a better flow to it. The original is available in Japanese with sub-titles.