Clifford Kawada Movies
Director Jerry A. Baerwitz created this uninspired, problematical monster story by using footage from a similar but different Japanese monster flic by Inoshira Honda (he who started off Godzilla and followed up with Rodan, Mothra, Monster Zero and more). Viewer opinion overwhelmingly sides with Honda's film. In this story, the Japanese and U.S. military are working together in the Pacific on a Japanese island with a salt water lake, trying out an experiment to desalinate the water. Their desalination technique wakes up a prehistoric monster, Baran, from the longest nap on record. Understandably piqued, the monster sets off to trample down Tokyo in revenge. Some audiences may feel that Baerwitz' treatment of the Japanese in this film should have set the monster against Hollywood. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tsuruko Kobayashi, Clifford Kawada, (more)
- 1958
American-International's Suicide Battalion was filmed virtually simultaneously with the studio's Jet Attack; both films were originally released on a double bill. Michael Connors plays Lt. Matt McCormick, who leads the eponymous battalion on a suicide mission in the Philippines during WW II. Their objective: to destroy valuable American documents, left behind when the area was evacuated just before the Japanese takeover. Before long, only two of the volunteers are left alive to complete the mission -- and they're none too fond of each other. Hawaiian entertainer Hilo Hattie unexpectedly shows up as the proprietress of a native saloon. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Connors, John Ashley, (more)
