H-Man (1958 )

Bijo to Ekitainingen
Beauty and the Liquidman

Cast:

Yumi Shirakawa is Chikako Arai, singer in the nightclub
Kenji Sahara is Dr. Masada
Akihiko "My science experience is used in Terror of Mechagodzilla" Hirata is Inspector Tominaga
Koreya Senda is Dr. Maki
Makoto Satô is Uchida, gangstar

What the IMDB says:

When a narcotics deal goes sour and a suspect disappears, leaving only his clothes, Tokyo police question his wife and stake out the nightclub where she works. His disappearance stumps the police - until a young scientist appears who claims that H-Bomb tests in the Pacific, evidenced by a "ghost ship" that has turned up in the harbor, have created radioactive creatures - "H-Men" - who ooze like slime and dissolve anyone they touch.

Plot:

As some gangsters are breaking into a place. Misaki, one of them shots himself and is promptly run over by a car. However, only his clothes remain.

The police start investigating what happened to Misaki, who left a bag of rugs behind. The police question Mr. Chin to try to get him to ID the man who got the drugs.

Checking Misaki's apartment, they just find his girlfriend, Shitako. They question her but don't get anything.

That night, Shitako meet Professor Misada. The cops take him in. The professor explains Misada may have been exposed to radiation.

The gangsters keep hassling Shitako assuming she knows where Misaki is. He leaves. The cops re-question her and believe that Misaki stopped by to visit her. Professor Misada finally gets to question her.

Later, Professor Misada takes the chief to meet some guys who've melt the dissolving men. Cut to the flashback, a boat of fishermen find a deserted ship. They board it and don't find anybodies just several piles of clothes. A pile of goo dissolves one of the fishermen, and his body is gone. H-Man gets another victim. Only 2 men are left and get back to their ship.

Professor Misada shows the chief the deserted ship's log book and takes him to a scientific example which is to show his idea. A frog exposed to radiation melts, but the frog goo is still alive. Chief doubts all this scientific mumbo-jumbo.

Professor Misada finds a life preserver from the deserted ship which the chief discounts.

Shitako wants people warned about the killer goo. The chief, professor, and her talk. She agrees to ID the gangsters at the nightclub so they can be arrested. At the club, the cops start busting the mobsters. The goo makes an appearance and starts killing and absorbing people. Ishiro, a mobster, removes his clothes to fake his death.

More melting, exploding toad science fu ensues. The goo eats the other frogs and is drawn to human flesh.

Let the newspaper montage ensue. As scientists brief everyone that only fire or electricity can stop the goo. Finally, chief believes Professor Misada.

Shitako is about to go on a date with the professor when she's kidnapped by Ishiro. Misada chases but loses them.

The city starts to evacuate. Ishiro takes Shitako into the sewer where he has hidden the drugs. They hear the police in the sewers. He has her take off her clothes to fake her death.

The police prepare to destroy the goo. Misada heads to the sewer to look for her. The police have the operation ready to be implemented. Let the flaming sewer ensue. Chief heads to help the professor.

The goo gets Ishiro. Shitako is running in terror and runs right into Misada and the chief. The H-Man gets para-broiled. Out of the sewer, Chief, Misada, and Shitako head to the hospital.

What I say:

Most people always automatically assume Japan only with Kaiju sci-fi or anime. Yes, the Godzilla type movies such as Godzilla's Revenge, Godzilla Versus Mothra, King Kong Versus Godzilla, and Terror of Mecha Godzilla. More kaiju movies than one could shake a Mothra at...The typical kaiju movie from the late 1950s seem to be more of a warning against the dangers of nuclear weapons. Japan still had the recent memories of Hiroshima and Nagasaki from the 1940s. Though many US sci-fi movies from the same time either want to show the threats of a nuclear war like in This is Not a Test or the futile nature of using nukes against UFOs. Some movies like the Lost Missile do have nuclear missiles able to save the day just in the nick of time.

H-Man also has more goo than the Blob, especially more killer goo than Green Slime. H-Man has more sewer than Alligator or C.H.U.D.. Good to know that Japanese sewers are fairly clean and have better lighting than than Alien Vs Predator: Requiem, a movie that should have been required to give everyone a pair of night vision goggles to see what was going on.

One doesn't run across plenty of sci-fi and horror movies without running across ones horrible dubbing on occasion. The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave came from Italy and got badly dubbed into English. H-Man is still one of the badliest dubbed movies I've run across. For most of the time, the Godzilla movies may be badly dubbed but it sort of gives them a hokey charm.

H-Man just seems to keep jumping from dissolving monster to gangsters. We've seen movies that combined awfully stranger mixtures like Innocent Blood

H-Man had another English title. Somehow, I can't ttelp but think Beauty and the Liquidman just sounds like a better title. It could have been part of a double feature with the Amazing Transparent Man.

Quotable Dialogue
"Who are you? What do you want?"
"Didn't you know he was peddling narcotics?"
"I wasn't aware he did research in nightclubs."
"I saw a ghost ship."
"Nurse, a stimulant."
"It's the liquid creature. It's heading for the nightclub at once."
Morals of the Story
Corpses melt away in seconds.
Cow pattern dresses are classy.
The sound of gunshots cause fainting.
Frogs are the new guinea pigs.
Bikini circus dance is classy.
Drums muffle gunshots.
Melting sounds like popcorn popping.
Car chases obey all traffic laws aren't very exciting.
Japanese sewers are fairly clean.