War of the Monsters (1966)

a favorite of "serious" monster movie fans,  Gamera's second movie has a lot going for it, including the interesting design of Barugon and some amazing miniatures, plus a great score by Chûji Kinoshita are all pluses.

the story by Nisan Takahashi is servicable, but 20 minutes too long for it's own good.  there's too much human drama and the monsters don't even fight until about 40 minutes into the movie.  that's not a good idea!  most of the human characters are ugly people as well, though the nominal hero (Karen or Kara, played by Kyôko Enami) is a truly good person.

AIP released this directly to television, shortened it to 88 minutes or so and gave it the great name "War of the Monsters".  when I tuned in to watch it I had no idea it was a giant monster movie at all, but at least I got a war of giants eventually.

it's a decent movie, and the trimming helps the pace a lot as well. the new DVD release is great as well.