View source for The H-Man

{{short description|1958 film}}
{{more citations needed|date=August 2022}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = The H-Man
| image          = hmanjapan.jpg
| alt            = 
| caption        = Theatrical release poster
| native_name    = <!-- {{Infobox name module|language|title}} or {{Infobox name module|title}} -->
| director       = [[Ishirō Honda]]
| producer       = [[Tomoyuki Tanaka]]{{sfn|Galbraith IV|2008|p=146}}
| writer         = 
| screenplay     = [[Takeshi Kimura]]{{sfn|Galbraith IV|2008|p=146}}
| story          = Hideo Kaijo{{sfn|Galbraith IV|2008|p=146}}
| narrator       = 
| music          = Masaru Sato{{sfn|Galbraith IV|2008|p=146}}
| cinematography = Hajime Koizumi{{sfn|Galbraith IV|2008|p=146}}
| editing        = Ichiji Taira{{sfn|Galbraith IV|2008|p=146}}
| based_on       = <!-- {{Based on|title of the original work|creator of the original work|additional creator(s), if necessary}} -->
| starring       = {{plainlist|*[[Yumi Shirakawa]]
*[[Kenji Sahara]]
*[[Akihiko Hirata]]
*[[Koreya Senda]]
*[[Makoto Satō (actor)|Makoto Satō]]}}
| studio         = [[Toho]]
| distributor    = Toho
| released       = {{Film date|1958|06|24|df=y}}
| runtime        = 87 minutes{{sfn|Galbraith IV|2008|p=146}}
| country        = Japan
| language       = Japanese
| budget         = 
| gross          = 
}}
{{nihongo|'''''The H-Man'''''|美女と液体人間|Bijo to Ekitai-ningen{{sfn|Galbraith IV|2008|p=146}}|{{literal translation|Beauty and the Liquid People}}}} is a Japanese [[science fiction]] [[thriller film]] directed by [[Ishirō Honda]], with special effects by [[Eiji Tsuburaya]].{{sfn|Galbraith IV|2008|p=146}}

==Plot==
{{Long plot|date=September 2015}}

On a rainy night in the outskirts of [[Tokyo]], a drug smuggler, Misaki, is killed while trying to escape in a getaway car, leaving only his clothes behind. The police go to his apartment to investigate, questioning his girlfriend, Arai Chikako, who says Misaki hasn't returned home for five days. Arai is a singer at a cabaret, and meets Masada, a Jyoto University professor, there.  She gives him a note to take to Misaki, but it is confiscated and he is taken into custody by the police.  He theorizes to the police Misaki's disappearance is the result of his physical form melting away due to exposure to [[radiation]] in the rain that night.  The police dismisses the theory.

That night, Nishiyama of a drug smuggling gang sneaks into Arai's apartment and threatens her, asking her where Misaki is.  However, Arai doesn't know, and Nishiyama leaves by the window, followed by gunshots.  Arai screams and the police investigates, looking outside Arai's bedroom window and finding only a pile of clothes and a gun on the floor.

In the morning, the police take Arai in for questioning, but gets no new information from her. Masada arrives at the police station and invites Inspector Tominaga and Detective Sakata to his medical institute to hear the testimony of a group of fishermen, who allegedly witnessed some of their crew members fall victim to a liquid creature, disintegrating them and leaving their clothes behind.  Masada next shows the detectives the test effects of radiation poisoning the fishermen were exposed to on a frog. The frog melts almost immediately, all of its cells transforming into a liquid creature.

Arai later visits Masada and his superior, Dr. Maki, at the medical institute and tells him she also witnessed a man (Nishiyama) dissolving, leaving his clothes behind. Dr. Maki dubs this liquid creature the H-Man.  They go to the police station again with their findings and Arai's testimony, where she also agrees to lead police to the gang at the cabaret.  That night, the police goes to the cabaret and make arrests, but Uchida, one of the gangsters, is tipped off by the gangster waiter and retreats to dancer Emi's room. Once inside, the gangsters try to escape through the window, but the H-Man appears, dissolving the waiter and Emi, and later Detective Sakata.

Having witnessed the carnage, Inspector Tominaga and others devise a plan to use a high voltage discharge unit to stop the H-Men's infiltration upstream by lighting Tokyo's sewer system on fire.  Meanwhile, Uchida has kidnapped Arai and taken her into the sewers to retrieve the stash of drugs.  Masada finds a piece of Arai's clothing floating in the water and rushes into the sewers to rescue her. Uchida is killed by an H-Man, and Arai is rescued by Masada.  Both get out of the sewer in time as the flames burn all the H-Men, ending their reign of terror.

== Cast ==
* [[Akihiko Hirata]] as Inspector Tominaga 
* [[Kenji Sahara]] as Dr. Masada
* [[Yumi Shirakawa]] as Chikako Arai  
* [[Makoto Satō (actor)|Makoto Satō]] as Uchida
* [[Koreya Senda]] as Dr. Maki 
* [[Eitaro Ozawa]] as Inspector Miyashita 
* [[Yosuke Natsuki]]
* [[Hisaya Ito]]

==Release==
[[File:Tri-City Drive-In Ad - 14 July 1959, Loma Linda, CA.jpg|thumb|150px|[[Drive-in theater|Drive-in]] advertisement from 1959 for ''The H-Man'' and co-feature, ''[[The Woman Eater]]''.]]
''The H-Man'' was distributed theatrically in Japan by [[Toho]] on June 24, 1958.{{sfn|Galbraith IV|2008|p=146}} 
The film was released theatrically in the United States by [[Columbia Pictures]] with an English-language dub and 79-minute running time.{{sfn|Galbraith IV|2008|p=146}}

The original Japanese version of the film focuses a similar amount of time on the drug-running criminals as the activities of the ''H-Men''.{{sfn|Warren|2009|p=353}} This was cut in the American film.{{sfn|Warren|2009|p=353}}

Columbia released ''The H-Man'' on [[VHS]].{{sfn|Warren|2009|p=353}} The film was released on DVD in 2009 in the United States.{{sfn|Warren|2009|p=353}}

==Reception==
From contemporary reviews, A ''[[New York Herald Tribune]]'' film critic at the time called it, "A good-natured poke at atom-bomb tests[.] The picture is plainly making a case against the use of nuclear bombs. At the same time, there is a great deal of lively entertainment in the story involving police, dope smugglers, scientists and some very pretty Japanese girls."{{sfn|Parish|Pitts|1977|p=39}}  The ''[[Daily Variety]]'' described the film as "well made" "seemingly more thoughtful" than ''[[The Mysterians]]'' and ''Gigantis''. The review noted Takeshi Kumra's screenplay as "effective" and Honda's direction as taking "full advantage of the story [which is a] technically excellent production."{{sfn|Warren|2009|p=353}} The ''[[Monthly Film Bulletin]]'' noted the film had "all the usual faults and virtues of Japanese SF-cum-horror fiction[.] But for special effects, trick photography and spectacular staging, the Japanese again beat their Hollywood counterparts at their own game: The fantasy element of vanishing bodies and mobile liquid is brilliantly done."{{sfn|Warren|2009|p=353}}

==References==
===Footnotes===
{{reflist}}

===Sources===
{{Refbegin}}
* {{cite book |last=Galbraith IV |first=Stuart |title=The Toho Studios Story: A History and Complete Filmography  |year=2008 |publisher=[[Scarecrow Press]] |isbn=978-1461673743}}
*{{cite journal |last1= Miller|first1= D.A.|year= 2009|title= The H-Man vs. Liquid Human |journal= [[Film Quarterly]]|volume= 63|issue= Winter 2009-10|pages= 14–18 |doi= 10.1525/FQ.2009.63.2.14| issn= 0015-1386}}
*{{cite book|first1=James Robert|last1=Parish|first2=Michael R.|last2=Pitts|title=The Great Science Fiction Pictures|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bOhkAAAAMAAJ|year=1977|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-8108-1029-7}}
* Ragone, August (2007, 2014) [https://web.archive.org/web/20150620001731/http://www.chroniclebooks.com/titles/eiji-tsuburaya-master-of-monsters-paperback.html ''Eiji Tsuburaya: Master of Monsters''] San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books. {{ISBN|978-0-8118-6078-9}}.
* {{cite book |last=Warren |first=Bill |title=Keep Watching the Skies!: American Science Fiction Movies of the Fifties|edition=The 2st Century  |year=2009 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0786552306}}
{{Refend}}

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
* {{cite web |url=http://www.jmdb.ne.jp/1958/ch002570.htm|title=美女と液体人間 (Bijo to Ekitainingen)|access-date=2007-07-13|language=ja|publisher=[[Japanese Movie Database]]}}
*{{IMDb title|id=0051413}}
* {{AllMovie title|21230|The H-Man}}

{{Ishirō Honda}}{{Eiji Tsuburaya}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:H-Man, The}}
[[Category:Films directed by Ishirō Honda]]
[[Category:1958 films]]
[[Category:1950s science fiction horror films]]
[[Category:1950s Japanese-language films]]
[[Category:Toho tokusatsu films]]
[[Category:1950s horror thriller films]]
[[Category:1958 horror films]]
[[Category:Films set in Tokyo]]
[[Category:Films produced by Tomoyuki Tanaka]]
[[Category:Films scored by Masaru Sato]]
[[Category:Japanese gangster films]]
[[Category:Mafia films]]
[[Category:Films set in the Pacific Ocean]]
[[Category:Films set on ships]]
[[Category:1950s English-language films]]
[[Category:1950s Japanese films]]
[[Category:English-language science fiction horror films]]
[[Category:English-language horror thriller films]]