title to Beauty and the Liquid People. In the third draft, personalities of the main characters were developed a bit more deeply and Dr. Maki had a brother that was a board member of the company that owned the doom Ryujin-Maru II ship. This character was dropped. In the fourth and final draft, the Tokyo firestorm was added to the last scene and even after the final draft, minor changes and additions continued to be made throughout filming. The most important thing being added was Dr. Maki's explanation for how the liquid humans were created. Special effects While in its humanoid shape, the H-Man was portrayed by suit actor Haruo Nakajima. In order to depict the amorphous H-Man slithering across the ground in its liquid state, organic glass was used. To make the H-Man slime go up walls, special sets were constructed to roll 60 degrees to give the effect that the deadly ooze was sliding up the walls. Release The H-Man was distributed theatrically in Japan by Toho on June 24, 1958. The film was released theatrically in the United States by Columbia Pictures with an English-language dub and 79-minute running time. 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. This was cut in the American film. Columbia released The H-Man on VHS. The film was released on DVD in 2009 in the United States. 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." 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." 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." References Footnotes Sources Ragone, August (2007, 2014)