Cassette 8 Movie Show

3.31.2021

Over the last year, I’ve become focused on collecting vintage Godzilla collectibles. Growing up, I always wanted the 8mm Godzilla movies that appeared in Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine. Because there were no video recording devices before the 80s, any Godzilla movie recordings for sale I wanted. As a kid, I could choose from a variety of movie viewers from the leading toy companies such as Kenner, Fisher Price, Ideal and GAF. But, I had no luck in getting any Godzilla movies. Last October, to my surprise I discovered and purchased the Popy KuruKuru Televi from Japan with a Godzilla vs MechaGodzilla (1974) cassette. Now with it in hand, I feel complete. It gives me all the wonderful feels and emotions from my past. Recently, I also came across the Cassette 8 Movie (野村トーイ カセット 8 ムービー) by Nomura Toy. Now, I have this in my collection as well.

Around 1965, Nomura Toy (のむらのおもちゃ T.N. 野村トーイ) released the Cassette 8 Movie for children (Source). It was a hand-cranked projector lit by a miniature lightbulb to projects 8mm cassettes. Included is a flexible record disc to provide audio for the short film. The discs are narrated by Junpei Takiguchi and begin with a countdown for timing the projector and the audio. Also included is a paper insert with the audio transcript. Sets retailed for ¥2,900 and each film cassette ¥1,500.

There was 8 movies available which were listed on the back of the cassette box: 1) The Birth of Minya (ミニラ誕生), 2) Space Monster King Ghidorah (宇宙怪獣キングギドラ), 3) Bodacious Monster Tournament (モーレツ 怪獣大会), 4) Mothra’s Transformation (モスラ変身), 5) Godzilla vs Ebirah (ゴジラ対エビラ), 6) Kamen Rider (仮面ライダー), 7) Himitsu no Akko-cha (ひみつのアッコちゃん), and 8) The Adventures of Hutch the Honeybee (みなし子ハッチ). I found a Cassette 8 Movie with Godzilla vs Ebirah, but the disc was not included. Fortunately, I found a recording of the movie disc on YouTube.

(Source: DailyMotion.com)