The Human Vapor

A failed scientific experiment transforms a librarian named Mizuno into a being who can turn his body into gas. Using this ability, he robs banks to support the career of his girlfriend, a dancer, and kills anyone who gets in his way. As the crimes mount, he becomes the most wanted man in Tokyo, with the police pursuing him for the murder of the scientist responsible for the experiment and for the robberies. The authorities race to stop a criminal who can slip through their fingers in the most literal sense.

The film is a crime and science fiction thriller directed by Ishirō Honda, released in Japan in late 1960 and running 92 minutes. It was his eighth directorial effort in a career that would eventually include twenty-five films, coming between Echo Mountain and Mothra. Takeshi Kimura wrote the screenplay, and the cast is led by Yoshio Tsuchiya as Mizuno, alongside Tatsuya Mihashi, Kaoru Yachigusa, Keiko Sata, Bokuzen Hidari and Yoshifumi Tajima, with fifty-nine credited performers in total.

Reception has been modest but durable. On IMDb it holds a rating of 6.3 out of 10 from 641 votes, while on TMDB it stands at 7.1 out of 10 from a much smaller base of 28 votes, a gap that reflects the difference in sample size rather than a settled consensus.