King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962) Kingu Kongu tai Gojira (original title)

Director:

Ishirô Honda

Writers:

Bruce Howard (american version)
Paul Mason (american version)
(more)

Release Date:

26 June 1963 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Comedy | Horror | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

The motion picture screen beckons you to adventure that thrills the emotions with shock and terror!

Plot:

A pharmaceutical company captures King Kong and brings him to Japan, where he escapes from captivity and battles a recently released Godzilla.

Plot Keywords:

Berries | Godzilla | Giant Ape | Island | King Kong

Cast

Tadao Takashima	...	Osamu Sakurai
Kenji Sahara	...	Kazuo Fujita
Yû Fujiki	...	Kinsaburo Furue
Ichirô Arishima	...	Mr. Tako
Jun Tazaki	...	General Masami Shinzo
Akihiko Hirata	...	Dr. Shigezawa
Mie Hama	...	Fumiko Sakurai
Akiko Wakabayashi	...	Tamiye
Akemi Negishi	...	Chikiro's Mother (Dancing Girl)
Senshô Matsumoto	...	Prime Minister
Senkichi Ômura	...	TTV Translator Konno
Sachio Sakai	...	Obayashi (Mr. Tako's assistant)
Haruya Katô	...	Obayashi's assistant
Nadao Kirino	...	General's Aide
Kenzô Tabu	...	Dreary Newscaster
Shin Ôtomo	...	Captain of Vessel
Yoshio Kosugi	...	Farou Island Chief
Tatsuo Matsumura	...	Dr. Makino
Kô Mishima	...	Official
Yoshifumi Tajima	...	Captain of Fujita's Ship - Japanese version only
Ikio Sawamura	...	Witch Doctor
Ren Yamamoto	...	Helicopter Pilot
Harold Conway	...	Scientist in Sub
Osman Yusuf	...	Submariner
Shôichi Hirose	...	Kingukongu
Haruo Nakajima	...	Gojira
Katsumi Tezuka	...	Gojira
Michael Keith	...	Eric Carter (U.S. version only)
James Yagi	...	Yutaka Omura (U.S. version only)
Harry Holcombe	...	Dr. Arnold Johnson (U.S. version only)
Byron Morrow	...	TV Newscaster (U.S. version only)
Les Tremayne	...	Narrator (U.S. version only) (voice)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Douglas Fein	...	Commander Roberts
Takuzô Kumagai	...	Police Executive (as Jirô Kumagai)
Gary Collins	...	Submariner (uncredited)

Directed by
Ishirô Honda

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
John Beck		story "King Kong vs. Prometheus" (uncredited)
Bruce Howard		american version
Paul Mason		american version
Willis H. O'Brien		story "King Kong vs. Frankenstein" (uncredited)
Shin'ichi Sekizawa
George Worthing Yates		story "King Kong vs. Prometheus"

Produced by
John Beck	....	producer
Tomoyuki Tanaka	....	producer

Original Music by
Akira Ifukube

Cinematography by
Hajime Koizumi

Film Editing by
Reiko Kaneko

Production Design by
Teruaki Abe
Takeo Kita

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Koji Hashimoto	....	third assistant director
Kôji Kajita	....	chief assistant director

Sound Department
Sadamasa Nishimoto	....	sound effects editor
Hisashi Shimonaga	....	sound effects
William L. Stevenson	....	sound effects editor: USA

Special Effects by
Teruyoshi Nakano	....	assistant director of special effects
Koichi Takano	....	puppet effects
Teizô Toshimitsu	....	special effects suit design
Eiji Tsuburaya	....	director of special effects
Akira Watanabe	....	art director of special effects/gojira and kingukongu suit designs
Fuminori Ôhashi	....	special effects technical advisor (uncredited)

Visual Effects by
Sadamasa Arikawa	....	director of special effects photography
Kôichi Kawakita	....	assistant special effects cameraman
Kuichirô Kishida	....	special effects lighting
Yukio Manoda	....	optical effects
Hiroshi Mukoyama	....	matte process
Sokei Tomioka	....	special effects camera operator
Taka Yuki	....	optical effects

Stunts
Haruo Nakajima	....	stunt choreographer

Camera and Electrical Department
Shoshichi Kojima	....	lighting technician

Music Department
Robert Emmett Dolan	....	composer: stock music (US version)
Joseph Gershenson	....	conductor: USA
Henry Mancini	....	composer: stock music (US version)
Milton Rosen	....	composer: stock music (US version)
Hans J. Salter	....	composer: stock music (US version)
Herman Stein	....	composer: stock music (US version)
Peter Zinner	....	music supervisor: American music

Other crew
Tom Montgomery	....	director: American version

Production Companies

• John Beck
• RKO General Pictures
• Toho Company
• Universal International Pictures (UI)

Distributors

• Universal Pictures (1963) (USA) (theatrical) (English dubbed)
• Kuk Dong (1963) (South Korea) (theatrical)
• J. Arthur Rank Film Distributors (1963) (UK) (theatrical)
• Universal Home Entertainment (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• AGM Home Video (1985) (Greece) (VHS)
• Arbeitsgemeinschaft der öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunkanstalten der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (ARD) (2007) (Germany) (TV)
• GoodTimes Home Video (2001) (USA) (DVD)
• Intergroove Media (2013) (Germany) (DVD)
• Nihon Eiga Satellite Broadcasting (2008) (Japan) (TV)
• Westcoast Motion Pictures (????) (Chile) (VHS)

Other Companies

• Toho Studios  sound stages

Also Known As:

"Kingu Kongu tai Gojira" - USA (original title)

Runtime:

99 min | Germany:82 min | Japan:98 min | USA:91 min | Argentina:91 min

Country:

USA | Japan

Language:

Japanese | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Perspecta Stereo (Japan theatrical release) | Mono (Westrex Recording System) (US version)

Certification:

West Germany:12 (nf) | UK:PG | USA:Approved (Certificate #20439) | USA:Not Rated (DVD) | Argentina:13

Company:

John Beck

Trivia:

Another way to tone down Godzilla's darkness from the previous two movies, the monster's roar has a much higher pitch to it. For the remainder of the Showa series, this remained Godzilla's roar.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: When Todo tells the young native to get the berry juice, there's a tripod right behind Todo and still in focus.

Quotes:

[Arriving on Faro island]
Furue:Uh, Sacurai, I'm scared!

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Munky Cheez: Episode #1.3" (2004)

Soundtrack:

A SI ANAROI

A fun monster-rumble

Director Ishiro Honda, who first brought The Big G to the screen in the brilliant 1954 film GOJIRA (re-edited in the US as Godzilla King of the Monsters) decided to scrap the heavy messages and themes of the original film when he made King Kong vs. Godzilla, however he does appeared to have had a great deal of fun making this goofy rubber monster classic. Godzilla breaks out of an iceberg he was imprisoned in and heads to knock down Tokyo. Meanwhile, a pharmaceutical company discovers King Kong on an island full of Japanese actors in blackface playing the natives (!) and the flamboyant CEO decides to bring Kong to Japan as a publicity stunt. The government decides to pit the two titans against each other on the top of Mount Fuji in the climatic scene of the movie. Much of this film is film is intentionally goofy, particularly the island scenes. The screenwriters decided that electricity makes King Kong stronger, but it weakens Godzilla (to make sure it would be a fair fight). Honda also put in several homages (parodies) to the original 1933 King Kong. The final battle on Mount Fuji is similar to watching WWF wrestling, except better, because they're wearing monster suits. If you want a film with epic romance and sweeping drama, you should watch Gone With the Wind, but if you're in the mood for campy monsteriffic fun like only the Japanese can do, watch this.