Kingu Kongu tai Gojira (1962)

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:

Godzilla | Berries | 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 Kato	...	Obayashi's assistant
Nadao Kirino	...	General's Aide
Kenzo Tabu	...	Dreary Newscaster
Shin Ôtomo	...	Captain of Vessel
Yoshio Kosugi	...	Farou Island Chief
Tatsuo Matsumura	...	Dr. Makino
Ko 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:
Takuzô Kumagai	...	Police Executive (as Jirô Kumagai)

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)
Shinichi Sekizawa		writer
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
Koji 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
Teizo Toshimitsu	....	special effects suit design
Eiji Tsuburaya	....	director of special effects
Akira Watanabe	....	art director of special effects/gojira and kingukongu suit designs
Fuminori Ohashi	....	special effects technical advisor (uncredited)

Visual Effects by
Sadamasa Arikawa	....	director of special effects photography
Koichi Kawakita	....	assistant special effects cameraman
Kuichiro 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)
• Arbeitsgemeinschaft der öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunkanstalten der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (ARD) (2007) (Germany) (TV)
• GoodTimes Home Video (2001) (USA) (DVD)
• Nihon Eiga Satellite Broadcasting (2008) (Japan) (TV)

Other Companies

• Toho Studios  sound stages

Also Known As:

King Kong vs. Godzilla

Runtime:

Germany:82 min | Japan:98 min | USA: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

Company:

John Beck

Trivia:

There were four live octopuses used in the fight sequence with Kong and the natives, as well as a plastic model. Hot air was blown on them to get them to move and after the filming of the scene was finished, most of them were released except for one, which Eiji Tsuburaya had for dinner.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: The soldiers climbing all over Kong to attach the harness and balloons to him are badly animated "soldiers" (you can see the buildings through them).

Quotes:

Mr.Tako: King Kong can't make a monkey out of us!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Snuff: A Documentary About Killing on Camera (2008)

Soundtrack:

A SI ANAROI

King Kong turns Japanese

Before Freddy VS Jason, before Aliens VS Predator, even before the clash of the titans that is Puppet Master VS Demonic Toys (but after Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man, obviously), there was King Kong VS Godzilla.

Before I proceed with this review, I should point out that the version I have seen is the American one, which is dubbed and had several scenes added featuring a United Nations news broadcast. The original Japanese release was apparently much more satirical in tone, whereas the American version removes all the comedy. It is still enjoyable as a giant monster movie, though.

This movie originally began life as a stop-motion feature entitled KIng Kong VS Frankenstein, and was conceived by Willis O'Brien as a sequel to the 1933 Kong, gradually turning into a Godzilla movie after Toho studios got involved. Although there are some brief stop-motion sequences, it is by and large a typical kaiju ega movie (in other words, it's men in rubber suits). While fans of O'Brien's still-impressive stop-motion work on the original King Kong may be irked by the idea of the big ape being played by a Japanese guy in a suit, I personally think Kong looks pretty cool (it's certainly more impressive than the suit Toho used for their second Kong film, King Kong Escapes).

There are some inconsistencies, most notably the fact that King Kong and Godzilla were radically different sizes in their respective films, but Toho got around this by the simple expedient of ignoring it. We've got two great big monsters beating each other up, so who cares about details? Also, in the original King Kong, the big ape had no special powers beyond being very strong, whereas Godzilla has radioactive breath; Toho addressed this seeming imbalance by having Kong derive strength from electricity, whereas Godzilla is weakened by touching power lines. One point that bugs me a little is the fact that, although this is the third Godzilla film, and the second to feature King Kong, there seems to be no connection to the previous movies. When the two monsters appear, the human characters act as though they have no prior knowledge of them, which seems odd when you take into account Godzilla had twice previously tried to destroy Tokyo, and King Kong did make kind of a mess of New York. King Kong VS Frankenstein was intended as a sequel to the original, but this idea was obviously dropped from the movie it became.

The climactic fight between the two monsters is great fun, sort of a giant sized version of a WWE match, only with more believable physiques and personalities. Kong shoving a tree down Godzilla's throat and the big green guy responding by walloping Kong with his tail are highly entertaining moments; obviously not as spectacular as the scenes of Kong fighting the dinosaurs in either the 1933 original or Peter Jackson's remake, but that's not the point. King Kong VS Godzilla is an enjoyable example of this type of movie; if you're new to the kaiju ega genre, it's an excellent starting point. It's just a shame King Kong VS Frankenstein never got made. Maybe if we all ask Peter Jackson nicely....