Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972)
"Chikyû kogeki meirei: Gojira tai Gaigan" (original title)

A man begins to suspect that something is wrong about his employers; meanwhile, Godzilla and Anguirus are alerted to something strange going on.

Director:

Jun Fukuda

Writers:

Takeshi Kimura (story), Shin'ichi Sekizawa

Stars:

Hiroshi Ishikawa, Yuriko Hishimi, Minoru Takashima

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Hiroshi Ishikawa	...	Gengo Kotaka
Yuriko Hishimi	...	Tomoko Tomoe
Minoru Takashima	...	Shosaku Takasugi
Tomoko Umeda	...	Machiko Shima
Toshiaki Nishizawa	...	Kubota, Head of Children's Land
Zan Fujita	...	Fumio Sudo
Kunio Murai	...	Takashi Shima
Gen Shimizu	...	Commander of Defense Forces
Koreyoshi Nakamura	...	Priest (as Zeko Nakamura)
Kuniko Ashihara	...	Middle-Aged Woman
Akio Murata	...	Editor of Comics Magazine
Noritake Saito	...	Henchman
Yasuhiko Saijô	...	Henchman
Naoya Kusakawa	...	Henchman
Wataru Ômae	...	Henchman

Storyline

Aliens from space plan to conquer the world using space monsters Gigan and King Ghidrah, which they control from their secret headquarters inside the head of the Godzilla-replica building at a theme park. The only thing that can stop them is the combined efforts of Godzilla and Anguirus.

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Plot Keywords:

godzilla | gigan | alien | monster | buzzsaw | 

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Taglines:

Alien Monsters Threaten to Destroy Mankind!

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Horror | Sci-Fi

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for sci-fi monster violence and some language

Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

August 1977 (USA)

Also Known As:

Godzilla on Monster Island

Company Credits

Production Co:

Toho Company, Toho Eizo Co.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This was the final appearance for King Ghidorah in a Showa era film. He later would return with a different look in Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah.

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Goofs

The main human characters, when they descend to the ground on a cable, it is obvious that they are mere miniatures in reality. For one, they don't have the proportions of a human being, nor do their clothes look like the ones the actual humans were wearing.

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Quotes

Gengo Kotaka: Oh, cigarettes?
Kubota, Head of Children's Land: They're for you.
[grins]

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Crazy Credits

In the opening credits of the Japanese version, colorful lasers shoot from different directions, and pop up into strips within which each credit appears in white text. In the English versions, only the sound FX of the lasers are heard (standard text credits were used).

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Connections

Referenced in Godzilla: Unleashed (2007)

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Soundtracks

"Yattsukero Gaigan"
("Beat Gigan")
Music by Kunio Miyauchi
Lyrics by Jun Fukuda
Performed by Susumu Ishikawa & The Toho Kids' Chorus Group
Published by Toho Music Publishing

User Reviews

70s Godzilla-juvenile,cheap,sometimes shoddy,and FUN!

After the interesting but none too successful experiments Godzilla's Revenge and Godzilla Vs Hedorah,Toho made this film,which sometimes feels like an attempt to make a 60s Monster Zero-type film on a fraction of the budget. Obviously,it's not a good film in the traditional sense,but all the 70s Godzilla films,despite their childishness,cheapness,shoddy effects work,samey plots,and 'wacky' ideas {in this one ,Godzilla and his mate Angilas TALK to each other in the non-Japanese version,whilst the Japanese version has speech bubbles instead!}etc,are fun to watch,and Godzilla Vs Gigan is no exception.

The plot is the aliens-out-to-conquer-Earth-by-controlling-monsters one already used in Monster Zero and Destroy All Monsters and it would be used a few more times,but here it is reasonably successful,with some fairly intriguing ideas {though often badly done}and unusual human characters,although their constant in-and-out of the Godzilla Tower,the alien's base,becomes a bit tiresome. When the monsters show up,we have probably the longest battle in a Godzilla film,and one of the funniest,too,as Godzilla and Angilas engage in a tag team duel with the evil Ghidorah and Gigan. Sadly the movie is badly let down by excessive stock footage from previous films {Ghidorah the Three Headed Monster,Monster Zero,Son Of Godzilla,Destroy All Monster and probably a couple of others too!}. At least in Godzilla's Revenge the stock footage had a sort of context,here,it jars with the new footage. The worst bit for this is the lengthy destruction scene,where new,night time footage of a tattered,slow moving Ghidorah who can barely move, is intercut with older,daytime footage of Ghidorah,showing a fast-moving dragon in action.

Somehow all this adds to the film's quirky charm,a sometimes good,occasionally awful,entry in the series. The soundtrack is one of the best,it's all Akira Ifikube stock music,much of it from Godzilla films,but it has many of the great Ifikube tracks and a wonderfully rousing title theme.