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

Director:

Jun Fukuda

Writers:

Takeshi Kimura (story)
Shin'ichi Sekizawa

Release Date:

August 1977 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Horror | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Space Monsters War With Godzilla For The Earth!

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

Godzilla | Gigan | Alien | Monster | Buzzsaw

Cast

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
Haruo Nakajima	...	Gojira / Background Comic Editor / JSDF Officer
Kenpachiro Satsuma	...	Gaigan (as Kengo Nakayama)
Koetsu Omiya	...	Angirasu / Laser Radar Operator
Kanta Ina	...	Kingugidora

Directed by
Jun Fukuda

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Takeshi Kimura		story "Gojira tai Uchu Kaijû"
Shin'ichi Sekizawa

Produced by
Tomoyuki Tanaka	....	producer

Cinematography by
Kiyoshi Hasegawa

Film Editing by
Yoshio Tamura

Production Design by
Yoshifumi Honda

Production Management
Takahide Morichi	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Fumisake Okada	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Fumio Yanoguchi	....	sound recordist

Special Effects by
Toshiro Aoki	....	special effects sets
Saburo Doi	....	mat processing
Yasuyuki Inoue	....	special effects art director
Fumio Nakadai	....	operations
Teruyoshi Nakano	....	director of special effects
Takesaburo Watanabe	....	mechanical effects

Visual Effects by
Fumio Nakadai	....	miniature set operation
Yoshiyuki Tokumasa	....	optical photography
Yoshiyuki Tokumasa	....	optical printing (as Toshiyuki Tokusawa)
Sokei Tomioka	....	special effects cameraman

Stunts
Haruo Nakajima	....	stunt choreographer

Camera and Electrical Department
Kojiro Sato	....	lighting technician

Music Department
Akira Ifukube	....	composer: stock music

Production Companies

• Toho Company
• Toho Eizo Co.

Distributors

• Cinema Shares International Distribution (1976) (USA) (theatrical)
• Downtown Distribution Company Inc. (1977) (USA) (theatrical) (dubbed)
• Astral Films (1978) (Canada) (theatrical) (as "Godzilla on Monster Island") (dubbed)
• Anchor Bay Entertainment (1995) (USA) (VHS)
• HGV Video Productions (1997) (Canada) (VHS) (as "Godzilla vs. Gigan")
• Madman Entertainment (2006) (Australia) (DVD) (as "Godzilla vs. Gigan")
• Nihon Eiga Satellite Broadcasting (2008) (Japan) (TV)
• Astral Video (Canada) (VHS) (as "Godzilla on Monster Island")
• Columbia TriStar Home Video
• Image Entertainment (USA) (laserdisc)
• Kuk Dong
• Sinister Cinema (1995) (USA) (VHS)

Other Companies

• Toho Studios  sound stages

Also Known As:

"Chikyû kogeki meirei: Gojira tai Gaigan" - Japan (original title)
"Godzilla on Monster Island" - USA

MPAA:

Rated PG for sci-fi monster violence and some language

Runtime:

89 min | Germany:80 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:PG | UK:PG | West Germany:12 (nf) | USA:PG | USA:G (original rating)

Company:

Toho Company

Trivia:

This was Haruo Nakajima's final role as Godzilla before retiring from the role.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: It is painfully obvious that in the shots which show Gidorah and Gigan flying, they are stiff dummies. In scenes that take place on the ground, both move around quite a lot, and Gidorah is always seen swinging his three heads about, so the flying scenes stand out like a sore thumb.

Quotes:

Tomoko Tomoe:[after giving Gengo a new job location] Now what's the matter?
Gengo Kotaka:[mutters] You're hard, bitch.
Tomoko Tomoe:What was that? Can you please say that again?
Gengo Kotaka:Oh no I won't. Not with you being a black belt in karate.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Godzilla: Final Wars (2004)

Soundtrack:

Yuke! Yuke! Gojira

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.