Destroy All Monsters (1968)

Female aliens take control of Earth's monsters and begin using them to destroy the human race.

Director:

Ishirô Honda

Writers:

Ishirô Honda, Takeshi Kimura (as Kaoru Mabuchi)

Stars:

Akira Kubo, Jun Tazaki, Yukiko Kobayashi

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Akira Kubo	...	SY-3 Captain Katsuo Yamabe
Jun Tazaki	...	Dr. Yoshido
Yukiko Kobayashi	...	Kyoko Manabe
Yoshio Tsuchiya	...	Dr. Otani
Kyôko Ai	...	Kilaak Queen
Andrew Hughes	...	Dr. Stevenson
Chôtarô Tôgin	...	Ogata
Yoshifumi Tajima	...	General
Kenji Sahara	...	Commander Nishikawa
Hisaya Itô	...	Major Tada
Yoshio Katsuda	...	Young Scientist
Heihachirô Ôkawa	...	Engineer (as Henry Okawa)
Ikio Sawamura	...	Old Farmer
Yutaka Sada	...	Police Officer
Hiroshi Okada	...	Doctor at hospital

Storyline

Aliens have released all the giant monsters from their imprisonment on Monster Land and are using them to destroy all major cities on the planet. It is up to the daring crew of the super rocket ship X-2 to infiltrate the aliens' headquarters before the Earth monsters and King Ghidrah annihilate the planet.

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Plot Keywords:

godzilla | kaiju | tokusatsu | giant monster | monster | 

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Taglines:

Monsters of mass destruction.

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Genres:

Action | Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Certificate:

G

Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

23 May 1969 (USA)

Also Known As:

Destroy All Monsters

Box Office

Budget:

JPY 200,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Toho Company

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.55 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Destroy All Monsters brought Ishirô Honda back as director and Akira Ifukube as the musical composer for the first time in three years. The previous two Godzilla movies, Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster, and Son of Godzilla, were directed by Jun Fukuda, while the score was composed by Masaru Sato. During this time period, producer Tomoyuki Tanaka wanted to see if another team was capable of directing kaiju movies. The installment after Destroy All Monsters, Godzilla's Revenge, would be Honda's last time directing the series until its last entry, Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975).

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Goofs

The strings holding up Ghidorah's necks can be seen in a couple of shots.

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Quotes

General: I didn't think Tokyo would escape this terror, but Rodan, Godzilla and Manda are all here at the same time.
Major Tada: That's correct. New York, London, Moscow - they were all very unlucky.
Announcer: Emergency! Emergency! Mothra is now in District Number 5.

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Crazy Credits

In Toho's international version, their English language credits list special effect director Sademasa Arikawa as "Sanemasa Arikawa."

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Alternate Versions

The English version released by American International Pictures in 1969 is entirely different than Toho's export version. AIP contracted with New York's Titan Productions (previously known as Titra Sound Studios) to loop the English dialogue. Among the dubbing personnel for this version were Hal Linden and Bret Morrison. This dialogue track was included by Media Blasters in its 2011 DVD and Blu-Ray release of "Destroy All Monsters," however, newer printings feature only Toho's Japanese and English soundtracks. AIP was also responsible for several small edits to the film. In the Japanese and international versions, a sign establishing the UN Defense Center can be seen in the rubble of Tokyo. Instead of translating this sign, AIP's editors removed it altogether. Additionally, AIP deleted two shots of Minilla's antics during the climactic monster showdown. AIP also relocated the credits to the end of the picture.

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Connections

Followed by Godzilla Against MechaGodzilla (2002)

User Reviews

Simply tremendous fun,possibly the essential Japanese monster movie

Destroy All Monsters is one of the most sheerly entertaining Godzilla movies. The story,if derivative of Monster Zero,is large-scale and exciting {although the alien invasion idea would soon be done to death},the action is non-stop and the film features almost all the monsters from Toho films made up to that time. There is mass destruction,lazer gun shoot-outs,lots of barmy but cool ideas such as Monster Island,a place where all Earth's monsters are kept by scientists-how can the movie not be terrific entertainment?

There are a few flaws with the film which may not have been present if the Toho of 1964 had made it rather than the Toho of 1968. Although the story has the entire world threatened and several of Earth's cities destroyed,the budget did obviously not extend to allowing much of a depiction of this,bar some brief,unconvincing scenes. Also,a few of the monsters are only briefly shown,such as Varan {The Unbelievable},who appears only in two blink-and -you're-miss-them shots {the suit had been ruined and there was not enough money to buy a new one}. The film may therefore have actually been better with less monsters. However,criticisms of dullness are ridiculous,the film is constant action,which makes up for the lack of interesting human characters,and amazingly,the film is taken more seriously than many of the other Godzilla films,almost achieving the perfection of tone of Godzilla Vs Mothra. Of course,there are a few wonderfully stupid moments,like the sequence of our heroes severing a control device with a lazer which helariously goes on for ages. A shame the final Earth monsters vs Ghidorah fight is too short,but than Ghidorah did not really stand a chance!

Terrific fun,though,with a wonderful Akira Ifikube score featuring two of the most memorable kaiju themes! Not the best Godzilla film,but probably the most essential one to see!