Destroy All Monsters (1968)

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

Directors:

Ishirô Honda, Jun Fukuda (uncredited)

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 Katsube	...	Young Scientist (as Yoshio Katsuda)
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:

kaiju | tokusatsu | giant monster | psychotronic film | godzilla character | 

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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

Did You Know?

Trivia

Toho decided to include monsters that have not been seen in a while, along with some of their other monsters whose movies were not connected to the Godzilla series. Anguirus had made his first appearance since Godzilla Raids Again (1955), Baragon was last seen in Frankenstein vs. Baragon (1965), Gorosaurus starred in King Kong Escapes (1967), Manda was in Atragon (1963), and Varan starred in Varan the Unbelievable (1958).

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Goofs

It is evident that the monsters are small puppets in shots that show them from afar, since they barely move and some look a tad different from the suits used in the rest of the shots. In the movie's second-to-last shot in particular, the Minilla puppet is stuck with its mouth agape.

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Quotes

News Reader: The major cities of the world are being destroyed, one-by-one by the monsters: Moscow by Rodan, Peking by Mothra, London by Manda, Paris by Baragon. And, here's a special news bulletin. Godzilla is now in New York City. The city is being invaded by Godzilla!

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Crazy Credits

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

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Alternate Versions

A Toho Video documentary released in the 1980s contained several unused and deleted takes from this film. The majority of this footage consists of alternate takes of finished scenes, such as the raids on Moscow and Paris by Rodan and Gorosaurus (respectively). Toho also filmed much more footage of the UN's defense of Tokyo, including a number of shots of missile launchers being deployed from the roofs of skyscrapers. The most notable unused shot in this feature has Godzilla thrashing the monster Manda against several Tokyo buildings. According to Haruo Nakajima, this was an impromptu act at the end of a take. This was likely removed from the finished film as both monsters were under Kilaak control and shouldn't have been fighting.

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Connections

Featured in Cinemacabre TV Trailers (1993)

User Reviews

back to basics

Aka Destroy All Monsters. It's the end of the century. UNSC is launching daily missions to the moon base. All the monsters are safely contained on an island until an accident in containment allows them to escape across the globe. It is revealed that it's aliens again.

The franchise goes back to the basics. There is no more silly comedy. It's a sci-fi monster movie. The major drawback is that the monsters initially get scattered. It's not until much later when they are drawn into a giant battle royale. I like the earlier alien designs. This is nothing more than a dress. Overall, the story is a bit muddled with the monsters going back and forth with the rooting interest. It is nice to get the franchise back to its roots.

Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

23 May 1969 (USA)

Also Known As:

Destroy All Monsters

Box Office

Budget:

JPY200,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Toho Company

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1