Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster.

Review #1226: Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster.

Cast: 
Yosuke Natsuki (Detective Shindo), Yuriko Hoshi (Naoko Shindo), Hiroshi Koizumi (Assistant Professor Murai), Akiko Wakabayashi (Princess Selina Salno of Selgina), Emi and Yumi Ito (Shobijin), Takashi Shimura (Dr. Tsukamoto), Hisaya Ito (Malmess, Chief Assassin), Akihiko Hirata (Chief Detective Okita), Kenji Sahara (Kanamaki), Susumu Kurobe (Assassin), Ikio Sawamura (Fisherman), Haruo Nakajima (Godzilla), Masanori Shinohara (Rodan), and Shoichi Hirose (King Ghidorah) Directed by Ishirō Honda (#167 - Godzilla [1954/1956], #711 - Mothra, #1092 - Gorath, #1224 - King Kong vs. Godzilla, and #1225 - Mothra vs. Godzilla)

Review: 
Well, here we are. Essentially this has become like a Godzilla Week (with one obvious next step to come), although I do intend to cover a different sort of monster movie for June. Hope you folks enjoy film, for which all four monsters showcased here are also happening to be featured in the new Godzilla film.

As one might say, once you find gold (in case, box office dollars), you go off to search for more gold mines (in other words, bigger spectacle pieces) to scrounge around for. For the fifth film in the Godzilla franchise, there would not be just two monsters this time around; four monsters would be featured (Rodan had its own feature film in 1956 by Toho, right in the middle between Godzilla and Mothra's debut), while the big highlight is the introduction of the three-headed King Ghidorah. The monster was based off of Japanese mythology, such as the tale of Yamata no Orochi, which had featured an eight-headed (and eight-tailed) dragon. Eiji Tsuburaya's design for Ghidorah was modified to have just three heads. If operating the Godzilla costume seems grueling, the costume for King Ghidorah was not much better, owing to the fact that Hirose spent hours being hunched over in a costume with only a crossbar for support, while numerous men in rafters helped worked plastic wires for the neck, tails and wings - which would get stuck together on occasion.

The cast handle their responsibilities with enough conviction to go around; they aren't necessarily aiming to win awards as much as they are playing with familiar kinds of roles (after all, half of these actors have been in other Toho sci-fi films). Highlights in the cast include Natsuki and Hoshi, giving off light charm and rolling with the plot just as normally. Wakabayashi, cast as someone believing themselves to be from Venus (like that famous book, only 30 years early) shines just as well, reserved yet capable at letting this role seem more than a offbeat standout. As per the course, there's plenty of oddball sci-fi/fantasy meshes to go along with the monster mashing, and the human story doesn't tread too much water. I do appreciate the effort to push a bit of an message regarding the Earth and trying to help the planet one lives on, even if it's regarding a giant monster. In general, the series was soon shifting towards having Godzilla be more of a defender of the Earth than a simple towering beast over all, which reflects the lighter tone undergone. The fight between Godzilla and Rodan (turning up just before the hour mark) is a bit amusing, what with a giant flying reptile facing off against Godzilla with one move involving him dropping Godzilla into an electrical tower while they also flail their arms about and bash rocks against each other like volleyball (resolved of course by Mothra spraying the two of them with some pollen). Highlight two involves the monsters speaking...through the translation of the fairy guardians. If one has accepted tiny twin guardians of a giant moth creature by this point, one could probably accept (or expect) anything, so having someone claiming to be from Venus show up is quite a curve-ball. The designs for the creatures are fairly well done, with King Ghidorah looking like a suitable beastly threat with a nice golden polish (changed from suggested ideas of green or red) to go along with it.

Despite the rush to make sure that this film was released on the heels of a film released only eight months prior, it does seem that Honda and his crew (which was the same from the previous film with regards to direction, writing, music, effects, producer) have managed to do good craftsmanship once again with making a workable monster movie. It is a neat grand mess of ideas that I find to be quite wonderfully amusing to go along with. It works as a fine-tuning of the monster mash formula for the series while also having plenty of charm to go alongside a capably consistent feature well worth checking out.

Next Review: Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019).

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.

King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962).

Review #1224: King Kong vs. Godzilla. 

Cast:  

Tadao Takashima (Osamu Sakurai), Kenji Sahara (Kazuo Fujita), Yū Fujiki (Kinsaburo Furue), Ichirō Arishima (Mr. Tako), Mie Hama (Fumiko Sakurai), Jun Tazaki (General Masami Shinzo), Akiko Wakabayashi (Tamie), Akihiko Hirata (Shigesawa, Doctor), Somesho Matsumoto (Onuki, Doctor), Akemi Negishi (Chikiro's Mother, Faro Island Native), with Shoichi Hirose (King Kong) and Haruo Nakajima (Godzilla) Directed by Ishirō Honda (#167 - Godzilla [1954/1956], #711 - Mothra, #1092 - Gorath)

Review: 
I suppose if there is any Godzilla film that gets mentioned quite a bit by monster moviegoers, it would be this one - after all, it remains the highest attended film of the franchise in Japan, having sold 11.2 million tickets on original release, with release in other countries (such as America) to follow. It is the third film of the franchise, released seven years after Godzilla Raids Again. The genesis for the film took place over a span of two years, evolving from the original proposition from effects animator Willis O'Brien (known from his work on King Kong) that he dubbed King Kong meets Frankenstein, for which a big fight between Kong and a giant Frankenstein would occur in San Francisco, with a script eventually being fleshed out by a writer named George Worthing Yates. Attempts to ship the idea to other studios did not pan out well in part because of the intent to do the film effects in stop-motion (deemed too costly), but Toho eventually acquired interest in the idea of making a film with King Kong, albeit through replacing Frankenstein with Godzilla to be released in 1962, Toho's 30th anniversary as a company. Honda returned as director alongside Eiji Tsuburaya directing the special effects, with a new writer in Shinichi Sekizawa; this is contrast to the first two films - the first film had a screenplay from Takeo Murata and Honda with a story from Shigeru Kayama, while the second film had Murata and Shigeaki Hidaka do the screenplay with Kayama as story writer. With this new writer came a light shift in tone. This shift also applied to the action with the monsters, such as when the two monsters volley a boulder back and forth. Nearly half the budget (roughly $200,000) dealt with paying RKO Pictures for the rights to King Kong. The film takes its time in setting the stage for its two monsters with its plot of the humans, for which Honda intended to be a satire on the Japanese TV industry. After all, there is quite a bit of humor on the attempts to drive up ratings (for a pharmaceutical company sponsoring TV programs). In that sense, it comes off as a bit silly, but at least it gives you a glimpse at what is to come without having a complete tonal shift when the monsters show up, with it being half an hour before either Kong or Godzilla show up, and the former monster has more to do with the plot for the opening hour before the latter monster makes more of an appearance. In that regard, the acting is just fine, playing itself a bit tongue-in-cheek with a bit of energy to try and make sure things aren't being wobbily held before its key players come in to show their hand. Arishima is the key highlight in giving off a bit of amusement amongst a minimal but passable story.

It does have some of the beats from the original King Kong, such as a trip to a mysterious island with natives that holds Kong defending them against other monsters (in this case, octopuses) along with bringing him back for publicity sake, and he even takes a girl with him while climbing up a giant building. I do applaud the look given to Godzilla, which certainly looks wonderful for his first foray in color. King Kong doesn't come off as well, mostly because the face looks a bit closed in, and the fur does seem a bit too distracting when wondering what kind of fur carpet they cut it from. Admittedly, it proves pretty amusing when it actually builds up to the two monsters meeting for their big final battle in the 85 minute mark, what with Kong being transported there by a stack of big balloons while asleep (the less said, the better). I applaud the idea to try and freshen up the films by going for a bit lighter fare, even if it does come at the cost of the characters; it certainly sticks out in the evolution of these films from films about a radioactive monster that attacks Japan to one involving a monster that encounters other particular monsters in a mashup, which is quite enjoyable to look at. The American edit that followed included removal and re-cutting of certain scenes, making the action seem like it was from a newscast, while utilizing music from older movies (a good deal of them from monster movies) that was shot for three days and $15,500 that was eventually distributed by Universal-International in American theaters in 1963. The versions differed only slightly in the climatic battle, with the edit including footage from The Mysterians (1957) to make a earthquake sequence seem more destructive, slight differences in dialogue regarding speculation over Godzilla surviving or not, and hearing only Kong's roar in the end. The success of this film prompted Toho to propose a sequel (which would've been called Continuation: King Kong vs. Godzilla), but the project did not come to fruition (they did however help co-produce King Kong Escapes in 1967, based off an animated series that Rankin/Bass had done earlier in the decade). They also had ideas about pitting Godzilla versus Frankenstein's monster, but this was scrapped instead in favor of pitting the monster against a familiar creature in Mothra, which was released two years later. Over a half century later, there will finally be a matchup of Godzilla and Kong, this time by Legendary Pictures. One would expect they will come up with a servicable story that isn't just repeating the same beats like other certain studios - at least monster movies inspire plenty of imagination. In any case, this is a fairly entertaining spectacle piece, having light fun with its big mashup between people in rubber suits that appeals well to both adults and kids alike, whether having popcorn at hand or not.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.

Movie Night: You Only Live Twice.

Review #354: You Only Live Twice.

Cast
Sean Connery (James Bond), Akiko Wakabayashi (Aki), Mie Hama (Kissy Suzuki), Donald Pleasence (Ernst Stavro Blofeld), Tetsurō Tamba (Tiger Tanaka), Teru Shimada (Mr. Osato), Karin Dor (Helga Brandt), Bernard Lee (M), Charles Gray (Dikko Henderson), Burt Kwouk (Spectre 3), Lois Maxwell (Miss Moneypenny), Desmond Llewelyn (Q), and Ronald Rich (Hans) Directed by Lewis Gilbert (#292 - The Spy Who Loved Me and #338 - Moonraker)

Review
This was the fifth James Bond film, two years after Thunderball, and Sean Connery's first "retirement" from the role. I already talked about Diamonds Are Forever and how it failed to give Connery a proper swan song. But is this film any better nonetheless? Sort of. Connery is improved from Thunderball, and the action and setting do indeed work compared to the last one, especially the scenery. The plot is strange-ish, I don't know what it is, maybe it's the rockets that get swallowed or something. It baffles me if that makes any sense. Then there's our leading ladies, which...are all right. Wakabayashi does a fine job, being memorable enough. Hama is okay; she's not a bad Bond girl, but she's also not entirely memorable. It is admirable that the film has some culture, with the setting being good for a Bond film. Then there's Donald Pleasence as Blofeld, a villain that had been built up in the previous films, where we see his face. And...it is creepy, but I don't know how you could've revealed him without someone being disappointed. He doesn't get much to do, but I suppose it makes sense, its about Bond, not the villain. Pleasence does okay, but I find myself to prefer Telly Savalas' portrayal in the next film. The film does have its merits, though it sets the beginnings for the silly aspects of the next few films (thankfully not with OHMSS), which may or may not be a good thing. This probably would've been a good end for Connery's Bond, but oh no, it wasn't. But oh well.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.