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.
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.
