King Kong Escapes (1967)

This is a King Kong film that, for years, I only knew existed because of the Crestwood House monster book on the character that I often read as a kid. I never, ever saw it on TV or on video anywhere, and believe me, I looked for it, but I always knew that it was a real thing. The passage on it in that book was very brief but the description of the story really intrigued my young mind. King Kong is captured by an evil scientist, hypnotized to do his bidding, and in the end, fights a robot version of himself? Who wouldn't want to see that?! But, for a long time, all I knew of the movie was that brief plot synopsis, an image in that book of Kong being airlifted to a ship by helicopters, and, thanks to the Godzilla Compendium, which I got in 1998, the fact that the dinosaur Gorosaurus, which was featured in the movie, Destroy All Monsters, originated from it as an opponent for Kong, which was also how I learned that the movie was produced by Toho. It wasn't until I got the internet around the millennium and began looking up all sorts of movies, mostly on IMDB, that I learned more about it and what I saw and read made me think, "Man, this movie sounds pretty bad." This was when I was going through a bit of a snobbish period in regards to the Japanese monster movies that I'd watched a lot as a kid and a brief glimpse of this film that I caught on Sci-Fi Channel one early afternoon didn't help matters. But, it was when I saw clips of it during an episode of an Animal Planet mini-series called Animal Icons that focused on King Kong, which premiered to coincide with the release of the Peter Jackson movie in 2005, that I saw a good number of clips from it, mainly focusing on Kong's climactic fight with Mechani-Kong, and I thought, "That looks really bad," and I felt the same way when I later read up on it in Ray Morton's book, King Kong: The History of a Movie Icon. I didn't see the entire movie until the very end of 2007, when I watched the DVD, which I'd gotten for Christmas, and by that time, I'd gotten back into kaiju movies with a newfound appreciation and respect for them, so I went into it a little more open-minded than I may have been a few years before. Upon watching it, I felt that it was fine for what it was but I didn't think it was one of Toho's best monster movies and I still don't feel that way. I've also since gotten a copy of the original Japanese version which, at this time, is not officially available in the United States, and after looking at it as well, I've concluded that King Kong Escapes is a fairly middle-of-the-road kaiju flick. If you can put yourself into the proper mindset that's often required for watching these movies, it does have some entertainment value, but it also has its fair share of genuine flaws and can hardly be called a complexly structured and themed movie, at the end of the day.

While on a mission for the United Nations in the Java Sea, scientist Carl Nelson, commander of the submarine Explore, and his friend and second in-command, Lt. Commander Jiro Nomura, tell the ship's nurse, Susan Watson, of their research regarding the legendary giant ape, Kong, who's believed to actually exist on nearby Mondo Island. While Susan is intrigued, and as much as Nelson would love to, they have no time to travel to the island. At the North Pole, Dr. Who, a brilliant but twisted scientist and criminal mastermind, has used designs of Kong's physique that Nelson once drew up to build a mechanical doubt, which he's dubbed Mechani-Kong. He intends to use the robot to dig out large quantities of Element X, an extremely radioactive substance, so a foreign government backing him can use it for world domination. But, when they attempt it, Element X's radioactivity causes Mechani-Kong to malfunction and shut down, which almost prompts the female agent working for the government behind Who to pull his funding. He's able to persuade her to reconsider but she warns him that this next chance will also be his last. Back in the Java Sea, the Explorer is damaged by an underwater rockslide and is forced to surface near Mondo Island for repairs. Nelson decides to take advantage of the situation and explore the island, along with Nomura and Susan. When they arrive, they're warned by a lone native that they must not enter Kong's home. Nelson and Nomura decide to track the man down so they can talk to him, and Susan is left alone. She's menaced by a large, carnivorous dinosaur and her screams awaken and attract Kong, who takes an instant liking to her. He then engages in a fierce battle with the creature, while Susan watches from nearby, and afterward, she, Nelson, and Nomura attempt to escape back to the sub. Kong follows them into the water and reaches the Explorer, which is still too damaged for them to escape. In an attempt to by them some time, Susan climbs out onto the conning tower and calms Kong down, as well as, after some difficulty, persuades him to go back to the island and allow her to leave on the sub once the rudder is fixed. The Explorer travels straight to the UN, where Nelson announces the discovery of Kong to the world and also plans to return to the island in order to study the ape in his natural habitat. When Dr. Who hears of his announcement, however, he tells the foreign nation's female representative of a new plan to use Kong himself to dig out the Element X. He and his men manage to capture Kong using ether bombs and whisk him away back to the North Pole, not too long before Nelson and his research party arrive. Nelson learns from the native, who was mortally wounded, of what happened and believes it to be Who, whom he knows. At his base, Who tries to use hypnosis to make Kong dig out the Element X but, when the hypnosis wears off due to the radioactivity, the mad scientist decides to make use of Nelson, Nomura, and Susan's influence with Kong after they're taken prisoner by his men. Who is prepared to use any means necessary to get them cooperate. They must now try to escape and save Kong from Who's clutches.

Following that long and bizarre plot synopsis, you may wonder how in God's name did this movie come about? Well, the story behind it is just as fascinating as how Willis O'Brien's proposed King Kong vs. Frankenstein film ended up becoming King Kong vs. Godzilla (see my review of that film to learn more). According to Ray Morton, after that movie became an enormous hit in Japan and the highest-grossing entry in the Godzilla franchise, Toho was eager to do a series of King Kong movies and came up with a story for a proposed first film called King Kong vs. Ebirah but, after they'd gone through the trouble of making a new Kong set and building a miniature set, RKO General ground production to a halt when they refused to allow Toho to do such a series. In order to recoup their losses for what they'd already built and designed, Toho asked RKO if they could at least make a one-off movie, with they allowed... but they couldn't use the King Kong vs. Ebirah script, which they didn't like at all (Toho would eventually produce that script but put Godzilla in place of Kong, leading to the creation of the movie, Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster). Instead, RKO made them use a script written by William J. Keenan that was a loose feature adaptation of The King Kong Show, a 1960's cartoon show produced by Rankin/Bass and something I never knew existed until I saw it mentioned on that Animal Icons show. What's more, RKO sent Arthur Rankin himself to Japan in order to supervise the production and act as their representative. So, in other words, this is one instance where a lot of the weirdness and nuttiness of the final product can't be blamed solely on Toho, as their hands were tied and the only change made to the script was that it was translated into Japanese by writer Takeshi Kimura (who used the pseudonym, Kaoru Mabuchi, and with his dark and overly serious personality, must've absolutely hated the task).

As with most of Toho's science fiction and monster movies of the period, King Kong Escapes was helmed by Ishiro Honda, another person whose reaction to having to work on this movie is one I can't begin to fathom. If you've read my Godzilla reviews, you'd know that Honda never liked it when a monster was made a figure of fun, and while King Kong himself is not characterized here as being overly silly (save for the way he looks) and does nothing all that goofy, some of the other stuff in this movie and the story especially is so silly and cornball that I can't imagine what his reaction must've been when he read the script. Honda handles this material as well as he could under the given circumstances but this is most definitely one of the most juvenile and childish entries in his filmography, as other films he made around this time with very over-the-top concepts and outlandish stories, like Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, Godzilla vs. Monster Zero, and Destroy All Monsters, play it much straighter and, if I may say, with a little more sophistication. At this point, Honda's directing career was slowly winding down and this would prove to be one of his last movies. After this he went on to direct Destroy All Monsters, the notorious Godzilla's Revenge aka All Monsters Attack (which may top this movie in terms of its childish feel), Latitude Zero, Space Amoeba, and finally, Terror of Mechagodzilla. After that, he retired from directing and went back to assisting his friend Akira Kurosawa on his films, which was how he first broke into filmmaking, before he died of respiratory failure in 1993 at the age of 81.

It's very obvious that this film is a feature-length version of a TV show that was meant for children, because most of the characters are as two-dimensional as you can get, especially the three leads. Carl Nelson (Rhodes Reason) is your typical goody-two-shoes scientist, whose interest in Kong appears to be little more than a hobby, one that he only gets to pursue through circumstance, and when he discovers that the giant ape does he exist, he's eager to tell the world because of the sensation he knows it'll cause. Once he does, he decides to go back to Mondo Island, not to capture Kong but simply to observe him in his natural habitat since, as he says, it would be hard to handle him in New York City (ha, ha). He somehow knows Dr. Who and quickly figures that he's the one who took Kong away from the island and killed the lone native there. When he and his friends are captured by Who, Nelson resists all of the mad scientist and Madame Piranha's attempts to make him cooperate with them, including when the latter tries to seduce him by offering him his pick of any country he could want. He even resists when Who tries to freeze his friends to death, trying to make him understand that Kong would more likely listen to them, and after all three of them manage to escape when Who pursues Kong to Tokyo, he successfully talks the military out of attacking him so they'll have a chance to calm him. As bland as he is, Nelson is actually the more interesting of three because of his ties to Who and because he feels more active in the story. Akira Takarada, on the other hand, has very little to do as Nelson's friend and second-in-command on the Explorer, Jiro Nomura. Other than his similar interest in Kong and his apparent romantic interest in Susan, he's little more than a bland, handsome leading man but even then, he does get to do much. In fact, the only significant thing he does that I can think of is when he gets Susan off of Tokyo Tower, where she's caught up in the battle between Kong and Mechani-Kong at the end. I was about to say that he saves Susan when the two of them are being tortured by Dr. Who but then I realized that Kong's rampage is what inadvertently led to them being freed! And as for Susan (Linda Miller), who is named after a character from the cartoon, unlike the other two, I'll just say that, despite my indifference towards her, Fay Wray's Ann Darrow was far more memorable. All I remember about Susan is that Kong often picks her up and she constantly yells his name; other than that and the fact that she says she thinks gorillas are boring at the beginning of the movie(?!), she's nothing more than an airhead, damsel in distress who needs to be saved constantly, either by Kong or the two leading men, and her affinity for the ape comes out of nowhere.

By far, the best human character in the film is the villain, Dr. Who (Eisei Amamoto), who was also a bad guy on the cartoon (his name is written as "Huu" in the subtitles for the Japanese version but I'll just keep spelling it as "Who"; my advanced apologies to any fans of a certain TV show who may be reading). He may be a two-dimensional, moustache-twirling villain, but God, is he fun to watch! First of all, you just got to love how he's always dressed in black and is often wearing that Dracula-like cape (he even looks like he has fangs in some shots!) Beyond that, he's just wonderfully dastardly, supremely confident in his genius, often laughing evilly, and believes that no setbacks will stop him from helping the government backing him to take over the world with a weaponized batch of Element X. Rather than being worried when he hears that the United Nations suspects him of taking Kong, he revels in the attention given to him. He's also pretty shrewd and ruthless in getting his way, telling Madame Piranha when she tries to pull his funding after Mechani-Kong fails to get the Element X that any country will pay for the weapon if she doesn't and that her country has invested too much to pull out now, and attempting to persuade Carl Nelson, whom he's met before (apparently, they were once friendly enough to play chess with each other), into getting Kong to do what he wants by slowly freezing his friends to death. Exactly what he'll get out of the country backing him taking over the world is unclear, as Madame Piranha tells Nelson that Who is content with having the North Pole as his base. Maybe he wants the even bigger attention it'll get him and the recognition of his genius, the opportunity to use Mechani-Kong against the world, or he just wants to see modern society fall. Whatever it is, there's no limit to what he'll do to obtain it, including killing anyone who gets in his way, as he does the lone human inhabitant of Mondo Island and even Madame Piranha when she tries to stop him from causing an international incident if Kong and Mechani-Kong battle in the middle of Tokyo. Dr. Who is prone to rather brutally shooting people repeatedly but also devises some pretty nasty ways to torture others into cooperation, such as attempting to freeze Nomura and Susan to death and even trying to press the latter's face into the completely frozen wall, and can even deliver some well-placed karate chops should the need arise. However, once Mechani-Kong is destroyed, Dr. Who decides he's had enough of giant apes and tries to escape, only for Kong to completely destroy his ship and kill him in the process.

If you're wondering who Madame Piranha (Mie Hama) is, she's the representative of the unnamed country backing Dr. Who. She's never given a name in the actual movie but, for the sake of this review, I have to call her something other than "the female representative" or "the female agent" while talking about her, so I'll just go by what her name supposedly is. Whatever her name, Madame Piranha is the one character in this film who has some complexity to her. For most of the film, she's supervising Dr. Who's operation for her country but she doesn't have much faith in his ability to dig up the Element X, constantly making jabs at him when he's boasting about how brilliant he is and how Mechani-Kong, which she sees as nothing more than an overgrown toy, will not fail. When the robot malfunctions as a result of the radioactivity, she almost leaves the North Pole and takes Who's funding with her, although he persuades her to give him another chance, one which she insists will be his last and that her government will kill him if he fails again. She doesn't have much more confidence in his ability to control Kong after he's captured, feeling that he'd be better off using the influence that Carl Nelson and his friends have with the big ape, and when the hypnosis method fails, Madame Piranha is clearly quite frustrated by the whole thing. Fortunately, Who's henchmen pick Nelson, Susan, and Nomura up while on their way to Tokyo and when they, as expected, refuse to help the mad doctor, Madame Piranha tries to seduce Nelson into cooperating by promising him any country he could possibly want once her government has control of the world. That fails, and when Dr. Who makes it known that he plans to pursue Kong to Tokyo after he escapes the North Pole base and use Mechani-Kong to recapture him, Madame Piranha attempts to stop him, citing all of the people who would die in the process. As Who himself points out, this sudden understanding of the value of human life clashes greatly with her desire to weaponized her country with something as deadly as Element X but she clarifies that she's concerned about the international incident that would result from the battle (i.e., the threat to her own country should a connection to it be discovered). When Who refuses to back down, Madame Piranha releases Nelson, Susan, and Nomura from captivity, telling them that they must stop the oncoming disaster and tells them of her own country, saying that it's not a place to be proud of and she wanted to make it better by giving it more power. Not the smartest reasoning but at least she has something behind what she's been doing. When they're unable to prevent the battle between the two monsters, Madame Piranha attempts to stop Who herself but is eventually shot to death by him in the process.

If you've watched a lot of Toho science fiction and monster movies, then you should be familiar with some of the actors playing Dr. Who's henchmen. Chief among them is Yoshifumi Tajima, who often played bit parts or small supporting roles, with his most notable role being the crooked businessman Kumayama in Mothra vs. Godzilla. Another familiar face is Sachio Sakai, who played the news reporter Hagiwara in the original Godzilla and would go on to play one of the bank robbers who kidnaps little Ichiro in Godzilla's Revenge. What's more, Kazuo Suzuki, who played the other bank robber in that film, is also here (he always sticks out to me the most as one of the alien henchmen who was dubbed with an over-the-top German accent in Terror of Mechagodzilla). Most interesting of all the henchmen is Shoichi Hirose, a former suit actor who was so renowned for his strength that his nickname was "Solomon" and who actually played King Kong in King Kong vs. Godzilla, as well as Ghidorah in Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster and Godzilla vs. Monster Zero. Finally, I have to mention the lone human inhabitant of Mondo Island (Ikio Sawamura), who has basically the same role as the village chief in the original King Kong, warning Nelson, Susan, and Nomura to leave the island as soon as they show up. His exact tie to Kong is never made clear but he obviously worships him as a god and feels that trespassers in his domain is tantamount to sacrilege. He makes the fatal mistake of trying to stop Dr. Who from taking Kong away, resulting in him getting fatally shot, but he's able to tell Nelson and the others what happened before he dies. My favorite thing about him is how he describes Who as "an oriental skeleton" with "eyes like a gutter rat," which is what appears to tip Nelson off that it was him.

In the Japanese version, there's an odd thing going on with dialects and nationalities. In Japanese movies, American and other English-speaking actors who appear in either bit parts or small supporting roles are typically left with their original dialogue intact, accompanied by Japanese subtitles; when they play major roles, however, as is the case here with Rhodes Reason and Linda Miller, they're dubbed into Japanese. Not only does it make sense practically to do that but, since these films are often set entirely in Japan, you'd expect everyone to be speaking Japanese, particularly if there's only one Western actor amongst all of the Asians. King Kong Escapes, however, is different in that only the third act takes place in Japan, whereas we spend the rest of the time in the Java Sea, the North Pole, and a small scene at the United Nations in New York. What's more, we have two Americans rather than just one, and yet they're always speaking Japanese, even when it's just Nelson and Susan talking to each other. You could argue that they do it simply for Nomura's sake, and, thinking about it, Nomura is almost never away from her side, save when she's with Kong, but that doesn't explain the scene at the United Nations, where everyone is speaking Japanese even though Nomura and Madame Piranha are the only Asians there. Obviously, it's a case of turnabout, since we don't question why everyone's speaking English, despite being from a foreign country, in an English dubbed version of a movie from somewhere else, but I can't help but find that scene at the United Nations to be really weird to watch.

And as for what I meant about nationalities in this movie, you have a lot of actors who are Japanese, are speaking Japanese and yet, they're said to be from somewhere else. Madame Piranha is the most obvious example, seeing as how she's clearly Japanese and yet, is from some other country whose identity is never revealed (given how Dr. Who says that all of Carl Nelson's guesses are wrong, my money is on her being from North Korea, given what she later says about her country's unenviable state). Even more baffling to me than that, though, is when Nomura tells Nelson and Susan that Who's henchmen are not Japanese when they first pick them up. Well, then, what are they? That's my question. And does that mean Who himself isn't Japanese, as I originally thought he was? He's obviously not from Madame Piranha's country, given how he talks about it, and so, all we know about his origins is that he's most definitely Oriental and, according to Nelson, an international Judas. Of course, Toho has done weirder things in regards to national identity, particularly in Frankenstein Conquers the World where they tried to pass the odd-looking boy who turns out to be the Frankenstein monster off as Caucasian when he's obviously Japanese; at least these characters are said to be Asian!

In reading his own personal viewpoints on both King Kong vs. Godzilla and this film, it's clear to me that, as well-informed and knowledgeable as he is about King Kong, Ray Morton isn't used to Japanese kaiju films and how strange they tend to get. It's hard for me to put myself in his shoes, as since I've been watching these types of movies from as far back as I can remember, I'm just kind of used to the craziness, but I can definitely imagine how bizarre of a movie King Kong Escapes would appear to someone not used to the genre. As Morton writes in his book, the movie is a hybrid of several different types of genres besides giant monster flicks. Given that it's ostensibly a live-action, feature adaptation of a Saturday morning kids show, the film has a vibe of simple-minded comic books and adventure serials, especially in regards to how Dr. Who is such an over-the-top, blatantly dastardly villain and puts the heroes, including Kong, into pickles and scrapes that they need to get out of. Of course, that's to say nothing of the robots, the hovercrafts, the classic villain hideout, and such, which, as Morton also notes, feel very far removed from Merian C. Cooper's original fantastic adventure. On that note, there's also an unmistakable vibe of James Bond thrown in, with Who feeling very much like a Bond villain (although, speaking as a big Bond fan myself, Dr. No, Auric Goldfinger, Largo, and even Ernst Stavro Blofeld himself don't comes across as cartoonish in how evil they are as he does) and the scene where Madame Piranha tries to seduce Nelson to join them being right out of one of those movies. In fact, You Only Live Twice, which was released the same year and was set in Japan, has a similar scene where Bond is at the mercy of a seductive enemy, although the sexual connotations are played up much more there, and what's more, Mie Hama was a Bond girl in that movie (and a very hot one, I might add; whew!) Morton also writes about how the film's time period is hard to nail down given the presence of advanced technology like the Explorer's hovercraft, which also says to me that he's not big on both Japanese science fiction movies, Bond movies, and similar types of movies and TV shows, as they often are set during the time in which they were made and yet, feature more advanced technology. All of this is not meant to be a slam on Morton, as his book is very informative and well-written and researched; it's just that, while I can understand his viewpoint, I can still see that he's not someone who's not used to the overwhelming absurdity of these movies.

What's interesting is that, as out there and crazy as this film's setting and situations get, it hits nearly all of the key plot-points of the original King Kong. You have an expedition that stops at an island rumored to be the home of a mythical creature called Kong, who turns out to be real; the giant ape takes an immediate liking to the blonde, female lead; he battles a carnivorous dinosaur that threatens to eat her (he even puts her in a tree for safety as in the original movie), as well as a serpentine creature; he's captured, with plans to exploit him in some way; he breaks out; he makes his way into the heart of a major city; and the climax takes place at a very tall building, with the Tokyo Tower standing in for the Empire State Building. In fact, the only thing that's different is that Kong survives the climax and doesn't fall to his death; I guess Mechani-Kong's similar fate is the equivalent to that instead.

Speaking of Kong, let's go ahead and talk about the big guy himself. Veteran suit actor Haruo Nakajima, who, among many other monsters roles, played Godzilla in every film from the original Godzilla in 1954 to 1972's Godzilla vs. Gigan, plays him here as a very noble beast rather than the violent and savage animal with a hidden heart of gold that he was in the original movie. As soon as he hears Susan scream for help, he immediately awakens in his nearby cave, rushes out to see what's going on, and is immediately smitten with her when he sees her, becoming very excited and even playful when he picks her up (at one point, he tries to stroke the top of her head with his other hand while holding her). And he's protective of her to a fault, getting into a titanic battle with Gorosaurus and later defending the hovercraft she and her friends are in from the sea serpent that pops up. Obviously being lonely and wanting companionship, Kong pursues Susan to the Explorer and shakes and knocks on its hull, trying to get her to come out. He shows how good he is when he never threatens or attacks Carl Nelson and Nomura, even when the latter climbs up out of the submarine hatch with Susan, and as much as he wants her to stay with him, he eventually allows Susan to leave in the sub (it seems as though he understands her when she speaks to him), looking quite crestfallen as he watches it go. When Dr. Who and his men arrive on Mondo Island to capture him, Kong is initially simply curious about the visitors, coming out of his cave to see what's going on, and only becomes hostile when he realizes that they intend to harm. Try as he might, he's no match for the ether bombs, and his primitive mind later makes him susceptible to simple hypnosis (exactly how primitive his mind is, though, is up for debate given how he does appear to understand human language and he's suggested to have enormous steps and tunnel on the island for himself), although it doesn't long and seems to wear off due to his exposure to Element X. Another thing that's interesting is how, when he first wakes up at Who's base, Kong sees Mechani-Kong and initially thinks it's another one of his species, again suggesting at his want for companionship for companionship and then gradually realizes that what he's looking at is a machine. Not at all happy about being contained in the underground base, Kong, after getting over the hypnosis, manages to break out of it, ripping it apart, and escaping. He winds up in Tokyo but doesn't cause any destruction and is more leery of the military vehicles that gather around rather than out-and-out hostile; fortunately, Nelson and his friends are able to stop the army from attacking Kong and whipping him up into a destructive frenzy. He especially calms down when he sees Susan again and then gets into his battle with Mechani-Kong, trying to defeat his foe while also keeping Susan safe. Once he's defeated the robot, he takes care of Dr. Who's ship per Susan's instructions, killing the mad doctor in the process, and then swims back home to Mondo Island, had had enough of, as Nelson comments, "What we call civilization."

The suit and model-makers at Toho were well renowned for their skill and craftsmanship but, when it came to gorilla suits, they were all thumbs. Kong looked absolutely atrocious in King Kong vs. Godzilla and he doesn't look much better here (in fact, that Crestwood House book fooled me when I was a kid by showing a really good-looking, close-up image of Kong's snarling face during the small section devoted to this film; it was actually a close-up of his image on the poster for the 1976 movie). I've always debated about which suit looks worse and, after not having watched King Kong Escapes in a long time, I've decided that this suit does look a little bit better and definitely more ape-like, but that doesn't change the fact that it's one of the Eighth Wonder's worst guises. The body is so ill-proportioned, with a lot of padding in the arms and shoulders but none in the legs, and the zipper on the back is clear as day. As in King Kong vs. Godzilla, the suit also alternates between normal-length arms and awkward-looking extensions that, while not as bad as those featured in the other movie, look really cumbersome. The face is what gets me, though. Again, it's better than Toho's first crack at Kong, looking more ape-like, but it's still crude and cheap-looking, with an ever-present "duh" expression and soulless eyes. Besides the suit, they also created an articulated puppet for close-ups of Kong's face but it doesn't look much better than the suit and the way its upper-lip moves and purses up and down makes it feel like a hand-puppet. As in the original King Kong, life-sized versions of his hands were made for Linda Miller to sit in and also the sides of his head when Dr. Who's henchmen attach an earpiece and a small camera above either of his ears when they've hypnotized him; these look okay, and the hands have much better manicures than those in King Kong vs. Godzilla did. His main roar is the same one that Toho made for him in that movie as well, along with an assortment of low grunts and raspy chirps (some of these sounds were also uttered by Godzilla in a couple of films).

Mechani-Kong (Yu Sekida), who'd appeared before in the cartoon series, can be seen as a precursor to the much cooler and more popular Mechagodzilla. I think his design is nice-looking, although his posture is so much like Kong's that it's similarly awkward, and I like that he looks like he really is made of metal but, since he's a machine who simply does what Dr. Who orders and programs him to, he doesn't have much of a personality, something that Mechagodzilla, at least in his original incarnation, would have. And yeah, you might initially think that Mechani-Kong was simply being controlled and operated by Who but he's actually a fully functioning robot who carries out his creator's orders on his own accord. When Carl Nelson, Susan, and Nomura are first brought to Who's base in the North Pole and are shown the robot, he waves at them, more evidence of a type of sentience there. However, the reason why Mechani-Kong simply isn't as cool a monster as Mechagodzilla is because he has little-to-no weapons. He uses some large grenades to blow open his way down to the Element X when Who first tries to dig it out but he never uses them in his final battle against Kong, instead resorting to regular fighting moves, bright lights to temporarily blind him, and he's outfitted with that hypnotizing light in order to make recapturing Kong easier but it's destroyed early on. Like James Rolfe said in his brief review of this film, Mechani-Kong wasn't even meant to fight the real Kong; it's mere circumstance that the two of them end up squaring off and it also explains why he's not equipped for it. I don't know how Who figured he was going to rule the world with the robot or why he thought he was so much better than the real Kong but, then again, Who has a very inflated ego. Finally, Mechani-Kong's vocalization is little more than a short, electronic howl, although Who is able to speak through him if the need arises.

The best-designed creature in the whole movie has to be Gorosaurus (Yu Sekida), the stand-in for the T-Rex from the original movie. He may have a pretty simple mindset, in how he simply wants to eat Susan and doesn't care that he has to get around Kong in order to do so, but I think he's a really cool dinosaur and his suit is one of the best costumes that Toho ever created, in my opinion. You need only look at him to see that they were most definitely inspired by the Tyrannosaurus from the original King Kong, from the overall body shape and the look of the head right down to the signature three-fingered hands, which he sometimes wiggles in anticipation. He's a much more formidable adversary than the creature he's based on, though, as he not only has the use of his teeth and tail but can be quite agile when the situation calls for it, doing an impressive jump and kangaroo-like kick (that move would come in handy during the climactic battle with Ghidorah in Destroy All Monsters). Kong, of course, manages to defeat him in the end but he gives him quite a fight beforehand. His roar is a breathy shriek, which isn't that memorable, but because everything else about him is, I can let it slide. There's also a sea serpent that appears in the water off Mondo Island to attack the Explorer's hovercraft but there's not much to say about him, as he's just a simple predator and the fight that he has with Kong isn't much to write home about. The model used to represent him isn't the greatest but it gets the job done.

As with most of Toho's sci-fi flicks during this period, Eiji Tsuburaya headed the special effects and, with a healthy budget to work with, he and his team were able to work their usual magic. First off, the miniature sets are fantastic and wonderfully-detailed. Well, Mondo Island is pretty bland, in that it's a typical-looking tropical island, but it serves its purpose for the scenes set there; Dr. Who's base at the North Pole and Tokyo, however, are a whole other kettle of fish. They're so wonderfully detailed, intricate, and expansive that they feel like real places, especially Tokyo, which is definitely one of the best miniature representations of it in these films, right up there with the extensive final battle in The War of the Gargantuas. The same goes for the models, which are also very detailed in how they look and are often moved around very well, particularly the model of the Explorer submarine (although you can tell it's not really underwater), its accompanying hovercraft, and Dr. Who's vessel and helicopters, the former of which looks really good when Kong is smashing it to bits at the end. The centerpiece of the battle between Kong and Mechani-Kong, Tokyo Tower, also looks really good and is quite impressive in its scale, and when both of the monsters are hanging off its sides, they're rod puppets, which are executed pretty effectively (I didn't know that was the case until I looked it up, so that says something). Some of the models aren't lit that well and do come across like toys, like the tanks and military vehicles that surround Kong when he's in Tokyo and the hovercraft in some shots, and in the long shots where he's holding Susan in his hand, it's obviously an unconvincing, plastic doll, but for the most part, they're done well enough for me.

Where Toho's movies often ran into difficulties effects-wise is in the optical department: they often had a hard time when it came to matting and compositing. However, when you look at King Kong Escapes and compare it to an earlier movie, say King Kong vs. Godzilla just to keep with the Kong theme, you can see some major improvements. The compositing in that movie is pretty bad, as the real actors who were matted into the effects shots often had a noticeable blue tint around them and the other elements looked much lighter than everything else; here, the compositing is more finessed, probably due to the bigger budget, and while you can still see some blue around the edges of the matted element, it's usually not as blatant and there are some very well-done exceptions too, like when Kong is being load aboard Dr. Who's ship. Before that, when Who's men have knocked Kong out and preparing to lift him off, there's an ambitious shot where the camera pans down to a henchman running up to his foot to secure it, but, unfortunately, the matting on him is one of the worst examples in the entire movie; still, you have to hand it to them for trying. And sometimes when something inanimate is being rear-projected behind real actors, like Mechani-Kong's legs and Dr. Who's helicopter, while it's competently done, it's clear that what they're walking or standing in front of is a still image rather than a part of the environment they're in. So, not great by any means but at least you can tell that their techniques had improved over the years.

Going back to Ray Morton, one of his opinions on King Kong Escapes that I do agree with and is a big reason why it's not one of my favorite kaiju flicks is that the film's pace is very choppy and drawn out. While there are some entertaining sequences in it, as I'll get into, whenever Kong or Dr. Who isn't onscreen, it's not very interesting because of the bland leads and there are sections that feel very, very long, like when Who is trying to get our heroes to work with him. In fact, the entire part of the movie after Who's attempt to use Kong to dig out the Element X fails is pretty dull and made me rather antsy when I was watching the movie again. But what really disappoints me is that you don't get much of what's a big ingredient of this type of flick: city destruction. Only the third act takes place in a setting with that potential but, because of Kong's characterization, he doesn't do much damage, and only a few buildings are smashed when and Mechani-Kong begin fighting, as the majority of it is them climbing up Tokyo Tower and swiping at each other, making it not much of a battle at all. And the other part of the sequence, which is Nomura trying to rescue Susan when she gets stuck on the tower, moves along at a snail's pace when you wish the movie would focus more on the monster fight.

The first major scene happens just a few minutes into the movie, when Dr. Who deploys Mechani-Kong to dig out the Element X. They lift him up to the surface, follow him to the sight in their helicopter, and once Who is informed that the conditions are perfect, they signal Mechani-Kong to get to work. He walks down into the large fissure leading to the Element X deposit (looking rather awkward as he does, especially when he almost slips), as Who, Madame Piranha, and the henchmen observe from the helicopter. When he reaches the bottom, standing above a smaller gap that leads down to the Element X, Mechani-Kong begins dropping the large grenades attached around the base of his torso down into it, as Who brags about how awesome his robot is and how the real Kong can't do what he can. After he drops a fourth grenade down into the gap, the ground beneath Mechani-Kong gives way and he plummets down with the rocks. Madame Piranha is concerned at this but Who reassures that the robot won't fail, and he appears to be right as they watch him tear through a wall of rock, revealing a bright, white-blue glow and a high-pitched ringing noise. When he's exposed to the Element X, Mechani-Kong stops what he's doing, stares at it for a few seconds, and then suddenly falls over. Who and his henchmen try to fix the problem but with no success, and Who realizes he greatly underestimated Element X's power, as they can only look at the sight of the robot Kong lying limp in front of the deposit.

It's not long after this that our introduction to the real Kong takes place. When the Explorer is damaged in an underwater rockslide, it surfaces for repairs right next to Mondo Island, giving Carl Nelson, Jiro Nomura, and Susan the opportunity to see if the legend of Kong is true. Upon arriving on the island, and being warned by the lone native there from afar not to trespass on Kong's home, Nelson and Nomura attempt to track him down, leaving Susan by the hovercraft, explaining that they don't know what they'll run into (and they think leaving her by herself is safer?) The two men trek through the jungle and begin scaling the side of the mountain they saw the native on, when Gorosaurus emerges from the trees near Susan. They immediately spot each other, with Gorosaurus hissing as Susan screams, and from their vantage point on the mountain, Nelson and Nomura see what's happening. Gorosaurus approaches Susan who, in typical monster movie fashion, runs a few feet before tripping and falling, and screams again upon seeing the dinosaur approach. Her screams don't go unnoticed though, as we get our first glimpse of Kong in a close-up of his sleeping eyes opening and blinking. As Gorosaurus closes in on Susan, Kong fully awakens in his cave, growling and grunting, and walks out into the jungle to see what's going on. He and Gorosaurus see each other and square off, when Susan inadvertently runs right up to him while trying to get away from the dinosaur. Kong takes one look at her and is instantly smitten, grabbing her gently and picking her up so he can get a closer look at her. Susan struggles in his hand, while Kong's grunts and joyful body language show that he's rather happy about coming across her, even to the point where he positions his other hand close to her head, as if he's going to pet her. Nelson and Nomura race back to the site, as Gorosaurus rushes towards Kong while hissing and shrieking, challenging him to a fight over Susan. Kong puts her in a nearby tree and the fight begins.

The two monsters square off and circle each other, roaring and hissing challenges, as Susan watches from the tree. Kong tries to throw a punch but Gorosaurus ducks and, when Kong charges at the dinosaur, he jumps and delivers a kangaroo kick, sending Kong tumbling backwards along the crowd but he quickly corrects himself and gets to his feet. After they snarl at each other, Kong and Gorosaurus charge at each other and Kong gets kicked along the ground again. He tries it again and while he does suffer another kick, he only stumbles slightly this time, but when Gorosaurus jumps up into the air again, Kong tries to go for a punch but the dinosaur catches his fist in his mouth. Roaring, Kong uses his other arm to put Gorosaurus in a headlock and manages to wrestle him down to the ground before getting up, sitting on him, and delivering a series of brutal punches to his chest. Kong is kicked off and they both get to their feet and square off, when Kong manages to force Gorosaurus down to the ground again and beat him repeatedly about the head and neck, making the dinosaur's legs kick and convulse in mid-air. After a long line of such brutal punches, Gorosaurus' body goes limp and he appears defeated, with Kong roaring and beating his chest triumphantly. He then walks over to the tree and picks Susan back up (this shot looks like the one of him putting her in the tree played backwards), prompting her to scream as Nelson and Nomura finally make it back. Nomura points his rifle at Kong but Nelson stops him, obviously afraid that he might hit Susan. Susan desperately begs Kong to put her down, and while he at first looks at her and grunts for a bit, when she points to the ground, he finally understands and gently sets her down. She runs to the edge of the clearing and meets up with Nelson and Nomura, but Kong isn't keen to let her go, as he follows her. However, when he steps near Gorosaurus, the dinosaur reveals that he's not yet dead and bites Kong's leg. Seeing their chance, and despite Susan's protests not to leave Kong behind like this, the two of them run for it as Kong stomps at Gorosaurus' head and then slams it up and down against the ground, trying to make him let go. While the humans run for the hovercraft, Kong delivers a series of kicks and punches to Gorosaurus' head and neck, and as the hovercraft takes off, Kong punches him again before grabbing his jaws and forcing his mouth open, foam spewing out of the dinosaur's mouth as his jawbones stretch and then break. Gorosaurus goes limp again, defeated for good this time, and Kong roars triumphantly again before proceeding to track down Susan.

He runs to the beach as the hovercraft makes it to the water, when a large sea serpent surfaces nearby and heads straight for the craft. Seeing this, Kong grabs a large boulder and throws it, hitting the serpent right on the top of his head. The serpent thrashes around in the water, jamming the hovercraft's controls from the turbulence and sends it flopping helplessly along the surface. Kong wades into the shallows, as the serpent's thrashing threatens to sink the hovercraft, and grabs the sea serpent by the head, only to struggle when he attempts to constrict around his neck and strangle him. He grapples with the serpent and flings him around the top of the water, as the humans finally manage to fix the stabilizer on the hovercraft and guide it back to the sub, although Nelson has to yell at some men on the deck to stop firing at the monsters. Once they do, Nelson tells them that they're coming aboard and to prepare to dive, while Kong continues struggling with the sea serpent until he manages to grab his head, hold it in place, and slam it forcefully against the water, killing the creature. The hovercraft makes it back to the sub and docks inside, and Nelson tells them to prepare for emergency dive, saying that they'll have to make due with the still damaged rudder, when the sub suddenly turns sideways, throwing everyone off-balance, before moving back to the correct position. Kong, knowing that Susan is aboard, has reached the sub and is rocking it back and forth, trying to get her to come out. Nomura checks on the status of the rudder but the engineer tells him that he needs another ten minutes to properly fix it. Nomura tells him to go as fast as he can, as Kong continues rocking the ship and focuses on the conning tower, although Nelson doesn't feel that he intends to sink them. Nomura volunteers to go outside and try to do something but Susan speaks up and says that she should be the one to do so, since she's the one Kong wants. Upon hearing him knocking on the hull and getting rocked to the side again, Nelson reluctantly lets Susan go out, telling her to buy them the time they need to repair the sub. She and Nomura climb up the ladder to the outer hatch and open it to see Kong peering down at them. He calms when Susan climbs up ahead of Nomura and she tells him not to sink the ship, while Nelson tells Nomura to stand guard and call Susan in when they're ready, giving him a rifle just in case. Outside, despite Susan's protests, Kong reaches for her and picks her up, Nelson watching helplessly through the periscope as he attempts to carry her back to the island. Kong initially ignores her protests but, when she implores him to take her back to the sub, saying she doesn't want to go with him, he stops and glances at the ship before looking back at her, conflicted about what to do. Susan then slides off his hand and splashes down into the water, attempting to swim to the sub, but Kong quickly scoops her back up and takes her back himself, placing her on the conning tower. Susan says goodbye to him, as he looks at her very forlornly, and she goes back into the sub when Nomura tells her they're ready to leave. Kong sadly watches the sub move off, slightly reaching for it, and, as Nomura sees through the periscope, returns to shore.

The next major scene is when Dr. Who and his men arrive at Mondo Island to capture Kong. As soon as they get there, Who, knowing he has to act quickly before the Explorer arrives on its research trip, deploys his helicopters from his freighter, which fly into the midst of the island. The sound gets Kong's attention and he curiously lumbers out of his cave as they fly overhead. Walking out into the clearing as they circle around and come in for a pass, Kong realizes that they're hostile and growls a challenge. They come straight at him, with one flying right above him, and another drops an ether bomb at his feet when it passes over him. Kong looks down at the bomb, when it explodes in his face and surrounds him in gas. Two more fly by him and drop their bombs, saturating the air even more, as Kong pounds his chest, pulls a tree out of the ground, and swipes at another helicopter that comes by and drops a bomb. He throws the tree at another helicopter gets close but he misses it and goes for another tree. He tries to use it as a weapon at the next helicopter that comes in for a pass but the ether is now taking effect, as Kong grows dazed, shaking his head, and drops the tree. One more pass from a helicopter drops another ether bomb beside him and, while he tries to get to safety, he loses consciousness while standing up and falls to the ground. Satisfied, Who has his helicopter set down by the sleeping Kong and he and his men disembark to supervise the transport. The other helicopters lower four large grappling hooks down to the ground, which the henchmen secure around Kong's feet and hands. Who and one of his henchmen are then momentarily distracted by the lone Mondo Islander, who runs up to them to try to persuade them to stop, and Who pretends to listen and understand before pulling out a gun and shooting him three times. With him out of the way, Who and his men head back to his helicopter, while the others lift Kong up with the hooks and fly him over to the freighter, lowering him down into the enormous hold. Knowing that Carl Nelson will know that something has happened, Who orders his men to monitor the Explorer and inform him if they discover his base.

Later on at the base, we see that Kong, still sleeping off the ether, has been placed inside a large holding area, with his feet chained to the floor. Two engineers lower down the hypnosis device above him but, as they're about to climb down from the crane they're standing on, one of them drops something and it hits Kong on the nose, rousing him from his sleep. The workers clear out as he comes to and becomes surprised and confused when he sees Mechani-Kong nearby, thinking he's another of his own species because of his bleary eyes. He tries to get the other "Kong's" attention but he realizes what he's actually look at as his eyes clear up and he settles back down, still a little groggy. But, not too long after that scene, Kong, now completely over the ether's effects, is going berserk inside the holding area, forcing the workers to wheel the hypnotic device out before he tears it apart. They close the barred doors on him when he goes for them and pulls on and rattles them, trying to break himself free. As Dr. Who watches from outside, the pulsing hypnotic light is raised up to Kong's eye-line as he continues struggling. Looking at it, Kong's movements slowly become dazed and lethargic and his eyes droop to half-closed until he finally succumbs to the hypnosis. Who orders the doors opened again, assuring his men that it's now safe, and once they do, they use the crane from before to attach an earpiece to Kong's left ear and a camera on his right. Who speaks to him through a microphone, ordering him to obey him and to go dig the Element X out of the crater. Kong, without needing to be shown where to go, turns around and heads down the tunnel that leads to the crater, as Who joins Madame Piranha in the control room to monitor his progress through camera attached to his head. They watch as he begins digging into the rock wall he runs into down there, a crusher behind him smashing up the numerous rocks he tosses aside and shoots out on the surface, and things go well at first. But when Kong first uncovers the Element X, he stops momentarily and stares at it, confused as to what he's seeing, as Who tells him to continue digging. He complies and digs some more, going through a layer of ice behind the rock, but he's exposed to the glow of Element X behind the ice and his movements become sluggish until he stops altogether. Who yells at him to continue as he just stands there, looking more and more dazed, his eyes drooping down as if he's about to fall asleep. He then shakes his head and growls, coming out of the hypnosis, and Who, losing his patience, gets up and runs over to a nearby control panel to try to salvage the situation. He yells at Kong to continue digging again but he's now completely lost his control over him, as the ape rips off both the earpiece and the camera, tossing them against the ice, before pounding his chest and racing back down the tunnel. Who orders the gate closed, trapping Kong in the tunnel for the time being.

Following Who's attempts to persuade Nelson, Nomura, and Susan to help him control Kong through friendly persuasion and torture when they're brought to his base, he tries to push Susan's face up against the frozen walls of the cell she's in with Nomura in order to make her cooperate. Before he can succeed, however, Kong's violent struggle against the gate trapping him in the tunnel shakes the whole base and threatens to bring the ceiling down on top of them. Realizing what's going on, Who and his men rush out of the cell, forgetting to close the door behind them and allowing Susan to find the keys to the chains holding Nomura's hands. Kong finally rips the gate off, causing the mountaintop on the surface to cave-in on itself since he apparently destroyed its support, and he bursts up through the dirt, reaching the surface. He climbs out of the crater and takes off across the frozen landscape, while Who sends Mechani-Kong up to the surface after him. He's pursued through the snow by his mechanical double for a bit until he reaches the water and jumps in, swimming away with Mechani-Kong unable to follow him. Who refuses to give up and uses his freighter pursue to him to Japan, taking both Mechani-Kong, now equipped with the hypnosis device, and his prisoners, planning to use Susan as a way to control him when the time is right.

After some shots of a rural area near Tokyo being evacuated and the military being deployed as Kong roams around in the background, the film switches to Tokyo Harbor at nighttime, as Dr. Who prepares to deploy Mechani-Kong. Following Madame Piranha's freeing our three heroes and lending them scuba equipment so they can swim to shore, as well as their almost getting shot when they're spotted by the guards, the film switches to Kong wandering through Tokyo as police and military vehicles move in (some of these shots are stock footage from King Kong vs. Godzilla). He's confronted by a couple of tanks and then turns around to see that he's completely surrounded. At the command center, Carl Nelson tells the commanding officer not to attack Kong for fear of what he might do, while back at the battle site, the giant ape looks up at a couple of helicopters flying overhead and roars, possibly remembering what happened the last time he encountered them. Susan and Nomura arrive and push their way to the edge of the crowd but are stopped by the soldiers there, when spotlights are turned on right in Kong's face, agitating him even more. They're about to attack when Nomura tells the commanding officer to let them try to calm Kong down, just as they get the message from the command center to abort it altogether. Good thing, too, because Kong is shielding his eyes from the spotlights while flailing and growling, stumbling into some power lines in the process. The tanks pull away but Susan can see that Kong is severely angry now as he storms off and she manages to break free and run after him, with Nomura telling the officers not to stop her. She calls his name as she runs through the streets and when he sees her, he becomes very excited but also calmer in temperament and puts his hand down so she can step into it. He lifts her up, as she tells him to calm down, and her voice does obviously soothe him. The soldiers take the opportunity to regroup in formation, when suddenly, Mechani-Kong comes plowing through a nearby building. Nomura and the soldiers promptly evacuate the civilian bystanders, while Kong sees his foe when he turns to look upon hearing his roar. Mechani-Kong comes stomping towards him and, ignoring Susan's warning not to fight him, he sets her down and prepares for battle. Before he can do anything, though, Mechani-Kong blinds him with his spotlights when he gets close and then activates the hypnosis device that's been installed atop his head. Kong tries to attack but is immediately dazed and entranced by the light, unable to hear Susan's telling him to run. But, just when it looks like Kong is at his robot double's mercy, Nomura manages to shoot the device with a rifle, shorting out. Once his senses are regained, Kong promptly swipes the device off Mechani-Kong's head altogether.

Mechani-Kong blinds Kong again and charges at him, smashing several small structures, including a pagoda, to deliver a punch to his throat, sending him tumbling to the ground. He blinds Kong again when he tries to get up but he's able to roll out of the way when Mechani-Kong lunges at him, causing the robot to tumble across the ground. The robot gets back up and, after a cutaway to Dr. Who and his men watching the battle from the ship, Kong shoves the robot down from behind. He charges at Mechani-Kong as he tumbles along the ground but when the machine gets back up, he rams Kong back down. Kong gets to his feet and tries to grapple with Mechani-Kong but gets flung down in the process. Who then orders Mechani-Kong to go after Susan, which he does, scooping her up and running for the nearby Tokyo Tower. Once he's back on his feet, Kong chases Mechani-Kong, who's already begun climbing the tower, as the military move in as well. Nelson then arrives from the command center and Nomura tells one of the officers to shut off the electricity to the tower, as Kong looks up at Mechani-Kong hanging off of it (the compositing in that shot is really bad). Dr. Who then speaks through the robot, telling Kong to return to the ship or he'll drop Susan to her death. This enrages Kong and Who, thinking he's won, orders his men to prepare the ship for docking. Madame Piranha then tries to stop Who by threatening him with a gun but, after a short struggle, he manages to get the gun away and shoot her in the arm. He tells his men to keep an eye on her. Back at the tower, Kong begins climbing up after Mechani-Kong, who makes it about halfway up, smashes his hand into the observation platform to gain a firm grip, and then climbs up over it, heading for the top. It doesn't take Kong long to catch up to him and when he does, he grabs the robot's right leg, leading to a game of tug-o'-war until Mechani-Kong drops Susan. Kong lets go of the robot's leg in order to catch her and, seeing that she fainted during the fall, he places her on a nearby platform before heading on up, with both him and Mechani-Kong reaching the top. Nomura, planning to save Susan, asks an officer get some spotlights on the tower, just as she regains consciousness up there. She looks up to see Kong and Mechani-Kong fighting and starts climbing her way down, as Nomura begins going up to meet her. As spotlights are trained on the tower (more footage taken from King Kong vs. Godzilla), Mechani-Kong kicks Kong in the face, while Nomura continues climbing up the tower. The two monsters kick and throw punches at each other, with Kong managing to shove Mechani-Kong but he receives many more hits in the process. Nelson arrives at the scene and watches the monsters fight, while Nomura continues climbing his way up the tower to reach Susan and a group of soldiers are deployed to climb up the tower and help.

Nomura finally reaches Susan and begins her down, while up above them, Kong gets Mechani-Kong in a headlock and slams his face into the side of the tower several times before the robot manages to show him off. The battle, which is now shaking the entire building, causes problems for the two humans when Susan falls and tumbles down across a roof, managing to grab a handhold as Nomura tries to help her. Mechani-Kong tears off a part of the tower and repeatedly beats Kong in the head with it, before he drops it and it lands on that roof, causing Susan to roll down and almost fall off the edge but she manages to grab on. She hangs off and screams for help but, fortunately, the men who followed them up arrive and throw Nomura a rope, which he manages to tie around himself, work his way over to Susan, and help her as the men get another rope down to her. They pull her up over the edge of the roof with a lot of effort and Nomura picks her up in his arms and proceeds to carry her down with the help of the soldiers. Up top, Kong gets kicked in the face and then blinded again when he tries to climb up after Mechani-Kong. He does manage to grab the robot's left leg but is kicked off, although he remains undeterred and follows him on up again. He chases him to the very tip of the tower and when Mechani-Kong kicks at him again, he takes a shock from the radio antenna. This apparently damages his circuits, as onboard Dr. Who's ship, he and his men scramble to fix the controls. Madame Piranha then takes the opportunity and pulls some wires out of the power grid and fights with one of the henchmen but Who shoots her twice, killing her. The radio antenna atop the tower cracks in half from the force of the monsters and Mechani-Kong plummets to the ground with it, smashing to pieces when he hits and exploding as his circuits short out. Kong roars in victory and the soldiers and civilians down below rejoice, as Susan is reunited with Nelson.

The next morning, Dr. Who is desperate to escape, when he's told that Kong is heading their way and, panicking upon hearing this, yells at his men to shove off. Kong, meanwhile, runs through the harbor, followed by Nelson, Nomura, and Susan in a convertible, as the police and military. Reaching the spot, they see Who's ship leaving the harbor and Susan tells Kong to stop it. Understanding and spotting his target, he leaps into the water and swims after the ship, as the men aboard fire at him with their rifles, which does nothing. Who, seeing that they can't stop him, ducks inside while everybody else attempts to abandon ship. Kong catches up to it, grabs it, pulls the rudder off, and throws it at the deck, before climbing atop it and pounding it relentlessly. He smashes everything that he sees and even picks up the rudder and smashes the smokestack with it before grabbing and tearing off the radio antenna in the middle. The ship begins to sink and take on water, and the men are either swept overboard or drowned in the bowels of the ship. Inside the control room, Who is trapped up against the wall by the control panel and slowly crushed to the death by the force of it from the rushing water. The ship is now half-sunk and Kong, knowing that he's finally won, beats his chest and roars triumphantly before beginning his long swim home to Mondo Island, as the movie ends.

Another common figure among the majority Toho's monster movies was composer Akira Ifukube and this film is no exception. As usual with his scores, the music is one of the most memorable aspects of the movie, several distinct themes that stick out to me. The biggest one is Kong's theme, which you often hear whenever he's onscreen, doing something awesome, and is kind of a variation on Godzilla's theme, with big, brass horns, a lot of percussion, and an overall bombastic and driving feel. When I first watched the movie, I recognized this theme immediately as it was used to cover a few minutes of Gigan and Ghidorah's attack on Tokyo in Godzilla vs. Gigan (the entire score for that movie is made up of past music by Ifukube). A similar theme, with slight alterations, serves as Mechani-Kong's leitmotif, although it's not used as much as the one for Kong himself. And finally, you have this poignant-sounding piece that plays when Kong first meets Susan and is replayed whenever the two of them come together. There's also an interesting, kind of quiet and mysterious theme that sounds akin to music you'd expect to hear natives make and it plays during the opening credits and acts as a theme for Mondo Island itself. Overall, the score isn't bad, but it's pretty repetitive and some of the music is used much more than it should be (Kong's theme plays over and over during the climax).

The American version of the film, which was released in 1968, is a rare instance where there wasn't much tinkering of the Japanese version. It's eight minutes shorter but the excisions are very slight and mainly consist of shots and bits of dialogue that were trimmed because they just weren't necessary and tighten up the pace. The best edits are during the climax at the Tokyo Tower, which doesn't go on nearly as long here (they completely move the part where Susan nearly rolls off the edge and has to be saved), although the editing is noticeable because the music score often jumps from one piece to another. What's really interesting is that there's also a shot at the beginning that isn't in the Japanese version at all, where some of the men on the Explorer comment on how pretty Susan is and that they wouldn't getting a fever with her around. This is not unprecedented, though, as Japanese and American co-productions like this often shot scenes that were only meant for a specific version (the American version of The War of the Gargantuas is a prime example). Other than that, it's virtually the same film and the same goes for the English dialogue. While William J. Keenan wrote a new script for the dubbing, the dialogue is more or less what was originally said and inferred, especially in the case of Carl Nelson since Rhode Reason, who dubbed himself here, was speaking English all along. The only major change is when Dr. Who says that he already plans to capture Nelson and his friends, rather than they're picked up to prevent them from reaching Tokyo, and when Madame Piranha (whom Who refers to as simply "Madam here) merely comments that her country was wrong in its desires rather than she wanted to make it a better place, making things more black-and-white for the kiddies, I guess. As in the case of the Japanese version, the more delightful character is Dr. Who, who's voiced by veteran voice actor Paul Frees in a very fun, over-the-top manner in terms of both his delivery and accent. Frees did some of the other voices in the film as well, although Akira Takarada is dubbed by somebody with a pretty bland, boring voice and some of the other male characters sound a little cartoony for my tastes. Even though she's American, Linda Miller is also dubbed (Julie Bennett, who voiced the character of Cindy Bear in the Yogi Bear cartoons), which she was not at all happy about, particularly since Reason was able to redub his own voice; according to Wikipedia, that was because Reason was a member of the Screen Actors Guild, while Miller was actually a model rather than an actor. So, in other words, you don't hear her real voice in either version. Miller also hated the voice that was given to her in the English version and I can't say I blame her, as they could've easily made a much better choice than this rather irritating, kind of nasally voice that they went with. She's especially irritating when she screams, which isn't a lot, thank God, and while her yelling of Kong isn't as annoying as the Japanese dub actor's, it still becomes grating very quickly.

Whether or not you'll like King Kong Escapes depends on whether or not you can get into kaiju movies but, speaking personally as a lifelong fan of the genre, I can safely that this isn't one of the best examples. It's not because of how bonkers the plot is, as a lot of these movies have insane stories that feel like mixtures of different genres, but rather the execution. On the plus side, you have very memorable performances from the two villains, especially Dr. Who, a couple of well-done suits in the case of Mechani-Kong and Gorosaurus, very well-crafted miniature sets and models, and a fair, if repetitive, music score. However, there are a number of strikes against it: the three main heroes are bland, the King Kong suit and models, though an improvement over Toho's first crack at them, still look bad, the optical work ranges from pretty good to improved but still cringe-inducing, the film doesn't have as much satisfying monster action and city destruction as you'd want, and, worst of all, the pacing could be a lot better, especially when it comes to the climax, which isn't very spectacular and feels like it goes on for an eternity. I'd say if you want some campy fun with it, the American version is your best bet because of Paul Frees' entertaining performance, whereas the Japanese version is only for Toho purists. At the end of the day, it's not as awe-inspiring as the best of these movies can be nor is it as delightfully cheesy as many of them, especially those made around this same time, are. It's not even so bad that it's unwatchable; it's just kind of there.