Franchises: Godzilla. King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962)

The Japanese Version

 

Before I discovered that Crestwood House monster book on Godzilla at my elementary school's library, there was an instance where I came upon a couple of my classmates looking through another one of them and peeked over their shoulders to see a picture of King Kong swinging Godzilla around by his tail. Needless to say, I only had to see Godzilla to become so interested that I actually tried to take the book away from them, but after a little bit of arguing, they finally made me realize that the book was about King Kong and Godzilla was only featured on that one page. It didn't matter, as it wasn't too long after that when I found the one solely about Godzilla, but, nevertheless, my interest had been piqued simply by knowing there was a movie where Godzilla fought King Kong. From what I read, Godzilla didn't win the fight, which did make me a little unsure, but I was still interested in seeing it, especially when I saw one of the trailers for the American version on that Fantastic Dinosaurs of the Movies compilation. And then, one night when I was at Wal-Mart with my mom, I spotted the GoodTimes Entertainment VHS and talked her into buying it for me. She was a bit hesitant, worried that I might get upset when Godzilla lost the fight at the end (especially if he died), but she relented. I started watching it as soon as I got home that night but, since this was on a Sunday and I had to go to school the next day, I had to wait until the next morning to see the big fight. When it was all over and done with, I thought it was okay enough. It never became one of my favorite Godzilla movies, and it still isn't to this day, but I still enjoyed it. But, over time, I weirdly became a little impatient with it since, as I described back in my review of Godzilla, King of the Monsters, I would have to watch it immediately after that film whenever I did a Godzilla marathon, as I didn't have Godzilla Raids Again on VHS. That would always annoy me, one, because of that annoying, gaping hole in my collection, and two, because King Kong vs. Godzilla wasn't one I went back to that often purely for enjoyment. Again, I didn't hate it, but there were other Godzilla movies I would have rather been watching, an attitude I carried with me as I moved on into my late teens and early 20's.

When I got back into Godzilla hardcore during my college years, I grew interested in the Japanese version of King Kong vs. Godzilla. Thanks to the Godzilla Compendium, I had long since learned that the dual-ending rumor, with each version featuring a different monster winning the big climactic battle, was false, but I had also read that, as with a lot of these films, what we got here was very different from what was shown in Japan. I'd read that the Japanese version had much more humor and was written as a satire on advertising, which had been all but deleted in the Americanization, and it sounded intriguing, though I wasn't hopeful about my chances of ever getting to see it. While, around that time, a fair amount of the Showa films, like the original Godzilla, Godzilla Raids Again, Mothra vs. Godzilla, Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, and Godzilla vs. Monster Zero, did get released on DVD with both versions thanks to Classic Media, and Sony released the original versions of some of the other films, the Japanese version of King Kong vs. Godzilla was not among them; in fact, it never got an official American home video release until the Criterion Collection Blu-Ray set in 2019 (and even then, they put it on the special features disc). Before then, only Universal's American version was available and it was always released bare bones, even when it was put on Blu-Ray. Since Universal can be quite picky about what they'll give special treatment to, especially before they started working with Scream Factory, and nothing happened with King Kong vs. Godzilla even when Classic Media was going full-steam ahead and releasing those great DVDs, it seemed like I was never going to see that original Japanese version. That all changed in the spring of 2009, when I discovered a way to get The Return of Godzilla, the original Japanese version of Godzilla 1985 (one of my favorites), on a pristine DVD-R. After getting my hands on that and being blown away by how much it looked and felt like an official DVD, I immediately went for any of the other Japanese versions I didn't already have, with King Kong vs. Godzilla being an obvious no-brainer.

But, I must confess that, after I finally watched it, the Japanese version didn't impress me much more than the American version; in fact, I felt the American version had been a bit of an improvement. Because nearly everything involving the monsters had been left intact in that version, the satire on advertising and the more comedic moments were all that was knew to me, which wasn't a good thing, as I wasn't impressed with it, either. I did think there were some funny parts but my biggest criticism was why, of all the Godzilla movies, would they go that route on this one? I understand it more now, especially when I put the movie into context, but I felt it was the absolute worst idea to use the film that brought together the two greatest movie monsters of all time as such a vehicle. I wanted the confrontation between King Kong and Godzilla to be treated in a more epic manner and not played for laughs. Having said that, upon re-watching the Japanese version several more times since then, I can say I do appreciate it much, much more than I once did. I still wouldn't call it one of my absolute favorites (and yes, before anyone asks, I do enjoy Godzilla vs. Kong more) and I think it has a good number of flaws, but, for what it is, it can be entertaining if you're in the right mindset.

The head of Pacific Pharmaceuticals' marketing department, Tako, is dissatisfied with the Wonderful World Series, a boring and unpopular science show his company sponsors. Desperate to boost ratings, he becomes intrigued when a botanist produces some unusual berries he acquired from a small island called Faro in the South Seas, which he also claims is the home of an enormous creature the natives there worship as a god. Feeling a giant monster would be just the thing to boost their ratings, Tako orders two Tokyo Television employees, Sakurai and Furue, to journey to the island, find out if the monster is real, and bring it back to Japan. Meanwhile, an American nuclear submarine, the Seahawk, is investigating a strange temperature phenomenon in the Arctic Ocean, when it rams into a glowing iceberg. The sub is destroyed in a fiery blaze, and when a rescue helicopter is dispatched, the pilots see Godzilla break out of the iceberg, finally free after having been buried seven years before. After attacking an arctic military base, Godzilla heads back to Japan. At the same time, Sakurai and Furue arrive on Faro Island and discover its monster god, an enormous gorilla the natives call King Kong, is very real. After dispatching a giant octopus that attacks the village, Kong drinks some of the juice the natives had ground from the red berries and its narcotic properties causes him to fall asleep. The party then uses a large raft to tow him back to Japan, which is currently under attack from Godzilla. However, it isn't long before Kong awakens and escapes, making his way to the mainland, where he first encounters Godzilla. Their initial battle is brief, ending with Godzilla easily sending Kong into retreat with his atomic breath. While the Japanese Self-Defense Force manage to keep Godzilla out of Tokyo with an electrical blockade, it's no match for Kong, who actually draws strength from electricity. After doing some damage to the city and carrying Sakurai's sister, Fumiko, around in his hand, Kong is, once again, rendered unconscious by the berries. The authorities then come to a startling decision: bring Kong and Godzilla together again and hope that they'll fight to the death.

It may not be one of my favorites but I do understand that King Kong vs. Godzilla is arguably the most significant entry in the series outside of the original. While the original film introduced Godzilla to the world, this is the one that firmly established him as a lucrative franchise character, as up until Shin Godzilla in 2016, it reigned as the highest grossing film in the series in Japan. In fact, if not for King Kong vs. Godzilla, it's quite possible the Godzilla series wouldn't have gone on past those initial two films, meaning I owe it for all of these other movies I do love. In addition, it was also a big deal for Toho, as they had always wanted to make a King Kong film and decided to use it as a means of celebrating their 30th anniversary, giving it a hefty budget that allowed for both both color and widescreen and making it the first time either monster was filmed in this manner.

John Beck

While the end result was a very Japanese film, the initial idea was the brainchild of none other than Willis O'Brien, the special effects legend behind the original King Kong. For a long time, O'Brien, who'd suffered many professional hardships and lean times since his heyday, had wanted to bring Kong back to the big screen, likely hoping it would breathe life back into his career. In 1960, he came up with an idea to pit the great ape against a monster created by an ancestor of Victor Frankenstein. After getting permission from RKO to use the character of Kong, O'Brien met with producer John Beck, who promised to help him find a studio to produce the film (the reason why RKO didn't produce it themselves was because they'd long since stopped making films and were, effectively, no longer a studio by that point). When studio after studio turned it down due to the enormous costs of stop-motion, Beck eventually took it overseas. It was bought by Toho, who then decided to completely reconfigure the concept, mainly by throwing out the Frankenstein idea and replacing it with Godzilla, whom they'd been keen on bringing back to the silver screen, as even Godzilla Raids Again had done good business in 1955. The rest is history, although O'Brien was quite unhappy when he found out what Beck had done behind his back. Sadly, O'Brien died in November of 1962 at the age of 76, before the movie's American release, and his widow was sure that the stress and frustration over Beck's betrayal was what led to his death. Moreover, Merian C. Cooper, Kong's original creator, was also none too pleased about this turn of events and he attempted to sue Beck, Toho, and Universal, the American distributor, claiming he was Kong's sole owner... except he wasn't, which put an end to the matter.

Because of the film's importance to the studio, it's not surprising that they brought Ishiro Honda back to the director's chair, especially given how much his career trajectory had changed in the eight years since the original Godzilla. Despite studio head Iwao Mori's opinion that he was better-suited for dramas centered around women, and the fact that his first couple of post-Godzilla films had been as such, Honda had slowly but surely become Toho's go-to director for their science fiction and kaiju films. He'd made The Abombinable Snowman, or Half-Human, in 1955 and continued on with Rodan, The Mysterians, and The H-Man. After the latter, his career would consist almost entirely of tokasatsu (big spectacle), with movies like Varan the Unbelievable, Battle in Outer Space, The Human Vapor, Mothra, and Gorath. King Kong vs. Godzilla would be his eleventh such film, as well as the most successful film of his career, but by this point, Honda was growing weary of this pigeonholing and wished to make the types of movies he truly wanted to. He also wasn't too fond of the lighter, more kid-friendly change in direction the film brought to the series, later stating, "I don't think a monster should ever be a comical character," and, "The public is more entertained when the great King Kong strikes fear into the hearts of the little characters." But, despite all these misgivings, Honda would be at the helm of the next three Godzilla movies, as well as numerous other popular kaiju movies of the period.

King Kong vs. Godzilla also marks the series debut of someone who would not only shape the way it would evolve going forward but would also, in general, help kaiju and tokasatsu films find their own unique identity, instead of just continuing to be Japanese interpretations of American monster flicks: screenwriter Shinichi Sekizawa. A former animator who had studied alongside the legendary manga artist Osamu Tezuka, Sekizawa began his screenwriting career at small studios such as Beehive and Shintoho, where, in 1956, he wrote and directed Fearful Attack of the Flying Saucers, a mostly forgotten film that has never been released outside of Japan. After he developed Agon: The Atomic Dragon, a Godzilla knockoff for television, Toho promptly put a stop to it and hired Sekizawa themselves, first for 1958's Varan the Unbelievable. While that movie is nothing special, Sekizawa would go on to develop his signature style in the screenplays for Battle in Outer Space, Mothra, and Gorath, before being tasked with turning the original treatment of King Kong vs. Frankenstein into King Kong vs. Godzilla. Sekizawa loved monster movies but admitted he became bored with the typical "monster-on-the-loose" formula, so his goal was to give the monsters as much character as the humans and have them react directly to the humans' actions just as much as the humans do to them, if not more so. Another trademark of his was how his screenplays were often written to be more light-hearted, humorous, and fun, rather than dark and serious like the original Godzilla and Rodan. Indeed, you can thank him for the more absurd and silly movies Toho produced during the 60's, most notably the later Godzilla movies. Some might not care for these films, seeing them as something of a slap in the face to the more sober and dignified movies that spawned them, but if you're a fan of the kaiju genre as a whole, like me, you have to give Sekizawa credit, as he made it into a uniquely Japanese type of cinematic expression.

When I was a kid, I thought Tadao Takashima, who plays the lead here, was Akira Takarada, as the two of them look quite similar, and it wasn't until I read the Godzilla Compendium that I learned he was a different actor. Takashima plays his role of Sakurai, a cameraman for Tokyo Television, purely for comedic effect. He's a decent guy but he's also pretty cynical and cranky, not at all enthusiastic about being sent to an island in the South Seas to look for a monster he doesn't even believe exists. (I find that odd, given how he knows of Godzilla and that, at this point in the franchise's timeline, Japan had already been ravaged by two Godzillas, Anguirus, and, in their own separate movies, Rodan, and Mothra. At that point, I don't think I'd be so quick to doubt the existence of yet another monster.) He's also not enthusiastic about Tako's intention to use the idea of a monster to boost television ratings. In fact, it's fairly obvious he's not too happy about his job in general, as before the expedition is proposed to him, he's pressed into playing the drums for a commercial, a brief gig that wears him out. But once he and Furue depart for and arrive at Faro Island, Sakurai becomes a bit more intent on finding out if the island's monster god really exists and, when he's sure it does, does what he can to bring it back, since he knows Tako would kill them if they blew this opportunity. After King Kong appears and knocks himself out by drinking the berry juice, Sakurai comes up with the idea to build a raft big enough to hold him in order to tow him back to Japan. And while he initially tries to blow Kong up along with the raft when the giant ape starts to wake from his stupor during the trip, he goes along with Tako when Kong makes it to the mainland and films his first fight with Godzilla for their show, later doing the same for Kong's raid on Tokyo and the big climactic fight.

Besides his job, Sakurai also gets somewhat frustrated with his sister, Fumiko, and her boyfriend, Kazuo Fujita, especially when she continuously goes off to be with him at his apartment and leaves Sakurai with no dinner (can the guy not cook for himself?). Later on, when both Kong and Godzilla are right outside the electrical blockade surrounding Tokyo, Sakurai gets equally frustrated when they refuse to evacuate, although they soon realize they have no choice. But despite his mostly comical portrayal, Sakurai does come up with some ideas that are significant to the plot. When Fumiko is captured by Kong while she and Fujita are trying to evacuate, he decides to once again knock him out with the berry juice and uses his drums to emulate the Faro Islanders' chant to enhance the effect. And then, after Fumiko is saved, Sakurai comes up with the idea to use Fujita's extremely strong, experimental wire to take Kong over to Godzilla so the two of them can fight it out.

In stark contrast to Sakurai's skepticism and disinterest, his friend, sound-man Furue (Yu Fujiki), seems quite willing to head to Faro Island, obviously feeling it might lead to something big... at first, anyway. Once they get to the island, he proves to be very skittish and cowardly, freaking out about being barbecued by the natives when they initially act hostile towards them, while Sakurai tries to be as calm as he can in order to figure a way to diffuse the situation. Furue actually tries to leave when they're told the village chief is ordering them to do so, saying, "Well, if he insists," but Sakurai pulls him back. And when Sakurai tries to pass off a small radio as a powerful object to the chief, Furue nervously babbles something technical, even though the chief obviously doesn't understand anything they're saying. It gets particularly funny when the two of them, having impressed the natives with the radio, start passing around cigarettes, but don't know what to do when a little native kid wants one as well. They each give him one but then, his mother shows up and takes one of them away! Then, upon seeing the natives react in abject fear to the sight and sound of lightning and thunder, Sakurai gets all smug and confident, laughing at their apparent ignorance and how Furue still seems shaky. That's when they hear King Kong's roar mixed in with the thunder and both get jittery, with Furue grabbing onto Sakurai when the two of them kneel down in fear. Later, as they're traveling through the jungle to find Kong, Furue is all the more frightened, especially over the idea of Godzilla showing up on the island after he hears of the monster's return. He jumps at the slightest sound and, at one point, falls down and starts panicking, flinging around a large lizard he thinks is attacking him. Once they get back to the village, poor Furue is exhausted and freaked out, wanting desperately to leave. Later on, he's initially ecstatic when he learns they are going home, but that feeling turns to terror when he learns they're taking Kong with them. On the boat-ride back, Furue gets seasick and is more miserable than ever, carrying around a bucket in case he has to puke. He also kind of loses his mind when Tako refuses to allow them to blow Kong up with the dynamite on the raft, actually pulling a rifle on him in frustration! Once they get back to Japan, though, Furue goes back to being a fairly loyal employee, recording sound for the first fight between Kong and Godzilla, helping Sakurai save Fumiko from Kong, and accompanying Tako to the site of the climactic battle (although they miss about 4/5 of it).

After having made his first appearance in the series with an extremely brief bit part in the original Godzilla, Kenji Sahara has his first major role here as Kazuo Fujita, the boyfriend of Fumiko, Sakurai's sister. Fujita, at first, seems like he might end up being more of a spectator than a significant character but, in reality, he contributes to the proceedings in several ways. First, the very strong, experimental wire he's come up with (which he has enough confidence in to use it to hang off the outside of a balcony, about giving Sakurai a heart attack in process) is what's eventually used to bring King Kong and Godzilla together for their climactic battle. Second, he has a couple of courageous, heroic moments where he rushes in to save Fumiko from danger, the most impressive being when, upon hearing that she's gone to Hokkaido to search for him after hearing news the ship he was sunk by Godzilla, he races there in a jeep, knowing she's heading right into Godzilla's path. He doesn't let anything, not even a military roadblock or the very fact that he's putting himself in extreme danger, stop him, and he finds Fumiko on the brink of passing out in a mountain stream and gets her to safety. Later on, when they're caught up in the evacuation of Tokyo, Fujita becomes separated from Fumiko due to mass crowding on a train, and when she takes another, it gets attacked by Kong, who grabs and carries her around in his hand. When Kong climbs atop the Diet Building while still holding Fumiko, Fujita becomes distraught at how he can't do anything to help her this time and futilely screams at him to let her go. Little does he know that the anguished, and melodramatic, gestures he makes while screaming remind Sakurai and Furue of the ritual dance the Faro Islanders used to coax Kong into a drunken sleep, giving them an idea of how to save Fumiko. And while Fujita does put his trust in their plan, he's still so anxious to save Fumiko that he almost goes for it before Kong is completely out, forcing Furue to pull him back. Once Kong finally does pass out, Fujita heads straight for him as quickly as he can, takes her from his hand, and brings her back to safety once again.

My favorite human character, by far, is Tako (Ichiro Arishima), the temperamental and, in some ways, borderline psychotic head of Pacific Pharmaceuticals' marketing department. The human embodiment of the film's satire on advertising and commercialization, he's the reason why King Kong is brought to Japan, thereby creating the conflict between him and Godzilla. Despondent over the Wonderful World Series' low ratings and overall boring nature, Tako is desperate for something to boost publicity. When Dr. Makioka tells him of an enormous creature living on a remote island in the South Seas, he becomes enamored with the prospect of his company having their own giant monster and, after ordering Sakurai and Furue to travel to the island to see if the monster really exists, he throws a big party and press conference to get the word out. Too bad Godzilla soon bursts out of the iceberg and begins heading back to Japan, taking all attention away from the expedition and causing him to hate the monster as much everyone else, albeit for a more selfish reason. Enraged, he has a wire sent to Sakurai and Furue, telling them to pick up the pace in looking for the monster of Faro Island. Once they discover King Kong and all the newspapers and magazines in the country begin covering him, Tako is ecstatic and flies out to the ship to see him firsthand. Before he leaves, though, he overhears some people questioning whether Kong or Godzilla is the stronger monster, and when someone says it's not a wrestling match, Tako responds, "I'll buy that: King Kong vs. Godzilla." Arriving on the boat, he's absolutely thrilled to see Kong, to the point where he's almost smitten with him, waving and blowing kisses to him through a cabin's porthole! Even when their lives are in danger as Kong begins waking from his stupor, he tries to stop them from blowing him up, and though initially despondent when they finally manage to do so, the look on his face when Kong rises out of the water unharmed is one of sheer delight. And since he had initially considered having Kong fight Godzilla, Tako is overjoyed when the two monsters do meet up after Kong makes his way to the mainland. He has Sakurai and Furue film the bout for their television show, but isn't happy at all when Godzilla manages to force Kong into retreat. Still intending to use him in publicity, Tako later enthusiastically goes along with the plan to knock Kong unconscious again rather than kill him, as well as to have him battle Godzilla a second time (although, he's not happy with the thought of both dying).

Like I said, Tako is not only a very temperamental guy but there are also hints he's... not all there, given how crazy he acts. The way he angrily admonishes his assistant, Obayashi (Sachio Sakai), about how he chose such a boring show for them to sponsor at the beginning of the film is only the tip of the iceberg (Obayashi is the one who often takes the full brunt of his craziness; you can just see him shrivel up in terror when he says or does something he knows will anger Tako). When he's becoming

interested in the idea of using a giant monster to gain publicity for the company, he's rather fanatical as he talks about how it's what they need in order to beat the competition. Later, he's so angry when Godzilla's appearance steals all of his press that he throws the newspapers everywhere and looks like he's about to throw something at the television when he sees a news report. Similarly, when he's happy about the discovery of King Kong and the publicity it brings, he still throws papers up in the

air while yelling, "Banzai!", before suddenly deciding to fly out to the ship. However, despite how crazy he is, Tako's not unlikable; on the contrary, his actions and gestures are often so over the top and nonsensical that they're hilarious (the way he angrily shakes his hand at Obayashi after he finishes his sentence for him while taking down a message is particularly hysterical). In addition, he's also genuinely comedic, in how he crashes into something when he goes inside a supply closet to

change into an expedition uniform and when he, twice, almost blows up King Kong by obliviously putting his hand on the lever connected to the dynamite on the raft. I already mentioned how he seems to almost be in love with Kong, but he's also so excited and overjoyed about him making it to the mainland that he, Sakurai, and Furue try to camouflage themselves with parts of a bush in order to watch the first fight. And he is very much like a big kid, so much so that he even gets into an argument with two teenagers about which monster

is stronger. Tako does, ultimately, let Kong return home at the end of the movie, feeling it's not worth the trouble to recapture him. Yet, he seems sad about it and maybe he should be. Who knows if Pacific Pharmaceuticals will survive much longer without their big "sponsor?" Also, since much of it is his fault, he could likely be facing legal repercussions like nobody's business.

The two main female characters, Sakurai's sister, Fumiko (Mie Hama), and her friend, Tamiye (Akiko Wakabayashi), are both very lovely, especially Fumiko, and it's small wonder why both of them were later chosen to be Bond girls in You Only Live Twice. As for their characters, however, it's not worth talking about Tamiye, as she's only in a few scenes and doesn't do much except comfort Fumiko when she's feeling lonely with nobody around and inform her that Fujita's ship has been

sunk. She does have a memorable moment after that when Fujita arrives back at the apartments and she's so shocked to see him alive that she drops a plate of cobbler. As for Fumiko, she's obviously very fond of Fujita, to the point where it really annoys Sakurai, especially when she sneaks off to see him and leaves her brother alone with no dinner. When Fumiko learns about the fate of Fujita's ship, she rushes to Hokkaido to search for him, unknowingly putting herself right in Godzilla's path when he comes ashore. She and everyone else has to evacuate the train they're taking, but she gets left behind with other stragglers after she falls out of the back of the truck transporting the passengers to safety. Somewhere along the way, Fumiko ends up completely alone, and tries to find her way through the forested hills, with Godzilla not too far behind (it looks less like he's purposefully chasing her and more like she just can't get out of his path). After a lot of frantic running, she almost passes out in a mountain stream, but is saved just in time by Fujita and the two of them take cover as Godzilla passes by (I can't help but find it funny when Fumiko then calls him an idiot, "baka," a bunch of times in rapid succession, sounding like a chicken as a result). 

Fumiko may recover from that harrowing experience but it isn't long before she finds herself in another one. Despite both Godzilla and King Kong ending up right outside Tokyo at one point, she refuses to evacuate as she doesn't think it would be worth it, saying the monsters aren't like natural disasters whose paths you can predict. Fujita decides for the two of them to stay together, which she naturally agrees to, but they quickly have no choice but to evacuate when Kong

manages to break through Tokyo's electrical blockade. In the chaos of the evacuation, Fumiko is separated from Fujita, and the train she's forced to take is grabbed and picked up by Kong. Spotting her hanging out the door, he picks her up and carries her around the city, as she continually screams bloody murder. After being stuck in his hand for what seems like an eternity, Fumiko is finally saved when the military uses missiles filled with the berry juice to knock Kong unconscious. Fujita rushes in and carries her to safety, after which she's taken to receive medical attention (though, I don't think any kind of therapy is going to be enough to help with the PTSD she's going to have after all she's been through).

The film has quite a large, ensemble cast, with a number of standout characters in supporting roles. One such character is Konno (Senkichi Omura), the jittery, Gilligan-like translator who speaks to the Faro Islanders for Sakurai and Furue and tries his best to convince the island chief to allow them to stay, although Sakurai himself ultimately has to do that. An actor who was very adept at comedy, Omura gets to show off his skills here, making numerous hilarious expressions on his naturally

silly-looking face during really stressful moments, like when he desperately tries to make his case to the chief but gets verbally beaten down by him each time, and when he becomes terrified, fearing the Faro Island god isn't happy when they hear the sound of thunder. In the American version, the character of Dr. Ohnuki (Sensho Matsumoto) is made out to be the Prime Minister but here, he's just another scientific advisor. He doesn't have that much importance in the plot, although he is the

one who decides that, with the electrical blockade destroyed and Tokyo now vulnerable, their best course of action is to bring Godzilla and King Kong together again and hope they'll kill each other in battle. Akihiko Hirata, who played Dr. Serizawa in the original Godzilla, returns to the series in the small role of Shigezawa, the minister of defense. He does little except give information and advice in his role of a knowledgeable authority figure, always on hand with some piece of information to explain something the press doesn't

understand. For instance, when Godzilla first emerges from the iceberg and heads back to Japan, Shigezawa explains how he was in a state of hibernation, giving examples of a frog which was believed to have hibernated for 200 years and lotus seeds that bloomed after thousands of years. Later, when King Kong feeds on the electricity from the electrical blockade, Shigezawa tells the press of a Swiss postman who was struck by lightning and his body was energized as a result. At the end of the movie, he also spouts some random moral lesson

about learning from the plants and animals, which explains absolutely nothing. Jun Tazaki, a burly, older actor who would pop in several of the following films, makes his first appearance in the series here as General Shinzo. Like Shigezawa, there isn't much to the character, as all he does is serve as the head of the defense forces and give orders, but I really buy this guy as a big, tough general (apparently so did others, as he was cast in such a role a number of times). And while he only appears in one scene, Yoshifumi Tajima makes his first series appearance here as the friendly captain of the ship Fujita uses for his business travels (his scene was cut from the American version).

Whenever their movies called for Caucasian characters, Toho and other studios often made use of Americans living in either Japan or other Asian countries; in King Kong vs. Godzilla, it was for the crew and scientists onboard the American submarine, the Seahawk, which crashes into the iceberg Godzilla is trapped in. Among them are Douglas Fein as the captain, Gary Collins as one of the submariners, Harold Conway as one of the scientists, and Osman Yusuf, a Turkish-born man

who appeared quite frequently in Toho's science fiction films, as another scientist. Unfortunately, these "actors" were often cast for how traditionally American they looked rather than for acting talent (if they even were actors to begin with), and that's painfully true here, as not one of these guys can act for the love of crap! Years before I saw the Japanese version, I read that even the English-speaking actors who had appeared in the original version had been dubbed over for the American release because of how bad their acting was, but I

could never, ever have imagined how truly awful it really is. I cringe during these scenes, as their inflections are all wrong and unconvincing, and the stereotypical American accents they put on are totally embarrassing. It's small wonder why a lot of them were hardly, if ever, seen on film again. The same goes for the American helicopter pilots who fly in to search for the Seahawk. The one guy named Al apparently knows he can't act, since he doesn't say anything at all, but the other guy? Whew. Plus, it's really awkward to hear him yell, "It's Gojira!" I know it was the Japanese version, but "Gojira" sounds best when spoken in a Japanese dialect, whereas in English, it just doesn't feel right.

Speaking of stereotypes, check out the Faro Islanders. Though their home is meant to be near the Solomon Islands, east of Papua New Guinea, they're actually Japanese actors wearing makeup to make them look dark-skinned! They also speak in a nonsensical dialect that, I swear, has instances of English words mixed in. It's not as horribly un-PC as the depictions of the Ainu people in past films, such as The Abominable Snowman (where it was so bad that the film's original Japanese version

remains unreleased to this day) and Varan, but it's still really odd to see and difficult to buy them as inhabitants of an island that's closer to Australia than Japan (but, then again, the depiction of the natives in the original King Kong isn't exactly culturally sensitive, either, so I guess it's all relative). In any case, there are several notable natives, including the stern chief (Yoshio Kosugi), who is quite intimidating when Sakurai, Furue, and Konno first show up as unwelcome visitors, but he

loses that vibe when he starts laughing happily upon being introduced to radio and cigarettes (the part where he first hears the radio and looks underneath it to try to figure out where the sound is coming from is pretty funny). Another is Chikiro (Haruo Hirano), a little native boy who first appears when he wants a cigarette like everyone else. At first, Sakurai groans about their having not brought candy and then actually give him a cigarette, along with Furue, telling him, "Okay, but if a man policeman asks, I know

nothing, right?" At that very moment, his mother (Akemi Negishi) takes one of the cigarettes from him, gives Sakurai and Furue something of a dirty look (I don't know how she'd know cigarettes are not for kids), and lights it herself. Speaking of her, later on, after she and Chikiro are nearly killed when a giant octopus attacks a hut they were in, she joins the other natives in the tribal dance that helps put King Kong out after he guzzles down the berry juice and... man. You get a shot of her wracking her hips back and forth and then doing the same with her torso while throwing her head back a couple of times, all while she's wearing a grass skirt and coconut bra, which is all she ever wears. Suggestive doesn't even begin to cover it, especially when she's joined by a bunch of  equally sexy native women, making for probably the most provocative moment ever in a Godzilla movie (in other words, don't get used to it; that's not what this series is about).

Though certainly colorful, the Japanese version's palette doesn't exactly pop right off the screen; rather, it's of a subdued, almost kind of drab, quality, often with lots of grays, tans, and browns (the latter is very prevalent during the climactic battle). But that's not my issue with it. Rather, like with the original versions of many of these films, I find that the print is way too dark at points, mostly in exterior nighttime scenes. Obviously, these scenes were shot that way to create atmosphere, and it does work, giving them a black, overcast

that's rather foreboding, but sometimes, they overboard with it. The biggest offender is the nighttime sequence on Faro Island where the giant octopus attacks the village and King Kong makes his first appearance in order to drive it away. There are instances where the picture is so dark that you almost can't tell what's going on, which makes getting screenshots for this review a pain (I tried my best but I apologize in advance if you're unable to make out what's going on in those shots). The sequence where Godzilla comes ashore in

Hokkaido and destroys Fumiko's train is also a little too dark at points, as are some parts of the sequence where both monsters attempt to get past Tokyo's electrical blockade. It was especially bad on the bootleg DVD I used to have, but even the print in the Criterion Collection set, which is very well remastered, has that problem. The American version, on the other hand (which has always looked better anyway), doesn't, meaning it's likely something to do with the film itself that they can't fix.

If you've ever watched the Japanese version, you'll notice that the picture quality sometimes shifts, jumping from pristine and nicely preserved to almost like VHS quality (the moments you see here immediately follow one another, showing just how frequent these shifts occur). The reason for this, unfortunately, is due to the actions of Ishiro Honda and Toho themselves. From 1969 to 1978, Toho hosted what they called their "Champion Festival," a matinee program intended for children that involved re-releases of past tokasatsu films, edited

down to shorter run-times so as to keep the easily distracted kids engaged, as well as so they could play cartoons and shorts during the program. In 1970, Honda cut 24 minutes from King Kong vs. Godzilla in order to enter it into the festival, but he cut it directly from the original camera negative, essentially destroying the highest quality source for that footage. Thus, when the film was first released on home video in Japan in the 80's, they had to make due with 16mm sources of the deleted

material. Over the decades, Toho would re-release the movie on various formats and, with each one, it would be slightly improved, thanks to the discovery of 35mm reels of the deleted footage, until finally, in 2016, a 4K remaster of a complete 35mm version was aired on Japanese television. However, I don't think that's the version used in the Criterion Collection set, as the jumps in quality are still evident here.

As you would also get with the next film, Mothra vs. Godzilla, King Kong vs. Godzilla gives us a look at Tokyo when Japan's economy was once again thriving and the country had now almost totally recovered from World War II, with Sakurai, Fumiko, Fujita, and Tamiye living in nice apartments in the bustling city, and the offices and studios of Tokyo Television and Pacific Pharmaceuticals full of people hard at work. One memorable scene in the latter is when Tako arranges for a big sendoff party and press

conference for the "expedition" to Faro Island. He completely decks the place out in decorations, tables and booths full of refreshments, and a special spot for the press conference, which ends up not happening. There are also plenty of scenes set onboard ships, be they the interiors of the Seahawk submarine, those of the Shinsei Maru II, the ship which Fujita uses in his job, and the interiors and main deck of the ship that takes Sakurai and Furue to Faro Island, the latter of which was a full-scale set left over from a war

movie. Notably, this was the first Godzilla movie to make use of the "Big Pool," an enormous, outdoor water tank which Eiji Tsuburaya had built in 1959, and it would be used in every film up to the end of the Millennium series. Here, it not only effectively creates the look and feel of the open ocean but also made for a convincing representation of the iceberg-filled Bering Sea for the sequence of the Seahawk crashing into the berg containing Godzilla and when he attacks the military base after being released. And, as you often do in these films, you have a fair number of scenes in conference rooms and makeshift military headquarters.

Ishiro Honda had hoped to shoot the exteriors for Faro Island in an exotic location like Sri Lanka, but because licensing the character of King Kong took so much of the budget, most of the scenes, particularly in the native village, were shot on a Toho soundstage. The village is definitely based on the one in the original King Kong: a big wall (this one not nearly as solid or dense) at the head of a large clearing where the natives pray to various totems, use big millstones to grind up the berries into juice, which they then store in large clay pots,

and live in small straw huts, some of which are out near the rocky shore. There was, however, some actual location shooting, mostly in the scenes where the group first arrives on the island's shore and when they head into the island interior, which were shot on Oshima Island. A lot of stage-work was still used for the latter but they do blend together fairly nicely. Some other actual location work was done in a heavily forested and rugged area near the town of Gotenba, on the southeastern

side of Mt. Fuji. Here, they shot the live-action sections of Godzilla's attack on the train in Hokkaido, Fumiko fleeing from him (some of that was shot by Honda's assistant director, Koji Kajita, as Honda himself had gotten badly hurt in a hiking accident in the mountains), the sequence where the military attempts to trap him in an enormous pit, and the final battle at Mt. Fuji.

Tonally, King Kong vs. Godzilla marks a major shift in both the Godzilla franchise and Toho's other tokasatsu films of the time. In stark contrast to the extremely dark and brooding original Godzilla and the straightforward, if bland, Godzilla Raids Again, this is a very light and comical affair, with satirical elements that go more for pure entertainment. Ishiro Honda himself even once said his main intention was to make a movie that was fun and Toho was more than happy to go along with that sentiment. It also takes a lot of cues from

a series of "salaryman" comedies that were very successful for Toho at the time (some of the actors, like Tadao Takashima and Yu Fujiki, had appeared in those movies). However, the main reason for the change was due to Shinichi Sekizawa, who not only injected the screenplay with its sense of humor but doubled down on what he'd proven with his script for Mothra the previous year: monster movies didn't always have to be grim and somber, and the monsters themselves could be treated as actual characters and even heroes. Ergo, not only

do a lot of the human characters act silly here, but the same also goes for King Kong and Godzilla, who sometimes come off as out and out buffoons. Eiji Tsuburaya was also enthusiastic about moving the series in this direction in order to appeal to children, whom he adored; save for the next film, from here on out, he made sure to have the suit actors throw in silly, anthropomorphic actions whenever the opportunity presented itself. However, some members of Tsuburaya's crew thought he went too far with it, and they weren't

the only ones. Like I said earlier, Honda, despite being all for making an entertaining film, didn't think the monsters should be dumbed down as a result. To this day, fans are often split on whether they prefer the lighter, more family-oriented movies or the dark, serious ones, like the original Godzilla and some of the films in the Heisei and Millennium eras. Personally, I think there's room for both. As much as I enjoy the dark and somber feeling of the original movie, as well as others like

The Return of Godzilla, I'm also not above just having fun while watching a Godzilla film and I think a good majority of the more light-hearted entries deliver on that successfully. And as much as I do enjoy him when he's a bad-ass bringer of death and destruction, I also enjoy seeing Godzilla act more human-like and comical at times, as I think it's pretty frigging funny and entertaining... if it's done right. Plus, since he's the center of the franchise, it's only natural he would develop a

personality, as it would get pretty boring if he didn't (a major problem with many of the entries in the Millennium series). Audiences of the time didn't seem to have a problem with it either and thus, save for notable exceptions here and there, the Showa series would run through many variations of this tone for the rest of its run.

The film is sometimes shot and edited in a manner that's energetic as well as surprisingly clever. It pulls a trick on you right at the start, as after the opening credits, it slowly zooms in on a very fake-looking Earth, as a booming, God-like voice tells us how quickly it revolves and then asks the question of what were to happen if it suddenly stopped. By this point, the camera is right on the planet, truly revealing how fake it looks, when it does, indeed, stop spinning, and the sounds of people screaming are heard. That's when the host

of the Wonderful World Series steps out in front of it, revealing that what you were looking at was just a globe used in the opening of an episode (the American version's handling of this would prove to be horribly clumsy, defeating the purpose). Another less seamless but still interesting transition occurs just a few minutes later, as the movie cuts from the Seahawk heading towards the strange, glowing iceberg, to the Pacific Pharmaceuticals commercial that Sakurai got roped into participating in. And when Godzilla first emerges from the iceberg, we get the traditional montage of printing newspapers with bold headlines about the situation.

At its core, King Kong vs. Godzilla was written as a satire on advertising and marketing, with the monsters' effects on Japan's media front and center, to the point where you could also see a battle happening between them in the press, as the highest amount of publicity goes back and forth between Pacific Pharmaceutical's competitors in their coverage of Godzilla and their own expedition for King Kong. Such a thing was meant as a jab at the constant "ratings wars" that were frequent in Japanese television programming of the

time, with Ishiro Honda himself commenting, "People were making a big deal of out ratings. But my own view of TV shows was that they did not take the viewer seriously, that they took the audience for granted." Nowhere is this sentiment more evident than in how the monsters' very confrontation is a result of one man's greed and desire for his company's public profile to be much higher. Tako was already obsessed with outdoing his competitors and getting the audience's attention in any way he could, but the enormous

exposure that Kong and his bout with Godzilla will bring to Pacific Pharmaceuticals means that all the death and property damage are worth it to him. Let's also not forget how he is directly responsible for all of the terror and destruction Kong himself causes, as it was his idea to find and bring him to Japan. Again, that's no skin off his nose, with him actively trying to ensure that Kong isn't killed. Some may say that Tako is portrayed as so over the top and crazy that it kind of undermines the satire's

effectiveness, but I think if he'd been more straightforward, it wouldn't have been as easy to enjoy him and not think about all the pain and suffering he's responsible for. And while I didn't like or understand it initially, I now have an appreciation for why this particular movie was used as a vehicle for such commentary. I mean, why not? If you had two enormous, unique creatures appear at the same time and threaten to fight each other, the press would have a field day

with it, with various sources deciding to cover different monsters, depending on which one seems to be most popular with the public. Indeed, despite all the destruction Godzilla causes upon breaking out of the iceberg, Obayashi, at one point, says there's a movie to be made as a result of all the press coverage. You may think it a ridiculous notion that either monster could gain a modicum of popularity with the very public they're threatening but, think about it: you've got a giant ape and a gigantic, radioactive dinosaur. Wouldn't either one of those appeal to certain groups, despite how potentially dangerous they are to national security?

The film also pokes fun at its very premise by acknowledging how absurd it is; instead of a clash of two legendary titans, it's treated as though it were an big wrestling match. Now, while I personally think a battle between, arguably, the two greatest movie monsters of all time should be handled with a little more respect and dignity, the wrestling match angle is effective for what it is. Not only are there many discussions throughout the film about which monster is the strongest, as if they're two popular wrestlers who each have their

own diehard fans (even Tako gets into such an argument), and the monsters themselves fight like wrestlers, but their first confrontation, where they come towards each other from either side and square off and taunt each other, feels like the bigger-than-life prelude to such an event. This was not lost on Toho, as they had the film's marketing play it up. The theatrical trailer has camerawork that zooms in on the monsters while they're posing from their respective corners, and the studio also

put out promotional material like excerpts from supposed press conferences, with quotes meant to be King Kong and Godzilla challenging and trash-talking each other. While I still would have liked a more serious approach to this battle, that alone makes it hard not to smile and get caught up in the vibe they were trying to create.

Some have read the bout between King Kong and Godzilla, both icons of their respective countries, as having political implications that signify the relationship between Japan and the United States, especially since the film was made in the wake of the Anpo protests against the United States-Japan Security Treaty. However, whether or not Ishiro Honda himself held such a point of view changes from one source to another. Sometimes, I've read that at least one member of the crew said he did, whereas in their book, Ishiro Honda: A Life in

Film, From Godzilla to Kurosawa, Steve Ryfle and Ed Godziszewski refute this by noting that Kong is portrayed as a Japanese monster by proxy, helping defeat Godzilla and save Japan by default in his own struggle for survival. Plus, even if you wanted to stick with the symbolism regardless of the filmmakers' intentions, I personally feel there's one little detail that skewers the whole idea: in both versions of the film, Kong, the monster meant to be symbolic of America, wins. If there were some serious political motivations behind the bout, why

would Japanese filmmakers allow the American monster to win? You could suggest that Honda possibly intended for the outcome to symbolize Japan's defeat at the hands of the U.S. at the end of World War II, another metaphor he may or may not have had in mind, but, at the same time, I find it hard to believe that a country with as much pride as Japan would make a politically charged monster movie where the America one succeeds in the end (though maybe I don't know as much about Japan

as I should, which is possible). There's also a more practical reason as to why Kong comes out on top in the end: not only was he much more popular and had more history behind him than Godzilla at the time, but he's the more heroic of the two monsters. Despite how goofy he sometimes acts in this movie, Godzilla was still a threat to Japan at this point, and even though everyone really hopes the two of them will kill each other in their fight, Kong is ultimately used as a kind of weapon to defeat 

Godzilla. Some argue that, because we don't see the actual end of the fight due to the monsters falling into the ocean, it's not clear who won exactly, but Toho confirmed Kong was indeed the winner in their brochures for the international sales market (though in later years, such as in a 1984 book called Definitive Edition Godzilla Introduction, Tomoyuki Tanaka said the outcome was likely a draw). In the end, despite whatever Honda really intended or what anyone else may get from the film, the battle between Kong and Godzilla is nothing more than a lucrative gimmick to sell film tickets.

While we're on the subject, let's address that long-lived, persistent urban legend about the film's ending. For decades, it was claimed that the two versions each have a different monster winning the climactic fight, with Kong coming out on top in the American version and Godzilla winning in the Japanese version. I remember first reading that in both the Godzilla and King Kong Crestwood House monster books, and since these books were written by adults who, of course, were more well-informed than I was, I naively accepted it as truth.

I thought as much for years and often wished I could somehow see the version where Godzilla wins. But, as I said back in the introduction, it wasn't until I read the Godzilla Compendium when I was ten that I learned the supposed dual-ending was nothing more than a myth and Kong is the victor in both versions. Honestly, I don't remember having much of a reaction to learning that. You'd think I would have been rather surprised but, I guess by that point, I had grown somewhat complacent and felt that, even if the rumor was

true, there was no way I could see that version anyway. In any case, I was far from the only one who believed it. From what I can gather, it was first mentioned in an issue of Spacemen magazine, a sister magazine of the more well-known Famous Monsters of Filmland, and was reprinted in a couple of issues of Famous Monsters in the 1970's. From there, it eventually became accepted as fact in mainstream pop-culture and would persist for years to come, going so far as to be the answer to a

Trivial Pursuit question and, as late as 1995, was once again discussed as such in both the New York and L.A. Times. Since the internet didn't exist and it was virtually impossible to see the Japanese versions of any Godzilla films back then, it's small wonder the rumor persisted as long as it did. But once the Japanese version became more widely available in the U.S. from bootleg websites and dealers before it finally got an official release, as well as with the internet now allowing information to reach farther and quicker, the myth has slowly but surely been dispelled. There are likely many who still haven't seen the Japanese version but, if you're one of them, take it from me and other hardcore Godzilla fans when we say that Kong wins in both versions.

An interesting question is, how did the dual-ending rumor get started in the first place? We know that it was first reported in a film magazine, but how did people get that idea to begin with? Nobody really knows. It's possible that Henry Saperstein, an American producer who would become heavily involved in later Toho productions such as Godzilla vs. Monster Zero, Frankenstein Conquers the World, and The War of the Gargantuas, stated it in the press a few years after the American version's release. It also could have been a result of that perceived national symbolism of the monsters' battle and how it thus would've seemed odd for the Japanese filmmakers to allow the American monster to win. With that in mind, as well as how the films were still being extensively altered at this point for their U.S. releases (as we'll see, while the ending remains the same, the two versions of King Kong vs. Godzilla are very different), it wouldn't have been far-fetched to figure that one such alteration was the ending.

While he wouldn't begin his gradual transition from bad guy to good guy for another two films, Godzilla is still portrayed here with a feeling of anthropomorphic exuberance and flair, rather than inhuman menace. Granted, when he first emerges from the iceberg, he wastes a nearby base and destroys a train upon arriving in Japan, but during his first fight with King Kong, there's a notable change in his demeanor. Upon seeing Kong, he becomes very excited, like an overgrown kid who's found somebody to "play" with. He then shows off his atomic breath by blowing up a helicopter that gets too close and, again, gestures very excitedly, flailing his arms and virtually bouncing in place. Even when Kong tosses boulders at him, Godzilla retains his jolly mood and ignites the trees in front of him, singeing Kong's fur. After doing it a second time, he roars happily, bounces his upper body up and down like he's had too much caffeine, and even appears to clap his hands, before continuing on his way, roaring at the slowly retreating Kong, as if mocking him. Godzilla continues seeming energetic and playful when he enters the area where the military have set a trap, looking around in a curious manner and flopping his tail up and down. Even after falling into the army's pit, getting blasted, and climbing out of it, his mood doesn't seem to sour at all. It's as if he were angry and strictly out for revenge against Japan when he first escaped the iceberg but now, after having some fun with Kong, his spirits have been lifted and he's now causing destruction purely for his own entertainment. That happiness diminishes a bit when he's unable to get by the electrical blockade surrounding Tokyo, but seems to come back in an instant when he sees the helicopters carrying Kong towards him at Mt. Fuji. He looks very happy to see Kong again and starts walking towards him before he's dropped from the helicopters. Even though Kong slides right into him after being dropped and sends him tumbling, Godzilla eagerly gets back up and starts chasing the ape. Following him around a bend, he curiously looks around for Kong, unaware that he's hiding beneath a ledge behind him, and after he manages to throw the ape off of his tail when he grabs it, Godzilla, again, starts bouncing up and down, clapping his hands. Again, it's like he's a kid who was bored and is now happy to have a "playmate," i.e. someone he can rough up. Throughout the fight, while Kong is seriously trying to defend himself and defeat his adversary, Godzilla just seems to be having an absolute ball, be it when he's singeing Kong's fur with his atomic breath, rolling down the mountainside while grappling with him, or trying to bury him in rocks while whacking him with his tail and setting fire to the trees around him. But when Kong gets his strength back from the lightning, Godzilla goes on the defensive and becomes as leery of the ape as Kong was of him.

In stark contrast to the rather lackluster one he had in Godzilla Raids Again, Godzilla's design here is really cool. He's much bulkier, with very large hands and bright white claws, and he looks as much like an actual dinosaur as he ever would, especially in the face and head. The face is a big reason why I think he seems really happy throughout the film, as he often looks like he has a big smile. Like before, the effects crew made some puppet heads for shots of Godzilla blasting his atomic breath, but only one instance was used in

the final film. Like before, the puppet head looks very different from the actual suit, coming across as more menacing, in this case. Going back to the overall look, there were many changes to the details of the first two suits that stuck for the rest of the Showa series: the ears were removed, the number of toes on the feet were reduced from four to three, and the middle row of dorsal plates were made very large, while the side rows were significantly smaller. Also, being that this is

Godzilla's first color film, not only can we now see that he's gray in color but also that his atomic breath and his glowing dorsal plates are blue. And speaking of which, while it's still an "atomic breath" and not yet the concentrated beam of energy it would become, it's now beginning to look more like a beam when he blasts it. 

The changes made to Godzilla's character and appearance were meant as a way of keeping with the lighter, more comical tone of this film. Another was altering his roar from a deep, threatening bellow to a high-pitched cry. While he still makes some threatening sounds here, such as one roar that's very low and angry-sounding and the same roar he made when he was almost completely buried in ice in the previous film, for the most part, this film is the introduction of the high-pitched, screeching vocalization that would become Godzilla's most iconic sound and would last through the rest of the Showa series, with slight tweaks here and there. His main roar has a couple of variations to it, alternating between a soft ending tone to a harsher one, and there's another roar that starts like normal but follows through with a very empty, shallow sound. And he often belts out the start of his cry and then stops, sounding like he's barking.

The expedition to Faro Island to find a giant creature that purportedly lives there is basically a retelling of the original King Kong's story, right down to Kong eventually being knocked out, captured, and brought back to civilization. However, the story changes dramatically en route to Japan, where he manages to escape the raft and makes his way to the mainland. Like I said, between the two of them, Kong seems to be the monster with the more severe personality. While Godzilla acts like a big kid during the majority of their encounters, Kong isn't playing around at all. As is often the case with him, he's been taken from his home and is stuck in a strange land, but here, he's also having run-ins with another monster that can spew radioactive fire hot enough to severely singe his fur. This forces him to really defend himself and try to defeat this very tough opponent he's been put up against, further adding to that sense of pathos he always has about him here. When he and Godzilla first meet up, Kong attempts to intimidate him by pounding his chest and roaring, but when Godzilla blows up a passing helicopter with his atomic breath, Kong is clearly stunned and realizes this isn't going to be an easy win. And when he feels the full brunt of Godzilla's power, he knows he's beaten and walks away while rubbing his head, befuddled over having never encountered a foe like this. When Kong is forced to fight Godzilla again at Mt. Fuji, he seems to panic and attempt to get away, but we then see he's hiding and waiting for an opportunity to get the drop on him, now that he knows what he's capable of. Granted, Godzilla still manages to gain the upper hand during the first half of their fight, but Kong doesn't give up and keeps coming at him, and when he's revitalized by the lightning, he gives Godzilla some serious payback.

For an ape, Kong sure knows how to fight, and that's due to the actor playing him: Shoichi Hirose, an extremely strong and muscular man (his nickname was "Solomon") who was adept at martial arts. He really gets to show off his amazing physical abilities here, particularly in a moment during the latter half of the climactic battle where Kong flips Godzilla over his shoulder. Instead of an empty suit, Haruo Nakajima was actually inside it and got flipped hard on his back, a feat Hirose was particularly proud of. But, despite how

physically impressive Hirose's performance is, there are aspects to Kong's character here I don't care for. First, I don't like how he's basically an alcoholic when it comes to the Faro Island berry juice, guzzling it down to the point where he passes out. I know they needed a way for Sakurai and Furue to bring him back to Japan but couldn't they have incapacitated him in a more dignified manner? And his being knocked out by the military exploding rockets filled with the juice above his head rather undermines his power (though, I guess

it's better than making him susceptible to hypnosis, as in the later Toho Kong film, King Kong Escapes). Second, him picking up Fumiko while he's rampaging through Tokyo is very random and contrived. I can't fault the filmmakers themselves, as that was a mandate from RKO, but it still comes out of nowhere, as at no point beforehand did it seem like this Kong had an interest in human females. So what was it about Fumiko that infatuated him? (Mie Hama is really beautiful,

though, so I guess Kong just has good taste.) And finally, speaking of random and contrived: Kong draws strength from electricity. This was a holdover from the original Frankenstein concept, which they try to explain in context here by having Dr. Ohnuki say the shock from Tokyo's electrical blockade energized his body, but it's just nonsensical, even for this kind of movie. I've never liked it, when I was a kid, and I especially don't like how Godzilla has Kong on the ropes during the big fight but then, he's revitalized by lightning from a passing storm and, with electrical power now coursing through his fingertips, totally dominates Godzilla. It's the very definition of a deus ex machina.

A major con against the film is that the King Kong suit is one of the weakest monster suits ever produced for a Toho kaiju film. Since he intended for it to appeal more to kids, Eiji Tsuburaya didn't want Kong to look too scary, but man, this is just embarrassing. Kong looks so moldy and moth-bitten, and he looks especially bad when he's soaking wet in the scene where the raft is blown up. The details aren't any better: his chest looks pretty fake, like it's made of plastic, the hands don't look much better, especially in close-up, and I

wish his fur was black, like an actual gorilla, instead of reddish-brown, as it was yak hair. In some distant shots, they gave the suit longer arms, but these look silly, coming off as too long and floppy. But the worst thing about the suit is the head and face. Another stipulation by RKO was that they had to give this Kong a different face from the original, so it was based on that of a Japanese macaque. And it's... well, look at it! It's so expressionless and fake-looking, and at some point, it looks as if Kong's cheeks have been bruised, as

they suddenly seem kind of red and puffy, and stay that way for the rest of the movie (I've read the suit had two separate masks, so maybe that's the reason). They managed to get a little more expression out of the small puppet heads, like when Kong blinks in surprise after Godzilla shoots his atomic breath and when he appears to smack his lips in satisfaction after drinking the berry juice, but the design still sucks (in fact, expressiveness aside, I think those puppet heads

look a little worse than the suit's). Like in the original King Kong, they also built a life-size prop hand for when Kong carries Fumiko around, which isn't great but the one in the original didn't look that awesome, either. I do, however, really like Kong's roar, which is a very loud, thunderous, and threatening lion-like bellow, which he often does while beating on his chest. He also has some short, snorting growls, as well as a rather weird, sliding sort of growl/roar and a much shorter version of his main roar that he does occasionally. These sounds were later modified and used for the cries of other monsters, such as both Sanda and Gaira in The War of the Gargantuas and King Caesar in Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla.

Given how much of an influence the original King Kong was on him, it's no surprise that Eiji Tsuburaya completely cleared his schedule for the chance to work on King Kong vs. Godzilla. Moreover, both he and Ishiro Honda originally considered doing much of the special effects work through stop-motion, but as was the case with the original Godzilla, they simply didn't have the time or money to make it viable. But, while it's hard not to appreciate Tsuburaya's enthusiasm for the project, I'd be lying if I said the special effects were

absolutely flawless; instead, they're more half and half. On the plus side, the models and miniatures are top notch and look great when they're smashed or set on fire, chief among them being the full-scale Atami Castle that Kong and Godzilla demolish at the end of their battle. The miniature sets are also really good in and of themselves, especially the one for the base Godzilla attacks, Tokyo, and the landscape around Mt. Fuji. And there are some nice instances of animation for the eerie shots of the glowing iceberg housing

Godzilla, Godzilla's atomic breath and glowing spines, and Kong's electrical power-up and sparking fingertips. Unfortunately, not only is the King Kong suit horrendous but there are also some very bad matting and compositing effects for shots where the actors are onscreen with the monsters. They clearly hadn't yet mastered doing blue screen shots on color film, as the matted elements have either a very obvious blue color and outline or a washed out look that truly sticks out like a sore thumb. Another instance of bad, as well as

downright weird, effects comes after Kong has been knocked out in Tokyo and the soldiers are tying long cables of Fujita's special wire all around him in order to transport him to Mt. Fuji. The soldiers seen running back and forth across Kong's chest look like flickering, looping, herky-jerky bits of animation, and there's also some noticeable flickering in front of the composited soldiers at the base of Kong's body (those soldiers themselves look very blue). And when Kong is carrying

Fumiko around in his hand, shots where you see both her and all of Kong were done with Shoichi Hirose carrying around a very unconvincing doll. When it's a really far-off shot, it works well enough, since you can't see it in any detail, but when you get right in on it, such as in a shot where Kong is looking down at her in his hand, it's obvious it's a little toy whose hands they're just slightly manipulating. It looks the most like a doll in the close-up of Kong's hand slowly loosening his grip on her after he's completely unconscious.

While they weren't able to use it for the entire film, there are a couple of brief moments of stop-motion, such as when the giant octopus on Faro Island grabs one of the natives and swings him around before flinging him into the dirt and a moment in the final battle where Godzilla kicks Kong and sends him rolling backwards down the side of Mt. Fuji. The latter moment is great simply because it's interesting to see Godzilla done in stop-motion, but the animation of the octopus' tentacle doesn't integrate well with the big, practical tentacles they

used or when it's matted in front of the footage of the real octopus on a miniature set, and the way the native gets grabbed looks so awkward. And yes, Tsuburaya and his team took a cue from movies like Tarantula, The Beginning of the End, and The Giant Gila Monster and put several real octopi on a miniature set and filmed them as they moved around, getting them to do so either by blowing hot air or using the heat from bright lights. Of the four octopi that were used in all, at least one ended up being Tsuburaya's dinner, something I'm sure

PETA would have a stroke about (hey, the Japanese love their sushi). For shots of both the octopus and Kong during their brief battle, some rubber octopi were used, one of which was covered in plastic wrap to give the impression of slime and mucus. It's obviously fake, as the thing barely moves in those shots, and the plastic wrap makes it seem like the octopus inexplicably changes color from brownish-red to white. On a brief side-note, this would start a trend in Toho's monster movies where

a giant octopus would show up, as one would appear in an alternate ending for Frankenstein Conquers the World and in the opening of The War of the Gargantuas before Gaira makes his first appearance. Going back to Kong and Godzilla one last time, there are some distant shots of them during the latter part of the final battle where they're clearly two rod-puppets being moved up and down to simulate fighting (sometimes, it looks like they're humping each other!).

An issue I have with the Japanese version that I feel the American version improves upon is the handling of the sequence leading up to Godzilla's first appearance. While the American version edits it down into one long scene, here it cuts back and forth during much of the first act, making for a very choppy sequence and also making it seem as though it takes days for the submarine to approach the iceberg, slam into it, and for Godzilla to break his way out. In any case, the buildup during the

sequence is fairly well done. After being told the water temperature is unusually warm, at 18 degrees Centigrade, the Seahawk's captain is then told of a strange light behind one of the icebergs. Looking through the periscope, he sees that one of the icebergs is glowing, alternating from a small, yellowish light to a blue one that envelops much of the berg's front. One of the scientists onboard says it resembles a light generated by nuclear reactors. After being told they're having a Geiger response,

the captain orders the submarine to dive down, as they continue their approach towards the iceberg. We then leave the Seahawk for a little bit (apparently long enough for news of the glowing iceberg to make it back to Japan, given how Fujita reads about it in the newspaper), and when we cut back to it, they crash into its side. The captain orders the emergency lights turned on and asks all stations to report damage. Though the sub is okay, for the most part, they're then shaken by a tremor. We cut away again, though not for as long, and

when we come back, the ice and snow on the berg begins to crumble and break apart, as the base flashes with a thunder-like crackle. The Seahawk's rotor stops working and the captain is also told one of the engines is damaged beyond repair. At the urging of one of the scientists, he orders the deployment of a mayday water signal, which is a green-yellow dye that creates a marker in front of the iceberg (when I was a kid and saw this green, urine-like liquid drift up from around the sub, I thought it was Godzilla relieving himself from

inside the iceberg!). However, things escalate, as the Geiger response climbs and the radar goes out. They're then hit by some more shaking which damages the atomic fuel room, while the captain gets a report about a "mysterious object." He demands they repeat the report, only to hear that the upper deck is damaged. The emergency lights go out and water begins rushing down from a ladder leading to an upper deck. The captain orders everyone to abandon ship, but hears that the escape hatch is jammed, i.e. they're trapped. Fire spreads through the bridge's roof, as Godzilla's roar is heard. 

Meanwhile, we get a little bit of the Pacifical Pharmaceuticals expedition as they arrive at Faro Island. Immediately after coming ashore, Sakurai, Furue, and Konno are taken prisoner by the natives (all in full view of the seamen who brought them ashore as they paddle back to the ship, but they seem to be like, "Not our problem,") and brought before the chief. Although he orders them to leave immediately, Sakurai is able to smooth things over and they're allowed to stay. But when the nattives

hear the sound of thunder from a storm above the island's mountains, they get back to their worshiping, prompting Sakurai to believe their god is nothing more than the lightning itself. But when they hear King Kong's ferocious roar, Sakurai quickly changes his tune. Eventually, we get back to the Bering Sea, after Fujita and the crew of the Shinsei Maru II learn that the Seahawk has "disappeared." An American rescue helicopter arrives in the area and quickly finds the marker

floating in front of the iceberg. They go down for a closer look, just in time to see Godzilla burst his way out of the iceberg (though he's played, as usual, by Haruo Nakajima for the majority of the movie, Katsumi Tezuka is said to have played him in this first appearance). After completely freeing himself, Godzilla heads for a nearby Arctic base, which immediately goes into action, deploying a squadron of tanks and firing on him with onshore gun turrets as he approaches. Naturally, he isn't fazed by this, and once he comes ashore, he makes

short work of some of the tanks with his atomic breath, sending the others into immediate retreat. He starts tearing the base apart, crushing small structures with his feet and tail, toppling a tower over with the latter, and setting fire to more structures with his atomic breath, as the tanks retreat down into the bunker. He then turns around and creates another fire atop a hill that then spreads through the nearby trees and engulfs a pair of gas tanks, which promptly explode.

Back on Faro Island, Sakurai, Furue, Konno, and some of the natives head into the interior in order to find King Kong and, at the very least, film him. During this section, Sakurai and Furue truly come off like a Japanese Abbott and Costello or Laurel and Hardy, with Furue annoying Sakurai with his cowardice and jumping at every sound he hears. At one point, as they make their way across a narrow ledge along a cliff, they're startled by a sudden thunderclap and flash of lightning, with Furue

falling to the ground. When he gets back up, he panics, swinging around a large lizard that he thinks is attacking him, while Sakurai tells him to throw it. He does and Sakurai follows that up by shooting it (which I didn't think was necessary), when Kong's bellow echoes across the mountains. The camera pans up and you see a brief glimpse of him behind the peak, when he causes a massive landslide that sends them running back to the village in a panic, as a storm rages above them.

In order to help the hysterical and apparently feverish Furue get some rest, Konno has the native boy, Chikiro, go and fetch some of the berry juice. He runs out to a hut near the shore and manages to slip through the bolted door, when his mother appears, calling for him. Unbeknownst to either of them, a huge octopus (officially named Oodako), has come ashore and is attracted by the scent of the juice. Inside the hut, Chikiro manages to fill a pot with the juice, only to drop and break it, forcing

him to fill up another one. His mother reaches the hut and, figuring he's inside, forces her way in. Unaware that the octopus is approaching, she confronts her son and, after a short argument, she's about to force him to leave, when the roof caves in as the octopus slithers across the hut. They both manage to avoid being crushed, as the natives go berserk upon realizing what's happening. They rush to face the monster, while Sakurai learns what's going on and tells Furue (since their boss' name, "Tako," is the Japanese word for "octopus," Furue

initially thinks he's suddenly shown up on the island), as he grabs some rifles and flares. The octopus pays no attention whatsoever to the spears the natives throw at it and easily shrugs off the rifle shots Sakurai gives it. At one point, the octopus grabs a native with its tentacle and flings him around in the air before tossing him back on the ground. The others get the guy to safety and Sakurai shoots the octopus several more times before deciding to use flares, while the natives continue to throw spears. Like before, this does nothing, but in the meantime, Chikiro and his mother manage to escape the hut before the octopus completely crushes it. 

The others continue trying to drive the monster off, with both Sakurai and Furue firing on it, when they suddenly hear King Kong's roar. They run for cover as the giant ape appears behind the great wall and, pounding his chest, easily break his way through it. Tossing a couple of sections of the wall at the octopus, Kong stomps towards it, crushing some pots filled with the berry juice at the base of the wall. The octopus, which had been silent up to this point, save for its slimy slithering noises, emits

a loud, chocking sound as Kong approaches but the big ape isn't at all intimidated. He stomps the ground right in front of it before picking it up. Then, for some reason, Kong lifts it above his head and appears to allow it to grab him. (When I watched this movie with my step-cousin back when we were kids, he said he thought Kong lifted the octopus up to throw it and it grabbed his head before he could. I guess that's possible, but it looks as though Kong deliberately tries to put the octopus

on his head like a hat and then throws it down after it grabs him and slimes his head up. Maybe they were trying to go for what my step-cousin was talking about but just didn't pull it off well.) Kong struggles with the octopus before finally flinging it back to the ground. The octopus stands its ground and continues to "chock" at Kong, even after he throws a couple of boulders at it. Finally, he gets it to leave by growling back at it, and after it's slipped away, he pounds his chest while roaring triumphantly. Sniffing around, Kong then spies

some jugs of the berry juice and chugs down four in all, as Sakurai, Furue, Konno, and the natives watch. As he becomes tipsy and drowsy, the chief quietly motions for everyone to approach and the natives begin playing a tribal song for him. He promptly collapses to the ground and falls flat on his back into a drunken sleep. Having seen this, Sakurai horrifies Furue by coming up with the idea of building a raft in order to float Kong to the ship.

Still unconscious, Kong is now on his way to Japan, being towed behind Sakurai and Furue's ship (these shots were achieved by strapping Shoichi Hirsoe in the suit to a miniature raft and having him towed by an impressive ten-meter long model boat with a motor). Tako flies out to the ship via helicopter and joins the party, only for them to receive a visit from the Japanese Navy, who tell Tako that Kong is not allowed to enter Japan and that he's also considered "smuggled goods,"; Tako

passes out upon hearing this. In the midst of this, Fumiko, hearing that the Shinsei Maru II was sunk, likely by Godzilla, goes to Hokkaido to search for Fujita. Fujita, in turn, returns home, having gotten off at another port before the ship sank, and upon learning of what's happening, as well as that Godzilla has come ashore in Matsushima, races in a jeep to save Fumiko. Sure enough, Fumiko's train is right in Godzilla's path, as he walks along the tracks up ahead. A military helictoper alerts the 

train of this and it comes to a screeching halt, throwing many of the passengers out of their seats and knocking their luggage out of the overhead compartments. Informed of what's going on, they scramble to evacuate. As Godzilla walks over a hillside and stomps down the tracks towards the stationary train, destroying some of the power lines as he goes, the passengers crowd into various vehicles, such as buses and trucks, in order to be driven to safety. Fumiko either falls or is yanked out of the back of a severely overcrowded truck

and desperately runs after it, pleading for them to stop, while Godzilla reaches the train, crushing it with his feet. Fujita, after being momentarily stopped, manages to get past a military roadblock when he hears one of the truck drivers mention there are fourteen or fifteen stragglers on the old highway. Meanwhile, a distressed Fumiko attempts to escape through the hills, only to turn and scream when she sees Godzilla not too far behind her and approaching fast. Fujita comes upon the stragglers but, not seeing Fumiko, asks one of them if there

are any left and he tells him of a girl who got separated from them. He drives on, as Fumiko runs a little further, but then, wading through a mountain stream, almost passes out on a large stone from exhaustion, with Godzilla now apparently only a few yards away. Fortunately for her, Fujita arrives, gets her out of the stream, and carries her over to his jeep. He backs into a secluded spot in the treeline and they watch as Godzilla passes by.

While the military decide how best to deal with Godzilla, General Shinzo receives word that King Kong is beginning to awaken on the raft. Sure enough, we see Kong thrashing about, much to the horror of the crew, Sakurai, Furue, and especially Tako. The captain orders the cables attaching the raft to the ship cut, and then, Sakurai decides to blow up the dynamite placed on the raft. Tako is staunchly against this, leading to an argument that involves Furue turning a rifle on him, and a struggle between him and Sakurai over the switch.

Ironically, Tako himself hits the switch when he falls on it during the struggle... and nothing happens. Sakurai and Furue begin firing at the TNT with their rifles, with Tako unable to do anything to stop them, and eventually, the raft explodes. But, after a few seconds of silence, Kong emerges from the sea, looking like a large drowned rat but alive, much to Tako's glee. Kong heads for the mainland, where Shinzo is supervising the digging of an enormous pit, filled with dynamite and poison gas, that's meant as a trap for Godzilla.

He learns of Kong's escape and landing on the Chiba coast, and we then see him destroying several towns as he races through the countryside, heading towards Nasu, which is Godzilla's current location. With Tako, Sakurai, and Furue following him, Kong encounters Godzilla in a large, forested valley, approaching his foe as he growls and throws out his chest. The two of them square off, Kong pounding his chest at Godzilla in an attempt to intimidate him. While they stare each other down,

a helicopter passes in front of Godzilla and he uses it to demonstrate his atomic breath, catching Kong completely off-guard. Quite happy with himself, Godzilla gestures excitedly and roars, while Kong picks up an enormous boulder and tosses it at him (it doesn't even come close to touching him). Clearly panicking, Kong throws another boulder and manages to hit Godzilla in the gut, but he's unaffected and blasts his atomic breath right in front of Kong, igniting the trees. Kong quickly

backs away, when Godzilla does it again, forcing him back even further. As those from Pacific Pharmaceuticals watch from nearby, Kong looks at and touches his smoking fur, while Godzilla happily bounces his upper body and claps his hands. Incredulous, Tako tosses a coin, but it comes up in Godzilla's favor, as he continues to celebrate his small victory. He walks along the edge of the ridge he's on, turns and looks back at Kong, who lumbers away very slowly, rubbing the top of his head, as if wondering what just happened. Godzilla continues to roar at his defeated opponent, mocking him.

With Kong having retreated, the military proceeds with their plan to deal with Godzilla, having erected an electrical blockade along the outskirts of Tokyo (not unlike in the original film) in case the trap with the pit fails. They finish up their preparations for that initial trap just as Godzilla enters the area, pouring gasoline down into river canals along his path. As night falls and he gets ever closer, they ignite the gas, which does get his attention. He seems rather curious as to what's going on around him, apparently still enthusiastic

after his brief and satisfying bout with Kong, while the soldiers take shelter nearby and prepare to detonate the explosives in the pit. Suddenly, Godzilla falls right through the pit's covering and hits the bottom. They then detonate the explosives and, after the short series of blasts, there's a stillness in the air, as the soldiers watch the smoke slowly rise out of the pit. They cautiously walk to the edge of the pit to see if it worked, only to be greeted by Godzilla as he climbs out, forcing them to retreat. As General Shinzo learns the trap didn't

work, he then hears that Kong has been spotted north of Tokyo. As the citizens are told to evacuate, Sakurai is frustrated with Fumiko and Fujita's reluctance to heed the warning, until they hear an announcement that Godzilla is heading for Tokyo as well. As the authorities watch him approach the blockade, Shinzo orders the current activated. Over a million volts of electricity surge through the lines and this appears to be more than Godzilla can handle. When he stomps up to the blockade and

attempts to tear through the lines, the electrical shock clearly hurts him and stops him dead in his tracks. He then stares at the power lines and walks down the length of the blockade in an apparent attempt to find a way around it, which he never does. But, as satisfied as they are, Kong shows up right outside the blockade, with Sakurai and Furue filming from among a crowd of onlookers. Just as General Shinzo and the other authorities arrive on the scene, Kong tears through the power lines as if

they're nothing, stomping several houses and even biting into the cables, absorbing the electricity. Seeing this, Sakurai, Furue, and Tako join the civilians in fleeing, as Kong marches straight through the blockade and enters Tokyo, pounding his chest. Evacuation procedures go into full swing, with civilians crowding into trains in order to flee the city. It's while trying to board one such train that Fumiko and Fujita become separated.

Kong wanders into the heart of the city, pounding his first through the side of a building, when he spies a train going across a monorail. He walks up to it and grabs one of the cars, flinging the passengers forward from the sudden halt. He lifts one of the train cars up into the air, dumping the other passengers out, and then sees Fumiko hanging outside of the car, just barely able to hold on. Intrigued, he picks her off the car and drops it onto a small structure at his feet. Looking down at Fumiko, who desperately screams for help in his

hand, Kong resumes his march through Tokyo, destroying the monorail tracks. He makes his way to the Diet Building, where he's confronted by the military, who make him stop by shining large searchlights in his face. They're just about to open fire, when Sakurai, Furue, and Fujita arrive, Sakurai telling General Shinzo that Kong has his sister. Shinzo uses his binoculars and, seeing that Sakurai is right, now ponders what they can do to save her. Things get even more complicated when Kong climbs atop the Diet. This is more than Fujita

can stand and he starts futilely screaming at Kong to let Fumiko go. In doing so, he makes some frantic movements that remind Sakurai and Furue of the Faro Islanders' tribal dance, giving them an idea. Sakurai asks if they have any bombs of ether, but Tako goes one step further and suggests they load rockets up with the berry juice brought back by Dr. Makioka in order to incapacitate Kong. As he roars in defiance at the military, the soldiers get to work, simultaneously loading the rockets up and

helping Sakurai and various technicians from TTV set up large microphones, as he plans to recreate the Faro Islanders' tribal song. Once everything is ready, the rockets are fired and explode right above Kong's head, the juice-laden fumes drifting down towards him. As he inhales the fumes, it immediately begins affecting him, as he sways back and forth atop the Diet Building. Then, Sakurai begins playing the drums and Kong starts to become really groggy, even rubbing his

eyes at one point (you also hear the natives' song, but I'm not sure if they're playing a recording of it in conjunction with Sakurai's drums or if that's what it sounds like to Kong, due to the effects of the berries). It's not long before he slumps off the top of the Diet Building, then turns around and sits down on its front, which crumbles beneath his girth. Sakurai tells Fujita to go for the rescue, as Kong falls onto his back in front of the Diet, now completely out. As Fumiko slips free from his grasp, Fujita carefully makes his way towards the monster and, rushing into his open hand, manages to pick up and carry her away. Once he gets her to safety, and she regains consciousness, they take her to a passing ambulance.

As they now wonder what to do with the unconscious Kong, it's decided that the best course of action is to have him battle Godzilla again and hope they'll kill each other. Then faced with the problem of taking Kong to Godzilla, Sakurai suggests an airlift with balloons and Fujita's strong, experimental wire. General Shinzo gives them the go ahead and the soldiers get to work, running long lines of the wire and tying it around the sleeping Kong, then setting various large balloons around him and inflating them with helium. Sakurai and

Fujita climb aboard one of the military helicopters that lands nearby and, on Shinzo's orders, they begin the transport. The helicopters rise up into the air and easily carry Kong up with them, amazing the soldiers on the ground, while Sakurai declares Fujita's wire a complete success. They then head for Mt. Fuji, the pilot telling them that they'll be there by morning. As night passes into dawn, down below, the authority figures like Dr. Shigezawa and Ohnuki, as well as Tako, Furue, and Obayashi, speed towards the mountain. 

The transport reaches Mt. Fuji just as Kong wakes up. He's quite confused when the first thing he sees is the mountain, and also groggily looks at the wire suspending him. The pilots, spotting Godzilla on the slope of the mountain down below, fly Kong in position. Kong, in turn, struggles to escape when he sees Godzilla, who himself sees his opponent being flown towards him and walks towards to them. That's when they shoot the wires, releasing Kong from the balloons and dropping him on the side of the mountain. He slides down and slams

right into Godzilla, sending him tumbling back down. Kong then manages to stop himself and begins running back up the side of Mt. Fuji, as Godzilla gets to his feet and follows him, now very much wanting to fight. Pounding his chest at his oncoming opponent, Kong rounds the peak of the mountain and hides underneath a large outcropping, waiting for Godzilla to pass by. Godzilla follows Kong's trail around the bend but seems baffled when he loses track of the ape, not realizing he's right behind him. Kong grabs

Godzilla's swinging tail and, while he's initially thrown off, he manages to grab it again as Godzilla claws into a section of cliff-face, apparently trying to climb up the side. After a little bit of struggling, he manages to fling Kong off and turns around to face him, happily clapping his hands together. Kong flings a boulder, hitting him in the chest, and quickly throws another one, only for Godzilla to smack it back at him with his tail. Frustrated, Kong kicks another boulder, which gets

Godzilla in the back of his left shoulder, and he then swings around and fires his atomic breath, singeing Kong's fur again. This time, instead of retreating, Kong charges right for Godzilla and the two of them grapple with each other, repeatedly swinging themselves around, as Godzilla scratches at Kong with his claws. He manages to shove the ape away and blasts him again, singeing more of his fur. Godzilla roars at him in a mocking manner and claps his hands happily, but Kong charges at

him again. He tackles him and the two of them tumble down the side of Mt. Fuji, grappling with each other and with Kong, at one point, delivering some punches to the side of Godzilla's head. They get pried loose and, as Godzilla struggles to get to his feet, Kong pelts him with rocks. But, when he throws one rock, he then attempts to barrel-roll into Godzilla. That turns out to be a big mistake, as Godzilla gets out of the way and Kong bashes his head on a large rock. As Godzilla watches, Kong sits up, turns around, and falls back, knocked totally senseless.

Godzilla takes the opportunity to kick him while he's down, knocking some rocks onto his body. Kong's only response is to shake his head back and forth in a daze, so Godzilla does it again several more times, before turning his back and whacking Kong with his tail. Kong slowly but surely begins to regain consciousness, and when he fully awakens, he quickly gets to his feet. Godzilla shoves him back a few feet with a headbutt and then suddenly turns his back on him. Kong takes this opportunity to charge at Godzilla again, but he

swings around and gives him a hard kick right to the gut that sends him careening back down the side of the mountain. Kong hits the back of his head on another large rock and Godzilla, following him, once again kicks rocks on his body, in an apparent attempt to bury him alive. Kong is, again, just barely able to regain consciousness, but when he tries to get up, Godzilla gives him a whack to the head with his tail, knocking him out once more. He smacks Kong with his tail several more times, then ignites the forest around him to try to

barbecue him. But just when it looks as if it's over for Kong, a gathering thunderstorm revitalizes him with its lightning. Sitting up, not only does Kong have his strength back but, when he grabs Godzilla's tail, he's revealed to also have the ability to deliver electric shocks through mere touch. After giving Godzilla a nice dose of electricity, Kong swings him through the air and drops him. Before he can get back up, Kong jumps on him, shocking him again and beating on him furiously. Godzilla

manages to roll Kong off him but, as they get back to their feet and fight amidst the spreading forest fire, he finds he's unable to attack him without being shocked. As the two of them grapple, Kong continues to shock Godzilla, when he manages to fling him down to the ground. But, in a very memorable moment, Kong tears a tree out by the roots and shoves it into Godzilla's mouth. Choking, Godzilla manages to shove Kong away and ignites the tree with his atomic breath (it looks like he 

sneezed and ignited it as a result), before spitting it onto Kong's chest. Godzilla charges at Kong but he gets flipped over his shoulder and onto his back. He gets back up and the two of them engage in another vicious grappling match, Kong continuing to zap Godzilla, as they tear apart their surroundings, including both the forest and some houses.

As Dr. Shigezawa and Ohnuki, as well as those from Pacific Pharmaceuticals, reach a roadblock near the cliff housing Atami Castle, Sakurai and Fujita see in the helicopter that the battle is moving along the mountains to that very location. Those down below watch as, after receiving some more shocks to the shoulder, Godzilla whips around with his tail and knocks Kong flat on his ass. When he tries to get up, Godzilla manages to trip him up a little more and he then claps his hands in excitement... until Kong delivers a running head-

butt that sends him tumbling backwards and falling down right next to the castle. Godzilla gets to his feet, as Kong kicks some rocks and uprooted trees at him, and fires his atomic breath. He misses and hits the ground right in front of Kong, who charges at him. Godzilla tries to blast him again but Kong avoids it by jumping back before it can hit him. As Kong heads right for him, Godzilla gets on the opposite end of Atami Castle and they proceed to tear the building apart while continuing to take swipes at each other. As the castle falls to pieces,

Kong and Godzilla grapple again as they tumble off the edge of the cliff and crash into the ocean next to a seaside resort town below. Their impact on the ocean floor causes a small earthquake that does a little bit of damage but nothing more severe than a tree falling off a cliff and a bunch of rocks tumbling down into the water. As everything settles down, a trail of foaming water is seen heading out to sea, and Kong pops up at the head of it. He begins swimming back home to Faro Island, while

Godzilla is nowhere to be seen. Sakurai contacts Shigezawa from the chopper and when he asks what they should do, Shigezawa simply tells them to allow Kong to go; similarly, Tako decides trying to recapture him for his company's advertising isn't worth the headache. As the characters speculate on whether or not Godzilla survived the battle, the movie ends on the shot of Kong swimming off into the horizon, followed by both him and Godzilla roaring.

When I first watched the Japanese version, I didn't care for the music score by Akira Ifukube, 98% of which I had never heard before, as it was almost completely removed from the American version and replaced with music from other films. One of the reasons was because I was just so used to the music in the American version but another was because I really didn't think Ifukube's score fit the footage very well. I thought the almost constant music that plays throughout the final battle was far too upbeat and wasn't as rousing and exciting as what was added to the American version, and I hated the sloppy sort of music for the scene featuring the giant octopus on Faro Island. I also felt the music didn't seem to know when to be quiet and let the sound effects and images speak for themselves, like during Godzilla's attack on the base after he first bursts out of the iceberg or during the climax of the final battle. Because of my disdain for the score, it led me to insist, for the longest time, that I didn't care for either version of the film. However, like so much else about it, the more I've watched the Japanese version, the more the music has grown on me. Some of it is still kind of eyebrow-raising for me, as I don't think it's quite right for the visuals it's accompanying, but, on the whole, I do now think it is a very good score.

The opening title music is just kick ass, as it's big and sweeping, with pounding drums and big, blasting horns that give off an immediate, epic feeling, letting you know this is a huge, event picture. It's essentially a much grander version of the Faro Islanders' tribal chant for King Kong, done with a big orchestra, and it's later made into a leitmotif for Kong himself, with a low, single horn. Personally, I think said leitmotif has too much of that "sloppy" sound from the octopus theme (albeit not that extreme) and is played a little more than it should, but I can deal with it. While I prefer the music in the American version because I think it's eerier, the score for the scene where the crew of the Seahawk sees the glowing iceberg does the job just fine, with its creeping, mysterious texture. The other pieces of music dealing with the Seahawk, like when it crashes into the iceberg and when the situation escalates until Godzilla finally destroys it, are fine but I think they should've taken the approach the American version did and have no music at all (maybe Ifukube was trying to cover up the actors' horrible line deliveries). When Godzilla emerges from the iceberg and attacks the base, we hear his official theme for the first time in the series and it's very often used throughout the film. But, if you're familiar with it, you can hear the growing pains in its arrangement: it's almost there, but not quite, as some of the notes are either different from how they would eventually sound or aren't present at all. It's another reason why I didn't care for the score when I first heard it, as I badly wanted it to be the theme I'm used to. But now, I can go easy on it and say it's not a bad first attempt and it does, as always, add to Godzilla's presence. The music for Faro Island, as well as the islanders' tribal songs and chants, are what you'd expect for a mysterious race of people on a little known island in the South Pacific (the natives' songs are one of the few bits of music that weren't changed during the Americanization) but work fine. Again, I don't care for the over the top, brass trumpet theme for the giant octopus, but I do like the music that plays when King Kong makes his first appearance and battles it. It's basically a different version of the islanders' chant and Kong's motif, just toned down and made to come across as more atmospheric. And finally, while I still think some of it shouldn't have been scored and it sounds a bit too upbeat, the music that plays during the final fight and the climax on the cliff is exciting enough, overall.

While King Kong vs. Godzilla is still not one of my absolute favorite Godzilla films, I will say that I now enjoy the Japanese version for what it is: a big event movie that was meant to be entertaining for both kids and adults. While the film suffers from an appalling suit design for King Kong himself and quite a bit of bad effects work, on the whole, it's entertaining, moves at a pretty good pace, has some nice sequences of monster destruction, Godzilla has an enjoyably campy personality and a nice design, the satire on advertising is enjoyable (if you're in the right mindset, that is), the characters are likable, the music score is quite good, and the final battle between the two monsters is a lot of fun. While I always wanted a more epic and serious film involving King Kong and Godzilla battling (and I eventually got it with Godzilla vs. Kong), the tone here does work for what the filmmakers were going for and helped make it the highest grossing entry in the Godzilla series for many, many years. As I've said, without this movie having been so successful, we wouldn't have gotten such a great, extensive franchise and, for that very reason, despite any misgivings I may have, I can't hate on it. It may not be perfect but it's arguably the most important entry in the series outside of the original, and is pretty entertaining in and of itself.

The American Version

As I've said, while I did fairly enjoy King Kong vs. Godzilla when I first saw it as a little kid, over time it would become one of the films I would re-watch the least and would get really impatient whenever I was doing a marathon, as I would have to go straight into it right after starting off with Godzilla, King of the Monsters. I'm still not exactly sure why I came to feel that way, but I think one reason was because, as I got older, I gradually realized just how bad many of the technical aspects are (as I said, some of them looked wonky to me even as a kid), as well as how clumsy-footed the American version is in general, and didn't want to waste my time with it. It's a big reason why I was so interested in seeing the original Japanese version, because I had heard it was a lot better and more enjoyable, and yet, after I finally saw it, I actually thought the American version was better, mainly because of the music and also because I didn't like seeing the confrontation between King Kong and Godzilla being played for laughs. But, as you've read, the Japanese version has grown on me, so the question is, what do I now think of the American version? Eh, I still think it does some things better than the Japanese version but, at the same time, there are things I like more about the Japanese version. In short, they both have their strengths and weaknesses.

When John Beck made his deal with Toho, he was given exclusive rights to the America release and was able to get Universal onboard as distributor. And like the American distributors of the original film back in the 50's, when Beck saw the final product, he decided it was too foreign for American sensibilities and hired a couple of writers, Bruce Howard and Paul Mason, to create a new screenplay. As with Godzilla, King of the Monsters, they decided the best way to give the movie more of an American feel was to shoot and insert new scenes with American actors. After the script was completed, Beck hired Thomas Montgomery, who had mainly been an occasional actor at that point, to direct the new footage. Montgomery went on to direct episodes of mid-60's television show, most notably Gilligan's Island, as well as stuff like The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis and My Mother the Car. There's nothing listed on his IMDB filmography after that, and the last thing he directed was in 1966, so I don't know if Montgomery retired or couldn't get any more work or what. I don't even know if the guy's alive or dead, as that information isn't given, nor is his date of birth. As for John Beck, he was hardly a prolific producer, even though he'd been in the business since 1948. His credits leading up to King Kong vs. Godzilla include One Touch of Venus, The Countess of Monte Cristo, Kill the Umpire, and Family Honeymoon, with his most well-known and acclaimed film being Harvey, the 1950 film starring Jimmy Stewart. According to IMDB, he only produced two more films after King Kong vs. Godzilla: The Singing Nun, with Debbie Reynolds, and The Private Navy of Sgt. O'Farrell, with Bob Hope and Phyllis Diller. Beck died in 1993 at the age of 83.

Rather than go through the hassle of inserting the American actors into the actual action of the story, as with Raymond Burr in Godzilla, King of the Monsters, the additions to King Kong vs. Godzilla revolve around United Nations reporter Eric Carter (Michael Keith), who comments on the action as he receives info from the "International Communications Satellite." While I've never minded these scenes with Carter (although, I do think he has something of a constantly smiling,

smug attitude about him), they raise a lot of questions. First, it never feels like an actual newscast, as we don't see the television camera Carter is supposedly talking into; we just cut to him and he talks straight at the screen, as if he's actually talking to the actual movie audience. And can someone tell me if something like this exists or, at least, existed back during this time. Were there really reporters who broadcasted direct from the United Nations on a regular basis,? Maybe

there were, but I've never heard of it. Second, Carter continuously reports stuff he can't possibly know, such as how the Faro Island expedition team has heard King Kong's roar and are now heading into the interior to find him. He may have connections with an advanced satellite but the team themselves didn't seem to have the kind of equipment or know-how necessary to report it to the world. Carter also often talks with a Japanese reporter in Tokyo, Yutaka Omura (James Yagi, who did some dub work for the American version of

Rodan), who has to use some headphones to hear him, whereas Carter doesn't need any at all. Again, how is that possible? But the biggest issue with these scenes is that they simply don't advance the plot and are just there to give out exposition, which could have been done by simply dubbing the relevant scenes from the Japanese version. 

Some of the segments are completely pointless, including the one the film opens with a: story about how Chile is suffering from devastating earthquakes. They even cut to a newscaster in

Santiago, Rodrigo Infante (Victor Millan), who reports on the situation, saying the president is grateful to the United Nations and the Red Cross for their support. When I was a kid, I thought it was paid off with the enormous earthquake that Kong and Godzilla cause when they fall into the ocean at the end but now, I realize there's no connection there. It makes as much sense as a God-like voice starting the film off by quoting Hamlet (which it does!)

It's when Carter is joined by supposed dinosaur expert Dr. Arnold Johnson (Harry Holcombe), however, that the new scenes take a detour into complete stupidity. Apparently, like Paul Schreibman before them, John Beck and company thought it would be best to not treat the film as a sequel but, rather, rewrite it to stand alone. Fortunately, they didn't go as far as Schreibman and innanely rename Godzilla, but they did something almost as stupid. When he first breaks

out of the iceberg, the one American helicopter pilot yells, "Godzilla!"... but then, the following scene has Carter report, "The world is stunned to learn that prehistoric creatures exist in the 20th century." When we next cut back to the United Nations, he's talking with Dr. Johnson, who theorizes that Godzilla has been in the iceberg for millions of years and survived due to "suspended animation" (to support his theory, they have him spout the same examples of strange phenomena that Dr. Shigezawa did in the Japanese version).

Right before that, he says he's examined photographs of Godzilla taken by the ICS satellite and has concluded he's of a species of dinosaur, using a children's book to describe him as a cross between a Tyrannosaurus Rex and a Stegosaurus. Do you see how this doesn't work at all? If this is the first time Godzilla has ever appeared, how did that pilot know what to call him? And if he's a normal dinosaur that's been trapped in the iceberg for millions of years, how is he able to breathe radioactive fire? I'm guessing Beck took this approach because, since Gigantis, the Fire Monster didn't pass itself off as a sequel, he felt there was no point in him doing the same, but, the thing is, as big of an idiot as Schreibman was for trying to distance his version of Godzilla Raids Again from the original film, at least he tried. Beck, on the other hand, just left everything as is but still attempted to distance the film from its predecessors. This makes me so glad that the following films' distributors didn't continue with this approach, probably realizing it was only going to get more confusing as it went on.

Other dumb and nonsensical things Johnson says and does is flat-out state that electricity gives Kong strength, long before everyone sees this when he attacks Tokyo's electrical blockade, that, "Legends of giant gorillas have persisted for some time," and describe Kong and Godzilla as instinctive rivals without elaborating on how they're instinctive rivals. He makes a brief mention of their species having possibly battled before millions of years ago (which may have inspired some of the

backstory in Godzilla vs. Kong), indirectly stating, again, that Godzilla is merely a dinosaur, not to mention flying in the face of decades of scientific and evolutionary theory that I'm not going to get into. But the scene with Johnson that I hated the most as a kid is when he says Godzilla's brain is the size of a marble and he's nothing but mindless, brute force, whereas Kong's brain is much, much larger and he's more intelligent. I hate that not just as a Godzilla fan but also for the simple reason that it's wrong. You only have to watch Godzilla in action to know he's far more intelligent than they say he is. Plus, a creature as big as him wouldn't even be able to properly function with such a tiny brain (not that he could anyway, but let's not get into that).

Before we move on, I'd like to address something about Japanese reporter Yutaka Omura that didn't hit me until just now while I was writing. He's meant to act as Eric Carter and the United Nations newscast's connection to Japan, informing them of what's going on at the moment (although, given Carter's incredible intuition as to what's happening, I don't think they need him). So, obviously, when he's talking with Carter, he's speaking in English. However, there are many times when Omura is

obviously talking to Japanese viewers, informing them of where Godzilla is heading and such, but he's still speaking in English! Yeah, because as we know, all Japanese are just as fluent in English as they are their own language. I understand this was meant to be for American audiences and my complaint doesn't seem valid in light of the dubbing here but, regardless, that strikes me as so odd that Omura is speaking to his Japanese viewers in a language most of them wouldn't be able to understand. Maybe in the context of the dubbing, you could say Omura is speaking Japanese to his viewers and we're hearing it in English purely for our benefit, but it's still tricky.

In addition to the newly shot scenes, the producers also made use of footage from the 1957 Toho science fiction film, The Mysterians, whose U.S. rights were owned by RKO at the time (the use of the footage is obvious due to the change in picture quality, with it becoming more faded). The establishing shots of the United Nations and the "International Communications Satellite" are taken from it and they also used it to beef up the earthquake King Kong and Godzilla cause when they fall into the ocean at the end of their big fight.

In contrast to the Japanese version, where the quake is just a small tremor, here, you have shots of a massive tidal wave crashing through the countryside and the ground splitting and swallowing up some huts. It doesn't serve any dramatic purpose but its presence doesn't hurt anything either. There are also shots of people evacuating Tokyo via some boats when Kong is approaching, as well as establishing shots of Tokyo and an overhead one of the city when he's being

transported via the balloon airlift to Mt. Fuji. I know for sure that the former is also from The Mysterians but I'm not sure about the aerial footage. I've only seen The Mysterians once and don't remember much about it (it's kind of a forgettable film, in my opinion), so that could be from it as well, but it looks a lot crisper than the more faded footage I know for sure was from it.

I don't know what the general consensus is but for me, the dubbing here is quite good. I think the voices sound natural enough, for the most part, and fit the characters, especially Sakurai, Furue, Fujita, and Fumiko. Tako's dub job, however, is a little shaky, and because so many of his scenes at Pacific Pharmaceuticals are cut, he doesn't come off as nuts here. The voice they give Konno is a little stereotypically goofy but it fits, since he's a comical character and I think some of his deliveries are funny, like when they're trying to get on the

Faro Island chief's good side and Sakurai tells Konno to smile, to which he says, "I smile!" However, they made a small error in the scene where Konno tells Chikiro, the native boy, to go get some berry juice to help Furue sleep. In the Japanese version, Konno speaks to the kid in the native language and then has to explain to Sakurai what he said, but here, he just talks to the kid in English and they cut the scene short. Since the native language was left untouched for the rest of the film, including Konno speaking to the chief, I

don't know why they couldn't leave the scene how it was originally shot and just dub in Konno's explanation to Sakurai. An instance where the dubbing really helps is in the Seahawk sequence, as the looped performances are so much better, and it makes you wish there was a way to have these voices in the Japanese version. The best bit of dubbing comes from Les Tremayne, an actor with a deep, commanding voice who was well suited for someone in a high position of authority, and so, he

dubs both the Seahawk captain and General Shinzo, But, while his voice suits that role very well too, I don't know why they made Shinzo come off as an asshole in the moment where a soldier tells him the guns won't do anything but make Kong angry and he barks, "Soldier, I'm in charge. You listen to me!" Overall, why some may think otherwise, I feel the dubbing for King Kong vs. Godzilla is one of the better examples of the practice. Can we at least agree it's something of an improvement over what was done in Gigantis, the Fire Monster?

The American version is not without its brand of humor, but it's much more overt and, often, corny than the Japanese version, with much of the satire on advertising removed. For instance, the character of Furue is made out to be even more of a coward, with Sakurai being as visibly agitated by him as Bud Abbott would be with Lou Costello. Something of a running joke pops up during the section on Faro Island, as Furue constantly talks about how his corns are hurting him, with lines like, "My corns always hurt when they're near a

monster," and, when they're nearly crushed after King Kong causes a landslide, "You see? My corns never lie!" I thought it was kind of funny when I was a kid, even though I had no idea what corns were back then, and now, although it is stupid, I still smirk when I hear that dialogue. However, there's one joke here that's so cringe-inducing, not even Beast Boy from Teen Titans would touch it. After they've figured out how to save Fumiko from Kong in Tokyo, Tako smugly says, "Huh, King Kong can't make a monkey out of

us." I don't think I need to say any more. There's also some unintentional humor from some major blunders made in re-writing the Japanese dialogue. I never noticed them until somebody pointed them out but now, I think they're freaking hilarious. If you recall, in the Japanese version, we're shown that Fujita is making use of a ship and we later hear news that it was sunk; here, they decided to cut that scene and say a plane he was supposedly on crashed... but they forgot to cut out the shot of the

newspaper where you see a picture of the ship. Even funnier is when Sakurai, Furue, and Tako are watching the first fight between Kong and Godzilla and, when Tako tells them to get some pictures, Furue says, "I think I better get a light check,"... right before he blows on and holds up a microphone! And they also make it seem as though Tako has decided to risk imprisonment. In the Japanese version, he's told Kong is considered "smuggled goods" and that he'll be held

responsible for any damage he causes. Here, they really press the notion that the government forbids Kong to be allowed into Japan, that he must take him back to Faro Island at once, or Tako will be placed under arrest. Yet, the next time we cut back to the ship, they're still on course for Japan, so I guess Tako, after he woke from his fainting spell, said, "Ah, screw it." And for that matter, why didn't those people from the Coast Guard personally make sure that they took Kong back to Faro Island?

Like the nuclear allegory in the original Godzilla, some feel that when King Kong vs. Godzilla was edited for American consumption, it totally lost the satire on advertising that was so prevalent in the original version. I, however, don't think that's entirely true. Like in Godzilla, King of the Monsters, I think the original version's deeper intentions are still here, but aren't as blatant. We still have the scene where Tako tells Sakurai and Furue that Pacific Pharmaceuticals needs publicity and their show sucks in the ratings because of how

boring it is. We don't see the show here, but we're still told the company needs something to boost its stature, with Sakurai mentioning, "We must really need publicity!", and even Eric Carter comments that the berries will produce a giant advertising campaign for the company. However, they made a mistake in rearranging some scenes and deleting others. Here, when Tako becomes angry after seeing a report about Godzilla on the TV, he sends word that he wants his own monster and, in the next cut, we see the ship taking Sakurai and Furue

to Faro Island, whereas in the Japanese version, the expedition was already underway when Godzilla appeared. This kind of makes it look as if Tako wants his own monster simply to defeat Godzilla, whereas originally, it was clear he was irked because Godzilla's appearance took all the publicity away from his expedition. But they remedied it with the scene on the ship when Kong begins to wake up and Tako won't let them detonate the dynamite on his raft. When Furue

angrily points a rifle at Tako, he hits the nail on the head by saying, "King Kong could kill us all. You wouldn't care. Publicity's all you want! Publicity!" (He could've called him something a little stronger than a dumbbell, though.) After Kong makes it to Japan and confronts Godzilla for the first time, Tako is still having Sakurai and Furue film the proceedings for their television show, and when Dr. Ohnuki says that, hopefully, both monsters will die in their ultimate battle, Tako is visibly shattered by this, as he still wants Kong for his company's publicity.

Amidst all the changes and edits I find to be either beneficial, pointless, unintentionally funny, or just plain stupid, the one I find most baffling is the way they decided to open the movie. Like the Japanese version, the first thing you see after the opening credits is a pan towards a rotating globe, taken from the Wonderful World Series. Here, though, it's meant to be an actual shot of the Earth as it rotates out in space, meaning they made what was originally meant to look a little fake into something that's seemingly fake due to bad craftsmanship. And then, randomly, this big, booming voice (Les Tremayne again) quotes the line from Hamlet, "There are more things in heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy." Like the opening news story about the earthquakes hitting Chile, I don't know what this has to do with anything, unless you want to say it's meant to imply how people can't begin to comprehend that giant monsters like King Kong and Godzilla exist in the world, which is what I always thought it meant when I was a kid. That might've been an instance of my putting more thought into than the people behind this version.

Except for the Faro Islanders' ritualistic songs, the song that plays on the radio Sakurai uses to impress the Faro Island chief, and a piece of music taken from a scene not present in this version and placed during the island trek, all of Akira Ifukube's music from the Japanese version was removed, as John Beck felt it was too oriental. In its place is a mixture of music from other movies, most notably a lot of Henry Mancini's score for Creature from the Black Lagoon. (I saw this years before I first saw Creature, so this was the first time I ever heard that music and I always thought it was really cool. I was quite surprised years later when I finally saw Creature and realized just how much of the music here was taken from that film.) There's also a lot of music taken from the film The Golden Horde, most notably for the opening credits. That theme, itself from the opening for The Golden Horde, starts the film in the same manner as the big rousing music Ifukube originally came up with: it's big and epic-sounding, and immediately gives things a feeling of scope. Another piece of music from that film is heard when the balloons meant to transport King Kong to Mt. Fuji are being filled with helium. You can also hear music from movies such as Against All Flags, Bend of the River, Untamed Frontier, and other monster/horror movies like The Monster That Challenged the World (some nicely atmospheric themes used for the Seahawk approaching the iceberg and when Godzilla is getting close to the train tracks in Hokkaido), Man-Made Monster, and even The Wolf Man, as well as the television show, Wichita Town. While it isn't popular with purists, I think the editors made good use of this music chosen. I especially think the music from Creature from the Black Lagoon works well here, especially during the final battle. Although, I do find it ironic it was felt Ifukube's original score was too oriental and yet, some of the music, such as in the establishing shots of Tokyo and even the opening credits, has a very stereotypical Asian sound to it.

The American version of King Kong vs. Godzilla may not be a classic or as accomplished as the film it was created from but, on the whole, it is enjoyable. While the filmmakers did make mistakes, some of them egregious and/or baffling, with their editing, writing of the new scenes, some of the translations for the dubbing, and the humor they put in, the film still moves at a good pace, there are some improvements made from the Japanese version, the dubbing is pretty good (if you think otherwise, watch the trailer containing dialogue from a possible international English version that's either lost or has never been released), the satire of publicity and advertising is muted but not completely removed, and while it's a shame they excised virtually all of Akira Ifukube's original score, I think the music they put in its place works well, too. Of course, that's all my opinion. I know there are a lot of people out there who think the American version is a piece of crap and prefer the Japanese version but, for someone like me, who isn't completely enamored with this movie either way, I think both have distinct strengths and weaknesses