Monster Movie of the Week: Gorgo (1961)

Like nothing you've ever seen before...unless you've seen Godzilla. Or King Kong. Or Mothra. Or Gamera.

Gorgo (1961)
Directed by Eugene Lourie
Genre: Anglo Kaiju

In the swinging '60's, every country had to have their own giant monster. Japan had Godzilla and co., Korea had Younggary, and America was frequently overrun by irradiated insects and spiders. Not to be outdone, En-guh-land came up with its own homegrown giant monster movie, Gorgo. Gorgo has all the elements of 1960's kaiju cinema: a giant monster, minature sets, landmarks destroyed, a kaiju single parent, military battles and even an annoying little kid.

Gorgo went on to start his own Skiffle band.

In Gorgo, an earthquake awakens a giant prehistoric reptile that has been slumbering off the Irish coast. When it comes ashore, it is subdued and transported to London to be shown off to the public by some people who have obviously never watched King Kong. They are also unaware of The Grendel Rule of British Monsters, which states that all British monsters have bigger more vicious mothers waiting in the wings. Kaiju-licious mama Gorgo comes to London in search of her son, and also enjoys some of the sites and attractions of the British capital. By "enjoy," I mean "goes all blitzkrieg on."

In Britain in the '60's, you could be a sex symbol and still have bad teeth. It didn't matter.

THE MONSTERS/EFFECTS

Compared to the contemporary Japanese giant monster movies, the effects in Gorgo are pretty crude. This is particularly true of the minature work, which lacks the detail of the Japanese kaiju movies. It is interesting to note that Gorgo really features two scales: what we find out to be the infant Gorgo is about thirty feet tall and there are sets scaled to him and then there is the more traditionally gigantic scale for mama Gorgo.

The creature design is pretty unimaginative, Gorgo is typical of the upright vaguely saurian monsters we have seen a million times in giant monster cinema. Gorgo has some little finlike appendages on either side of her head that highlight her aquatic roots and give her a bit of a Nessy vibe. I'm surprised they didn't try to tie her more into the many legends of lake monsters that spring from Great Britain. She also has some big mitt-like hands, unlike the rather fine pianist fingers of Godzilla.

SEQUELS

None.

MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT

This movie gets the Golden Meh Award.

HOME VIDEO AVAILABILITY

On DVD, and available on Netflix.

TRAILER

Patrick Garone
www.patrickgarone.com
twitter.com/patrickgarone
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Monster Movie of the Week: Yonggary (1967)

YONGGARY: MONSTER FROM THE DEEP (1967)

Director: Kim Ki-duk

Genre: Kaiju

THE MOVIE

Long before The Host and Dragon Wars, South Korea had its very own giant monster, Yonggary. Much like Gamera and Gorgo, Yonggary is a pretty blatant Godzilla ripoff, that tells the story of a giant reptilian creature awakened by an atomic bomb and which goes on a spree of destruction in a major urban city. In this case, Seoul gets all the kaiju love.

While it is a little retro for the time in the fact that Yonggary has no monster opponent, there is the obligatory Kenny character. Kennys are characters in 1960’s and 1970’s Japanese kaiju movies who are always annoying little Japanese school boys in short shorts. Some of them have serious emotional problems. Yonggary’s resident Kenny, is an insufferably precocious smart alec who engages Yonggary in a kind of horrible dance off. Yes, you read that right. The two get down together to some ‘60’s surf pop.

THE MONSTER/EFFECTS

Yonggary is a big dinosaur, much like Godzilla. His claim to fame is that he has a big glowing horn on his nose. The monster suit is actually pretty awful and cheap-looking with big, glassy eyes. He also breathes fire, which looks suspiciously like a lighter being held in front of an aerosol can.

As a creature, Yonggary has a couple of notable attributes. First is the nose horn, which glows at different points in the movie for unknown reasons. Second, is Yonggary’s behavior. Interestingly, the creature is seen actively devouring oil during the course of the movie. It’s actually rare in a kaiju movie to see a monster actually eating anything (other than the occasional person). Yonggary’s need to drink oil gives him an interesting motivation and suggests an intriguing biology.

This movie also makes me appreciate the craft that went into building the miniature cities and environments in the Godzilla movies. One can really see the difference in quality between the work here and in the earlier Japanese movies. The miniatures really do go a long way to making the rest of the effects work as well as they do and selling the scale of the whole thing.

MOST MEMORABLE SEQUENCE

The dance off! But only because it sucks so hard.

SEQUELS

None, but a loose remake in 1999.

HOME VIDEO AVAILABILITY

On DVD, as streaming on Netflix as of this writing.

MONSTER MOVIE OF THE WEEK-DAMN DIRTY APE EDITION-PLANET OF THE APES (1968)

PLANET OF THE APES (1968)
Director: Franklin Schaffner
Genre: Sci-Fi

THE MOVIE

Few movies have had the legacy and made the social impact of the classic 1968 science fiction movie, Planet of the Apes. Like another 1968 science fiction movie that featured ape creatures, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Planet of the Apes was from those heady days when science fiction films were about Big Ideas and using the trappings of the genre to make a philosophical or socio-political commentary about the world. It was produced before a time when the genre became a playground for action and special effects. Compare it to its very inferior 2001 remake, which was about nothing and had nothing to say. Many essays and papers have been written about the movie and its subtext. In fact, an entire book has been written about the movie and its sequels and how they serve as a commentary on 1960’s America: Eric Green’s very interesting, Planet of the Apes as American Myth: Race, Politics, and Popular Culture.

The movie is also a pop cultural landmark and even people who have never seen Planet of the Apes can be found referencing or quoting it. The movie starred the late Charlton Heston, who chewed out some memorable lines such as “Take your stinking paws off me, you damn dirty ape!” and “It’s a mad house! A mad house!” The term “Planet of the Apes” has come to be a short hand for any kind of situation in which the expected social order has been reversed. Perhaps the movie is most famous for its shocking twist ending, which has since become one of the most iconic moments in the history of cinema.

Planet of the Apes is very loosely based on the French novel of the same name and written by Pierre Boule as a sort of Swiftian satire on human society. The book was adapted by Rod Serling of the beloved TV show, The Twilight Zone. As he often did with his show, Serling infused Planet of the Apes with subtextual social commentary, profound irony, and surprising plot twists. The other writer to have worked on the script for Planet of the Apes was Michael Wilson, who had been blacklisted during the McCarthy era and who no doubt added his bitterly anti-establishment sentiments in the depiction the ape society.

Apes was also one of the first movies to spin off into a real multimedia franchise. The movie was followed by four sequels and later both an animated and a live action TV series. Because of the series’ popularity with children, Planet of the Apes was one of the first movies to feature a line of action figures and other products, paving the way for the merchandising bonanza that followed the Star Wars movies.

Planet of the Apes is the tale of a misanthropic astronaut named Taylor, who is the leader of an expedition to a distant planet. The details of the expedition and its intent are a little murky but Taylor travels with three astronaut companions. It is implied that the four astronauts were to colonize a distant planet. However, while they are in hibernation, their ship crash lands on a mysterious planet where the Taylor and the two other survivors encounter a race of primitive, mute human beings. No sooner are Taylor and the others ready to divvy up the planet for themselves, when they are attacked by a hunting party of apes who talk and ride horses. Taylor is injured in the attack and he is captured and caged like an animal.

As stated above, Charlton Heston portrays Taylor in a bit of casting that is weird but perfect. At the time, Heston was a movie star well known for his heroic roles and was almost a symbol traditional blond-haired, blue-eyed American manhood. In Apes, he plays an edgy antisocial character who is literally stripped, beaten, and humiliated. I’ve often wondered why the famously conservative actor (he was the spokesperson for the NRA) was attracted to this script with its clearly left-wing subtext.

Taylor is befriended by a pair of chimpanzee scientists (Kim Hunter and Roddy McDowell) who discover that he has the ability to speak, which no human has demonstrated on the Planet of the Apes. We also learn that the ape society is stratified into three classes: the gorillas serve as the workers and the military, the chimps are the scientists and intellectuals, and the fair-haired orangutans are the political and religious leaders. It doesn’t seem that individual apes can break out of these social roles.

Taylor and his chimp friends are brought before an ape council lead by the shady Dr. Zaius. Taylor’s ability to speak and his demonstrated intelligence threaten the ape society and he is sentenced to castration and lobotomy before he escapes and explores the “Forbidden Zone” where the chimpanzees have discovered proof of an advanced pre-simian civilization. At the end of the movie, the true history of the Planet of the Apes is revealed.

THE MONSTERS/EFFECTS

Sorry Mr. Heston, but the real star of Planet of the Apes is the incredibly expressive make-up created by John Chambers. Over forty years later, this make-up still holds up and manages to create the illusion of talking ape characters while still allowing the actor’s performance to be expressed naturally on camera and never once looking silly. Foam appliqués over the mouth and brow give the characteristic simian look to the face. The only drawback to this is that the ape teeth are actually built into the flexible foam mouthpiece and can move in an unnatural way during speech.

MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT

“You maniacs! You blew it all to hell!”

DVD AVAILABILITY

The Apes movies have been fortunate to have received a lot of home video love over the years. Of course, Planet of the Apes is available on its own, but I suggest you take a look at the some of the boxed sets which are very nice. On DVD, the most recent one is the Legacy Collection. If you have a Bluray player, check out the 40th Anniversary Collection, which can frequently be bought on Amazon for fairly cheap. The video transfer is amazing considering the movie’s age and Planet of the Apes has never looked better. The set includes the great documentary Behind the Planet of the Apes, which is interactive on the Bluray. The Bluray set also includes a beautifully illustrated book about the series and the very rarely seen extended cut of Conquest of the Planet of the Apes. It’s really a fantastic set and if you are a fan of these movies, you should definitely pick it up.


SEQUELS

This movie was immediately followed by the sub-par (no pun intended) Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970) and the surprisingly good Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971) and two others.

TRAILER



...my all time favorite Simpsons moment

MONSTER MOVIE OF THE WEEK: DESTROY ALL MONSTERS (1968)

DESTROY ALL MONSTERS (1968)
Director: Ishiro Honda
Genre: Kaiju eiga

THE MOVIE

Destroy All Monsters was the beginning of the end for the Showa Godzilla movies. By this point, Godzilla had completed his transformation from nuclear hellbeast to muppet and Destroy All Monsters was the last decent Godzilla movie of the 1960's. Curiously, two of his previous movies, Ghidorah: The Three-Headed Monster and Invasion of the Astro Monster, served as dry runs for Destroy All Monsters offering up confrontations not only with King Ghidorah but aliens as well. These movies took the first steps toward the more overtly science fiction and juvenile direction that the series would take.

In some ways, though, Destroy All Monsters is the ultimate Showa Godzilla movie. It is wild, colorful and features an impressive collection of Toho monsters, not rivaled until 2004's Godzilla Final Wars, which is essentially a remake of this movie, with alien controlled monsters attacking the world's cities. Whatever happened to monsters destroying the world's cities just for the hell of it?

This movie also introduced the idea of "Monster Island," where all of the kaiju are rounded up and live together. The movie is perhaps most famous for its iconic battle in front of Mount Fuji.

Where Brooklyn at?

THE MONSTERS/EFFECTS

This movie introduces us to the hated "cookie monster" Godzilla with his big goofy eyes, froggy face. This suit would be heavily used most of the series in the late '60's and early '70's to the point where it was literally falling apart on camera.

Also, Godzilla completes his transformation into a misunderstood Muppet doofus in this movie. There is actually a scene where Godzilla get into a "conversation" on Monster Island, kindly translated by Mothra about why he's so mad all the time. Ugh.

Also present is the horrible spawn of Godzilla, Minilla, first introduced in 1967's Son of Godzilla. In Star Wars terminology, Minilla manages to combine everything annoying about both Ewoks and Jar Jar Binks into one character.

MONSTERS FEATURED

Oh boy. Quite a diverse group from Toho's stable, some of whom had not appeared on film for quite some time, and some who had never appeared in a Godzilla movie.

Godzilla
Minilla
Anguirus
Ghidorah
Mothra
Rodan
Varan - Previously seen in Varan: The Unbelievable.
Gorosaurus - featured in King Kong Escapes
Kumonga - a giant spider introduced in the previous movie.
Manda - a Chinese-style dragon/serpent introduced in Toho's 1960 movie Atragan.
Baragon - a quadrapedal dinosaur introduced in the 1965 movie, Frankenstein Conquers The World.

The original Monsta Island Czars.

SEQUELS

Followed by:

All Monsters Attack (1969) an insanely trippy movie about a lonely latchkey kid who dreams of becoming Minilla's friend on Monster Island. He finds himself magically transported to the island where he and Minilla learn to defend themselves from bullies. And there's some bankrobbers. Or something. Also known as Godzilla's Revenge.

Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971) Godzilla fights Hedorah, a pollution monster against a swingin' 1960's backdrop. Best appreciated while high.

You show him Anguirus.

DVD AVAILABILITY

Widely available.

SEE ALSO

Godzilla: Final Wars (2004)

TRAILER

MONSTER MOVIE OF THE WEEK: GHIDORAH: THE THREE HEADED MONSTER (1965)

GHIDORAH, THE THREE HEADED MONSTER (1965)
Director: Ishiro Honda
Genre: Kaiju eiga
Country: Japan

THE MOVIE

Ghidorah, The Three Headed Monster is significant for several reasons. First it marks the point at which the Godzilla series starts its descent into camp with its fatal introduction of extraterrestrial elements into the movies (as if asking the audience to accept giant monsters wasn’t enough). Secondly it starts a weird trilogy of mid sixties Godzilla movies that feature roughly the same plot in which Earth’s monsters team up to fight an invading space monster. This trilogy of loose remakes concluded with Destroy All Monsters which is the most spectacular and monster filled of the bunch. Lastly, Ghidorah introduced us to one of Godzilla’s most memorable and popular foes, the golden triple headed space dragon, King Ghidorah, who is second only to Mothra in number of appearances in the series. Much like Mothra, he has been pimped out whenever Toho was feeling nervous about the box office prospects of their next movie hence his replacement of the lesser-known Varan in 2001’s GMK. Several versions of Ghidorah also appeared in two of the 1990’s Rebirth of Mothra movies.

As for the movie itself, it’s pretty typical mid-sixties Showa stuff. It involves a intrigue between Japan and a fictional foreign country, a missing princess claiming to be from Venus, and a mysterious meteorite housing a certain space monster. And it marks the start of silly season. There is even a conversation between Godzilla and Rodan that is translated for us by the Mothra larva and her twin fairy friends. In a little over ten years Godzilla had gone from a nuclear hell beast to a misunderstood kid fighting on a playground.

MONSTERS PRESENT

Godzilla
Mothra larva
Rodan
King Ghidorah



MONSTERS/EFFECTS

Until this movie, Toho’s monsters were always based on real creatures: Godzilla was based on a couple of dinosaurs; Rodan was based on a Pteradactyl; Mothra, a butterfly. King Ghidorah was the first truly original Toho monster, loosely based on mythic Asian dragons but ultimately the necessities of realizing the creature via suitmation gave Ghidorah his own oddly vertical form and structure. In his debut movie he is as much puppet as suitmation actor with his heads and double tails being controlled by wires (as famously glimpsed in the finale of Pee Wee’s Big Adventure).

As if three heads and wings weren’t enough to make Ghidorah stand out, he is also given beautiful golden scales all over his body and an unearthly chirping vocalization. Oh. And he shoots lightening from each of his three mouths. One can say that the success of creating this new monster from scratch gave Toho the license to create such outlandish alien characters as the avian cyborg Gigan and the beetle-like Megalon.



With the exception of his appearance in GMK, Ghidorah is one of Godzilla’s consistently evil and powerful opponents. He finally got his own (alternate) origin story and even his own mecha in 1991’s Godzilla Vs. King Ghidorah. Funny that it took so long to have a movie with that title.

DVD AVAILABILITY

Recently released in a restored deluxe version with both the American and Japanese versions.



MOST MEMORABLE SEQUENCE

Eh.

SEQUELS

Immediately followed by the very similar:

Invasion of the Astro Monster (1965)

and a few years later by

Destroy All Monsters (1968)

SEE ALSO

Godzilla Vs King Ghidorah (1991)
GMK (2001)

TRAILER

Monster Movie of the Week: Godzilla vs. Mothra (1964)

GODZILLA VS. MOTHRA (1964)

AKA Mothra Vs. Godzilla, Godzilla vs. The Thing

Director: Ichiro Honda

Genre: Daikaiju eiga

THE MOVIE

Godzilla vs. Mothra is the last great kaiju movie of Toho’s Showa era and is widely considered to be among the best of the whole series. It concluded a short string of successful, high-quality movies that began with 1960’s Mothra and continued through King Kong vs. Godzilla. Godzilla vs. Mothra marks the last appearance of a truly malevolent Godzilla until the 1980’s. From here on out, Godzilla would be portrayed as an anti-hero or even a cuddly single dad. This is also reflected in the character’s design, here slightly changed from the great look of the previous movie but still effective and somewhat foreshadowing the character’s look in his 1990’s movies with a longer neck, mammalian face and pronounced trapezoid muscles. Thankfully, he’s still a long way from the muppet-like appearance he would have later in the ‘60’s.

Breakfast: Thwarted,

Godzilla vs. Mothra is also the first time that Godzilla would face off with another one of Toho’s star kaiju and this would become a familiar formula for the entirety of the Godzilla film series. Mothra, Rodan, Varan and Anguirus would be recycled throughout the rest of the Showa series, often teaming up against monsters like Ghidorah, Gigan and Mechagodzilla. These were all original Toho monsters and the studio didn’t have to worry about making deals and licensing headaches as in the case with their Kong crossover. Godzilla vs. Mothra was the first real application of this formula.

Mothra's posse.

This is also one of the most archetypical of all the early Toho kaiju films, and elements of it repeatedly pop up in later movies. Mothra’s self sacrifice for her larvae is repeated again in 1992’s Godzilla and Mothra as well as in 2003’s Tokyo S.O.S. Much of the fight staging is the same as well as the larva’s propensity to bite the end of Godzilla’s tail. The 2003 film even features twin larvae. Godzilla vs. Mothra features a female reporter, which would become a sort of Godzilla stock character.

The story concerns a mysterious gigantic egg that washes up on the Japanese coast during a hurricane. A pair of greedy businessmen and a corrupt politician scheme to steal the egg and exhibit it. Mothra’s twin fairies appeal to a sympathetic pair of journalists and a scientist to have the egg returned to Infant Island to no avail. Godzilla appears from underground (WTF?) and begins terrorizing Japan and eventually making his way to the egg. Mothra shows up to defend her egg (which hatches into twin larva). She sacrifices herself and the two larvae cocoon Godzilla and he falls into the sea. The end.

When a courtesy flush just is not enough.

THE MONSTERS/EFFECTS

Godzilla is oddly clumsy in this movie. He seems to do more damage from stumbling around than intentionally attacking the city. He really does fall down a lot in this movie. And I believe this is one of the only times Godzilla is observed coming out of the earth instead of the sea. AND he gets punked by two caterpillars. The only thing that explains this is that Godzilla had gotten really drunk the night before, passed out in a ditch, got covered in debris and woke up really hung over.

DVD AVAILABILITY

Widely available. A new, deluxe DVD set was recently released with the original Japanese version of the movie and even some extras.

SEQUELS

Immediately followed by Ghidorah: The Three Headed Monster and Invasion of the Astro-Monster.

MOST MEMORABLE SEQUENCE

What the hell was he doing underground anyway?!

SEE ALSO

Godziila vs. Mothra: The Battle for Earth (1992), Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All Out Attack (2001)

TRIVIA

It was billed in America as Godzila vs. The Thing. People wondered: “The Thing? Jeepers, that sounds neat!”

And then they found out it was a butterfly.

False advertising? Or just a very early teaser poster for Godzilla vs. Biollante?

THE TRAILER

Monster Movie of the Week: The Valley of Gwangi (1969)

THE VALLEY OF GWANGI (1969)

Director: Jim Connelly

Genre: Monster of the loose/Western

THE MOVIE

The Valley of Gwangi is first and foremost notable for being a unique genre mash-up that combines elements of a cowboy picture with that of a classic “Lost World” style adventure movie, complete with dinosaurs and other prehistoric fauna. Gwangi was the brainchild of Willis O’Brien, the famed special effects artist who brought King Kong to life in his original 1933 movie. The movie was originally to have been produced in 1942 but was later shelved. O’Brian’s pupil, Ray Harryhousen, picked up the project in the 1960’s, updated it, and it was finally released in 1969. The Valley of Gwangi is something of a classic among dinosaur movies and was a staple of syndicated TV monster movie shows during the 1970’s and 80’s. Myself, I remember seeing it as a small child on the old “Son of Svengoulie” show that used to broadcast here in Chicago. Gwangi is also one of the great examples of realistic stop-motion dinosaur animation in movie history and it was a big influence on the Jurassic Park movies which featured whole sequences inspired by Valley of Gwangi such as the T-Rex ambush of the Gallimimus and the dino round up sequence from The Lost World: Jurassic Park.

Gwangi is set in Mexico around the turn of the last century, in the Wild West. A cowgirl named T.J. Breckenridge runs a failing stunt show and circus. Through some local gypsies (Yes, there are gypsies in Latin America), she comes into possession of a mysterious prehistoric horse-like creature called an Eohippus. With the help of a sneaky paleontologist, a faction of the gypsies try to return the creature to where it was found for fear of retribution from an entity called Gwangi. T.J.’s fiancé tracks the little horse down to a forbidden valley filled with prehistoric creatures, the largest and meanest of which is the Allosaurus, Gwangi. Lots of lassoing and Western high jinks ensue and Gwangi is ultimately knocked unconscious by a series of improbable events and taken back to the circus in an impressive but hastily made wooden cage. Gwangi is put on display ala King Kong and you can guess what happens next. Needless to say, it is a Harryhousen movie, so an elephant dies.

Can you find and circle the bad idea in this picture?.

THE MONSTER/EFFECTS

There are several creatures featured in this movie, but the titular monster is the Allosaurus, Gwangi who is fancifully colored in lavender. For an old-school dino, Gwangi is fairly realistically animated. While he isn’t animated with the back/ground parallelism we would find in a modern dinosaur movie, he doesn’t drag his tail on the ground either. He is also animated with the characteristic Harryhousen attention to detail and character and there are many little moments where you witness the creature “behaving” in a very lifelike way.

What happened in Ray Harryhousen's youth to make him hate elephants so much?

Gwangi is notable for the high quality of its visual effects and the wonderful way that the animated shots are composited with the live-action footage, resulting in a very seamless integration of the two. This is most evident in the famous “lassoing scene” in which several live actors on horses appear to lasso this dinosaur around its neck and are struggling to pull the creature in different directions. The motions of the little puppet are matched perfectly to those of the footage of the actors on horseback. Or in the truly magical little scene in which a live horse briefly interacts with it’s tiny stop motion ancestor.

MONSTERS FEATURED

Eohippus

Gwangi

Styrakasaurus

Pteranodon

Ornithomimus

MOST MEMORABLE SEQUENCE

There are quite a few great sequences in this movie but I like the Gwangi’s stalking our heroes in a giant cathedral, which seems to be a vague inspiration for the Velociraptor kitchen scene from Jurassic Park.

Gwangi’s demise is particularly hellish.

"I love you, you love me..."

DVD AVAILABILITY

Widely available and on Netflix. Has an interview with Harryhousen and a featurette as well as trailers for other Harryhousen movies.

SEQUELS

None

SEE ALSO

King Kong 1933 The Beast of Hollow Mountain 1956

The series of bad decisions starts when these cowboys decide to poke this dinosaur with a sharp stick.

THE TRAILER

TRIVIA

O’Brien originally realized his idea as the 1956 movie, The Beast of Hollow Mountain.

Monster Movie of the Week: King Kong Vs. Godzilla (1962)

King Kong Vs. Godzilla (1962)

Director: Ichiro Honda

Genre: Daikaiju eiga

THE MOVIE:

Almost immediately after the original Gojira, Toho studios prepped a sequel which is known here as Godzilla Raids Again, in which Godzilla tangled with his first monster opponent, Anguirus. The movie was not particularly well received and the King of the Monsters was given his first of many retirements, during which Toho developed a stable of other giant monsters such as Rodan, Mothra and Varan who starred in their own movies.

That's messed up. You just don't do that.

Meanwhile, in the US, King Kong special effects director Willis O’Brien was shopping around ideas for new Kong movie and caught the interest of Toho Studios, who opted to produce the film and bring Godzilla out of retirement to battle Kong in a kind of “event” movie. You'll notice that despite the fact that this is a Japanese movie, Godzilla gets second billing to Kong which is both a testament to the popularity of King Kong in Japan at the time and to the fact that Godzilla had been out of the limelight for a while with only one successful film to his name, eight years earlier. This was definitely a comeback for Godzilla.

Toho gives this movie the same kind of lush and colorful production that distinguished Mothra the year before and it continues a winning streak that would continue with the Toho's next kaiju movie, Godzilla vs. Mothra. It also marks the first time either Kong or Godzilla appeared in a color movie. To date, King Kong Vs. Godzilla remains the most popular of all of Godzilla’s movies at the Japanese box office and without its success there would likely been no ‘60’s and ‘70’s Showa Godzilla series. It also introduced a lighter tone to the series that would come to dominate the Godzilla movies of that era.

As with the original Gojira, this movie was heavily re-edited for American audiences, although not as audaciously as in the original. The American cut of the movie inserts a lot of hilariously-expositional UN newscasters who are following the “situation” via a large wire-suspended satellite that resembles a roulette wheel (are these the same miracle wires that they use to suspend Kong from the balloons later in the movie?)

Godzilla challenges King Kong to take back what he had said about his mama.

THE MONSTER/EFFECTS:

Godzilla gets a make-over in what is one of the best suits of the early movies and one that seems an ancestor to the later Godzilla 2000 suit. The ’62 suit looks evil and reptilian (at least from the side.) Kong, however, is very different from his appearance in his original movie in which he was realized as a stop motion puppet. Here, he’s a guy in a bad gorilla suit. The face is inexpressive, except in certain shots when a crappy hand puppet is used.

Most of the effects are pretty primitive and there is plenty of really terrible blue screening. There are some really good shots of a giant octopus that had me wracking my brain thinking “That looks so real. How did they do that?” Being the CGI whore that I am, it didn’t occur to me that they simply filmed an octopus on a miniature set, which questions all of my assumptions about octopus biology.

His lunch money stolen, Kong goes into a wild rage.

Honestly, I find many of the Showa Godzilla films a little tough to sit through what with the primitive special effects, the annoyingly light tone, and plots that are ridiculous even for movies about giant monsters. King Kong vs. Godzilla isn’t as annoying as say, Godzilla vs. Megalon (1972) but it’s not as cheesily entertaining either. But King Kong vs. Godzilla is remarkable for its historic importance and cross-cultural impact.

MONSTERS FEATURED:

Godzilla

King Kong

Giant Octopus

DVD AVAILABILITY:

The American version is available in a bare-bones DVD. The Japanese version can be ordered in a region free DVD.

Don't call it a comeback.

SEQUELS:

Godzilla continued in: Godzilla Vs. Mothra (1964) Ghidorah: The Three Headed Monster (1964) Invasion of the Astro Monster (1965) and many others.

King Kong had one more Toho film:

King Kong Escapes (1967)

TRAILER

SEE ALSO:

Alien Vs. Predator (2004) Godzilla Vs. Mothra (1964)

TRIVIA:

In order to have Kong and Godzilla fight, Toho had to inflate King Kong’s size dramatically. Originally King Kong was between twenty and thirty feet tall whereas Godzilla is normally depicted anywhere between 150 and 300 feet tall.

Monster Movie of the Week: Mothra (1961)

Warning: Staring at Japanese movie posters for extended periods may induce a seizure.

MOTHRA (1961)

Director: Ichiro Honda

Genre: Daikaiju eiga

THE MOVIE

Mothra ushered in a short-lived Golden Age of 1960’s kaiju filmmaking in which the norm became high production values and colorful visuals before the genre sank into camp and kiddie nonsense . Mothra is the best of the three non-Godzilla kaiju movies produced by Toho in the wake of Godzilla Raids Again and also introduced us to one of Toho’s most iconic and popular monsters. Mothra has been featured in more Toho movies than any other monster save the big guy himself and is even popular enough to have starred in her own trilogy of kids films in the 1990’s. Her popularity (particularly with the ladies) has caused her to be plugged into numerous Godzilla movies in which she was not originally slated to appear. She’s one of the few female Japanese giant monsters and one of the only ones that is consistently benevolent and she’s the only kaiju with a catchy theme song sung by a pair of mini-twins.

Mothra's story borrows heavily from King Kong and deals with a joint expedition between Japan and a fictitious country (that strongly resembles the U.S.) to the mysterious Infant Island that is home to a tribe of natives and also the site of atomic testing. Once on the island, one of the Japanese expedition members is saved by a pair of tiny singing twins. The twins are stolen from the island by an unscrupulous member of the foreign party and put in a musical revue a la Kong's Broadway show. My question is: how the hell are you supposed to see them from the audience? I don’t think a stage show is quite the right venue for six inch singing twins. And how did they get them to rehearse elaborate musical numbers?

Anyhoo, the twins launch into their chart-topper “Mo-su-ra” and a giant silkworm hatches from a pastel colored egg and swims towards Tokyo, impervious to all weapons. The larva climbs up Tokyo Tower and breaks it in half before spinning a silken cocoon. What hatches is perhaps the most improbable of a giant monster designs: a big pretty butterfly. Perhaps the Japanese Defense Force would have fared better against her if they had built a giant net. So, Mo-su-ra follows the twins to New Kirk City (NKC!) and eventually reclaims her twins (does she swallow them? I’m not clear on where they “boarded”) after blowing stuff around with her wings.

Why even have a Tokyo Tower?

THE MONSTER/EFFECTS

It takes a real man to be a Mothra fan. Her femininity, her colorful appearance, her harmonizing sidekicks all elicit a derisive reaction from kaiju mandom. I mean, a guy can get away with wearing a Godzilla t-shirt, no problem but if you walk around with a Mothra shirt you better watch your back. If you are not entirely comfortable with your masculinity, the idea of a giant ass-kicking psychedelic butterfly nature goddess may be somewhat disturbing for you. Although the somewhat fecal appearance of the larva will be good for a chuckle from the guys.

The effects in Mothra are surprisingly good for the time and are certainly better than any of Toho’s prior kaiju movies. I am very surprised and happy to say that there is very little Rodanitis present in the flying sequences. Mothra’s wings move in a very realistic and even elegant way. The wirework and other mechanisms are for the most part well-concealed. I can only speculate that more of the budget was devoted to the flying sequences since there were only two creatures to design for this one.

MONSTERS PRESENT

Mothra in both her larval and adult form.

DVD AVAILABILITY

This one’s a little hard to get. I managed to buy a copy of the Japanese version from ultramanstuff.com. There’s not much else on the disc and the video is not excellent but at least it’s the Japanese version. As with the other disc I bought from them it took a long time and a couple of check up emails before I got my disc but I got it. I don’t know what changes or cuts were made to the American version.

MOST MEMORABLE SEQUENCE

The larva’s attack on Tokyo Tower.

SEQUELS

Some say the world will end in fire others...by giant stuffed animals.

Mothra is featured in quite a few of the Godzilla movies but as far as I know the only true sequel is Godzilla X Mechagodzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. (2003) which directly refers to the original Mothra movie and even features one of the actors reprising his Mothra role some forty years later, which is kind of cool.

SEE ALSO

Godzilla vs. Mothra (1964) Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992) Rebirth of Mothra I-III (1996) Godzilla: Final Wars (2004)