Kingukongu tai Gojira (1962)

Country of Origin: Japan
Year of Production: 1962
Running Times: 82 mins (Germany) 91 mins (USA) 98 mins (Japan)
Format: colour 35mm
Ratio: Tohoscope 2.35:1
Sound: stereo

PRODUCTION
Production Company: Toho
US Version Production Companies: John Beck / RKO General Pictures / Universal International Pictures
Producer: Tomoyuki Tanaka
US Version Producer: John Beck

SCRIPT
Script: Shinichi Sekizawa
US Version Script: Bruce Howard, Paul Mason
Story: King Kong vs. Prometheus by Willis H. O'Brien
Early US Version Script: George Worthing Yates (uncredited)

DIRECTION
Director: Ishiro Honda
Chief Assistant Director: Koji Kajita

PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: Hajime Koizumi
Lighting: Shoshichi Kojima
Laboratory: Tokyo Laboratory Ltd., Tokyo, Japan

EDITING AND POST PRODUCTION
Editor: Reiko Kaneko

MUSIC
Music / Lyrics: Akira Ifukube
Music Performed By: The Toho Studio Chorus
US Version Music Supervisor: Peter Zinner
US Version Music: Robert Emmett Dolan (uncredited); Henry Mancini (uncredited); Milton Rosen (uncredited); Herman Stein (uncredited)
USA Version Conductor: Joseph Gershenson

SOUND
Sound Effects: Hisashi Shimonaga
US Version Sound Effects Editor: William L. Stevenson

SPECIAL EFFECTS
Directors of Special Effects: Eiji Tsuburaya, Teizo Toshimitsu
Assistant Director of Special Effects: Teruyoshi Nakano
Suit Designers: Teizo Toshimitsu, Akira Watanabe
Special Effects Technical Advisor: Fuminori Ohashi (uncredited)
Director of Special Effects Photography: Teisho Arikawa
Special Effects Camera Operator: Sokei Tomioka
Assistant Special Effects Cameraman: Koichi Kawakita
Special Effects Lighting: Kuichiro Kishida
Optical Effects: Yukio Manoda, Taka Yuki
Matte Process: Hiroshi Mukoyama
Special Effects Art Director: Akira Watanabe

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Production Designer: Teruaki Abe, Takeo Kita

STUNTS
Stunt Choreography: Haruo Nakajima

CAST
Tadao Takashima (Osamu Sakurai)
Kenji Sahara (Kazuo Fujita)
Yu Fujiki (Kinsaburo Furue)
Ichirô Arishima (Mr Tako)
Jun Tazaki (General Masami Shinzo)
Akihiko Hirata (Prime Minister Shigezawa)
Mie Hama (Fumiko Sakurai)
Akiko Wakabayashi (Tamiye)
Akemi Negishi (Chikiro's mother)
Somesho Matsumoto (official)
Senkichi Omura (TTV translator Konno)
Sachio Sakai (Obayashi, Mr Tako's assistant)
Haruya Kato (Obayashi's assistant)
Nadao Kirino (General's aide)
Kenzo Tabu (dreary newscaster)
Shin Otomo (newspaperman)
Yoshio Kosugi (Farou Island chief)
Tatsuo Matsumura (Dr Makino)
Ko Mishima (official)
Yoshifumi Tajima (man aboard ship)
Ikio Sawamura (witch doctor)
Ren Yamamoto (helicopter pilot)
Harold Conway (scientist in submarine)
Osman Yusuf (submariner)
Shoichi Hirose (Kingukongu)
Haruo Nakajima, Katsumi Tezuka (Gojira)

ADDITIONAL CAST (US VERSION)
Michael Keith (Eric Carter)
James Yagi (Yutaka Omura)
Harry Holcombe (Dr Arnold Johnson)
Byron Morrow (TV newscaster)
Les Tremayne (narrator)

The head of a large pharmaceutical company mounts an expedition to a remote island in search of berries that are said to be a miracle cure. There, he and his colleagues find the locals worshipping an ape, King Kong, that has supposedly grown to its giant proprtions by eating the berries. The expedition capture the ape and take it back to Japan. Meanwhile, American pilots have discovered Godzilla frozen in a glacier...

In the West, this is perhaps the best known of the Japanese monster romps and certainly one of the most entertaining. The prolonged rumble between the monster icons is fabulous if patently ridiculous. The Kong outfit looks a bit scabby, but Godzilla is at the height of his powers here. Wonderful.

Japan
Laserdisc Distributor: Toho Video

USA
Theatrical Distributor: Universal-International
Video Distributor: Goodtimes

Germany
Rating: 12

UK
Rating: X

1962
August
11: Japan - theatrical release

1963
June
3: USA - theatrical release

1974
August
23: West Germany - theatrical release

The most colossal conflict the screen has ever known!

King Kong vs Godzilla

SEQUEL TO
Gojira (1954)
Gojira no gyakushu (1955)

SEQUELS
San daikaijû: Chikyu saidai no kessen (1964)
Mosura tai Gojira (1964)
Kaijû daisenso (1965)
Gojira-Ebira-Mosura: Nankai no daiketto (1966)
Kaijûtô no kessen: Gojira no musuko (1967)
Kaijû sôshingeki (1968)
Gojira-Minira-Gabara: Oru kaijû daishingeki (1969)

SEE ALSO
King Kong (1933)

FOOTAGE INCLUDED IN
Gojira Fuantajî SF Kôkyô Fuantajî (1984)

BOOKS

Creature Features Strikes Again p.216
credits, review

monsters; kaiju eiga; godzilla; king kong; japan