King Kong vs. Godzilla


King Kong vs. Godzilla is a 1962 Japanese kaiju monster film directed by Ishirō Honda, with special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya. Produced and distributed by Toho Studios, it is the third film in the Godzilla franchise, and the first of two Toho-produced films featuring King Kong. It is also the first time that both characters appeared on film in color and widescreen. The film stars Tadao Takashima, Kenji Sahara, Yū Fujiki, Ichirō Arishima, and Mie Hama, with Shoichi Hirose as King Kong and Haruo Nakajima as Godzilla. In the film, as Godzilla is reawakened by an American submarine, a pharmaceutical company captures King Kong for promotional uses, which culminates into a battle on Mount Fuji.
The project began with a story outline that featured King Kong battling a giant Frankenstein monster, written by Willis H. O'Brien. O'Brien handed the outline to producer John Beck for development. Behind O'Brien's back and without his knowledge, Beck would eventually take the project to Toho to produce the film, replacing the Frankenstein monster with Godzilla and scrapping O'Brien's story.
King Kong vs. Godzilla was released theatrically in Japan on August 11, 1962. The film remains the most attended Godzilla film in Japan to date, and is credited with encouraging Toho to prioritize the continuation of the Godzilla series after seven years of dormancy. A heavily edited version was released by Universal International Inc. theatrically in the United States on June 26, 1963.

Plot

Mr. Tako, head of Pacific Pharmaceuticals, is frustrated with the television shows his company is sponsoring and wants something to boost his ratings. When a doctor tells Tako about a giant monster he discovered on the small Faro Island, Tako believes that it would be a brilliant idea to use the monster to gain publicity. Tako immediately sends two men, Sakurai and Kinsaburo, to find and bring back the monster. Meanwhile, the American submarine Seahawk gets caught in an iceberg. The iceberg collapses, unleashing Godzilla, who then destroys the submarine and a nearby Arctic military base.
On Faro Island, a gigantic octopus crawls ashore and attacks the native village. The mysterious Faro monster, revealed to be King Kong, arrives and defeats the octopus. Kong then drinks some red berry juice that immediately puts him to sleep. Sakurai and Kinsaburo place Kong on a large raft and begin to transport him back to Japan. Mr. Tako arrives on the ship transporting Kong, but a JSDF ship stops them and orders them to return Kong to Faro Island. Meanwhile, Godzilla arrives in Japan and begins terrorizing the countryside. Kong wakes up and breaks free from the raft. Reaching the mainland, Kong confronts Godzilla and proceeds to throw giant rocks at Godzilla. Godzilla is not fazed by King Kong's rock attack and uses its atomic breath to burn him. Kong retreats after realizing that he is not yet ready to take on Godzilla and his atomic breath.
The JSDF digs a large pit laden with explosives and poison gas and lures Godzilla into it, but Godzilla is unharmed. They next string up a barrier of power lines around the city filled with 1,000,000 volts of electricity, which prove effective against Godzilla. Kong then approaches Tokyo and tears through the power lines, feeding off the electricity, which seems to make him stronger. Kong then enters Tokyo and captures Fumiko, Sakurai's sister. The JSDF launches capsules full of the Faro Island berry juice in gas form, which puts Kong to sleep, and are able to rescue Fumiko. The JSDF then decides to transport Kong via balloons to Godzilla, in hopes that they will kill each other.
The next morning, Kong is dropped next to Godzilla at the summit of Mount Fuji and the two engage in a final battle. Godzilla initially has the advantage due to his atomic breath and nearly kills Kong. After knocking Kong out with a devastating dropkick and tail smacks to the head, Godzilla begins burning the foliage around Kong trying to cremate him. Suddenly a bolt of lightning from thunder clouds strike King Kong reviving him and charging him up. The monsters resume their fight, making their way towards the coastline and destroying Atami Castle before falling off a cliff together into the Pacific Ocean. After an underwater battle, only Kong resurfaces from the water, and he begins to swim back towards his island home. There is no sign of Godzilla, but the JSDF speculates that it is possible that he survived.

Cast

Production

Conception

The film had its roots in an earlier concept for a new King Kong feature developed by Willis O'Brien, animator of the original stop-motion Kong. Around 1960, O'Brien came up with a proposed treatment, King Kong Meets Frankenstein, where Kong would fight against a giant Frankenstein Monster in San Francisco. O'Brien took the project to RKO to secure permission to use the King Kong character. During this time, the story was renamed King Kong vs. the Ginko when it was believed that Universal had the rights to the Frankenstein name. O'Brien was introduced to producer John Beck, who promised to find a studio to make the film. Beck took the story treatment and had George Worthing Yates flesh it out into a screenplay. The story was slightly altered and the title changed to King Kong vs. Prometheus, returning the name to the original Frankenstein concept. Unfortunately, the cost of stop-motion animation discouraged potential studios from putting the film into production. After shopping the script around overseas, Beck eventually attracted the interest of the Japanese studio Toho, which had long wanted to make a King Kong film. After purchasing the script, they decided to replace the Frankenstein creature with Godzilla to be King Kong's opponent and would have Shinichi Sekizawa rewrite Yates's script. The studio thought that it would be the perfect way to celebrate its 30th year in production. It was one of five big banner releases for the company to celebrate the anniversary alongside Sanjuro, , Lonely Lane, and Born in Sin. John Beck's dealings with Willis O'Brien's project were done behind his back, and O'Brien was never credited for his idea. Merian C. Cooper was bitterly opposed to the project, stating in a letter addressed to his friend Douglas Burden, "I was indignant when some Japanese company made a belittling thing, to a creative mind, called King Kong vs. Godzilla. I believe they even stooped so low as to use a man in a gorilla suit, which I have spoken out against so often in the early days of King Kong". In 1963, he filed a lawsuit to enjoin distribution of the movie against John Beck, as well as Toho and Universal claiming that he outright owned the King Kong character, but the lawsuit never went through, as it turned out he was not Kong's sole legal owner as he had previously believed.

Themes

Ishiro Honda wanted the theme of the movie to be a satire of the television industry in Japan. In April 1962, TV networks and their various sponsors started producing outrageous programming and publicity stunts to grab audiences attention after two elderly viewers reportedly died at home while watching a violent wrestling match on TV. The various rating wars between the networks and banal programming that followed this event caused widespread debate over how TV would effect Japanese culture with Soichi Oya stating TV was creating "a nation of 100 million idiots". Honda stated "People were making a big deal out of ratings, but my own view of TV shows was that they did not take the viewer seriously, that they took the audience for granted....so I decided to show that through my movie" and "the reason I showed the monster battle through the prism of a ratings war was to depict the reality of the times". Honda addressed this by having a pharmaceutical company sponsor a TV show and going to extremes for a publicity stunt for ratings by capturing a giant monster stating "All a medicine company would have to do is just produce good medicines you know? But the company doesn't think that way. They think they will get ahead of their competitors if they use a monster to promote their product.". Honda would work with screenwriter Shinichi Sekizawa on developing the story stating that "Back then Sekizawa was working on pop songs and TV shows so he really had a clear insight into television".

Filming

Special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya was planning on working on other projects at this point in time such as a new version of a fairy tale film script called Kaguyahime, but he postponed those to work on this project with Toho instead since he was such a huge fan of King Kong. He stated in an early 1960s interview with the Mainichi Newspaper, "But my movie company has produced a very interesting script that combined King Kong and Godzilla, so I couldn't help working on this instead of my other fantasy films. The script is special to me; it makes me emotional because it was King Kong that got me interested in the world of special photographic techniques when I saw it in 1933."
Eiji Tsuburaya had a stated intention to move the Godzilla series in a lighter direction. This approach was not favoured by most of the effects crew, who "couldn't believe" some of the things Tsuburaya asked them to do, such as Kong and Godzilla volleying a giant boulder back and forth. But Tsuburaya wanted to appeal to children's sensibilities and broaden the genre's audience. This approach was favoured by Toho and to this end, King Kong vs. Godzilla has a much lighter tone than the previous two Godzilla films and contains a great deal of humor within the action sequences. With the exception of the next film, Mothra vs. Godzilla, this film began the trend to portray Godzilla and the monsters with more and more anthropomorphism as the series progressed, to appeal more to younger children. Ishirō Honda was not a fan of the dumbing down of the monsters. Years later, Honda stated in an interview. "I don't think a monster should ever be a comical character." "The public is more entertained when the great King Kong strikes fear into the hearts of the little characters." The decision was also taken to shoot the film in a scope ratio and to film in color, marking both monsters' first widescreen and color portrayals. Additionally, the theatrical release was accompanied by both a true 4.0 stereophonic soundtrack, and a regular monaural mix.
Toho had planned to shoot this film on location in Sri Lanka, but had to forgo that because it ended up paying RKO roughly ¥80 million for the rights to the King Kong character. The bulk of the film was shot on Izu Ōshima instead. The movie's production budget came out to .
Suit actors Shoichi Hirose and Haruo Nakajima were given mostly free rein by Eiji Tsuburaya to choreograph their own moves. The men would rehearse for hours and would base their moves on that from professional wrestling, in particular the movies of Toyonobori.
During pre-production, Eiji Tsuburaya had toyed with the idea of using Willis O'Brien's stop-motion technique instead of the suitmation process used in the first two Godzilla films, but budgetary concerns prevented him from using the process, and the more cost efficient suitmation was used instead. However, some brief stop motion was used in a couple of quick sequences. One of these sequences was animated by Koichi Takano who was a member of Eiji Tsuburaya's crew.
A brand new Godzilla suit was designed for this film and some slight alterations were done to its overall appearance. These alterations included the removal of its tiny ears, three toes on each foot rather than four, enlarged central dorsal fins and a bulkier body. These new features gave Godzilla a more reptilian/dinosaurian appearance. Outside of the suit, a meter high model and a small puppet were also built. Another puppet was also designed that had a nozzle in the mouth to spray out liquid mist simulating Godzilla's atomic breath. However the shots in the film where this prop was employed were ultimately cut from the film. These cut scenes can be seen in the Japanese theatrical trailer. Finally, a separate prop of Godzilla's tail was also built for close up practical shots when its tail would be used. The tail prop would be swung offscreen by a stage hand.
Sadamasa Arikawa said that the sculptors had a hard time coming up with a King Kong suit that appeased Tsuburaya. The first suit was rejected for being too fat with long legs giving Kong what the crew considered an almost cute look. A few other designs were done before Tsuburaya would approve the final look that was ultimately used in the film. The suit's body design was a team effort by brothers Koei Yagi and Kanji Yagi and was covered with expensive yak hair, which Eizo Kaimai hand-dyed brown. Because RKO instructed that the face must be different from the original's design, sculptor Teizo Toshimitsu based Kong's face on the Japanese macaque rather than a gorilla, and designed two separate masks. As well, two separate pairs of arms were also created. One pair were extended arms that were operated by poles inside the suit to better give Kong a gorilla-like illusion, while the other pair were at normal arms length and featured gloves that were used for scenes that required Kong to grab items and wrestle with Godzilla. Suit actor Hirose had to be sewn into the suit in order to hide the zipper. This would force him to be trapped inside the suit for large amounts of time and would cause him much physical discomfort. In the scene where Kong drinks the berry juice and falls asleep, he was trapped in the suit for three hours. Hirose stated in an interview "Sweat came pouring out like a flood and it got into my eyes too. When I came out, I was pale all over". Besides the suit with the two separate arm attachments, a meter high model and a puppet of Kong were also built. As well, a huge prop of Kong's hand was built for the scene where he grabs Mie Hama and carries her off.
For the attack of the giant octopus, four live octopuses were used. They were forced to move among the miniature huts by having hot air blown onto them. After the filming of that scene was finished, three of the four octopuses were released. The fourth became special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya's dinner. These sequences were filmed on a miniature set outdoors on the Miura Coast. Along with the live animals, two rubber octopus props were built, with the larger one being covered with plastic wrap to simulate mucous. Some stop-motion tentacles were also created for the scene where the octopus grabs a native and tosses him. These sequences were shot indoors at Toho Studios.
Since King Kong was seen as the bigger draw and since Godzilla was still a villain at this point in the series, the decision was made to not only give King Kong top billing but also to present him as the winner of the climactic fight. While the ending of the film does look somewhat ambiguous, Toho confirmed that King Kong was indeed the winner in their 1962–63 English-language film program Toho Films Vol. 8, which states in the film's plot synopsis, A spectacular duel is arranged on the summit of Mt. Fuji and King Kong is victorious. But after he has won...

English version

When John Beck sold the King Kong vs. Prometheus script to Toho, he was given exclusive rights to produce a version of the film for release in non-Asian territories. He was able to line up a couple of potential distributors in Warner Bros. and Universal-International even before the film began production. Beck, accompanied by two Warner Bros. representatives, attended at least two private screenings of the film on the Toho Studios lot before it was released in Japan.
John Beck enlisted the help of two Hollywood writers, Paul Mason and Bruce Howard, to write a new screenplay. After discussions with Beck, the two wrote the American version and worked with editor Peter Zinner to remove scenes, recut others, and change the sequence of several events. To give the film more of an American feel, Mason and Howard decided to insert new footage that would convey the impression that the film was actually a newscast. The television actor Michael Keith played newscaster Eric Carter, a United Nations reporter who spends much of the time commenting on the action from the U.N. Headquarters via an International Communications Satellite broadcast. Harry Holcombe was cast as Dr. Arnold Johnson, the head of the Museum of Natural History in New York City, who tries to explain Godzilla's origin and his and Kong's motivations. The new footage, directed by Thomas Montgomery, was shot in three days.
Beck and his crew were able to obtain library music from a host of older films. These films include Creature from the Black Lagoon, Bend of the River, Untamed Frontier, The Golden Horde, Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, Man Made Monster, Thunder on the Hill, While the City Sleeps, Against All Flags, The Monster That Challenged the World, The Deerslayer and music from the TV series Wichita Town. Cues from these scores were used to almost completely replace the original Japanese score by Akira Ifukube and give the film a more Western sound. They also obtained stock footage from the film The Mysterians from RKO which was used to not only represent the ICS, but which was also utilized during the film's climax. Stock footage of a massive earthquake from The Mysterians was employed to make the earthquake caused by Kong and Godzilla's plummet into the ocean much more violent than the tame tremor seen in the Japanese version. This added footage features massive tidal waves, flooded valleys, and the ground splitting open swallowing up various huts.
Beck spent roughly $15,500 making his English version and sold the film to Universal-International for roughly $200,000 on April 29, 1963. The film opened in New York on June 26 of that year.
Starting in 1963, Toho's international sales booklets began advertising an English dub of King Kong vs. Godzilla alongside Toho-commissioned, uncut international dubs of movies such as Giant Monster Varan and The Last War. By association, it is thought that this King Kong vs. Godzilla dub is an uncut, English-language international version not known to have been released on home video.

Release

Theatrical

In Japan, the film first released on August 11, 1962. The film was re-released twice as part of the Champion Matsuri, a film festival that ran from 1969 through 1978 that featured numerous films packaged together and aimed at children, first in 1970, and then again in 1977, to coincide with the Japanese release of King Kong.
After its theatrical re-releases, the film was screened two more times at specialty festivals. In 1979, to celebrate Godzilla's 25th anniversary, the film was reissued as part of a triple bill festival known as The Godzilla Movie Collection. It played alongside Invasion of Astro-Monster and Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla. This release is known among fans for its exciting and dynamic movie poster featuring all the main kaiju from these three films engaged in battle. Then in 1983, the film was screened as part of The Godzilla Resurrection Festival. This large festival featured 10 Godzilla/kaiju films in all.
In North America, King Kong vs. Godzilla premiered in New York City on June 26, 1963. The film was also released in many international markets. In Germany, it was known as Die Rückkehr des King Kong and in Italy as Il trionfo di King Kong. In France, it was released as King Kong contre Godzilla in 1976.

Home media

The Japanese version of this film was released numerous times through the years by Toho on different home video formats. The film was first released on VHS in 1985 and again in 1991. It was released on LaserDisc in 1986 and 1991, and then again in 1992 in its truncated 74-minute form as part of a laserdisc box set called the Godzilla Toho Champion Matsuri. Toho then released the film on DVD in 2001. They released it again in 2005 as part of the Godzilla Final Box DVD set, and again in 2010 as part of the Toho Tokusatsu DVD Collection. This release was volume #8 of the series and came packaged with a collectible magazine that featured stills, behind the scenes photos, interviews, and more. In the summer of 2014, the film was released for the first time on Blu-ray as part of the company releasing the entire series on the Blu-Ray format for Godzilla's 60th anniversary.
The American version was released on VHS by GoodTimes Entertainment in 1987, and then on DVD to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the film's U.S release in 1998. Both of these releases were full frame. Universal Pictures released the English-language version of the film on DVD in widescreen as part of a two-pack bundle with King Kong Escapes in 2005, and then on its own as an individual release on September 15, 2009. They then re-released the film on Blu-Ray on April 1, 2014, along with King Kong Escapes. This release sold $749,747 worth of Blu-Rays. FYE released an exclusive Limited Edition Steelbook version of this Blu-ray on September 10, 2019.
In 2019, the Japanese and American versions were included in a Blu-ray box set released by the Criterion Collection, which included all 15 films from the franchise's Shōwa era.

Box office

In Japan, this film has the highest box office attendance figures of all of the Godzilla films to date. It sold 11.2 million tickets during its initial theatrical run, accumulating in distribution rental earnings. The film was the fourth highest-grossing film in Japan that year behind The Great Wall , Sanjuro, and and was Toho's second biggest moneymaker. At an average 1962 Japanese ticket price, ticket sales were equivalent to estimated gross receipts of approximately .
Including re-releases, the film accumulated a lifetime figure of 12.6 million tickets sold in Japan, with distribution rental earnings of. The 1970 re-release sold 870,000 tickets, equivalent to estimated gross receipts of approximately . The 1977 re-release sold 480,000 tickets, equivalent to estimated gross receipts of approximately . This adds up to total estimated Japanese gross receipts of approximately .
In the United States, the film grossed $2.7 million, accumulating a profit of $1.25 million. In France, where it released in 1976, the film sold 554,695 tickets, equivalent to estimated gross receipts of approximately . This adds up to total estimated gross receipts of approximately worldwide.
Adjusted for inflation, Japanese ticket sales are equivalent to at an average 2014 Japanese ticket price, while 554,695 French ticket sales are equivalent to at an average 2014 French ticket price. at 1963 US ticket prices are equivalent to at an average 2020 US ticket price. This adds up to an estimated inflation-adjusted gross of approximately worldwide.

Preservation

The original Japanese version of King Kong vs. Godzilla is infamous for being one of the most poorly-preserved tokusatsu films. In 1970, director Ishiro Honda prepared an edited version of the film for the Toho Champion Festival, a children's matinee program that showcased edited re-releases of older kaiju films along with cartoons and then-new kaiju films. Honda cut 24 minutes from the film's original negative and, as a result, the highest quality source for the cut footage was lost. For years, all that was thought to remain of the uncut 1962 version was a faded, heavily damaged 16mm element from which rental prints had been made. 1980s restorations for home video integrated the 16mm deleted scenes into the 35mm Champion cut, resulting in wildly inconsistent picture quality.
In 1991, Toho issued a restored laserdisc incorporating the rediscovery of a reel of 35mm trims of the deleted footage. The resultant quality was far superior to previous reconstructions, but not perfect; an abrupt cut caused by missing frames at the beginning or end of a trim is evident whenever the master switches between the Champion cut and a 35mm trim within the same shot. This laserdisc master was utilized for Toho's 2001 DVD release with few changes.
In 2014, Toho released a new restoration of the film on Blu-Ray, which utilized the 35mm edits once again, but only those available for reels 2-7 of the film were able to be located. The remainder of video for the deleted portions was sourced from the earlier Blu-Ray of the U.S. version, in addition to the previous 480i 1991 laserdisc master. On July 14, 2016, a 4K restoration of a completely 35mm sourced version of the film aired on The Godzilla First Impact, a series of 4K broadcasts of Godzilla films on the Nihon Eiga Senmon Channel.

Legacy

Due to the film's great box office success, Toho planned to produce a sequel almost immediately. The sequel was simply called Continuation: King Kong vs. Godzilla. However the project was ultimately cancelled.
Also due to the great box office success of this film, Toho was convinced to build a franchise around the character of Godzilla and started producing sequels on a yearly basis. The next project was to pit Godzilla against another famous movie monster icon: a giant Frankenstein Monster. In 1963, Kaoru Mabuchi wrote a script called Frankenshutain tai Gojira. Ultimately, Toho rejected the script and the next year pitted Mothra against Godzilla instead in the 1964 film Mothra vs. Godzilla. This began an intra-company style crossover where kaiju from other Toho kaiju films would be brought into the Godzilla series.
Toho was eager to build a series around their version of King Kong, but were refused by RKO. They worked with the character again in 1967 though, when they helped Rankin/Bass co produce their film King Kong Escapes. That film, however, was not a sequel to King Kong vs. Godzilla.
Henry G. Saperstein was so impressed with the octopus sequence that he requested the creature to appear in these two productions. The giant octopus appeared in an alternate ending in Frankenstein Conquers the World that was intended specifically for the American market, but was ultimately never used. The creature did reappear at the beginning of the film's sequel The War of the Gargantuas this time being retained in the finished film.
Even though it was only featured in this one film, this Godzilla suit was always one of the more popular designs among fans from both sides of the Pacific. It formed the basis for some early merchandise in the U.S. in the 1960s, such as a popular model kit by Aurora Plastics Corporation, and a popular board game by Ideal Toys. This game was released alongside a King Kong game in 1963 to coincide with the U.S. theatrical release of the film.
The King Kong suit from this film was redressed into the giant monkey Goro for episode 2 of the television show Ultra Q. Afterwards, it was reused for the water scenes for King Kong Escapes. Scenes of the giant octopus attack were reused in black and white for episode 23 of Ultra Q.
In 1992, Toho wanted to remake this film as Godzilla vs. King Kong as part of the Heisei series of Godzilla films. However, according to the late Tomoyuki Tanaka, it proved to be difficult to obtain permission to use King Kong. Next, Toho thought to make Godzilla vs. Mechani-Kong but,, it was discovered that obtaining permission even to use the likeness of King Kong would be difficult. Mechani-Kong was replaced by Mechagodzilla, and the project eventually evolved into Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II in 1993.
In making , the special effects crew was instructed to watch the giant octopus scene to get reference for the Kraken.
Through the years, the film has been referenced in various songs, advertising, television shows and comic books. It was referenced in Da Lench Mob's 1992 single "Guerillas in tha Mist". It was spoofed in advertising for a Bembos burger commercial from Peru, for Ridsect Lizard Repellant, and for the board game Connect 4. It was paid homage to in comic books by DC Comics, Bongo Comics, and Disney Comics. It was even spoofed in The Simpsons episode "Wedding for Disaster".
In 2015, Legendary Entertainment announced plans for a Godzilla vs. Kong film of their own, to be released on May 21, 2021.

Dual ending myth

For many years, a popular myth has persisted that in the Japanese version of this film, Godzilla emerges as the winner. The myth originated in the pages of Spacemen magazine, a 1960s sister magazine to the influential publication Famous Monsters of Filmland. In an article about the film, it is incorrectly stated that there were two endings and "If you see King Kong vs Godzilla in Japan, Hong Kong or some Oriental sector of the world, Godzilla wins!" The article was reprinted in various issues of Famous Monsters of Filmland in the years following, such as in issues #51 and #114. This misinformation would be accepted as fact and persist for decades. For example, a question in the "Genus III" edition of the popular board game Trivial Pursuit asked, "Who wins in the Japanese version of King Kong vs. Godzilla?" and stated that the correct answer was "Godzilla". Various media have repeated this falsehood, including the Los Angeles Times.
But with the rise of home video, Westerners have increasingly been able to view the original version and the myth has been dispelled. The only differences between the two endings of the film are minor:
In 1993, comic book artist Arthur Adams wrote and drew a one-page story that appeared in the anthology Urban Legends #1, published by Dark Horse Comics, which dispels the popular misconception about the two versions of King Kong vs. Godzilla.