***This review is based on the heavily edited American version of "King Kong vs. Godzilla" - the original Japanese-language version of which, unfortunately, I have never seen.***
Late Japanese director Ishiro Honda's 1962 monster-mash "King Kong vs. Godzilla" made history at the time of its release by becoming the most widely attended cinematic feature in Japan's history - a feat of which, to date, in 2022, has never been matched. Essentially, it was the first Japanese blockbuster. It was also the first film of its kind in Japanese history: a big-budget (by 1962 standards) cinematic crossover event that paired America's "Eighth Wonder of the World" King Kong against their own "King of the Monsters" Godzilla, in color, no less, and in widescreen. It also convinced Toho to produce further "Godzilla" movies.
Ishiro Honda, a legend in Japan along with his close friend and fellow master of cinema Akira Kurosawa, was always keen to place deep and profound themes in his films, from "Gojira" (1954) all the way to "King Kong vs. Godzilla." "King Kong vs. Godzilla" is no different - though instead of the potent anti-nuclear allegory that had come to define the nascent "Godzilla" series, Honda, along with long-time series screenwriter Shinichi Sekizawa, decided to have a little fun with this third Showa-Era entry. Honda intends and succeeds (even in the American version) to create a brilliantly pointed satire of the Japanese television industry and the extreme lengths that some large businesses would go to just to simply make a buck - even if it means importing a dangerous giant monster into the country to help promote Japanese products, and never minding the large-scale chaos and destruction that said monster is sure to cause.
This satirical bent to the proceedings is what sets the plot of "King Kong vs. Godzilla" in motion, in which Mr. Tako (the late Ichiro Arishima), who is tired of Godzilla and desperate for a new monster to help his lagging pharmaceutical company pull in tremendous ratings and profits, assigns his two underlings Osamu Sakurai (the late Takao Takashima) and Kinsaburo Furue (the late Yu Fujiki) to journey to far-off Faro Island, where a supposedly non-habit-forming narcotic berry juice has recently been discovered amid reports that the tiny island nation is also protected by a fierce monster-god.
Surely enough, in deft homages to the original 1933 "King Kong," Sakurai and Furue discover that Faro Island is protected by the gigantic ape King Kong, who also has a seemingly addictive fondness for the berry juice - which the natives are fully capable of mass-producing all by themselves. (In a hilarious scene, we watch King Kong get "drunk" off the berry juice and pass out.) Meanwhile, back in Japan, the country is facing the menace of Godzilla - last seen in "Godzilla Raids Again" (1955) - recently freed from an iceberg in the Bering Strait by a ravaged American nuclear submarine. The Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) are powerless to stop Godzilla, and Dr. Shigesawa (the late series regular Akihiko Hirata) theorizes that the only way to stop him is to let him fight King Kong, since the two appear to be instinctively drawn to one another and are presumably prehistoric enemies.
"King Kong vs. Godzilla" was undoubtedly the "event" movie of its time, and its legacy had a significant impact on the future of the "Godzilla" series. Of course, it is widely known that King Kong was actually more popular in Japan at the time than Godzilla was, and despite the film's ending two sequels would eventually be produced featuring both monsters - "Godzilla vs. Mothra" (1964), which was the last Showa-Era "Godzilla" film to portray the "King of the Monsters" as the villain before being transformed into a superhero, and "King Kong Escapes" (1967), which was the last Japanese-produced monster movie to feature King Kong.
"King Kong vs. Godzilla" was essentially remade in 2021 with the Legendary Monster-verse entry "Kong vs. Godzilla."
6/10.
Late Japanese director Ishiro Honda's 1962 monster-mash "King Kong vs. Godzilla" made history at the time of its release by becoming the most widely attended cinematic feature in Japan's history - a feat of which, to date, in 2022, has never been matched. Essentially, it was the first Japanese blockbuster. It was also the first film of its kind in Japanese history: a big-budget (by 1962 standards) cinematic crossover event that paired America's "Eighth Wonder of the World" King Kong against their own "King of the Monsters" Godzilla, in color, no less, and in widescreen. It also convinced Toho to produce further "Godzilla" movies.
Ishiro Honda, a legend in Japan along with his close friend and fellow master of cinema Akira Kurosawa, was always keen to place deep and profound themes in his films, from "Gojira" (1954) all the way to "King Kong vs. Godzilla." "King Kong vs. Godzilla" is no different - though instead of the potent anti-nuclear allegory that had come to define the nascent "Godzilla" series, Honda, along with long-time series screenwriter Shinichi Sekizawa, decided to have a little fun with this third Showa-Era entry. Honda intends and succeeds (even in the American version) to create a brilliantly pointed satire of the Japanese television industry and the extreme lengths that some large businesses would go to just to simply make a buck - even if it means importing a dangerous giant monster into the country to help promote Japanese products, and never minding the large-scale chaos and destruction that said monster is sure to cause.
This satirical bent to the proceedings is what sets the plot of "King Kong vs. Godzilla" in motion, in which Mr. Tako (the late Ichiro Arishima), who is tired of Godzilla and desperate for a new monster to help his lagging pharmaceutical company pull in tremendous ratings and profits, assigns his two underlings Osamu Sakurai (the late Takao Takashima) and Kinsaburo Furue (the late Yu Fujiki) to journey to far-off Faro Island, where a supposedly non-habit-forming narcotic berry juice has recently been discovered amid reports that the tiny island nation is also protected by a fierce monster-god.
Surely enough, in deft homages to the original 1933 "King Kong," Sakurai and Furue discover that Faro Island is protected by the gigantic ape King Kong, who also has a seemingly addictive fondness for the berry juice - which the natives are fully capable of mass-producing all by themselves. (In a hilarious scene, we watch King Kong get "drunk" off the berry juice and pass out.) Meanwhile, back in Japan, the country is facing the menace of Godzilla - last seen in "Godzilla Raids Again" (1955) - recently freed from an iceberg in the Bering Strait by a ravaged American nuclear submarine. The Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) are powerless to stop Godzilla, and Dr. Shigesawa (the late series regular Akihiko Hirata) theorizes that the only way to stop him is to let him fight King Kong, since the two appear to be instinctively drawn to one another and are presumably prehistoric enemies.
"King Kong vs. Godzilla" was undoubtedly the "event" movie of its time, and its legacy had a significant impact on the future of the "Godzilla" series. Of course, it is widely known that King Kong was actually more popular in Japan at the time than Godzilla was, and despite the film's ending two sequels would eventually be produced featuring both monsters - "Godzilla vs. Mothra" (1964), which was the last Showa-Era "Godzilla" film to portray the "King of the Monsters" as the villain before being transformed into a superhero, and "King Kong Escapes" (1967), which was the last Japanese-produced monster movie to feature King Kong.
"King Kong vs. Godzilla" was essentially remade in 2021 with the Legendary Monster-verse entry "Kong vs. Godzilla."
6/10.