King Kong vs. Godzilla

 A retrospective by Forrest Humphrey 

After the original 1954 masterpiece Gojira, the next step in the franchise was an immediate sequel in 1955 called Godzilla Raids Again. I might cover that film someday, but after this rush, Toho would sit on Godzilla for seven years. King Kong creator Willis H O'Brian had long tried to get more King Kong movies but had met with little to no success. At one point, O'Brian penned a story to pit Kong against the Frankenstein Monster, but his producer actually went behind his back and gave the project to Toho. O'Brian's original story and the Frankenstein Monster were totally scrapped and what we got was this film: 1962's King Kong vs. Godzilla. 

The story here is actually quite paired down compared to the other films I've covered. To whit, a pharmaceutical corporation wants to boost its ratings on tv, and so the head of the company decides to find a giant monster for a publicity stunt, and they find King Kong living on a tribal island in the Pacific. Around the same time, an American submarine collides with an iceberg, releasing Godzilla from within, where he had been trapped since the ending of Godzilla Raids Again. Much stomping of buildings and fighting occurs before the two great monsters of cinema have their final showdown. That's it, that's the entire plot. 

That being said, while that does describe the American cut of the film, there was naturally more to the Japaneses original script. Director Ishiro Honda, Special Effects Master Eiji Tsuburaya and composer Akira Ifukube all returned. Honda made the film as a satire of Japanese media at the time, where the battle for ratings and publicity were, to him, getting well out of hand, and so the film took shape as a kind of ultimate stunt in corporate stupidity. Though of course even this lens of deeper theme was gutted in the US for a more basic b-movie structure. 

Tsuburaya once again handled the special effects and most of it holds up pretty well. The Godzilla suit isn't one of the very best but the design, with its longer snout, remains very distinct, and the miniature work is still excellent. There is, unfortunately, one issue: Kong's suit. It looks bad, this thing is not pretty to look at with its badly matted fur and dopey face. Much to Honda's chagrin, this would also be where a lot of trademark Godzilla-isms would appear for the first time. Tsurubaya wanted to move the monsters into a lighter direction, and began injecting them with a lot more personality. While I do respect Honda's wish to keep Kaiju serious and symbolic, I also think Godzilla wouldn't be half as memorable if not for the behaviors that began to appear here, such as the monsters taunting one another, kicking rocks and even pulling some wrestling moves. Side note, this would also be where Godzilla's most famous, higher pitched roar made its first appearance. 

The biggest issue with any version of the film you're likely to see though, deals with Honda's score. The US version, the ONLY version available in any capacity, utterly gutted his music from the film. Don't get me wrong, the replacement music actually isn't bad at all, but if you can listen to the original score, its some of Honda's best work. The tribal vibe he gives King Kong through use of drums and chanting goes a long way to help sell the primal nature of the creature, and his classic Godzilla themes are all here as well. 

The movie actually did incredibly well. It was, in fact, THE most successful movie in the series until Shin Godzilla passed it many decades later. This is due entirely to just how popular King Kong was back then, especially in Japan. Eiji Tsurubaya even notes this movie is special to him because he adored King Kong so much and was thrilled to get to use the iconic monster. Godzilla at the time was still pretty obscure, hard to believe in today's world where Godzilla is arguably the more instantly recognizable monster. In fact, this movie is not the “battle of cinema's biggest monsters” people often treat it as now because at the time, even in Japan, Kong was VASTLY more popular. But the film's smash success would push the franchise forward for decades to come, and was followed by 1964's Mothra vs. Godzilla, which I have covered previously. 

One last note I want to make is what some people may know of, a famous urban legend about the film which states Kong wins in the US version and Godzilla wins in Japan. While this has been proven false, its still fascinating to see this rumor still circulating today, though this is due in part to the aforementioned fact that this is one of the most poorly preserved movies in the entire franchise. To date, you still cant get the original cut of the movie in any form, though perhaps with the upcoming Godzilla vs. Kong, maybe Toho will finally put the original version of the film on the market. 

Its not at all a thoughtful movie like the ones I've covered previously, but it is dumb fun if you want something to watch on a Saturday afternoon, and hey, we might not have a new movie of this epic fight to watch in a couple months if they hadn't done it already back in 1962.