King Kong vs. Godzilla Film Review

King Kong vs. Godzilla

Director: Ishirô Honda

Year: 1963
Rating: 5.5

This is Godzilla's comeback film. If you recall the last time we sighted him was in the 1955 Godzilla Raids Again where at the end of the film he was encased in an iceberg. That kept him trapped all this time as did the mediocre box-office results of the film. But Toho did not sit around waiting for Godzilla to break out but produced Rodan, Mothra and Varan in the Kaiju genre. Now though they were ready to rumble with the Big Boy once again and whom better to face than the former champion from way way back, King Kong. Two greats matching up. King Kong you might wonder? What the hell is King Kong doing in Japan - on a junket tour? Weirdly enough the genesis of this idea came from none other than Willis O'Brien who had been the special effects man behind the original King Kong and then later Mighty Joe Young. He had been going around to the studios with a script in which King Kong fights another giant beast - not Godzilla but something more American. Well, Universal liked the idea and bought the script from Willis and then immediately kicked him off the project and went to Toho and said how about King Kong vs Godzilla and thus this film. Universal had the North American rights and took the finished product and added and subtracted scenes as they tended to do in those days.

It struck me that Toho upped the silly content considerably from the earlier films. Goofy at times. Watching two guys in suits wrestle each other for 15 minutes is hard to take seriously. Give me Godzilla or King Kong walking through cities causing mass destruction and panic or picking up a subway full of people and I am all in but the fights between the monsters makes me feel foolish to be watching it. It didn't help that it looks like they budgeted about $50 for King Kong's moth eaten suit from a second hand shop. Which is odd because it was watching King Kong as a child that inspired special effects wizard Eiji Tsuburaya to go into this field. King Kong has one expression and it is hard to tell if he is laughing or screaming. Maybe he didn't want to overshadow Godzilla. Some including director Ishirô Honda saw this as America vs Japan and that was the sense I had while watching it.

It begins with a few things going on. An American nuclear sub is investigating an iceberg that is radiating. A bad idea it turns out. Back in Japan a pharmaceutical company's ad men decide that they need a monster too in order to promote their pills. Evil even back then. They have heard rumors that there may be one on an island near the Solomon Islands and two men are sent to look it over. They find it and a tribe of natives who look a lot like Japanese in black-face who worship it and chant a piece of music that seems inspired by Carmina Burana. The two Japanese buy their loyalty with a transistor radio and cigarettes.

A giant octopus (a real one by the way which ended up as dinner later that night) comes ashore looking for snacks and King Kong fights it off and then drinks a few gallons of "juice" to celebrate. Not a real good drinker - one of those that just falls asleep - and they brilliantly decide to take King Kong back to Japan on a raft. Let's see - why don't we take a giant monster back to the country that has been ravaged by Godzilla and Rodan so that we can promote our product. And no one says that is a really bad idea - they only run into trouble with customs - you have to declare it and pay taxes on it. I sort of hope that was an in-joke. I think a lot of the film is taking pokes at Japan.

Eventually of course King Kong breaks loose and Godzilla comes to Japan like a homing pigeon. And they take a dislike to one another. I don't know why. They should be allies. Mie Hama - from You Only Live Twice - does the Fay Wray role here - she gets picked up by King Kong and he climbs a building with her best screaming - not that the Japanese had anything like the Empire State Bld back then - a small building and clutches a toy doll - I mean Mie. Later it probably made being with the hairy Sean Connery more palatable. Don't worry about King Kong - he shows up in four years in King Kong Escapes but I am a few movies from there. And then the 2021 Godzilla vs Kong which is way way off for me. This had a bit too much foolishness for my taste but it is still Godzilla.