King Kong vs. Godzilla

King Kong vs Godzilla (1962 edition, not the edited 1963 American version), the 4th ever Godzilla movie, is a movie I recently watched on YouTube. The storyline follows a marketing team who wants to boost ratings by capturing film of the legendary King Kong. Wouldnt you know it that just as they arrive Godzilla re-emerges for an epic showdown like we've never seen before.

This movie is directed by Ishirô Honda (Godzilla, 1954) and stars Tadao Takashima (Sons of Godzilla), Ichirô Arishima (The Lost World Of Sinbad), Kenji Sahara (Godzilla, 1954), Mie Hama (You Only Live Twice) and Akiko Wakabayashi (Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster).

The first thing I have to say is this is the worst King Kong ever created. His eyes are absolutely crazy throughout the film. The 1933 edition is infinitely better than this one. The music in this is awesome and Godzilla is as entertaining as always. His introduction followed by his battle with the military is great, though the burning tanks were a bit dated. There's a weird octopus scene in this that's unfortunately shot too dark in a fun battle with Kong. The conclusion fight in this is fun and the tree in the mouth scene is legendary.

Overall this is a very dated movie that's fun for its nostalgic charm but doesn't hold the test of time as well as other Godzilla and Kong movies. I'd score this a 5.5/10.

A pharmaceutical company head is not happy with the television ratings and wants to boost it with the help of a giant monster at Faro Island which is none other than King Kong. Meanwhile, an American submarine named Seahawk crashes into an iceberg freeing Godzilla. As Godzilla moves towards Japan, even King Kong is being brought to Japan. Circumstances make way for an unplanned wrestling match between King Kong and Godzilla. Who emerges as the winner and what new lesson Japanese learn out of this battle, forms rest of the story.

For all the hype, it's fascinating to see the makers pull this off back in 1962. The human characters especially the the pharmaceutical company head was cartoonish and over the top. It is when the monsters are introduced that film gets interesting and the gigantic octopus scene with Kong stood out. King Kong capturing a girl is again repeated here for a brief period, before setting him on the path of Godzilla. However the electricity powering Kong was not something I could get onboard with and it happens twice. Barring that, the film is all about the wrestling match and the humans picking their sides without betting. All in all, it delivers on the fun and is a decent watch.

The original Japanese Toho cut of 'King Kong Vs Godzilla' has a much more developed sense of comedy imbued throughout its runtime: the entire film is satirical and scatty; it just isn't really any better than the heavily altered American/International cut that features truly dreadful added United Nations scenes alongside necessarily dubbed and re-edited scenes.

I find this version needs significant further attention from an editor to improve its pacing and the construction of action scenes: the American film does slightly improve in this area despite it causing terrible damage to the satirical comedy of the original.

In the comedic premise of the story 'King Kong Vs Godzilla' has its best strength. There is a great degree of poking fun at television and corporate cultures and some of this is well put across.

The action part of the film is less ably done and the narrative pace is off by a considerable degree.

The same failings of really poor and unconvincing monsters that afflict the American version are naturally in this film also.

They look, sound, and move badly, individually, and even moreso, in tandem together.

The film score is better in this version as is the overall sound design.

I rate a 5/10 for a version that has more brains but less pruning than the more often seen English language cut.

Like Mothra, here also, Toho produces a movie that criticizes nuclear war and consumerism at the same time but on a whole another level. Bringing the most famous monsters together, one from Hollywood and one from Japan, it was really a huge event even back then. The first half of the story in the monster part is similar to both monsters' first outing but the human element is a pharmaceutical company using monsters for advertisement. Initially, I thought the humor element there was simply like a comic relief moment but the movie manages to be hilarious throughout. The King Kong suit design itself is very whacky. Then when the final battle ensues, it's just two people in rubber suits wrestling and throwing props at each other. The whole battle is just stupid and hilarious. The initial Island rituals and music were actually engrossing but with the cigarette gift to the blackface kids it is consistently funny. Even though there's so much stupidity in this movie, a lot of it is clearly intentional and they know what the audience wants. Even all the posters are hilarious. Still, better than the modern Hollywood version.

Considering the time, it's okay for what it is. The cast is too big, it would have benefited from focusing more on the two leads instead; and the romance subplot makes the film unnecessarily convoluted, and bogs down the pacing. It also takes too long to focuses on Godzilla and Kong, the split second shots of them get annoying. Probably one of the better Godzilla films, although none of them are actually good movies.

6/10 considering the era it was made in and that the film is intentionally light-hearted and comedic. Reasonable entertaining overall, but it does drag a little before it finally gets to the showdown right before the film warps up.