King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962)

King Kong vs. Godzilla is without a doubt the most entertaining and commercially successful (adjusted for inflation) of all the Godzilla films. What Sci-Fi plot could be better than pitting Godzilla against Willis O’Brien’s creation? It’s a great monster movie that really hit the money-making accelerator in the Toho franchise and propelled Godzilla into stardom. The film also presents audiences the both monsters in color for the first time.Following this movie, sequel after sequel would be made each year as a result.

     Godzilla was last seen buried on an island covered in ice. At some point between films, a chunk of glacier drifts out to see. As the film begins, Godzilla breaks free after a submarine crashes into the iceberg. Shortly after, the angry dinosaur destroys the sub and levels a military base. The suit design is once again revamped: the three sets of fins are replaced with one row, the torso is much bulkier, and the head is much narrower, giving him an alligator look. Overall, Godzilla looks more reptile-like than previously. Because the film’s mood is lighter than before, his roar is given the more familiar high-pitch, and the fangs are removed. He’s more “kid-friendly” in that sense, even though the monster is still villainous. Kong, on the other hand, is nothing similar to the 1933 version, which is in stop-motion. Here, he is a guy in a clumsy and very fake looking rubber suit, with a mouth that does not move when he roars.

     There’s a scene where Kong battles a giant octopus, which in fact is a real specimen Toho used for production. It’s not a spectacular scene, especially when Kong throws the rocks at it. You can tell the forced perspective animal is nowhere near the rocks as they are seemingly thrown across it, rather than actually making contact.

     But for the most part, the monster scenes are entertaining. Following his raid on the military base, Godzilla falls into a massive hole filled with dynamite by the Japanese army. For a B-Movie, the scene is done well, and adds to the aura of Godzilla’s invincibility. Continuity is erratic though, considering Godzilla is depicted as fearing electricity. In the original film, he rips through the electrical defenses in Tokyo without a problem. Although one should remember these are two different monsters; the original died in 1954.

     While the movie is in no way true to the 1933 film, it does uphold Kong’s interest in women, as he carries around a woman across Tokyo. Kong is also increased in size, from about 30 feet tall to Godzilla’s size. And for some reason he absorbs electricity, in contrast to Godzilla. This is never explained or elaborated. That detail is completely unnecessary and irrelevant to the plot, and makes no sense in any way.

     The final monster battle is amazing, and is certainly the highlight of the film. And because the film is more comical than the previous, it contains quite a bit of humor. Kong throws a rock at Godzilla, which he bats with his tail back at Kong. Godzilla claps his hands together tauntingly in the fight, something he never did before or after the movie. And Kong’s arm length changes constantly from long to short, depending on the scene. Both monsters land hard blows on one another, and the fights carries them into the ocean, from which only Kong resurfaces. A rumor persisted that in the Japanese version it was Godzilla, but it was false. The only difference is that instead of just hearing Kong’s roar in the credits, you hear both monsters roar.

     While this movie is great in the way of monster battles and city-crushing, the human aspect is horrible. Either each of the actors overacts or under acts in all the scenes. The drug company CEO, despite being the film’s chief antagonist, is a silly and obnoxious character. In one particular scene he’s wearing a safari outfit, although he was never in the jungle and is on a ship in the middle of the ocean. There’s also a subplot about a woman searching for her fiancé and getting pinned down in Godzilla’s attack on the train. The whole scene fails to move the plot anywhere. It doesn’t get Godzilla and Kong any closer to confronting each other, nor does it present the military with any solution to stopping the beasts. The scene appears to have been just “thrown” in there.

Allow me to lay out my personal bias towards this movie. It was the first Godzilla movie I’d ever seen, and the first one I owned on VHS. Here’s the cover.

I can’t explain how excited I was to find this movie. It was really glorifying for a seven year old boy. Despite the sometimes horrific acting and cheap special effects, King Kong vs. Godzilla is a fantastically thrilling film. There’s no sadness or real drama in the way of war or politics. If you’re looking for pure escapism for an hour and a half, this is the movie for you!  Four out of four.
~Seth

DIDJA KNOW?

• This film marks the first time either Godzilla or King Kong were filmed in color or widescreen
• Ishiro Honda considered going with stop-motion monsters, a la Willis O'Brien's Kong, but due to budget concerns the idea was scrapped in favor of the standard guys-in-suits
• This film also features the Davy Crockett, a portable nuclear missile launcher built by the United States, which was supposed to be Top Secret. No word if Snowden was around at that time...