King Kong Escapes
| King Kong Escapes | |
|---|---|
 Original Japanese poster |
|
| Directed by | Ishirō Honda |
| Produced by | Tomoyuki Tanaka Arthur Rankin Jr. |
| Written by | Takeshi Kimura (screenplay) (as Kaoru Mabuchi) Arthur Rankin Jr. (concept) |
| Starring | Akira Takarada Rhodes Reason Mie Hama Linda Miller Eisei Amamoto |
| Music by | Akira Ifukube |
| Cinematography | Hajime Koizumi |
| Editing by | Ryohei Fujii |
| Distributed by | Toho (Japan) Universal Studios (USA) |
| Release date(s) | July 22, 1967 (Japan) June 19, 1968 (US) |
| Running time | 104 minutes (Japan) 96 minutes (USA) |
| Country | Japan United States |
| Language | Japanese English |
King Kong Escapes, released in Japan as King Kong's Counterattack (キングコングの逆襲 Kingu Kongu no Gyakushū), is a 1967 Kaiju film. A Japanese/American co-production from Toho (Japan) and Rankin/Bass (USA). Directed by Ishiro Honda and featuring special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya, the film starred both American actors (such as Rhodes Reason and Linda Miller) alongside Japanese actors (such as Akira Takarada, Mie Hama and Eisei Amamoto). The film was a loose adaptation of the Rankin/Bass Saturday morning cartoon series The King Kong Show and was the second and final Japanese made film featuring the character King Kong.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
An evil genius named Dr. Hu (per the end credits; this is frequently misinterpreted as 'Who', confusing fans, but unrelated to the TV series and character of name) has created a robotic version of King Kong named Mechani-Kong in order to dig for a highly radioactive element called "Element X", but the power of it shuts the robot down. Meanwhile, the crew of a submarine investigate the legend of King Kong on Mondo Island and Susan Watson is attacked by Gorosaurus. However Kong comes to her rescue and kills it by breaking its jaws, before also saving the crew from a giant sea snake, named the Serpent of Mondo Island. Later, Dr. Hu kidnaps the real Kong along with the submarine crew and hypnotizes him to dig for Element X. He soon snaps out of it, escapes and swims off to Tokyo. The submarine crew also escape and Mechani-Kong picks up Watson, who he carries to the top of the Tokyo Tower where he fights the real Kong. Kong wins and destroys the robot, rescues Watson, kills Dr. Hu and swims back to Mondo Island.
[edit] English version
The film opened in the United States in June 1968 on a double-bill with the Don Knotts comedy The Shakiest Gun in the West Contemporary American reviews were mixed. New York Times film critic Vincent Canby gave it a particularly insulting review, commenting, "The Japanese...are all thumbs when it comes to making monster movies like 'King Kong Escapes.' The Toho moviemakers are quite good in building miniature sets, but much of the process photography—matching the miniatures with the full-scale shots—is just bad...the plotting is hopelessly primitive..."
The July 15, 1968, issue of Film Bulletin, however, gave it a more positive review, saying, "Grown-ups who like their entertainments on a comic-strip level will find this good fun and the Universal release (made in Japan) has plenty of ballyhoo angles to draw the school-free youngsters in large numbers."
Veteran voice actor Paul Frees dubbed the voice of Dr. Huu in the American release.
[edit] Release
Toho reissued the film in 1973 as part of the Urutoramantaro Moero! Urutora roku-kyoudai film festival.
Outside of the Japan and the U.S, the film received a wide release in most International markets where it went by different titles. The film was released in Germany as King-Kong, Frankensteins Sohn (King Kong: Frankenstein's Son), in Belgium as La Revanche de King Kong (The Revenge of King Kong), in Italy as King Kong il gigante della foresta (King Kong, The Giant of the Forest), in Turkey as Canavarlarin Gazabi (Wrath of the Monsters), in Mexico as El Regreso de King Kong (The Return of King Kong), in Finland as King Kong kauhun saarella (King Kong on the Island of Terror), and in Sweden as King Kong på skräckens ö (King Kong on Terror Island)[1][2]
[edit] Legacy
Toho had wanted to use King Kong again after this film. King Kong was included in an early draft for the 1968 film Destroy All Monsters[3] but was ultimately dropped due to the fact that Toho's licence on the character was set to expire. Toho managed to get some use out of the suit though. The suit was reused to play the character "Gorilla" in episode #38 of the Toho giant superhero show Go! Greenman. The 3 part episode titled Greenman vs. Gorilla aired from March 21, 1974 through March 23, 1974.[4]
Toho would bring the character Gorosaurus into the Godzilla series in the 1968 film Destroy All Monsters using the same suit from this film. The suit was reused again four years later (at this point in dilapidated condition) to portray the character in episode #6 of the Toho giant superhero show Go! Godman. The 6 part episode titled Godman vs. Gorosaurus aired from November 9, 1972 through November 15, 1972.[5]
In the early 1990s when plans for a King Kong vs Godzilla remake fell through, Toho had planned to bring back Mechani-Kong as an opponent for Godzilla in the project Godzilla vs. Mechani-Kong. However, according to Koichi Kawakita, it was discovered that obtaining permission even to use the likeness of King Kong would be difficult. Kawakita stated, Toho wanted to pit Godzilla against King Kong because King Kong vs. Godzilla was very successful. However, the studio thought that obtaining permission to use King Kong would be difficult. So, it instead decided to use MechaniKong. Soon afterward, it was discovered that obtaining permission even to use the likeness of King Kong would be difficult. So, the project was canceled. MechaniKong was going to have injectors. A number of people were going to be injected into Godzilla while the robot was wrestling with him. They then were going to do battle with Godzilla from within while MechaniKong continued to do battle with him from without. There were going to be many different strange worlds inside Godzilla. The concept was very much like the one on which Fantastic Voyage was based.[6][7]
The shot of Gorosaurus living on Monster Island seen in the 1969 film All Monsters Attack was actually stock footage taken from this film.[8]
[edit] Credits
- Eiji Tsuburaya - Special effects director
- Sadamasa Arikawa - Secondary special effects director
- Teruyoshi Nakano - Assistant special effects director
- Takeo Kita - Art direction
- Fumio Nakadai - Wireworks director
- Yasuyuki Inoue - Special effects sets
[edit] Cast
- Rhodes Reason - Commander Carl Nelson (voice actor: Kei Taguchi)
- Akira Takarada - Lt. Commander Jiro Nomura
- Linda Miller - Lt. Susan Watson (voice actor: Akiko Santou)
- Eisei Amamoto - Dr. Who
- Mie Hama - Madame Piranha
- Ikio Sawamura - Old Man of Mond Island
- Yosihumi Tajima - Chief
- Nadao Kirino - Dr. Who’s assistant
- Sachio Sakai - Dr. Who’s assistant
- Naoya Kusakawa - Dr. Who’s assistant
- Susumu Kurobe - Dr. Who’s subordinate
- Tooru Ibuki - Dr. Who’s subordinate
- Kazuo Suzuki - Dr. Who’s subordinate
- Shigemi Sagawa - Dr. Who’s subordinate
- Yoshio Katsube - Dr. Who’s subordinate
- Haruo Suzuki - Dr. Who’s subordinate
- Jun Kuroki - Jet helicopter crewman
- Takuya Yuki - Jet helicopter crewman
- Masaki Shinohara - Carrier sailor
- Andrew Hughes - United Nations journalist
- Al Kramer - United Nations journalist
- Ryuuji Kita - Police inspector
- Shoichi Hirose - Submarine Explore crewman
- Rinsaku Ogata - Submarine Explore crewman
- Ousmane Yusef - Submarine Explore crewman
- Yutaka Oka - Submarine Explore crewman
- Yū Sekida - Headquarters guard
- Kazuo Hinata - Headquarters guard
- Akio Kusama - Headquarters guard
- Masaaki Tachibana - Self-Defense Force soldier
- Tadashi Okabe - Self-Defense Force soldier
- Hideo Shibuya - Self-Defense Force soldier
- Haruya Sakamoto - Self-Defense Force soldier
- Keiichirou Katsumoto - Curious spectator
- Haruo Nakajima - King Kong, Curious spectator
- Yū Sekida - Mechani-Kong, Gorosaurus
[edit] References
- ^ Godzilla Abroad by J.D Lees. G-Fan #22. Daikaiju Enterprises, 1996. Pgs. 20-21
- ^ "Scans of King Kong Escapes theatrical posters". http://www.fjmovie.com/tposter/60-6/poster60e-6.htm#kkgyaku-jp.
- ^ Godzilla: Still the king of the monsters after all these years by August Ragone. Famous Monsters of Filmland #256. Movieland Classics LLC. Jul/Aug 2011. Pg.37
- ^ Godman & Greenman: Toho's school morning heroes by Mike Bianco. Monster Attack Team Vol.2 #8. MAT Publishing. 2010. Pg.28
- ^ Mike Bianco. Pgs.26-27
- ^ Koichi Kawakita interview by David Milner, Cult Movies #14, Wack "O" Publishing, 1995
- ^ "Koichi Kawakita Interview". http://www.historyvortex.org/KawakitaInterview.html.
- ^ http://www.tohokingdom.com/movies/all_monsters_attack.htm
- Canby, Vincent. "New King Kong:Ape-Hero Is Uncle Tom in Japanese Version" (film review) The New York Times. July 11, 1968.
- Variety June 26, 1968.
- "キングコングの逆襲 (Kingu Kongu no Gyakushū)" (in Japanese). Japanese Movie Database. http://www.jmdb.ne.jp/1967/cq002200.htm. Retrieved 2007-07-17.
