Kingu Kongu tai Gojira aka King Kong vs. Godzilla (Ishiro Honda, 1962)
"A GIANT monster? A HAHAHAHAHAH (dubbed) HAHAHA HAHAA!"
Dr Makino has just returned from the tiny Faro island, where he has discovered a giant monster living amongst a tribe of Japanese people with blacked-up faces. He has also discovered some er-'magic berries' which make you smiiiile, man. You know, man? Grooovy magic berries!
At almost the same time, a submarine crashes into an iceberg... the iceberg which just happens to house GODZILLA - KING OF MONSTERS!®™ After awakening, Godzilla heads straight for Tokyo to SMASH PUNY HUMANS.
Meanwhile, Kong has just battled Oodako, a fearsome GIANT octopus, and, after raiding the tribe's supply of magic berries, he falls asleep! Now is the chance for the feeble humans to tie Kong up, and cart him off to Tokyo so he can steal a lady and climb a tall building. On the way, of course, he meets Godzilla, and they have a feeble anti-climactic squabble (strictly handbags).
More Kong stuff happens, and just when you'd thought Godzilla had been written out of the script, the two men in suits meet (again, but properly this time, in a location not dissimilar to Mount Fuji). Badly-dubbed chaos ensues!
Directed by long time Toho mad monster director Ishiro Honda (who directed the first, very serious Godzilla film in 1954), King Kong Vs Godzilla is one of the better Godzilla movies. It's silly, fun, action-packed, and not overlong in duration. There are many laughs to be had, especially at Kong's dreadfully poor monkey suit, which reminds me of something.
This remains one of, if not the most successful of all Godzilla films, but the U.S version is radically different from the original Japanese one. I hope the Japanese one gets a decent release in the not too distant future.
