King Kong Escapes
King Kong Escapes | |||||
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Japanese name | |||||
Kanji | キングコングの逆襲 | ||||
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Directed by | Arthur Rankin Jr. | ||||
Produced by | Tomoyuki Tanaka Arthur Rankin Jr. | ||||
Starring | |||||
Cinematography | Hajime Koizumi | ||||
Edited by | Ryohei Fujii | ||||
Music by | Akira Ifukube | ||||
Production companies | |||||
Distributed by | Toho (Japan) Universal Pictures (United States) | ||||
Release dates |
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Running time | 104 minutes (Japan) 96 minutes (United States) | ||||
Countries |
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Languages | English Japanese | ||||
Box office | $1 million (US/Canada rentals) 1 million tickets (France) |
King Kong Escapes (
Plot
An evil genius named
Meanwhile, a submarine commanded by Carl Nelson arrives at Mondo Island, where the legendary King Kong lives. Here, the giant ape gets into an intense fight with a giant dinosaur
Dr. Who subsequently goes to Mondo Island, abducts Kong, and brings him back to his base at the North Pole. Kong is hypnotized by a flashing light device and fitted with a radio earpiece. Who commands Kong to retrieve Element X from the cave. Problems with the earpiece ensue and Who has to kidnap Susan Watson, the only person who can control Kong.
After Watson and her fellow officers are captured by Who, Madame Piranha unsuccessfully tries to seduce Nelson to bring him over to her side. Eventually Kong escapes and swims all the way to Japan where the climactic battle with Mechani-Kong transpires. The two giants face off at the Tokyo Tower in the finale. Kong prevails and destroys Mechani-Kong and kills Who and his men. Then Kong triumphantly swims back to his island home.
Cast
- Rhodes Reason - Commander Carl Nelson (Japanese voice actor: Kei Taguchi)
- Akira Takarada - Lt. Commander Jiro Nomura
- Linda Jo Miller - Lt. Susan Watson (Japanese voice actor: Akiko Santou; English (redubbed) voice actor: Julie Bennett)
- Hideyo Amamoto - Dr. Who[2][3][4] (English voice actor: Paul Frees)
- Mie Hama - Madame Piranha (English voice actor: Julie Bennett)
- Yoshifumi Tajima - Chief
- Nadao Kirino - Dr. Who's assistant
- Shoichi Hirose, Toru Ibuki, Nadao Kirino, Susumu Kurobe, Sachio Sakai, Kazuo Suzuki, Yoshifumi Tajima - Dr. Who's Henchmen
- Andrew Hughes - United Nations journalist
- Ryūji Kita - Police inspector
- Masaaki Tachibana - Self-Defense Force soldier
- Ikio Sawamura - Mondo Islander
- Yasuhisa Tsutsumi - General
- Osman Yusuf - Submariner
- Haruo Nakajima - King Kong
- Hiroshi Sekita - Mechani-Kongand Gorosaurus
Production
The story is partly a remake of the
Veteran voice actor Paul Frees dubbed the voice of Dr. Who in the American version.
In an interview with Reason on the making of this film, Paul Frees did almost all the male voices for the dubbed version, save for Carl Nelson, where Reason returned to dub the character's voice. Frees apparently asked Reason why he was there and said as a joke: "Why are you here? I could probably do a better version of you than you could.".[6]
In the English version, Julie Bennett dubbed all the female voices, including that of Linda Miller. While Miller loved the Japanese voice, she hated her dubbed voice in the American version. She was extremely mad at Arthur Rankin Jr., the producer, for not inviting her to dub her own lines when Rhodes Reason (Nelson) was able to re-dub his.[7] It turned out to work this way because Reason was a part of the Screen Actors Guild, and Linda Miller was only a model, and still residing in Japan at the time (transportation costs to New York would have been prohibitive).[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]
Special effects
- 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
Release
Theatrical
Toho re-released the film in 1973[9] as part of the Champion Matsuri (東宝チャンピオンまつり), a film festival that ran from 1969 through 1978 and featured numerous films packaged together and aimed at children.[10] In 1983, the film was screened during the Godzilla Resurrection Festival.[11]
Outside 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 West Germany as King-Kong, Frankensteins Sohn (King Kong: Frankenstein's Son), in Belgium as La Revanche de King Kong (The Revenge of King Kong) - a direct translation of the Japanese title, 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)[12][13]
Home media
The film has been released twice on DVD. The first time as a double feature two-pack (separate keep cases) with King Kong vs. Godzilla on November 29, 2005[14] and again on April 1, 2014.[15]
Reception
Box office
The film opened in the United States in June 1968 as a
Critical response
Contemporary American reviews were mixed.
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."
On Rotten Tomatoes, an approval rating of 63% based on 8 reviews, with an average rating of 5.1/10.[19]
Legacy
Toho wanted to use King Kong again after this film. King Kong was included in an early draft for the 1968 film Destroy All Monsters[20] but was ultimately dropped due to the fact that Toho's license 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 three-part episode, titled "Greenman vs. Gorilla", aired from March 21, 1974, through March 23, 1974.[21]
Toho would bring the character Gorosaurus into the Godzilla series in Destroy All Monsters, using the same suit from this film. The suit was reused again four years later (at this point in a dilapidated condition) to portray the character in episode #6 of the Toho giant superhero show Go! Godman. The six-part episode, titled "Godman vs. Gorosaurus", aired from November 9, 1972, through November 15, 1972.[22]
In the early 1990s when plans for a King Kong vs. Godzilla remake fell through, Toho had planned to bring back
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.[23][24]
See also
References
Notes
- ^ a b c Ryfle & Godziszewski 2017, p. 238.
- ISBN 978-0-8118-6078-9.
- ISBN 1-55783-669-8.
- ISBN 978-0-7864-3099-4.
- ISBN 9781557836694.
- ^ Pregler, Allison (2013-10-20). "King Kong vs. Doctor Who?!". Neon Harbor. Retrieved 2018-12-29.
- ^ a b Homenick, Brett (2015-08-25). "SUSAN WATSON SPEAKS! Actress Linda Miller Remembers King Kong Escapes!". Vantage Point Interviews. Retrieved 2018-12-29.
- ^ "All Monsters Attack".
- ^ 様々な著者Godzilla Toho Champion Matsuri Perfection (ゴジラが「僕らのヒーロー」だった時代!), ASCII Media Works/Dengeki Hobby Books, 2014, pgs. 54-55
- ^ "Toho Champion Festival". 15 December 2013.
- ^ "Gojira no Fukkatsu Retrospective".
- ^ Godzilla Abroad by J.D Lees, G-Fan #22, Daikaiju Enterprises, 1996, pgs. 20-21
- ^ "Scans of King Kong Escapes theatrical posters".
- ^ "Rewind @ www.dvdcompare.net - King Kong Escapes AKA Kingukongu no gyakushu (1967)".
- ^ "King Kong Escapes (1967) / King Kong Vs Godzilla (1962) - April 1, 2014 - Blu-ray Forum".
- ^ "Big Rental Films of 1968". Variety: 15. 8 January 1969.
- ISBN 978-1-139-49732-9.
1965 (...) MPAA U.S. + Canadian rentals % of BO (...) 29.8
- ^ "King Hong no Gyakushu (1968)". JP's Box-Office (in French). Retrieved 5 July 2020.
- ^ "King Kong Escapes". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved September 19, 2023.
- ^ Godzilla: Still the king of the monsters after all these years by August Ragone, Famous Monsters of Filmland #256, Movieland Classics LLC, July/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". Archived from the original on 2011-07-26. Retrieved 2011-06-16.
Bibliography
- 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.
- Ragone, August (2007, 2014). Eiji Tsuburaya: Master of Monsters San Francisco, California: Chronicle Books. ISBN 978-0-8118-6078-9
- Ryfle, Steve; Godziszewski, Ed (2017). Ishiro Honda: A Life in Film, from Godzilla to Kurosawa. ISBN 9780819570871.
External links
- King Kong Escapes at IMDb
- "SUSAN WATSON SPEAKS! Actress Linda Miller Remembers King Kong Escapes!". 25 August 2015—an interview with actress Linda Miller (Susan Watson)
- "キングコングの逆襲 (Kingu Kongu no Gyakushū)" (in Japanese). Japanese Movie Database. Retrieved 2007-07-17.