| King Kong Escapes | |||||
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 Theatrical release poster | |||||
| Japanese name | |||||
| Kanji | キングコングの逆襲 | ||||
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| Directed by | Ishirō Honda | ||||
| Written by | Takeshi Kimura | ||||
| Story 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 (Japanese:キングコングの逆襲,Hepburn:Kingu Kongu no Gyakushū;lit. 'King Kong's Counterattack') is a 1967kaiju film directed byIshirō Honda, with special effects byEiji Tsuburaya. The film is aJapanese–American co-production betweenToho andRankin/Bass,[1] and starsRhodes Reason,Linda Miller,Akira Takarada,Mie Hama,Eisei Amamoto, withHaruo Nakajima asKing Kong and Hiroshi Sekita asMechani-Kong and Gorosaurus. The film is loosely based onToei Animation's and Rankin/Bass'anime seriesThe King Kong Show, and is the second and final Toho-produced film featuring King Kong, until its collaboration withWarner Bros. Pictures andLegendary Pictures onGodzilla vs. Kong (2021).
King Kong Escapes (which is the fourth entry of theKing Kong franchise) was released in Japan by Toho on July 22, 1967, and released in the United States by Universal Pictures on June 19, 1968, as Universal's secondKing Kong film. 37 years later, it was followed by thesecond remake of the 1933 film as the third and finalKing Kong film by Universal on December 14, 2005.
An evil mad scientist namedDr. Who createsMechani-Kong, amecha modeled after the legendaryMondo Island giant ape namedKong, to dig for Element X, the highly radioactive mineral found only at theNorth Pole. As Mechani-Kong enters an ice cave and begins to dig into a glacier, the Element X radiation destroys its brain circuits, causing Mechani-Kong to shut down. Who then sets his sights on getting the real Kong to finish the job. Who is taken to task by a female overseer, Madame Piranha, whose country's government is financing Who's schemes, and frequently berates him for his failure to get results.
Meanwhile, a submarine commanded by Carl Nelson arrives at Mondo Island, where Kong lives. Kong gets into an intense fight with a giant dinosaur named Gorosaurus and a sea serpent. He falls in love with lieutenant Susan Watson, while Who subsequently goes to Mondo Island to abduct Kong and brings him back to his base at 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. Due to the problems with the earpiece ensue, Who kidnaps Watson, who is the only person who can control Kong.
After Watson and her fellow officers are captured by Who, Piranha unsuccessfully tries to seduce Nelson to bring him over to her side. Eventually, Kong escapes and swims all the way to Japan where he battles Mechani-Kong inTokyo. As two monsters face off at theTokyo Tower, Kong prevails and destroys Mechani-Kong and kills Who and his henchmen. In the end, Kong triumphantly swims back to Mondo Island.
The story is partly a remake of theanimated TV series[5] (itself a retelling of theoriginal 1933 film) about a tamed Kong who is befriended by a boy and directed to fight for the forces of good. That concept (minus the boy) is combined with a mad scientist story with elements from the then-popularspy film genre. The sinister Dr. Who is patterned afterJames Bond villainsDr. Julius No andErnst Stavro Blofeld[citation needed]. His partner, Madame Piranha, is an Asian spy played byMie Hama, fresh from the Bond filmYou Only Live Twice (1967). Submarine commander Carl Nelson is similar to Admiral Nelson, commander of the submarineSeaview inVoyage to the Bottom of the Sea[citation needed], a series that also featured giant monsters and stories about international espionage.
According to an interview with Reason about 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 filmAll Monsters Attack was actually stock footage taken from this film.[8]
Toho re-released the film in 1973[9] as part of theChampion 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 theGodzilla 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 asKing-Kong, Frankensteins Sohn (King Kong: Frankenstein's Son), in Belgium asLa Revanche de King Kong (The Revenge of King Kong) - a direct translation of the Japanese title, in Italy asKing Kong il gigante della foresta (King Kong, the Giant of the Forest), in Turkey asCanavarlarin Gazabi (Wrath of the Monsters), in Mexico asEl Regreso de King Kong (The Return of King Kong), in Finland asKing Kong kauhun saarella (King Kong on the Island of Terror), and in Sweden asKing Kong på skräckens ö (King Kong on Terror Island)[12][13]
The film has been released twice on DVD. The first time as a double feature two-pack (separate keep cases) withKing Kong vs. Godzilla on November 29, 2005[14] and again on April 1, 2014.[15]
The film opened in the United States in June 1968 as adouble feature with theDon Knotts comedy/Western filmThe Shakiest Gun in the West (itself a remake of the 1948Bob Hope comedy/Western filmThe Paleface). The film earned American and Canadiantheatrical rentals of$1 million,[16] equivalent to estimatedbox office gross receipts of approximately$3 million.[17] In France, the film sold 1,014,593 tickets.[18]
Contemporary American reviews were mixed.New York Times film criticVincent Canby gave it a negative 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 theprocess photography—matching the miniatures with the full-scale shots—is just bad ... the plotting is hopelessly primitive ..."
The July 15, 1968, issue ofFilm 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."
OnRotten Tomatoes, an approval rating of 63% based on 8 reviews, with an average rating of 5.1/10.[19]
Toho wanted to use King Kong again after this film. King Kong was included in an early draft for the 1968 filmDestroy 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 showGo! 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 theGodzilla series inDestroy 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 theToho giant superhero showGo! 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 aKing Kong vs. Godzilla remake, titledGodzilla vs. King Kong, fell through, Toho had planned to bring backMechani-Kong as an opponent forGodzilla in the projectGodzilla vs. Mechani-Kong. However, according to Koichi Kawakita, it was discovered that obtaining permission to use even thelikeness of King Kong would be difficult. Kawakita stated:
Toho wanted to pit Godzilla against King Kong becauseKing 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 whichFantastic Voyage was based.[23][24]
However, a rebuilt Mechani-Kong does appear in the Kodansha mangaGodzilla, King of the Monsters (as the events ofKing Kong Escapes are canonical to the manga's continuity) by Dr. Mad Oniyama to helpMechagodzilla fight Godzilla, only to be destroyed by the Monster King in battle.[citation needed]
Notes
1965 (...) MPAA U.S. + Canadian rentals % of BO (...) 29.8
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