Journey to Skull Island: A King Kong Retrospective (PART 2)

Part 2: Kong's Japanese Vacation

 KING KONG VS. GODZILLA 

(August 11, 1962)

-To be honest, I debated long and hard about including this movie in the retrospective since it's primarily a Godzilla film. But, since Kong's name is in the title and he's just as prominent in the movie as Godzilla, it had to be done-

Eiji Tsuburaya (E-gee Sue-burr-eya-ah), the special effects director who worked on many of the Godzilla and Kaiju films from Toho Studios, was inspired by the original King Kong like so many other filmmakers. He said it stayed with him for many years and he would work on a movie just like it one day.
Little did he know, that he would get his chance.

What most people may not know is that before 1962, there were 2 King Kong movies made in Japan. The first was actually made in October in 1933 by Shockiku Studios, it was called 'Wasei Kingu Kongu' (Japanese King Kong). The plot centered around a man trying to earn money to marry his lady-friend by putting on a Vaudeville act based on the film 'King Kong'. No, really.
The other, was Zensho Studio's 1938 'King Kong Appears in Edo', which involved a trained Ape named "King Kong" involved in a kidnapping plot.
I would talk more in-depth about these movies, but I've not seen them, which is the case for most people seeing as how these movies are now considered lost. Supposedly, the reels were destroyed during the World War II fire bombings of Japan.

Japan wasn't the only one looking to make films riding on the success of the original. Willis O'Brien, the Stop Motion animator, had worked up a treatment for a new movie called "King Kong vs. Frankenstein", which would see the Gorilla brought to San Francisco to fight a monster made by the titular Doctor's Son. The project was pitched to various studios and fell into one studio's hands after another before eventually coming to Toho.
Toho of course had their own giant monster movie star: the King of the Monsters himself. Godzilla's film career almost mirrored that of Kong. His first film was released in 1954 with a sequel being made only a few months later. With most of the crew being huge Kong fans themselves, they leapt at the chance to make the movie, on the obvious condition that they replaced the Frankenstein monster with Godzilla. (Toho would later make Frankenstein movie.)

So how do you have Kong and Godzilla meet up? Well, you have a pharmaceutical company looking for a way to get publicity for their sponsored television shows by sending a team to an island in the South Pacific in search of a legendary Monster God who just so happens to be Kong. Meanwhile, Godzilla wakes up from being frozen in an iceberg and goes on a rampage throughout Japan. And eventually, the two meet up for the ultimate showdown at the base of Mount Fuji. Naturally.

Both monsters were of course portrayed by men in suits, an art in which the Japanese would come to master through the years. The Godzilla suit looks great of course, the Kong suit however looks...I don't wanna say bad, but it just looks weird. I mean, I can tell it's supposed to be a Gorilla and it can look really fierce at times, but other times Kong has this really drunk/stoned expression on his face.

The very first Godzilla film from 1954 was very dark and somber in tone, but it was decided that the series should move in a much lighter direction to appeal to children, a decision that would affect the series until 1975.
l was probably about 8 or 9 when I started getting into Godzilla and this movie was definitely one of the most entertaining of the series with hilarious moments from both the human and the monster characters. Of course, the big highlight is the big fight at the base of Mount Fuji, Kong and Godzilla really wail on each other. Even with Godzilla's atomic breath, Kong refuses to give up fighting the Big G, he throws large rocks at him, shoves a tree down his mouth and even grabs him by his arm and throws him over his shoulder. (With the actor still inside the suit!)
There's also an homage to the original movie in one quick scene where Kong and Godzilla are both stop-motion puppets.

A year later, King Kong vs. Godzilla would be brought over to the United States with some major edits done by Universal-International. Besides dubbing the film in English, they included scenes involving American actors as UN Reporters covering certain events in the film. There's also an "expert" character who claims that Godzilla's brain is no bigger than a marble, which is bulls--t! He also calls Godzilla a cross between a Tyrannosaur and a Stegosaurus by showing pictures from a children's Dinosaur book called "Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Animals", a book that I myself own.
One change that I just can't understand was replacing the original score by composer Akira Ifukube with film scores from other Universal films such as 'Creature From the Black Lagoon' and 'Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman' (Just to name a few). While that music is fine, I much prefer Ifukube's music. The main theme for Godzilla in this film by Ifukube would later be used in 2016's 'Shin Godzilla'.  

The 2 versions would also give rise to one of the biggest myths surrounding the Godzilla series, the belief that both versions of the film had different endings. The myth went that in the Japanese version, Godzilla was the winner, while Kong came out victorious in the American version. In reality, both versions end in the exact same way: After their long battle, Kong and Godzilla grapple with each other as they fall into the sea. After a brief earthquake, Kong emerges from the water and swims back to his island while Godzilla is nowhere to be seen. Keep in mind that Godzilla spends most of his time deep underwater, so what likely happened is that both monsters had a brief scuffle underwater before simply giving up on fighting as they are too evenly matched. Plus, there's no way Kong could stay underwater as long as Godzilla. However, Toho themselves claim that Kong was always meant to be the winner. The only major difference in both endings is that originally both Godzilla and Kong's roars were heard as the 'The End' title came up as a sort of sign off or curtain call. But only Kong's roar was heard in the American cut.
I, like many fans, believed the alternate ending story and as a kid I watched the American cut a lot. Years ago, my Dad's job required him to go to Japan and I asked him if he could bring back a DVD of King Kong vs. Godzilla so I could see it. That was when I was introduced to the 2 words us American Kaiju fans hate hearing the most: Region Coding. So I never got the chance to see it (he did get me some awesome figures though). I have a feeling that if I had seen the original cut as a kid, I would have been majorly disappointed. Looking at it now, it was nothing more than so much hullabaloo over nothing.

Unfortunately, King Kong vs. Godzilla is the only film in the Godzilla series that has yet to be released on DVD or Blu-ray in the United States in it's original uncut version. Hopefully with the new 'Godzilla vs. Kong' movie coming out in 2020, that will change so people can look back on one of the greatest Kaiju battles in film history before bearing witness to the rematch of the century.

After this movies release, interest in making more Godzilla movies was re-ignited. But Toho wasn't done with Kong just yet...

KING KONG ESCAPES
(July 22, 1967)

~King Kong you know the name of~

~King Kong you know the fame of~

~King Kong ten times as big as a man~

Those were the words heard by folks who tuned in to watch the Saturday morning cartoon series: The King Kong Show. The show was a co-production between Toei Animation in Japan and Videocraft International in America. You may not be familiar with the name Videocraft, but you most likely know who they are since they would later change thier name to Rankin/Bass Productions (Ya know, the same guys who made those stop-motion Christmas Specials).This show focused on Kong befriending a human family, having many adventures and fighting off various enemies.

If your wondering what I think of this cartoon, well I'm afraid you are out of luck. I have never seen one episode and I am only familiar with the opening song, which is extremely catchy.

So why am I talking about it? Because it was what inspired the next movie in Kong's legacy, King Kong Escapes. 

Hideyo Amamoto as Dr. Who

Once again Produced by Toho and even Co-Produced by Rankin/Bass, the story revolves around the evil Dr. Who (No, not that one!) trying to obtain what he calls Element X using a large mechanical version of Kong named 'Mechani-Kong'. But when that plan goes wrong, he goes after the original Kong and attempts to put him under his control to do his bidding. But if you take one more look at the film's title, you can figure out how well that plan turns out (It ain't called "King Kong Stays Locked Up"). The Element X plot really doesn't go anywhere.

Left to Right: Akira Takarada, Linda Miller and Rhodes Reason

Being a co-production between the US and Japan, American actors were brought on to portray 2 of the main characters, Rhodes Reason and Linda Miller play submarine commanders leading an expedition to study Kong.
Understandably, they are dubbed in the Japanese version. But confusingly the American version dubs their voices as well, which makes no sense at all. Why dub what we can already understand? Did they just not like how their voices sound?

As for Kong himself, he's once again a guy in a suit performed by Haruo Nakajima, the man best known for playing Godzilla. The suit itself is...well, a downgrade from the last suit, and that's saying a lot. It seemed that this suit was designed to look more like an actual Gorilla, but it just comes off as awkward, especially with its long noodle arms.
And the face. Ugh! The face!

Another thing that I find weird is that for some reason they used Godzilla's grunting noises for Kong.

Another monster that makes an appearance is Gorosaurus, a large, greenish-blue Dinosaur whose main attack is to kick it's opponents like a kangaroo. The scene where Kong and Gorosaurus fight is pretty spectacular and some parts even pay homage to the original movie with Linda Miller's character up in a tree while the fight goes on. 

As for Mechani-Kong, while admittedly looking cool is a bit underused. He shows up in the beginning built up as this ultimate engine of destruction only to conk out and not be of much use until the climax where the 2 Kongs have a scuffle while climbing Tokyo Tower. It's like watching 2 kids fight on a playground. 

He's also constantly making this weird beeping noise that will get annoying the more you hear it.

I'll admit, at the time of writing this, I can count the number of times I've seen this movie on one hand and the past times I didn't think much of it. 

But after watching it again with a fresh perspective, it's a really fun movie to watch. I'd even rank it at a level of enjoyment up there with other Toho monster movies like Frankenstien Conquers the World, War of the Gargantuas and Space Amoeba.

After nearly a decade, Kong would return to his homeland for a re-telling of the original classic. As well as a sequel.

Oh, god...I have to talk about those movies next?

wonderful...

Till next time, I have been your host Gryphon

and I hope you've enjoyed your time here in my lair.

So long...

If you would like to see more from The Gryphon's Lair, Be sure to give my FB page a 'LIKE' to see updates and other related stuff. Thanks for reading!

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Journey to Skull Island: A King Kong Retrospective (PART 1)

Since doing my Sonic Retrospective last year (Part 1, Part 2 & Part 3), I've found myself wanting to do more retrospectives based on other things I like. I will most likely be doing one for Godzilla eventually, but he's not the one with a major movie coming out this year, is he?

No, now's the time to pay our respects to the one, the only, KING KONG!
With 'Kong: Skull Island' coming out soon, I'm going to look back on the history of all 7 of Kong's adventures on film leading up to the new movie.

Let the voyage begin!

 PART 1: THE 8TH WONDER OF THE WORLD

 KING KONG
(March 2, 1933)

Everyone has their own opinions as to what the greatest movie of all time is. Usually names like Citizen Kane, Gone with the Wind and The Godfather come up. But if you were to ask me what I thought some of the greatest films of all time, one of the first films I would mention is KING KONG. 

There are many kids who outright refuse to watch older movies for no reason other than they are not in color, and for that I pity them. I saw King Kong at a very young age and it left a really big impact on me. 
Most of the black and white movies I watched were of the Science Fiction genre and King Kong was one of those films. I think it's practically impossible to not know who or what Kong is, and I was already a fan of Dinosaurs and giant monster flicks. You offer me a movie about a giant Gorilla who fights Dinosaurs and rampages through a city? I'M IN!

There's so much to love about this movie. 

Left to Right: Bruce Cabot, Fay Wray and Robert Armstrong

The characters are entertaining to watch and you root for them to get out of trouble they face. The adventurous, charismatic filmmaker Carl Denham played by Robert Armstrong, the tough but gold-hearted sailor Jack Driscoll played by Bruce Cabot and let's not forget our charming, optimistic, leading lady Ann Darrow played by the incomparable Fay Wray.

The musical score composed by Max Steiner can be soft and moody one moment, but then fast and energetic the next.  

Then there's Kong himself. Even though the original Kong was nothing more than a 18 inch puppet covered in rabbit fur, the way he moves and acts will make you feel like you're looking at a real creature. Kong will undoubtedly be the character you come to care about and root for the most, from his first appearance, to his fight against the "T-Rex" and his iconic, final stand atop the Empire State Building.

King Kong was a movie made during a much different time in American History, with The Great Depression in full force, people needed an escape during a time when movie tickets cost only 35 cents. And those who did got quite a show.
What some may not realize was that this was not a movie made by any ordinary filmmakers. On the contrary, the Directors and Producers of King Kong were some of the biggest Mavericks who ever dedicated their lives to film.
Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack (It's pronounced as "Showed"-sack) were fearless adventurers who often lived many of the movies they made. One of them, "Chang" actually featured a scene in which a character is being chased up a tree by a tiger. Schoedsack himself climbed up a tree and filmed an ACTUAL Tiger trying to get up the tree to kill him. Having previously filmed battles during World War I, if bullets and bombs weren't enough to scare Schoedsack, a tiger might have seemed like nothing more than a really big pussycat.
And using his own experience as a war pilot, Cooper himself appeared in the film as the pilot who would gun down Kong. Schoedsack appeared alongside him as the rear gunner.

And no discussion about King Kong would be complete without mentioning the work of the man who pioneered the art of Stop-Motion Animation, Willis O'Brian. Stop-Motion is a long and arduous process, but O'Brian made it seem like a piece of cake. He adds real character to his creations and without his hard work, Kong would be just another lifeless Gorilla throwing a tantrum.

Both O'Brian and the crew behind King Kong also spared no expense in the presentation of the film in terms of set design, camera work and visual effects that come together creating a wondrous fantasy that is a feast for the eyes even today. 

It was the work produced by these talented men who would inspire many more filmmakers like Ray Harryhausen, Eiji Tsuburaya and Peter Jackson, who considers the original King Kong to be his favorite film ever. 

And honestly, I could go on and on praising this movie by spouting more facts that many others have said countless times. But I've got 6 more movies to talk about before the new movie comes out. So for now, I'll leave off with this:

Whenever you think of the greatest movies of all time, for your consideration: King Kong, a true cinematic marvel that is and always will be a wonder of the world.

SON OF KONG
(December 22, 1933)

King Kong was a massive success, grossing over $2 million on it's initial release. Because of this success, it was decided that a sequel should be made.

Now it's common knowledge that if a film is really successful at the box office then a sequel is put in production, usually taking 1-2 years to complete. In the case of Son of Kong, only 10 months had passed after the release of King Kong. A sequel to a movie that comes out in the same year as the original? That is not something that happens a lot today. 

In this one, Denham returns to Skull Island after hearing about a possible treasure located somewhere on the island. He comes across a 12-foot albino Gorilla who he assumes to be Kong's son (nicknamed 'Kiko') and rescues him from quicksand.
Hijinks ensue. 

Much of the same cast and crew returned for the sequel, gave it their all and turned out an OK film. As expected, Son of Kong is nowhere near the quality of the original. Script writer Ruth Rose (also the wife of Ernest B. Schoedsack), said that if they couldn't make it bigger, then they would make it funnier. And funny this movie is, the humor is actually the main reason to watch this film and not in a so-bad-it's-good way. And the stop motion creatures are always cool to watch. I have only one real complaint with the movie. There is no real build-up to the appearance of Kiko. He just appears after cutting to the next scene and I find it very jarring.

Other then that, I really don't have much else to say about 'Son of Kong' other than it's an enjoyable, short companion piece for those who wish to return to the world of King Kong. 

A few years after the release of Son of Kong, the original King Kong would see a number of re-releases to theaters, but it took at least 30 more years till Kong would start to return to theaters in new stories made by a new generation of filmmakers looking to make their mark on the legacy of Kong.

Next stop, Japan! 

Till next time, I have been your host Gryphon

and I hope you've enjoyed your time here in my lair.

So long...

If you would like to see more from The Gryphon's Lair, Be sure to give my FB page a 'LIKE' to see updates and other related stuff. Thanks for reading!
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SH MONSTERARTS GODZILLA 1995 (ULTIMATE BURNING VER.) - Figure Review

Just when you thought the SHMA repaint/re-release train had come to a halt, it decided to pick back up again with a "new" Burning Godzilla figure, followed by a newly painted Destoroyah and a Super Mechagodzilla figure. But for now let's look at the Burning Godzilla.

The first SHMA Burning Godzilla figure was released back in December 2012 and has since been used for a variety of different re-paints, like the 'Birth Version' which was the 2nd SHMA figure I would come to own. And then there are questionable ones like the "Evangelion Godzilla" which looks really weird to me.

As for this one, it's a slightly mixed bag.
I love the majority of the paint job on this figure, the body is painted a glossy black complimented with the iconic fiery orange patches made of translucent plastic which looks amazing!
Even the small details aren't skimped out on, the Eyes, Mouth, Teeth, Claws and Toenails all look on point. In fact, looking at this figure head on makes it look really cool!
Which is a relief for me seeing as how I've seen some unboxing videos where the eyes on this figure where misaligned.

It's when you turn it around that things start to get a little iffy with me.
In the film 'Godzilla vs. Destoroyah' the large back Dorsal Fins have the orange glow while the rest of the spikes retain the grayish-white look. But on this figure, I guess to make it the 'Ultimate Burning Version' Tamashii Nations decided to make every spike on Godzilla's back from his head to this tail orange. I don't really like how it looks to be honest, I much prefer the white spikes on the neck, the small outer row on the back and tail. Having them all orange makes this feel more like an unofficial bootleg figure by a third party company.
But still, it could have been worse...a lot worse...*cough* diamondselect*cough*

The paint wasn't the only thing different about this release, we also have a few accessories to go with it.

The main accessories are 4 steam pieces that can be attached to the figure as shown. Getting them on can be a bit tricky and 2 of them have latches that need to be attached to the inside of Godzilla's limbs.
And in my opinion, I find them to be just OK. I'm not sure if they look too big and awkward when attached to Godzilla, or maybe they should have been more clearer, I don't know, I'm just not that impressed with them. I would have been more impressed if it came with a Spiral Heat Ray piece instead of another pair of interchangeable hands.

Articulation on this Godzilla is pretty standard. Nothing we haven't seen in the previous releases. The head can look up and down, mouth opens and closes. Arms move forward and backward a bit while bending and twisting at the elbows. Hands can twist around. The waist can bend forward and with the multi-segmented waist we don't have an annoying fin gap! Legs move forward and backward, knees bend and the feet can turn and pivot.
The tail is a bit stiff but can move around as you would expect.

But while my figure has perfectly aligned eyes, the shortcomings on mine come with a stiff left leg, a right leg that likes to fall apart and a tail that likes to snap off at the butt.
-_-

I figured it be fitting to compare this repaint with another repaint.

I don't have the original SHMA figure, but I can compare him with some other 6 inch Burning Godzilla's.

And a Destoroyah for good measure.

I'm sorry to say that despite a mostly good paint job, this release is a bit disappointing to me. I myself would recommend going for the original SHMA Burning Godzilla, assuming someone on eBay isn't overcharging for it. But if you think the stuff that bothers me won't bother you, then I would still approach this release with caution.

Till next time, I have been your host Gryphon

and I hope you've enjoyed your time here in my lair.
So long...

If you would like to see more from The Gryphon's Lair, Be sure to give my FB page a 'LIKE' to see updates and other related stuff. Thanks for reading!

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SH MONSTERARTS KOU KYOU KYOKU GODZILLA 1989 - Figure Review

This is probably one of the most hyped figures to ever come from the SH Monster Arts line, it even got it's own commercial to show that this was nothing like any figure we've ever seen before. But does it live up to the hype?
Well, according to some other Godzilla figure reviewers out there, it doesn't. But this isn't about what they think, is it?

As some of you may know, a 1989 Godzilla figure was shown off in the promotional material for the SH MonsterArts Biollante figure. It left me wondering if maybe it was going to be the next Godzilla figure to be made. Actually, Godzilla 2000 was the next figure after Biollante and 15 other figures later, we finally got a 1989 figure under the new title of SH Monster Arts KOU KYOU KYOKU (Light, Sound, Music)

But did it live up to the hype? According to some reviewers, it didn't

Honestly, I'd have been happy enough with just a highly detailed, articulated 1989 figure, but these added bells and whistles made it seem all the more special and if you've read my reviews, you've noticed that I tend to play Devil's Advocate when it comes to certain issues.
Well, here are my thoughts.

The first thing you'll notice right away is that this is one big figure. It towers over other Godzilla figures and is completely out of scale with other SH MonsterArts figures.

But what this figure lacks in scale, it more than makes up for in it's sculpt and detail.
I feel when most people think of Godzilla, this design is the most popular one that comes to mind and I feel that this figure captures it awesomely!

 Starting at the head, it looks great. I've always liked the rounded, gorilla-like head of this Godzilla. The eye's look really good. The inside of the mouth is painted good and the teeth look nice. The upper part of the mouth is also sculpted with translucent plastic for the effects which I'll talk about in a minute.

The rest of the body is nice and muscular as it should be, he even has his thunder thighs. The paint over all is great, although something I've noticed with past figures is the claw and toenail paint ranges from OK to average.

The right hand looks OK, but the left hand has way too much shading on it. And the toenails have too much shading on the top as well.

 Godzilla's dorsal fins are probably the best detailed feature of the figure, sculpted beautifully with translucent plastic for the ones on the back and regular plastic going down the lower back to the tail.

What some people have a problem with are the outer smaller fins, some claim they aren't painted that great. And to be fair, it's not...if you look at it up close. I find that the paint issues with the claws, toenails and outer fins look pretty good from a distance, which is how most collectors (like myself) are probably going to be looking at it anyway.

What I have a problem with is how the fins start at the top of the head, just sort of stop at the outer row and then pick back up by the shoulder. It just looks very awkward to me.

As far as Articulation for this figure goes, it's very limited. The inner workings for the new effects prohibit any real waist movement. The only way you're getting the waist to move is when you pull the top part of Godzilla's body off to add the batteries.
I guess at least we don't have to worry about a fin gap, amirite?

But as for Articulation that isn't prohibited: 

The head can only move downward and tilt side to side a bit.

The arms can rotate around at the shoulder, but it is very tight. You run the risk of either rubbing against the figure and scraping off the paint or popping it completely off. They can also twist at the shoulder, twist and bend at the elbow. The hands have the standard twist and swivel.

The legs bend bend at the knee, but not very far back. Should you try to bend any further, you risk popping the leg out of it's socket as I did and it's not that easy to put it back in. I spent almost 5 minutes trying to reattach the leg. The feet bend up and down a little bit and can also pivot around

The tail is where most of the articulation is at. It can curve and bend as much as the actual Heisei Godzilla's tail actually did. 
When moving the tail around, some of the segments will twist around making it look really weird. They go back in place just as easily though.

As it is named, the figure incorporates Light, Sound and Music features. 

The Dorsal Fins on Godzilla's back and the inside of his mouth can light up to simulate the Atomic Breath. It's a great effect and has various settings, sometimes the Fins light up and flash to varying levels of brightness and turn off as the mouth lights up, while both can be lit at the same time.

The Sounds include various roars, growls and stomping sounds. However it seems you can only activate the stomping sounds when the music is playing.
The only way I've found to get the footsteps to play by themselves is to hold down the button so that the music plays, push it again to get the footsteps to play and then hold it down till the music stops and only the sound of the footsteps is playing. A roar should follow afterword.

As for the Music, we have 2 pieces from Godzilla Vs. Biollante, they are the themes that play as Godzilla is escaping the volcano and the first piece that plays as Godzilla rampages through Osaka, both of which are great additions.

In my honest opinion, I feel like these effects were handled pretty well. The roars sound great, the fins light up very nicely and I like the idea of having a Godzilla-shaped music box.

I just don't see how that makes it worth close to $200. $140-$150 maybe, but any price over that, I feel is pushing it by a lot.
I'd say, if you can find it for a good price (maybe from someone on eBay who feels the same), then this is definitely an amazing piece for any Kaiju fan's collection.
I gotta give a big thanks to Kaiju Kidd for letting me borrow his figure for this review. Now that I've had a chance to examine it up close, I do plan on getting my own eventually.

Till next time, I have been your host Gryphon

and I hope you've enjoyed your time here in my lair.

So long...

If you would like to see more from The Gryphon's Lair, Be sure to give my FB page a 'LIKE' to see updates and other related stuff. Thanks for reading!
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