Talkback: King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962)

[LSD Jellyfish]

After watching the Japanese dub of King Kong vs. Godzilla

It's not a dub. It's a Japanese film...

Oh come on that was hyper nitpicky :/ We all know the original Japanese film is widely hard to obtain with pretty much no legal subbed DVD existing. We all know what he meant by the Japanese dub.

Anyways I really like this film. I have a few complaints though:
I wish both Kong and Godzilla had more destruction scenes. There's a really quick scene that lasts like less than a minute where Godzilla attacks a military base but beyond that and the tran sequence he doesn't destroy much more. It's too quick and having some more destruction on his end would have been more satisfying. Kong had the train kidnapping scene and a few shots of him in the city but again I would have liked to see some more rampage. Perhaps that's my inner child speaking but it would have been really exciting to see more destruction.

I really liked the final fight, I think it set the standard for the series early on but I'm still bummed out how it kinda just ends with them falling in the water. I'm glad it's been confirmed Kong wins but I wish we could have seen a bit more rather than they both fell in the water and Kong won for some reason.

[skuzzy-punk-kid]

After watching the Japanese dub of King Kong vs. Godzilla

It's not a dub. It's a Japanese film...

Oh come on that was hyper nitpicky :/ We all know the original Japanese film is widely hard to obtain with pretty much no legal subbed DVD existing. We all know what he meant by the Japanese dub.

Anyways I really like this film. I have a few complaints though:
I wish both Kong and Godzilla had more destruction scenes. There's a really quick scene that lasts like less than a minute where Godzilla attacks a military base but beyond that and the train sequence he doesn't destroy much more. It's too quick and having some more destruction on his end would have been more satisfying. Kong had the train kidnapping scene and a few shots of him in the city but again I would have liked to see some more rampage. Perhaps that's my inner child speaking but it would have been really exciting to see more destruction.

I really liked the final fight, I think it set the standard for the series early on but I'm still bummed out how it kinda just ends with them falling in the water. I'm glad it's been confirmed Kong wins but I wish we could have seen a bit more rather than they both fell in the water and Kong won for some reason.

I didn't think he was being "nitpicky;" I honestly thought he was correcting me, so I went back and corrected my mistake. And you were right about it being very difficult to get a copy of KKvsG in the original Japanese.

[Goji]

Oh come on that was hyper nitpicky :/ We all know the original Japanese film is widely hard to obtain with pretty much no legal subbed DVD existing.

There is no correlation between it's availability and the country it originates from, so..I don't know what the hell you're going on about.

[Legion1979]

Saying "Japanese dub" makes no damn sense. At all. I don't think being corrected on that is nit picky at all.

[skuzzy-punk-kid]

Saying "Japanese dub" makes no damn sense. At all. I don't think being corrected on that is nit picky at all.

I went back and corrected my mistake, but is it necessary to bully me? I made a mistake by calling it the "Japanese dub;" the version available here State-side is the "U.S. dub," so I assumed whatever language track that's on a movie was called a "dub."

If you're going to correct me, do so in a professional manner.

[Legion1979]

That response was for LSD, not you.

[edgaguirus]

It was a good final battle. It wasn't fast paced, like in M vs G, but had plenty of action.

[skuzzy-punk-kid]

It was a good final battle. It wasn't fast paced, like in M vs G, but had plenty of action.

The battle theme in the Japanese version made it better than what I remember, words can't describe it...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DG28QqzE1x0

I can't, for the life of me, get the player to display...

[LSD Jellyfish]

I apologize for my previous idiocy. Anyways:


What I liked about it was how the location throughout the fight continually changed. IIRC they started out in a foresty area on my Fuji, then went to a rocky area with caves, then moved onto a more city area and then finally the big castle. It's cool seeing locations change and not be static. A few other Godzilla films do it but certainly not enough.

[Kaiser]

That response was for LSD, not you.

Regardless of who you intended it for, it wouldn't hurt to do it more diplomatically.

Regarding the Ifukube soundtrack for this film, I was wondering how other people around here feel about it and how it compares with his other work in the genre. I remember reading somewhere that his work on this film was regarded as some of his best, but most of the soundtrack is only vaguely familiar to me. It might just be a familiarity issue (I've only seen the Japanese version of the film once compared to all the other Ifukube scored films which I've seen many, many times) but aside from the island chant, none of the soundtrack really stands out to me. The Godzilla theme makes its first appearance here but was significantly improved in Mothra vs. Godzilla and is the only other piece of music I really remember. It's all much more fitting than replaying The Creature from the Black Lagoon theme over and over as they did in the American version, but I can't help but feel like I'm missing something.

[skuzzy-punk-kid]

That response was for LSD, not you.

Regardless of who you intended it for, it wouldn't hurt to do it more diplomatically.

Regarding the Ifukube soundtrack for this film, I was wondering how other people around here feel about it and how it compares with his other work in the genre. I remember reading somewhere that his work on this film was regarded as some of his best, but most of the soundtrack is only vaguely familiar to me. It might just be a familiarity issue (I've only seen the Japanese version of the film once compared to all the other Ifukube scored films which I've seen many, many times) but aside from the island chant, none of the soundtrack really stands out to me. The Godzilla theme makes its first appearance here but was significantly improved in Mothra vs. Godzilla and is the only other piece of music I really remember. It's all much more fitting than replaying The Creature from the Black Lagoon theme over and over as they did in the American version, but I can't help but feel like I'm missing something.

I'm afraid I was the cause of this incident. I naively used the quote "Japanese dub," since prior to last week, I was only familiar with the English dub, so I naturally assumed any language track on a movie was a "dub." I was corrected on this infraction, and I went back and corrected my mistake...but I do agree that those with seniority on this forum need to exercise a little more decorum. As the seniority, they should provide the example to the newcomers and conduct themselves appropriately. But this is just the NCO in me talking.

Back to the KKvsG score; since this was my first time experiencing the movie (free from the U.S. Universal stock music). I became excited to hear a track I recognized from Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah; the battle theme in question. I attempted to share what I experienced on this thread, unfortunately my post was misinterpreted and the rest ensued.

[Giga Kaiju]

I don't think people regard the sounctrack of this movie as memorable. Unlike the following sequels, at least. It is fine, but not to that extent.

[skuzzy-punk-kid]

I don't think people regard the sounctrack of this movie as memorable. Unlike the following sequels, at least. It is fine, but not to that extent.

Well, that's a shame. And here I was hoping people might have that one song or leitmotif from that one certain movie that they seem to connect with. Or maybe I'm the only one that does those sort of things...

[Godzillian]

Honestly I find the music for the final battle in the US cut to be better for the scene then Ifukubes score

[Giga Kaiju]

The chores to Kong's awakening/slumber, some Godzilla themes in it, the Main Title, and some pieces here and there COULD be memorable. I do know because I can find myself humming those from time to time.

[BARAGONZILLA]

Honestly I find the music for the final battle in the US cut to be better for the scene then Ifukubes score

Its cool. But its not too original.
But the Operation Burial and Operation One Million volts, I think that's what that one is, are the best on that sound track.

[DaiKamonohashi]

I'm not sure how often the art forum is frequented or not these days but I wanted to cross-post this commissioned painting of 1962 Kong I just finished the other day because I'm pretty proud of it.

[edgaguirus]

That's good. The face looks just like the film.

[Giga Kaiju]

Nice artwork. The face of Kong looks exactly like in the movie. Good job with it, dude.

[Cookson]

With Godzilla vs. Kong coming in 2020, I'm sure this will get plenty of rewatches. They'll most likely end up teaming up in the 2020 version, but still.