Kaijû sôshingeki (1968)

Director:

Ishirô Honda

Writers:

Ishirô Honda (writer)
Takeshi Kimura (writer)

Release Date:

23 May 1969 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Sci-Fi | Thriller | War

Tagline:

Monsters of mass destruction.

Plot:

Aliens take control of Earth's monsters and begin using them to destroy the human race.

Plot Keywords:

1990s | Gojira | Helicopter | Alien | Godzilla

Cast

Akira Kubo	...	SY-3 Captain Katsuo Yamabe
Jun Tazaki	...	Dr. Yoshido
Yukiko Kobayashi	...	Kyoko Yamabe
Yoshio Tsuchiya	...	Dr. Otani
Kyôko Ai	...	Kilaak Queen
Andrew Hughes	...	Dr. Stevenson
Chotaro Togin	...	Ogata
Yoshifumi Tajima	...	Major Tada
Kenji Sahara	...	Commander Nishikawa
Hisaya Ito	...	Enraged Soldier
Yoshio Katsuda	...	Young Scientist
Heihachiro Okawa	...	Engineer (as Henry Okawa)
Koji Uno	...	Skeptical Reporter
Ikio Sawamura	...	Old Farmer
Yutaka Sada	...	Police Officer
Hiroshi Okada	...	Doctor at hospital
Hideo Shibuya	...	1st Reporter
Nadao Kirino	...	1st Detective
Yutaka Oka	...	2nd Detective
Kamayuki Tsubono	...	3rd Detective
Seishiro Hisano	...	SY-3 Engineer
Kenichiro Maruyama	...	Moon Base Employee
Ken Echiyo	...	SY-3 Engineer
Seishiro Kuno	...	SY-3 Astronaut
Wataru Omae	...	SY-3 Astronaut
Naoya Kusakawa	...	SY-3 Astronaut
Kazuo Suzuki	...	Kilaak Controlled Staffer
Toru Ibuki	...	Kilaak Controlled Staffer
Susumu Kurobe	...	Kilaak Contolled Staffer
Minoru Ito	...	Kilaak Controlled Staffer
Rinsaku Ogata	...	1st Officer
Keiko Miyauchi	...	Kilaak
Haruya Sakamoto	...	2nd Officer
Yukihiko Gondo	...	Soldier
Atsuko Takahashi	...	Kilaak
Saburo Iketani	...	News Reader
Yoshio Miyata	...	Kilaak
Ari Sagawa	...	Kilaak
Kyoko Mori	...	Kilaak
Midori Uchiyama	...	Kilaak
Wakako Tanabe	...	Kilaak
Michiko Ishii	...	Kilaak
Haruo Nakajima	...	Military Advisor / Gojira
Teruo Nigaki	...	Radon
Hiroshi Sekita	...	Angirasu
'Little Man' Machan	...	Minira
Susumu Utsumi	...	Kingugidora
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Hal Linden	...	Voice characterization for Akira Kubo (uncredited)

Directed by
Ishirô Honda

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Ishirô Honda		writer
Takeshi Kimura		writer (as Kaoru Mabuchi)

Produced by
Tomoyuki Tanaka	....	producer

Original Music by
Akira Ifukube

Cinematography by
Taiichi Kankura

Film Editing by
Ryohei Fujii

Production Design by
Takeo Kita

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Seiji Tani	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Sadamasa Nishimoto	....	sound effects
Hisashi Shimonaga	....	sound effects
Shoichi Yoshizawa	....	sound recordist

Special Effects by
Teisho Arikawa	....	director of special effects
Teisho Arikawa	....	special effects photographer
Yasuyuki Inoue	....	special effects art director
Kuichiro Kishida	....	special effects lighting
Fumio Nakadai	....	special effects wire work
Teruyoshi Nakano	....	chief assistant director of special effects
Eiji Tsuburaya	....	special effects supervisor
Akira Watanabe	....	special effects art director

Visual Effects by
Sudono Iizuda	....	optical photographer
Yoichi Manoda	....	special effects cameraman
Hiroshi Mukoyama	....	special effects opticals
Sokei Tomioka	....	special effects cameraman

Stunts
Haruo Nakajima	....	stunt choreographer

Other crew
Samuel Z. Arkoff	....	presenter (US version)
Salvatore Billitteri	....	supervisor: US dubbing
James H. Nicholson	....	presenter (US version)

Production Companies

• Toho Company

Distributors

• American International Pictures (AIP) (1969) (USA) (theatrical) (dubbed)
• Astral Films (1969) (Canada) (theatrical) (dubbed)
• Fright Video (video)
• Kuk Dong
• Shocking Videos (????) (USA) (DVD) (widescreen)

Other Companies

• Toho Studios  sound stages

Also Known As:

All Monsters Attack
Attack of the Marching Monsters
Destroy All Monsters (USA)
Gojira dengeki daisakusen (Japan) (reissue title)
Monster Attack March
Monster Invasion (literal English title)
Operation Monsterland (UK)
The March of the Monsters

Runtime:

Germany:89 min | USA:88 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | USA:G | West Germany:12 (nf)

Company:

Toho Company

Trivia:

The "friendly" look continued in Godzilla's appearance from 1968 to 1972. Godzilla, by this time, was percieved as the "hero of the world in his movies instead of an indestructable demon from the nuclear age. This Godzilla suit went on a diet by being slimmed down a lot to fit the actor better, and for better mobility while filming Godzilla's battles. Godzilla's neck became much longer and his head more rounded. His pupils were made a little smaller and the width of his mouth became much longer, traveling down to the upper part of his neck. His dorsal fins became smaller in size and, like the head, was also rounded. His two end dorsal fins became much smaller, and appear as mere little bumps traveling down the back of the suit. The tail was also made shorter.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Godzilla attacks Tokyo and is being shelled, a building is hit and its side blown off. Windows warp, but remain in place, revealing they were plastic.

Quotes:

Kilaak Queen: Ghidorah is a space monster. The monsters from Earth cannot win. I will get in touch with you, when you feel like giving up.
Major Tada: Why that...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Shadow (#5.8)" (2000)

Simply tremendous fun,possibly the essential Japanese monster movie

Destroy All Monsters is one of the most sheerly entertaining Godzilla movies. The story,if derivative of Monster Zero,is large-scale and exciting {although the alien invasion idea would soon be done to death},the action is non-stop and the film features almost all the monsters from Toho films made up to that time. There is mass destruction,lazer gun shoot-outs,lots of barmy but cool ideas such as Monster Island,a place where all Earth's monsters are kept by scientists-how can the movie not be terrific entertainment?

There are a few flaws with the film which may not have been present if the Toho of 1964 had made it rather than the Toho of 1968. Although the story has the entire world threatened and several of Earth's cities destroyed,the budget did obviously not extend to allowing much of a depiction of this,bar some brief,unconvincing scenes. Also,a few of the monsters are only briefly shown,such as Varan {The Unbelievable},who appears only in two blink-and -you're-miss-them shots {the suit had been ruined and there was not enough money to buy a new one}. The film may therefore have actually been better with less monsters. However,criticisms of dullness are ridiculous,the film is constant action,which makes up for the lack of interesting human characters,and amazingly,the film is taken more seriously than many of the other Godzilla films,almost achieving the perfection of tone of Godzilla Vs Mothra. Of course,there are a few wonderfully stupid moments,like the sequence of our heroes severing a control device with a lazer which helariously goes on for ages. A shame the final Earth monsters vs Ghidorah fight is too short,but than Ghidorah did not really stand a chance!

Terrific fun,though,with a wonderful Akira Ifikube score featuring two of the most memorable kaiju themes! Not the best Godzilla film,but probably the most essential one to see!