The Cinematheque

“In a scene reminiscent of two gigantic TV wrestlers grappling for holds, the prehistoric beasts grunt, puff, and ham it up for all the world like Gorgeous George and Man Mountain Dean. It’s a peculiar kind of humour, but it does play.”

James Powers, The Hollywood Reporter

After a seven-year hiatus, Godzilla was resurrected to do battle with its Hollywood counterpart in this East-meets-West grudge match for the ages. Originally conceived by King Kong stop-motion animator Willis O’Brien as a project pitting Kong against a supersized Frankenstein’s monster, the film morphed into a Godzilla production when Toho, searching for a splashy way to commemorate its 30th anniversary, saw potential in a clash of titans crossover. The story, related in this Americanized version by a broadcast live from UN headquarters, sees King Kong captured by a publicity-crazed pharmaceutical company and Godzilla unleashed by an errant American nuclear submarine. When the ape busts free, a collision course is fated for the prehistoric giants atop Mount Fuji. The film, the first in colour for each of its stars, was a box-office behemoth both in Japan and the States. Its goofier tone signaled a family-friendlier shift in the franchise.

English dub