This film was released in 1963 in the USA by Universal and they added new scenes as well as chopping the original movie up and adding several Universal library music tracks.
There is a Japanese version of the film as well, and it will be reviewed later as it is on the extras disc and it will be a while before I get to that one.
This entertaining entry is a clever take on TV advertising and the extent people will go to get ratings. After Godzilla sinks a US nuclear submarine in the Arctic and escapes from his icy prison, he heads for Japan.
In the meantime a famous TV show producer in Japan is trying to boost ratings on his show so he enlists two men to go to a small island named Odo to find out if rumors about a giant monster are true.
They do indeed find a monster there and it's, of course, King Kong and so they try and bring it back to Japan and are forbidden to do so. This leads to an epic monster battle in which Kong is the winner.
Director Ishiro Honda adds a lot of humor to the proceedings, and this really doesn't hurt the film at all. There are some great set pieces including the fight itself which includes a lot of pro wrestling moves such as arm drag takedowns and such. The cast handles the film well, and the US inserts aren't too bad this time around.
The print quality is the best I have ever seen for this film, and I suspect that is how every one of these Showa-Era Godzilla films will look from Criterion. A recommended gem of a monster movie. It was this film that finally had Toho make the decision of having a Godzilla movie every year. It made tons of money world wide.
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