King Kong Escapes

King Kong Escapes
File:King Kong Escapes 1967.jpg Theatrical Poster for King Kong Escapes (1967)
Directed by	Ishirō Honda
Written by	Takeshi Kimura (as Kaoru Mabuchi)
Produced by	Tomoyuki Tanaka Arthur Rankin Jr.
Starring	Akira Takarada Rhodes Reason Mie Hama Linda Miller Eisei Amamoto
Cinematography	Hajime Koizumi
Edited by	Ryohei Fujii
Music by	Akira Ifukube
Distributed by	Toho Universal Studios (USA)
Release dates	July 22, 1967 June 19, 1968 (USA)
Running time	104 min. 96 min. (USA)
Languages	Japanese English

King Kong Escapes (キングコングの逆襲, Kingu Kongu no Gyakushū, King Kong's Counterattack) is a Japanese/American tokusatsu film. A co-production from Toho and Rankin/Bass, it was released in Japan in 1967, and in the United States by Universal Studios the following year.

The film was an adaptation of episodes of Rankin/Bass and Toei Animation's The King Kong Show cartoon series. As with King Kong vs. Godzilla, Eiji Tsuburaya served as director of special effects.

Plot summary

An evil genius named Dr. Who, not to be confused with Doctor Who, a long running British television series, has created a robotic Kong (sometimes referred to as Mechani-Kong in the Japanese version) in order to dig for a highly radioactive element called "Element X". When it fails they kidnap the real King Kong from his island and hypnotize him to dig for Element X. He soon snaps out of it and swims off to Tokyo. King Kong and Mechani-Kong fight on Tokyo Tower, with the fate of the city hanging in the balance. This was also the first film to feature Gorosaurus.

File:King Kong Escapes US.jpg

Poster to the 1968 U.S. release of King Kong Escapes)

U.S. release

The film opened in the United States in June of 1968 on a double-bill with the Don Knotts comedy, The Shakiest Gun in the West Contemporary American reviews were mixed. New York Times film critic, Vincent Canby gave it a particularly insulting review, calling Toho's Kong an "Uncle Tom," and commenting, "The Japanese... are all thumbs when it comes to making monster movies like 'King Kong Escapes.' The Toho moviemakers are quite good in building miniature sets, but much of the process photography—matching the miniatures with the full-scale shots—is just bad... the plotting is hopelessly primitive..."

The July 15, 1968 Film Bulletin, however, gave it a more positive review, saying "Grown-ups who like their entertainments on a comic-strip level will find this good fun and the Universal release (made in Japan) has plenty of ballyhoo angles to draw the school-free youngsters in large numbers..."

Cast

• Commander Carl Nelson - Rhodes Reason
• Lt. Commander Jiro Nomura - Akira Takarada
• Lt. Susan Watson - Linda Miller
• Dr. Who - Hideyo Amamoto (as Eisei Amamoto)
• Madame Piranha - Mie Hama
• Voices in US Version - Paul Frees
• Voices in US Version - Julie Bennett
• King Kong - Haruo Nakajima
• Mechani-Kong - Hiroshi Sekita

References

• Canby, Vincent. "New King Kong:Ape-Hero Is Uncle Tom in Japanese Version" (film review) The New York Times. July 11, 1968.
• King Kong Escapes at Toho Kingdom.
• Kingukongu no gyakushu at IMDb
• Variety June 26, 1968.