In Bride of Frankenstein, Dr. Pretorius, played by the inimitable Ernest Thesiger, raises his glass and proposes a toast to Colin Clive’s Henry Frankenstein—“to a new world of Gods and Monsters.” I invite you to join me in exploring this world, focusing on horror films from the dawn of the Universal Monster movies in 1931 to the collapse of the studio system and the rise of the new Hollywood rebels in the late 1960’s. With this period as our focus, and occasional ventures beyond, we will explore this magnificent world of classic horror. So, I raise my glass to you and invite you to join me in the toast.

Usually for this column, I try to explore the historical context, themes, and production histories of the various films covered, and I will still discuss a few of those things. But my enjoyment of and connection to King Kong vs. Godzilla, especially the 1963 U.S. cut is fairly personal, and maybe a bit inexplicable. The movie is unashamed of its inherent silliness—it is after all largely a man dressed as a giant gorilla wrestling another man dressed as a giant lizard—but it has so many endearing qualities (as well as a few troublesome ones) that make it memorable and worth discussing.

One of the first movies I saw after my family got our first VCR was Godzilla 1985, the recut version of The Return of Godzilla which, like the US release of the original Godzilla, starred Raymond Burr as the American guide through this thoroughly Japanese story. Elements of that movie very much scared (and perhaps scarred) seven-year-old me, but it was also an early gateway to my love of horror in general and Godzilla in particular. Before that, I had seen the 1976 version of King Kong a number of times on TV and had fallen in love with the giant ape as well. My school and public libraries both had several children’s books about monsters that I checked out on a regular basis. I was delighted to discover that a movie existed where my two favorite giant monsters met and had an all-out wrestling match.

I tried to read everything I could about the movie and watched for it at my local video store, but could never seem to find it. Then one day while out shopping with my parents, I found a VHS copy of it along with another film I’d been searching for, The Creature from the Black Lagoon, at a department store. I decided to spend the allowance I’d been saving on the two movies. The fact that I still remember this purchase so many years later proves what an impact these films had on me. 

King Kong vs. Godzilla is a strange film and the added footage directed by Thomas Montgomery for the U.S. release makes it even stranger. This version of the film is clearly aimed squarely at kids and leans into many of its campiest elements. The original cut has a lot of broad comedy as well, but the U.S. cut does not balance it much with the satire present in the Japanese version. The scientist Dr. Johnson (Harry Holcombe) uses a children’s picture book to illustrate the kinds of dinosaurs that Godzilla might have evolved from. Because alien invasion movies were popular at the time, there are frequent cuts to a flying saucer-like space satellite used to connect the TV broadcasts between New York and Tokyo. As with the American version of Gojira (1954), titled Godzilla King of the Monsters (1956), there is a lot of explaining of what is going on by the American actors.

The film gives a roughly equal amount of screen time to both Godzilla and Kong. Though Godzilla looked very familiar to me as a kid, the Kong design was very different from either the 1933 original or the 1976 remake that I was accustomed to. The 1976 Kong is also a man in a suit, but it is a very sophisticated costume designed and performed by the great Rick Baker. King Kong vs. Godzilla did not have that kind of budget or a genius designing its great ape. Still, there was something fun about the costumes and, as an amateur model builder from a young age, I enjoyed the movie’s miniatures and special effects, despite their limitations.

Watching it now, I am impressed by the number of tools that the director of the Japanese version (which makes up the bulk of the U.S. version), Ishiro Honda, and Toho studios utilized for the film. Much of the effects work involves miniatures, many of them radio controlled or mechanical models that actually move, fire projectiles, or dig and push mounds of earth. They are not as detailed as miniatures in later films, but the amount of work that went into creating all those sets and vehicles remains astonishing to me. Beyond miniatures and the Kong and Godzilla costumes, the film utilizes matte paintings, puppets, process shots, a real octopus, animation, and even a few moments of stop motion. In the U.S. cut, the seams show a bit more because most of the effects scenes take place during the day. The original version alters these sequences, which were filmed “day for night,” and darkens them, making the layers in the composite shots at least a little less noticeable.

King Kong vs. Godzilla was originally produced as part of the 30th anniversary celebration of Toho studios in 1962. It had been seven years since Godzilla Raids Again and eight since the original Godzilla (aka Gojira). Since then, Toho had continued making its kaiju (giant monster) films with a great deal of success including Rodan (1956) and Mothra (1961), but there was not much interest at Toho in continuing with the Godzilla series. That changed when Toho acquired the rights to use King Kong and felt that he would make a worthy opponent to Godzilla. Ishiro Honda, who directed Gojira in 1954, as well as several other kaiju films for Toho, agreed to helm the project.

Since the U.S. cut, released through Universal International, was the only version of King Kong vs. Godzilla available outside Japan for many years, several rumors arose about the two versions of the film. The most commonly propagated of these rumors, one that I read over and over in those monster books, was that Kong won the matchup in the U.S. version, but Godzilla won in the Japanese version. For many years this was widely accepted as common knowledge. When I finally got my hands on a copy of the Japanese cut of the film several years ago, I fully expected Godzilla to emerge from the sea at the end. When it was still Kong, I was genuinely surprised. 

Now, thanks to the Criterion Collection’s Showa era Godzilla set, the Japanese release version of King Kong vs. Godzilla is widely available. This version has several advantages over the U.S. release. As I already mentioned, the special effects hold up a bit better, though they are by no means without their limitations. These limitations are partially due to this being the first Godzilla movie filmed in color. Black and white tends to hide some of the matte lines and wires used in the execution of the effects. Also, the Japanese cut is a little more serious in tone. It has plenty of comedy still, but there is an element of satire that runs throughout the film that was completely excised from the U.S. version. The film takes square aim at Japan’s television and newspaper industries. The head of the Pacific Pharmaceutical Company is portrayed as a complete buffoon who is only concerned about the television show he sponsors getting ratings. He hopes to manufacture a way for King Kong and Godzilla to fight in order to make headlines but is completely unconcerned about the safety of his fellow countrymen. There is more time taken for human character development as well, making the threat of the human toll more personal and affecting. The music of the great Akira Ifukube, one of Japan’s greatest film composers, also reinforces the more serious tone.

In both versions, the final brawl between the titans is epic. It is, after all, the real reason we’re watching the movie. This movie is also the moment when Godzilla begins to take on a more anthropomorphic nature that would continue on into later films. He is still the villain of this movie, as he was in Gojira and Godzilla Raids Again, but well on his way to becoming the “mascot” and defender of Japan that he would become in later films. The sequence plays out like a professional wrestling event with a number of memorable moments. At one point, Kong plucks a tree from the ground and shoves it into Godzilla’s mouth. Godzilla then expels it with his atomic breath. Kong swings Godzilla by his tail and the two destroy a perilously poised building before tumbling, still interlocked in battle, off a cliff and into the sea. Kong emerges and swims off toward his Faro Island home, but the human characters are left to wonder what happened to Godzilla. 

What ultimately happened is that Toho had a huge international hit on its hands. They realized that Godzilla was a bankable star, worthy of a series. The original Showa era run of Godzilla ended in 1975, but the King of the Monsters continues to rise again and again in various forms. Kong would return to Toho once more as well in King Kong Escapes (1967), an all-out bonkers extravaganza, also directed by Honda. 

I enjoy King Kong vs. Godzilla in a very different way now than as an eight-year-old watching it over and over on that VHS tape. I recognize the film’s limitations and troublesome elements (the island natives, specifically, are portrayed as broad stereotypes). There is no doubt a certain amount of nostalgia involved in my enjoyment of it now, but I also think there is a lot to be enjoyed about the film. As I write this, we are days away from the release of Godzilla vs. Kong, only the second time in film history that these two greatest of giant monster icons have met on screen. I have no doubt that this new version will only age the original film more than it already has. Personally, I can’t wait to see this new matchup with all the sophisticated tools at the disposal of modern filmmakers behind it, but I will always have a soft spot for this goofy little movie that captured my imagination as a kid.

After watching that videotape for the first time, I could imagine myself as Kong and my older brother as Godzilla, stomping among our Lego skyscrapers and matchbox cars. If nothing else, King Kong vs. Godzilla fueled my young imagination and gave me hours of joy and play. Even now, I can’t exactly say that it’s a good movie. But I can say that it still (mostly) brings a smile to my face. And to me that makes it, at least on some level, great.