Kaijû sôshingeki (1968)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

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:

Monster | Alien | Island | Godzilla | Rodan

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

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
Eisvoleis apo to diastima (Greece) [el]
Frankenstein und die Monster aus dem All (West Germany) [de]
Frankenstein und die Monster aus dem Weltall (West Germany) [de]
Gli eredi di King Kong (Italy) [it]
Godzilla - Die Monster aus dem All (West Germany) (TV title) [de]
Godzilla und die Monster aus dem All (West Germany) [de]
Hirviöt uhkaavat maailmaa (Finland) [fi]
Invasión extraterrestre (Spain) [es]
Les envahisseurs attaquent (France) [fr]
Les envahisseurs de l'espace (Belgium: French title) [fr]
Super Kong enantion ton teraton (Greece) (reissue title) [el]

Runtime:

Germany:89 min | USA:88 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.55 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

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

Company:

Toho Company

Trivia:

During the big 4 monster attack on Tokyo (by Godzilla, Rodan, Manda and Mothra) there was a few minutes of footage shot of Godzilla and Manda fighting. It was later decided that it was out of character for the monsters to start fighting, as they were under Kilaak control. The scene was immediately scrapped. It has been rumored that the scene was shot on the "spur of the moment," that the fx people were having a bit of fun (having Manda attack Godzilla), and Tsubarya just let the cameras roll during this. Planned or not, footage of this still exists and had been shown many times at fan conventions.

Goofs:

Plot holes: The Kilaaks exist in a temperature of at least 7,000 degrees. But several humans captured by the Kilaaks from Monsterland are in both Kilaak bases on Earth and the Moon. They should have been incinerated.

Quotes:

Major Tada: I didn't think Tokyo would escape this terror, but Rodan, Godzilla and Manda are all here at the same time.
Enraged Soldier: That's correct. New York, London, Moscow - they were all very unlucky.
Announcer: Emergency! Emergency! Mothra is now in District Number 5.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Dusk to Dawn Drive-In Trash-o-Rama Show Vol. 3 (1996) (V)

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!