Kaijû sôshingeki (1968)

Director:

Ishirô Honda

Writers:

Ishirô Honda (writer)
Takeshi Kimura (writer)

Release Date:

23 May 1969 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Horror | 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
Chôtarô Tôgin	...	Ogata
Yoshifumi Tajima	...	Major Tada
Kenji Sahara	...	Commander Nishikawa
Hisaya Ito	...	Enraged Soldier
Yoshio Katsuda	...	Young Scientist
Heihachirô Ôkawa	...	Engineer (as Henry Okawa)
Kôji Uno	...	Skeptical Reporter
Ikio Sawamura	...	Old Farmer
Yutaka Sada	...	Police Officer
Hiroshi Okada	...	Doctor at hospital
Hideo Shibuya	...	1st Reporter
Nadao Kirino	...	1st Detective
Yutaka Oka	...	2nd Detective
Kamayuki Tsubono	...	3rd Detective
Seishiro Hisano	...	SY-3 Engineer
Kenichiro Maruyama	...	Moon Base Employee
Ken Echiyo	...	SY-3 Engineer
Seishirô Kuno	...	SY-3 Astronaut
Wataru Ômae	...	SY-3 Astronaut
Naoya Kusakawa	...	SY-3 Astronaut
Kazuo Suzuki	...	Kilaak Controlled Staffer
Tôru Ibuki	...	Kilaak Controlled Staffer
Susumu Kurobe	...	Kilaak Contolled Staffer
Minoru Itô	...	Kilaak Controlled Staffer
Rinsaku Ogata	...	1st Officer
Keiko Miyauchi	...	Kilaak
Haruya Sakamoto	...	2nd Officer
Yukihiko Gondô	...	Soldier
Atsuko Takahashi	...	Kilaak
Saburo Iketani	...	News Reader
Yoshio Miyata	...	Kilaak
Ari Sagawa	...	Kilaak
Kyoko Mori	...	Kilaak
Midori Uchiyama	...	Kilaak
Wakako Tanabe	...	Kilaak
Michiko Ishii	...	Kilaak
Haruo Nakajima	...	Military Advisor / Gojira
Teruo Nigaki	...	Radon
Yû Sekida	...	Angirasu
'Little Man' Machan	...	Minira
Susumu Utsumi	...	Kingugidora
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Hal Linden	...	Akira Kubo (uncredited) (voice: English version)

Directed by
Ishirô Honda

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Ishirô Honda		writer
Takeshi Kimura		writer (as Kaoru Mabuchi)

Produced by
Tomoyuki Tanaka	....	producer

Original Music by
Akira Ifukube

Cinematography by
Taiichi Kankura

Film Editing by
Ryohei Fujii

Production Design by
Takeo Kita

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Seiji Tani	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Sadamasa Nishimoto	....	sound effects
Hisashi Shimonaga	....	sound effects
Shoichi Yoshizawa	....	sound recordist

Special Effects by
Sadamasa Arikawa	....	director of special effects (as Sademasa Arikawa)
Sadamasa Arikawa	....	special effects photographer
Yasuyuki Inoue	....	special effects art director
Kuichiro Kishida	....	special effects lighting
Fumio Nakadai	....	special effects wire work
Teruyoshi Nakano	....	chief assistant director of special effects
Eiji Tsuburaya	....	special effects supervisor
Akira Watanabe	....	special effects art director

Visual Effects by
Sudono Iizuda	....	optical photographer
Yoichi Manoda	....	special effects cameraman
Hiroshi Mukoyama	....	special effects opticals
Sokei Tomioka	....	special effects cameraman

Stunts
Haruo Nakajima	....	stunt choreographer

Other crew
Samuel Z. Arkoff	....	presenter (US version)
Salvatore Billitteri	....	supervisor: US dubbing
James H. Nicholson	....	presenter (US version)

Production Companies

• Toho Company

Distributors

• American International Pictures (AIP) (1969) (USA) (theatrical) (dubbed)
• Astral Films (1969) (Canada) (theatrical) (dubbed)
• Les Films Marbeuf (1970) (France) (theatrical)
• ADV Films (2000) (USA) (DVD)
• Fright Video (video)
• Kuk Dong

Other Companies

• Toho Studios  sound stages

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:

Haruo Nakajima, the man inside the Godzilla suit, has an out-of-suit cameo in this film.

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:

Kilaak Queen: Ghidorah is a space monster. The monsters from Earth cannot win. I will get in touch with you, when you feel like giving up.
Major Tada: Why that...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Special (2006/I)

Monster free-for-all: fun stuff

Toho decided to throw a block party for monsters in Tokyo, and invited every creature they could get to sign on to do the flick. Their three biggest mega stars are featured: the lovable giant fire-breathing lizard Godzilla, the supersonic bird who stirs up hurricane winds, Rodan; and the evil three-headed serpent King Ghidora. Throw in the talents of several other monsters and you have a Battle Royale that's a feast for the eyes.

Aliens want to conquer the Earth. So they use hypnosis chips on both key humans as well as the giant beasts, forcing them to assist in a sinister scheme. The human actors, although intentionally upstaged by their larger co-stars, make for an interesting invasion from within story. The actors really do a good job showing urgency in this battle for Earth, (in spite of the sometimes questionable dubbing job). The action moves fast and furious, leading to the inevitable climactic monster showdown.

The film incorporates the monster back stories as much as possible; considering how many creatures get in the act, that's quite an accomplishment. It's fun to see them all together; and they put on several good destruction and battle scenes. The TV reporter doing a sports play-by-play in the decisive battle is a great touch, giving us great lines such as, "Listen to the monsters, with their cries of horror and sudden death!"

Fun stuff for Japanese monster movie fans or anyone who likes a good, campy, action filled flick.