Viewed June 21, 2006
King Kong Escapes from Toho Studios follows their highly successful King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962). To a degree, it follows the basic plot of the original King Kong. Ship comes to island, finds giant ape, ape falls for girl, ape is brought to mainland, etc. The big difference, of course, is that this is from the house of Toho, so there’s also a mad scientist with plans for world domination and a conclusion that includes a big monster fight, courtesy of Mechani-Kong, a giant robot shaped like the big ape (think of it as Kong’s answer to Mechagodzilla).
King Kong Escapes lacks the charm of KKvG, but freed of the “big showdown” aspect, has a better story. It certainly looks better. The ape costume alone is a massive upgrade from the original one. The ocean effects and various high-technology devices come off quite strong, no doubt from the years Toho had spent honing these skills in the intervening years.
Although Mie Hama (Ghidra: The Three-Headed Monster, You Only Live Twice) gives a few good moments as the agent of a foreign power, the nominal female lead, Linda Miller, comes off too shrill and unappealing to satisfactorily fill her role as damsel-in-distress / love interest. It was interesting to see that she was paired off romantically with Akira Takarada (Godzilla, Godzilla vs. Mothra, Godzilla: Final Wars) instead of the American actor Rhodes Reason (Voodoo Island, Star Trek: “Bread and Circuses”), it’s just too bad she’s not up to the part.
All of them are outclassed by Eisei Amamoto as the trecherous Dr. Who (no relation). Amamoto, a veteran actor even by that time, chews the scenery deliciously, oozing classic Toho villainy out of every pore. In the U.S. version, he is voiced by classic voice actor Paul Frees (The Thing from Another World, The Dick Tracy Show, The Beatles, Hardware Wars) and the combination of Amamoto’s weasely looks and Frees’ resonant voice is priceless.
Veteran Godzilla costume performer Haruo Nakajima takes on the role of the big ape to much better effect than Shoichi Hirose did in KKvG. He has some real menace about him at the appropriate times and (thanks at least partly to the better suit) is able to actually emote somewhat.
King Kong Escapes is the great forgotten film in both the King Kong and Toho/Godzilla filmography. It has a large scope, relatively good effects, mostly decent acting and Kong-as-good-guy. It’s certainly as good an entry as King Kong vs. Godzilla (for different reasons) and deserves to be remembered more than, say, King Kong Lives. (But more on that tomorrow.)
Note: I was interested to see quite a few cast members of Kokusai himitsu keisatsu: Kagi no kagi, the film that Woody Allen turned into What’s Up Tiger Lily? appearing in King Kong Escapes. Joining Mie Hama and Eisei Amamoto are Susumu Kurobe, Sachio Sakai and Osman Yusuf.