Destroy All Monsters
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is a 1968 Japanese
epic Epic commonly refers to: * Epic poetry, a long narrative poem celebrating heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation * Epic film, a genre of film defined by the spectacular presentation of human drama on a grandiose scale Epic(s) ...
''kaiju'' film directed by
Ishirō Honda was a Japanese filmmaker who directed 46 feature films in a career spanning five decades. He is acknowledged as the most internationally successful Japanese filmmaker prior to Hayao Miyazaki and one of the founders of modern disaster film, wit ...
, with special effects directed by Sadamasa Arikawa and supervised by
Eiji Tsuburaya was a Japanese special effects director, filmmaker, and cinematographer. A co-creator of the ''Godzilla (franchise), Godzilla'' and ''Ultraman'' franchises, he is considered one of the most important and influential figures in the history o ...
. The film, which was produced and distributed by Toho Co., Ltd, is the ninth film in the ''Godzilla'' franchise, and features eleven monster characters, including
Godzilla is a fictional monster, or ''kaiju'', that debuted in the eponymous 1954 film, directed and co-written by Ishirō Honda. The character has since become an international pop culture icon, appearing in various media: 33 Japanese films p ...
, Mothra, Rodan, King Ghidorah, Anguirus, and
Minilla is a fictional monster, or kaiju, who first appeared in Toho's 1967 film '' Son of Godzilla''. He is the adopted son of Godzilla, and is sometimes referenced as Minya, Godzilla Jr., and Baby Godzilla in the American dubbed versions. Overview De ...
. The film stars Akira Kubo, Jun Tazaki, Yukiko Kobayashi and Yoshio Tsuchiya. In the film, humans have achieved
world peace World peace is the concept of an ideal state of peace within and among all people and nations on Earth. Different cultures, religions, philosophies, and organizations have varying concepts on how such a state would come about. Various relig ...
by the year 1999, and various giant monsters are confined to an area known as Monsterland. The monsters are freed from the area and are mind-controlled by aliens known as Kilaaks, who send them to attack major cities. When the monsters are freed from the Kilaaks' influence, the aliens send Ghidorah to challenge the other monsters. ''Destroy All Monsters'' was released theatrically in Japan on August 1, 1968. The film was released by
American International Pictures American International Pictures, LLC (AIP or American International Productions) is an American film production company owned by Amazon MGM Studios. In its original operating period, AIP was an independent film production and distribution c ...
with an English-language dub in the United States on May 23, 1969. Contemporary American reviews were mixed, with praise mainly held for the climactic monster battle. Retrospectively, the film has received more praise, and is considered a favorite among ''Godzilla'' fans for its "audacious and simple story", "innovative action sequences", and a "memorably booming" score by Akira Ifukube. The film was followed by '' All Monsters Attack,'' released on December 20, 1969.


Plot

At the close of the 20th century (1999 in the dub), all of the Earth's
kaiju is a Japanese term that is commonly associated with media involving giant monsters. Its widespread contemporary use is credited to ''tokusatsu'' (special effects) director Eiji Tsuburaya and filmmaker Ishirō Honda, who popularized the ''kaiju'' ...
have been collected by the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
Science Committee and confined in an area known as Monsterland, located in the Ogasawara island chain. A special control center is constructed underneath the island to ensure that the monsters stay secure and to serve as a research facility to study them. When communications with Monsterland are suddenly and mysteriously severed, and all of the monsters begin attacking world capitals, Dr. Yoshida of the UNSC orders Captain Yamabe and the crew of his spaceship, Moonlight SY-3, to investigate Ogasawara. There, they discover that the scientists, led by Dr. Otani, have become mind-controlled slaves of a feminine alien race identifying themselves as the Kilaaks, who reveal that they are in control of the monsters. Their leader demands that the human race surrender, or face total annihilation.
Godzilla is a fictional monster, or ''kaiju'', that debuted in the eponymous 1954 film, directed and co-written by Ishirō Honda. The character has since become an international pop culture icon, appearing in various media: 33 Japanese films p ...
attacks
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
, Rodan invades
Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
, Mothra lays waste to
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, Gorosaurus destroys Paris (although Baragon was credited for its destruction), and Manda attacks
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
. The attacks were set in to motion to draw attention away from Japan, so that the aliens can establish an underground stronghold near
Mount Fuji is an active stratovolcano located on the Japanese island of Honshu, with a summit elevation of . It is the highest mountain in Japan, the second-highest volcano on any Asian island (after Mount Kerinci on the Indonesian island of Sumatra), a ...
. The Kilaaks then turn their next major attack onto Tokyo and, without serious opposition, become arrogant in their aims until the UNSC discover, after recovering the Kilaaks' monster mind-control devices from around the world, that they have switched to broadcasting the control signals from their base under the Moon's surface. In a desperate battle, the crew of the SY-3 destroys the Kilaak's lunar outpost and returns the alien control system to Earth. With all of the monsters under the control of the UNSC, the Kilaaks call King Ghidorah, who is dispatched to protect the alien stronghold at Mount Fuji, battling Godzilla,
Minilla is a fictional monster, or kaiju, who first appeared in Toho's 1967 film '' Son of Godzilla''. He is the adopted son of Godzilla, and is sometimes referenced as Minya, Godzilla Jr., and Baby Godzilla in the American dubbed versions. Overview De ...
, Mothra, Rodan, Gorosaurus, Anguirus, Kumonga and Varan. While seemingly invincible, Ghidorah is eventually overpowered by the combined strength of the Earth monsters and is killed. Refusing to admit defeat, the Kilaaks produce their ace, a burning monster they call the Fire Dragon, which begins to torch Tokyo and destroys the control center on Ogasawara. Suddenly, Godzilla attacks and destroys the Kilaaks' underground base, revealing that the Earth's monsters instinctively know who their enemies are. Captain Yamabe then pursues the Fire Dragon in the SY-3 and narrowly achieves victory for the human race. The Fire Dragon is revealed to be a flaming Kilaak saucer and is destroyed. With the Kilaaks defeated, Godzilla and the other monsters eventually return to Monsterland to live in peace.


Cast


Production


Writing

Special effects director Sadamasa Arikawa noted that Toho were going to potentially end the ''Godzilla'' series as "Producer Tanaka figured that all the ideas had just run out." Several sources attest that the film was announced alongside ''Son of Godzilla'', possibly as a competing project. The film was written by
Takeshi Kimura , also known by his pen name , was a Japanese screenwriter who wrote many films for Toho studios. Kimura scripted several films for director Ishirō Honda, including '' Matango'', '' Frankenstein vs. Baragon'', '' The War of the Gargantuas'', '' ...
and
Ishirō Honda was a Japanese filmmaker who directed 46 feature films in a career spanning five decades. He is acknowledged as the most internationally successful Japanese filmmaker prior to Hayao Miyazaki and one of the founders of modern disaster film, wit ...
, making it the first ''Godzilla'' film since ''
Godzilla Raids Again is a 1955 Japanese ''kaiju'' film directed by Motoyoshi Oda, with special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya. Produced and distributed by Toho Co., Ltd., it is the second film in the ''Godzilla'' franchise, and a sequel to ''Godzilla'' (1954). The fi ...
'' not written by Shinichi Sekizawa. Takeshi Kimura is credited by his pen name Kaoru Mabuchi in the film's credits. Kimura and Honda's script developed the concept of Monsterland (referred to as Monster Island in future films). The earliest screenplay, written by Kimura in 1967, was titled ''Monster Chushingura'' (怪獣忠臣蔵, Kaiju Chūshingura). (The word '' chushingura'' refers to a famous historical story in Japan about the rebellion of 47 samurai who took revenge after their master was unjustly forced to commit suicide). Supposedly, in this version, every monster in Toho's arsenal was to be included, even King Kong, Sanda, and Gaira. In an interview with David Miller, Ishiro Honda even said “the original idea was to show all of the monsters.” The first initial screenplay, preliminary titled ''Monster Total Advancement Order'' (怪獣総進撃命令, Kaijū Sōshingeki Meirei), by Takashi Kamura (as Kaoru Mabuchi) was submitted on November 22, 1967, and included a confirmed roster of Godzilla, Mothra (larva), King Ghidorah, Rodan, Baragon, Varan, Kumonga, Manda, Maguma, and Ebirah. Everything plays out just as in the finished film except that Maguma and Baragon guard the Kilaak base and Baragon actually attacks Paris. Also, in this iteration, Varan and Rodan work in tandem to attack Ghidorah in the final battle. When it was decided to adapt ''Two Godzillas!: Japan SOS'' (an earlier version of '' Son of Godzilla'') instead, the script was shelved for next year. By then the rights to Kong had expired. Honda also wanted to show lunar colonies and brand new hybrid monsters, the results of interbreeding and genetic splicing. He planned to delve more deeply into undersea farming to feed the monsters, but because of budget constraints this was not included. In later scripts, the number of monsters was cut as well.


Filming

Director Honda was fascinated by the concept of a "monster farm", in particular the idea of how humanity could feed them. He noted that a "huge amount of protein" would be needed and envisioned cloning along with undersea farming to accomplish this. However, despite the director's fascination with this concept, the final movie devotes very little time to it outside of the brief introduction to Monsterland and showing Rodan feasting on a dolphin. The director laments that of the original complex idea only the basic "idea of Monster Island survived." As the film has several monsters who continuously return in the films, the location was developed to be a faraway island where the monsters are pacified. This tied other films not related to the ''Godzilla'' series within its universe, as creatures such as Manda (from '' Atragon'') and Varan ('' Varan the Unbelievable'') exist. The film features footage from '' Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster'' (1964), specifically King Ghidorah's fiery birth scene. As with '' Ebirah, Horror of the Deep'', Teisho Arikawa was the actual special effects director for the movie, although Eiji Tsuburaya is credited for it. Tsuburaya had more of a supervisor role regarding the special effects. During the monster's attack on Tokyo, you can see Godzilla steps over a construction crane model. Looking back on it, Haruo Nakajima did so because he worried he might trip over it and fall. He regretted doing that since he should have kicked it out of the way since it was a very non-monster like thing to do. During the movie's production, Toho arranged for a visit to the Mount Fuji set by a group of around 100 kids who were entering first grade, who got to see all the monsters in action, as well as actors Akira Kubo and Jun Tazaki. Actress Yukiko Kobayashi, as well as the monsters, also paid a visit to a member of the child actors cast of an Imperial Theater of London production of
Oliver! ''Oliver!'' is a stage musical, with book, music and lyrics by Lionel Bart. The musical is based upon the 1838 novel ''Oliver Twist'' by Charles Dickens. It premiered at the Wimbledon Theatre, southwest London in 1960 before opening in the W ...
in Tokyo. At the climatic battle at Mount Fuji, Haruo Nakajima wanted Godzilla to reprise his “jumping shie” from '' Invasion of Astro-Monster'', but Ishiro Honda removed it from the final film.


Special effects

New monster suits for Godzilla and Anguirus were constructed for the film, while Rodan, Kumonga, Minilla, Gorosaurus, Manda, Baragon, Mothra, and King Ghidorah suits were modified from previous films, with Ghidorah having less detail than he had in previous films. There were 3 different scales of the Moonlight SY-3 created or the film. The largest was 1 meter (3 feet) long used mainly used for shots of the spaceship flying across the surface of the Moon, landing and taking off, and for battle with the Fire Dragon (UFO). The core of the model was solid wood with surface details made of balsa wood and molded fiber glass with putty and paint used to disguise the wood grain and the seams. This model had collapsible wings, functional landing gear and fully firing engines. A 50 cm version was made for use for the booster stage and a 30 cm version was made for perspective flying shots. Both smaller versions were made of balsa wood covered in putty and paint. For the scene when Gorosaurus comes out of the ground (through a tunnel presumably dug by Baragon) under the
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, the floor of the set was six and half feet above the ground with the arc built on top of it. A forklift was brought in under the set and the monster was put on the forklift. They then raised the monster up through the ground by raising the forklift. The fire trap set by the Kilaaks to trap the Moonlight SY-3 used real flamethrowers. Fire retardant materials were used in the rock walls in the crater.


Deleted scene

After attacking New York, Godzilla was to arrive in London and fight Manda but the scene was cut. The scene was included in the 1990s bonus features of the film's Japanese LaserDisc. Director Ishirô Honda said about it, "Why was the scene is cut? Because it doesn't makes sense storywise. Godzilla and Manda were being mind-controlled by the same villains, they wouldn’t just start fighting each other. "


Release


Box office

''Destroy All Monsters'' was released in Japan on 1 August 1968 where it was distributed by
Toho is a Japanese entertainment company that primarily engages in producing and distributing films and exhibiting stage plays. It is headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Osaka-based Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group. ...
. It was released on a double bill with a reissue of the film '' Atragon''. The film had a budget of roughly ¥200,000,000 and received an attendance of 2,580,000. The film was reissued theatrically in Japan in 1972 where it was re-edited by Honda to a 74-minute running time and released with the title ''Godzilla: Lightning Fast Strategy'' (ゴジラ電撃大作戦, Gojira Dengeki Daisakusen). ''Destroy All Monsters'' continued the decline in ticket sales in Japan for the ''Godzilla'' series, earning 2.6 million in ticket sales. In comparison, '' Invasion of Astro-Monster'' brought in 3.8 million and '' Son of Godzilla'' collected 2.5 million.


US release

The film was released in the United States by
American International Pictures American International Pictures, LLC (AIP or American International Productions) is an American film production company owned by Amazon MGM Studios. In its original operating period, AIP was an independent film production and distribution c ...
with an English-language dub on 23 May 1969. The film premiered in the United States in
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. American International Pictures hired Titra Studios to dub the film into English. The American version of the film remains relatively close to the Japanese original. Among the more notable removed elements include Akira Ifukube's title theme (the credits are moved to the end of the film) and a brief shot of
Minilla is a fictional monster, or kaiju, who first appeared in Toho's 1967 film '' Son of Godzilla''. He is the adopted son of Godzilla, and is sometimes referenced as Minya, Godzilla Jr., and Baby Godzilla in the American dubbed versions. Overview De ...
shielding his eyes and ducking when King Ghidorah drops Anguirus from the sky. ''Destroy All Monsters'' was shown on American television until the early 1980s. It resurfaced on cable broadcast on the Sci-Fi Channel in 1996.


Home media

The AIP release of ''Destroy All Monsters'' was never released on home video in the United States, despite Orion Home Video at one point having distribution rights. It was finally released on
VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...
by
ADV Films A.D. Vision Holdings, Inc. (known simply as ADV and also referred to as ADV Films) was an American multimedia entertainment distributor headquartered in Houston, Texas, and founded in 1992 by video game fan John Ledford and anime fans Matt Gr ...
in 1998 which featured English-dubbed dialogue from Toho's own international version of the film. In 2011,
Tokyo Shock Media Blasters, sometimes abbreviated as MB, is an American entertainment company that was founded by John Sirabella in 1997 and is based in New York City. It is in the business of licensing, translating, and releasing to the North American mar ...
released the film on DVD and
Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...
and in 2014 the company re-released it on DVD and Blu-ray. In 2019, the Japanese version and export English version were included in a Blu-ray box set released by the Criterion Collection, which included all 15 films from the franchise's
Shōwa era The was a historical period of History of Japan, Japanese history corresponding to the reign of Emperor Shōwa (Hirohito) from December 25, 1926, until Death and state funeral of Hirohito, his death on January 7, 1989. It was preceded by the T ...
. In 2021, Toho premiered a 4K remaster of the film on the Nippon Classic Movie Channel, along with seven other Godzilla films also remastered in 4K. The film was downscaled to 2K for broadcast.


Critical response

From contemporary reviews, both '' Variety'' and ''
Monthly Film Bulletin The ''Monthly Film Bulletin'' was a periodical of the British Film Institute published monthly from February 1934 until April 1991, when it merged with '' Sight & Sound''. It reviewed all films on release in the United Kingdom, including those wi ...
'' noted the film's best scenes involved the monsters together, while criticizing the filmmaking. ''Variety'' reviewed the English-dubbed version of the film stating that it may appeal to "Sci-fi addicts and monster fans" while stating that the "plot is on comic strip level, special effects depend on obvious miniatures and acting (human) is from school of ''
Flash Gordon Flash Gordon is the protagonist of a space adventure comic strip created and originally drawn by Alex Raymond. First published January 7, 1934, the strip was inspired by, and created to compete with, the already established ''Buck Rogers'' ...
''" and that the film's strength relied on its "monster rally". The ''
Monthly Film Bulletin The ''Monthly Film Bulletin'' was a periodical of the British Film Institute published monthly from February 1934 until April 1991, when it merged with '' Sight & Sound''. It reviewed all films on release in the United Kingdom, including those wi ...
'' opined that "the model work is poor, and as usual the script is junior comic-strip". Both reviews mentioned the monsters' final scene with ''Variety'' commenting that it was "clever" and the ''Monthly Film Bulletin'' stating that "apart from he monstersstatutory devastation of world capitals ..the monsters have disappointingly little to do until they get together in the last reel for a splendid battle" The ''Monthly Film Bulletin'' commented that the film was "almost worth sitting through the banalities for the final confrontation on Mount Fuji" noting the son of Godzilla "endearingly applauding from a safe distance" and "the victorious monsters performing a celebratory jig". From retrospective reviews, Steve Biodrowski of ''
Cinefantastique ''Cinefantastique'' is an American horror, fantasy, and science fiction film magazine. History The magazine originally started as a mimeographed fanzine in 1967, then relaunched as a glossy, offset printed quarterly in 1970 by publisher/ ed ...
'' commented that the film "is too slim in its storyline, too thin in its characterizations, to be considered a truly great film ..But for the ten-year-old living inside us all, it is entertainment of the most awesome sort." Matt Paprocki of ''
Blogcritics Blogcritics is a blog network and online magazine of news and opinion. The site was founded in 2002 by Eric Olsen (writer), Eric Olsen and Phillip Winn. Blogcritics features more than 100 original articles every week, and maintains an archive of a ...
'' said the film is "far from perfect" and "can be downright boring at times" but felt that "the destruction scenes make up for everything else" and "the final battle is an epic that simply can't be matched". The film is considered a cult favorite among fans of the ''Godzilla'' franchise. In Steve Ryfle and Ed Godziszewski's 2017 book covering Ishiro Honda's filmography, they expressed that ''Destroy All Monsters'' is now seen as the "last truly spirited entry" in Toho's initial series of ''kaiju'' films, due to "its audacious and simple story, a bounty of monsters and destruction, and a memorably booming soundtrack from Akira Ifukube".


See also

*
List of films featuring dinosaurs This is a list of films that feature non-avian dinosaurs and other prehistoric (mainly Mesozoic) archosaurs, pterosaurs, and marine reptiles such as mosasaurs and plesiosaurs. For depictions of avian dinosaurs see :Films about birds. Live-acti ...
* List of Japanese films of 1968 *
List of science fiction films of the 1960s A list of science fiction films released in the 1960s. These films include core elements of science fiction, but can cross into other genres. They have been released to a cinema audience by the commercial film industry and are widely distributed ...


References

;Notes


Sources

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External links

* * * * {{Authority control 1968 films 1960s science fiction films 1960s fantasy films 1960s monster movies ADV Films Films about alien invasions American International Pictures films Crossover tokusatsu films Films scored by Akira Ifukube Films about dragons Films about extraterrestrial life Films about spiders Films about the United Nations Films directed by Ishirō Honda Films dubbed by Frontier Enterprises Films produced by Tomoyuki Tanaka Films set in 1999 Films set in Moscow Japanese films set in New York City Films set in Paris Films set in the future Films set in Tokyo Films set in Yamanashi Prefecture Godzilla films 1960s Japanese-language films Japanese science fiction films Japanese sequel films Kaiju films Moon in film Mothra films Fiction about pterosaurs Saturn Award–winning films Toho films 1960s Japanese films Films about mind control King Ghidorah Films about queens