KING KONG VS GODZILLA, ETC

KING KONG VS GODZILLA (1963) is the first true “Fun” Godzilla movie — things took a turn for the less serious with this one. The reality of the pairing would be a fight that lasts about three seconds. Godzilla is described as 400 feet tall with radioactive flame breath while King Kong is 40 feet tall and that’s about all he’s got going for him. For the movie they either upped Kong’s size or lowered Godzilla’s to make it more of a matchup. As I kid I know I was pumped for this one— and the movie doesn’t disappoint if you just check your brain at the door.

FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLF MAN (1943) is a direct sequel to both THE WOLFMAN (1941) and GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN (1942)— it’s stays truer to the Wolf Man story— as Larry Talbot has been buried in the family crypt after his defeat in his first film and grave robbers inadvertantly awaken him by exposing the body to moonlight and removing the wolfs bane he’s buried in. The Frankenstein Monster— at the end of GHOST, is both blind and now has the brain of Ygor implanted in him (Ygor played by Bela Lugosi) so it was brilliant to have Lugosi cast as the monster. The trouble is they cut all of Lugosi’s dialogue from the movie because test audiences laughed at him— as well as any reference to his being blind, making him stumbling around seem like a caricature of the portrayal of the Monster by other horror actors in his long series of films.

The two don’t have their epic battle until the very end of the film, but it’s lab busting and pretty good for what it is— and ditto as a kid we all cheered for our favorite monster.

I know there was a modern KING KONG VS GODZILLA movie, but I have a feeling it lacks the humor and fun of the original so I’ve not seen it— but there’s nothing like a good battle movie to launch into Summer.