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Trouble at Tokyo Tower
This is my homage to the strangest King Kong movie ever made.
I am talking, of course, about the 1967s Toho Films classic "King Kong Escapes". You know how they say about some films, (like "The Attack of the Killer Tomatoes" for example) , that "its so bad, its good"? Well that describes this film to a tee. Featuring a cute blonde leading lady (more on her later), an American/Japanese cast in this US-Japanese co-production, the worst King Kong suit of all time (yes it even tops the one from 'King Kong vs. Godzilla), and lush technicolor with pretty good special effects for 1967, make this a 'must see' camp classic. At the end of the film, King Kong has a showdown on the Tokyo Tower with the Kong Robot made by the eeeevil "Dr. Who" - (Whose scariest features were his incredibly bad and crooked cigarette-stained teeth.). Mercifully, the American sub commander (Rhodes Reason) and Kong's blonde 'love interest' (Linda G. Miller) spoke English, while their Japanese co-stars (Akira Takarada, Mie Hama and Eisei Amamoto) had to endure some of the absolute WORST dubbing heard in any Toho film. Watching Dr. Who's toothy maw move up and down totally out of sync with the impossibly deep dubbed voice (provided by Rankin-Bass veteran Paul Frees) is one of the most bizarre experiences you will ever have watching a film. As if that was not enough, Kong actually seemed to UNDERSTAND Ms. Miller whether she was speaking to him in English or dubbed Japanese - just another of the many strange twists. I don't know - but somehow when I see the clip of her telling Kong very slowly like she's talking to a toddler "Get - the -ship - Kong! Get - the - ship!", it sort of defines 'camp' to me. Of course 'the ship' is Dr. Who's and Kong then proceeds to dispense with it with gusto - crushing his nemesis after destroying the robot by knocking it off the tower. And then there is "Element X" and Kong's kidnapping .... but we don't want to spoil ALL the surprises if you haven't seen it yet....) Comments (0) | Add a Comment |