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Japanese Title: San Daikaiju Chikyu Saidai no Kessen (“Three Giant Monsters – the Greatest Battle on Earth”)
Toho Studios’ Official English Title: Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster
Other American Titles: Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster (original release)
Noteworthy International Titles: Alien Monster (British); Gojira, Mosura, Kingu Gidora: Chikyu Saidai no Kessen (Japanese Champion Festival release, “Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: the Greatest Battle on Earth”)
Director: Ishiro Honda
Producer: Tomoyuki Tanaka
Screenplay: Shinichi Sekizawa
Music: Akira Ifukube; “Shiawase Wo Yobou” (“Let’s Call for Happiness”) composed by Yasushi (Hiroshe?) Miyagawa, with lyrics by Tokiko Iwantani
Special Effects: Eiji Tsuburaya
Japanese Release: 12/20/64
American Release: 9/13/65, 9/29/65 or 9/30/65; reports vary
U.S. Distributor: Continental Distributing / Walter Reade-Sterling
Review Copy DVD Distributor: Classic Media
Running Time: 92 min./ 85 min. (American version)
Monsters: – Godzilla (Japanese: “Gojira”)
- Rodan (Japanese: “Radon,” a contraction of Pteranodon – PteRAnoDON – a sort of pterosaur) – A colossal, red-brown pterosaur, with a small, two-horned head and a spiky front
- Mothra (Japanese: “Mosura”) – One of the caterpillars, this time
- Ghidora (Japanese: “Gidora”; will later be called “King Ghidorah,” presumably after a coronation of some sort; also called “Ghidrah” and “King Ghidora”) – A huge, golden dragon, with three heads perched on the ends of long necks, a forked tail, and vast, fanlike wings
- The Shobijin (“tiny beauties” in Japanese)
Principal Cast: – Godzilla – Haruo Nakajima
- Rodan – Masaki Shinohara
- Mothra – Katsumi Tezuka
- Ghidorah – Shoichi “Solomon” Hirose (previously “King Kong” in King Kong vs. Godzilla)
- Shindo – Yosuke Natsuki
- Naoko Shindo – Yuriko Hoshi (previously “Junko Nakanishi” in Mothra vs. Godzilla)
- Professor Murai – Hiroshi Koizumi (previously “Tsukioka” in Gojira no Gyakushu, “Dr. Miura” in Mothra vs. Godzilla)
- Princess Maas Doulina Salno – Akiko Wakabayashi (previously “Tamiye,” a minor character in King Kong vs. Godzilla; known to American audiences as “Aki” from You Only Live Twice)
- Dr. Tsukamoto – Takashi Shimura (previously “Dr. Kyohei Yamane” in Gojira and Gojira no Gyakushu)
- Detective Okita – Akihiko Hirata (previously “Dr. Serizawa” in Gojira, “Mr. Shinagawa” in King Kong vs. Godzilla)
- Malness – Hisaya Ito
- The Shobijin – Emi and Yumi Ito

Now, now, don’t crowd around just because he’s new…

Background

The very astute reader, who has been paying very close attention – closer attention, perhaps, than is recommended – will have noticed that San Daikaiju Chikyu Saidai no Kessen (which we’ll call simply “Ghidorah” for convenience) was released in Japan the same year as the previous Godzilla film, Mothra vs. Godzilla. Just eight months later, in fact. Said hyper-attentive reader might also have noticed that this film has pretty much exactly the same production crew, and even some of the same cast, as its predecessor. “Wow,” such a reader might have thought, “busy year for them.” Well, reader, you don’t know the half of it.

In between these two Godzilla pictures, Tanaka, Honda, and the whole gang made yet another sci-fi pic, Uchu Daikaiju Dogora, known in the U.S. as Dagora, the Space Monster. Toho was going with a sort of scorched-earth policy with the giant monster movies right about then, putting out as many as possible, minimizing the risks involved in moviemaking by aiming for a large number of minor hits, rather than seeking rare major ones. And so Honda and his people made different movies, simultaneously. It presumably helped that the Japanese film industry was, shall we say, authoritarian, at least by Hollywood standards. Honda and his people were told to churn out product, and by God they did so.

Mr. Tanaka! The publicity art department’s off its meds again!

Ghidorah itself. Here, as in King Kong vs. Godzilla, Honda was told to lighten the tone, to make the film more ‘kid-friendly.’ Kong had made a good deal more money than the more-serious Mothra vs. Godzilla, and so the studio decided that zany was the way to go. And as in Kong, Honda didn’t like it, but he did it anyway. (It should be noted that certain of his colleagues – notably screenwriter Shinichi Sekizawa and effects-master Eiji Tsuburaya – were all for this change in tone, however.)

So. A hastily-made movie, with very heavy studio interference. A recipe for failure, right? Wrong – Ghidorah is one of the very best films of the Showa period. In spite of the odds.