August

The Byron Nelson, The Masters, The U.S. Open, etc... They always use some sort of film music... Robin Hood, Twister... and others, just can't think of 'em right now.

It will be great when they finally figure out that William Ross' score from Tin Cup fits perfectly.

Jeron

PS - My dad is a regular Golf Channel junky... this is how I know.

NP: PRELUDE TO A KISS (sweet, soulful music by Howard Shore, and a couple of quite well-picked songs. An eccentric but adorable movie, I thought.)

P.S. Marian, I forgot to ask: "very bad performance of 'Ave Satani'" -- how many are there? There's the OST, the Stanley Black version (which is VERY good, I thought), and -- what else? The Silva version? I don't know that one. I'm not THAT big a completist. If Goldsmith HIMSELF had conducted the Silva album, THEN I'd want it, but as it is, all that stuff is already available elsewhere ...

... it also occurred to me that the rules for re-using music may well be quite different in Europe (in Asia they'll track the weirdest stuff onto their movies and TV shows, absolutely wholesale -- thrill to the sounds of PAPILLON against a Thai historical drama! RAMBO II against a Taiwanese historical drama! I kid you not! The Japanese, at least, ATTEMPT to license everything.)

I don't think that re-use rules are much different here. The father of a girl who went to school with me is the head of a commercial department, and we once had a school excursion there. They showed us how much they had to alter an original song, using their own text, so they don't get copyright problems.

I've also heard Red October once during a scientific series, seems to be quite popular. Another time I noticed Williams' Imperial March. And his "Prelude" from Hook during a skiing event.

If anyone -- apparently Mr. Winfrey could -- might give me a rundown of what music was used in KING KONG VS. GODZILLA, I'd be so appreciative, you'd never stop hearing me saying thanks. Really, I'd be telephoning you at all hours of the night, just to communicate that. (Dammit, that means you'll never tell me now. Oh well, it was worth the risk.)

I'm not expecting a scene-for-scene breakdown -- just, what other movies other than CREATURE get quoted?

The American version has its merits, although principally nostalgic ones, in my case. Most of Ifukube's music was chopped, except for the native-dance music. (Curiously, editor Peter Zinner, who also picked and tracked the music, also left in a snippet of the native-dance music when he helped -- the same year! -- with the mutilation of another picture from the same team, BARAN, aka VARAN THE UNBEARABLE, excuse me, UNBELIEVABLE.) (Zinner later edited THE GODFATHER and THE DEER HUNTER, for which he won an Oscar, and directed THE SALAMANDER.)

All the ridiculous "newscaster" scenes, shot in English, were obviously added later. The particular pace of Honda's cut is wrecked, all the more shameful because it was already beautifully edited by Reiko Kaneko (a woman, feminist Mom! and maybe the best editor Honda ever worked with; she also later worked for Kurosawa. But you might not like this detail: the reason women were "allowed" to be film editors was because editing was considered really the director's job. So editors were billed even under sound recordists, for God's sake. Honda's movies are all edited very consistently no matter who the nominal cutter is, but I've noticed that when he was on a rushed schedule -- particularly UNDERSEA BATTLESHIP and EARTH'S GREATEST BATTLE -- he seems to have designated more authority to his editors, with the result that some of the work is dreadful. I'm especially thinking of Ryohei Fujii. I'm sure you all know of him, and subscribe to his various fan clubs. Four at last count. Oh yes, the first movie in Japan ever directed by a woman, back in the 1930s -- she started as an editor, too, but the movie was never released and is certainly lost. The first Japanese woman director was Setsuko Hara, and she managed that feat in the 1950s because she was one of the country's biggest stars, and had the backing of a powerful director boyfriend. There still aren't many female directors, but there have always been many female writers of films, or their source novels or comic books. Now that I think of it, I wonder if THE RADIO HOUR's Koki Mitani is female ... the name isn't very sex-specific. I can tell you that Honda's last Godzilla, released here as TERROR OF MECHAGODZILLA, was written by a woman, Yukiko Takayama -- misbilled as "Yuhiko" in the ABOMINABLE Paramount Video release -- and that Mr. Honda much admired her original script -- a lot got changed from page to screen -- and had thought it would be interesting to see more Godzillas written by women. She was a fan, and it showed.)

Where was I? Oh: One could argue that the original version of KK V.G (as we call it in the biz) is a bit schizoid, since it alternates between comical stuff involving Kong, and genuinely frightening stuff with Godzilla (the next-to-last time he would be scary in the 1960s films.) But director Honda was sufficiently adroit that it all manages to mix and mingle with great aplomb. The picture is also, as MOTHRA was, a very clear and intentional satire on Japanese commercialism (though that was a common theme in Japanese movies at the time.)

I think the tone of it has to do with the mammoth success the previous year of MOTHRA. KING KONG VS. GODZILLA was an even bigger hit -- financially the most successful of the entire series, including the original. MOTHRA had also deftly blended comical, dramatic and tragedic aspects, and had scored such a huge boxoffice success as a consequence, KING KONG VS. GODZILLA was designed in a similar way.

Additionally, the three male leads were among the most popular comedy stars in the country at the time, though all were also frequently cast in dramatic roles. (Same for MOTHRA star Frankie Sakai. Same for most Japanese actors, actually. Nearly all have been jacks-of-all-trades.) But the two guys who go to the island to catch Kong: they were already a well-known team in the Hope-Crosby tradition (and the original version has a few extra scenes with them, also their real dialogue -- that nonsense about "the corns" was invented by the Americans. Also a few puns that would never translate. Also Kenji Sahara doing even more histrionics when he screams at Kong to "put her down" (Japanese dialogue is literally "Give her BACK!") Also a wonderful end-of-a-scene earlier, when he's rescued the same girl (Mie Hama was what, 19 at the time?) from Godzilla, that got cut from the Universal version.)

Oh Lord, I should just forward my original essay. I'd have to type it in, though. Hmm, trivia: director Ishiro Honda took a terrible tumble while shooting some of the mountain locations, and wound up in the hospital. His wife was looked after in the hospital by third assistant director Koji Hashimoto, who later was tapped for GODZILLA 1985. He was such a family friend by then that the Hondas had been the go-betweens for his marriage (mutual friends assuring them all that the marriage will be a good one), and as soon as he got the assignment, Hashimoto went straight to Honda's house to get his blessing. Aah, I've told this story before. But I didn't mention that for one shot, they blew up part of an ACTUAL mountain, and had to negotiate with a nearby US Army base for permission to do that. They got it. (I may be misremembering this as Army ... I'd bet it was the same Marine base which helped pitch in on building stuff for Kurosawa's THRONE OF BLOOD, but I was never told that specifically. The locations were probably the same, though, there aren't THAT many US bases in Japan, nor THAT many accessible exterior locations that didn't, even then, have skyscrapers or power lines on them.)

KING KONG VS. GODZILLA, by the way, was only the SECOND monster-vs.-monster movie in the genre -- it wasn't yet the standard format. That's one reason why the battles are rather on the simple side, compared to the more elaborate ones that followed immediately. The battles themselves were choreographed largely by the guys in the suits, Haruo Nakajima (Godzilla) and Shoichi Hirose (Kong), both veterans (survivors!) of the SEVEN SAMURAI shoot, among many others. You'd be surprised what tiny guys they are in person (well, I never met Hirose, but it's obvious from pictures.)

Hey, just so I can torpedo one of the most persistent rumors about this one: there were NEVER "alternate" endings of this picture. It ALWAYS appears that Godzilla's vanished and Kong's swimming away. I'll add that this doesn't, to me, comprise a definitive victory on either creature's part ...

And one last thing, Joan: Godzilla's not misunderstood here, he's still evil incarnate, which may be clearer in the Japanese version, but seems obvious to me in both. As a little kid, I was more scared of his stalking Fumiko in the mountains than I was even by most of his antics in the original.

Loved the stories on women and their positions in Japanese films. I
really don’t see women abounding in the top echelon in American
movies yet. They’re clearing a few pathways.

Now I understand why so little of Ifukube’s music was present. Also,
I enjoy the commingling of drama, horror, and comedy. Many of my
favorite movies balance horror and humor. Even Shakespeare utilized
this technique. I do realize that in this
movie, Godzilla was “evil incarnate.” However, I have watched too many
Godzilla movies out of sequence and know that his role changes. Evil vs.
misunderstood victim vs. benefactor when faced with an even worse
monster, etc. I never know quite what to think of him, but I should tune in
more to the director’s and writer’s vision. Again, thanks for the update.