© 1998, 2014 Lawrence Tuczynski

Title King Kong vs. Godzilla
Japanese Title Kingu Kong tai Gojira
Movie also known as: N/A
CD Label Futureland / Toshiba EMI Japan
CD Number TYCY-5347
Music by: Akira Ifukube
Number of tracks 43
Running time 69:20
Number of discs 1
Year of release/manufacture 1993
Year Movie Released in Japan 1962
Year Movie Released in U.S. 1963
DVD Released in U.S. Aug. 1998, GOODTIMES Video
Pan & Scan versions only plus Dolby Digital MONO sound

REVIEW

Updated January 02, 2014

Thank You to Rory Penland for bringing to my attention that I failed to mention that many early Godzilla movies had alternate main title themes for the U.S. release. Some movies even had their whole soundtrack stripped out and replaced with stock music. "King Kong vs. Godzilla" did have an alternate U.S. title track. From my friend Sam Scali: "The U.S. title theme for the American dub of KING KONG VS. GODZILLA (which replaced 95% of Ifukube's score with stock music) was recycled from the title theme of the 1951 film THE GOLDEN HORDE, composed by Hans J. Salter."

See the description posted here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6wLVOPMtwo

Other recognizable cues in the American version included Salter's VERY recognizable theme from CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON.

Original Review

This third Godzilla movie brings back Akira Ifukube to score it after Masaru Satoh's turn at scoring the second film which I consider to be a letdown after the great Ifukube score of the first film. Both the second film itself and the music seemed to be a very poorly thought out rush job to cash in on the first film's popularity. Here in the third movie Mr. Ifukube once again gives us much new, rousing, action oriented music that will pop up in different forms in many future movies and is very familiar as soon as you hear just a few notes.

The CD jumps straight into the infectious music seen and heard during the native singing and dancing to their god, Kong. This same theme is repeated a few times during the disc. We also get some new marches, like on track #20, that will be deeply ingrained in our memory and appears here for the first time. Mr. Ifukube seems to be hitting his stride in this disc as I feel it is an improvement over the first one and unlike later scores doesn't start reusing the music but instead writes all new stuff that fits this type of movie perfectly. The score is filled with lots of action oriented music and I especially enjoy his Kong sequences with the natives.

Tracks #41, 42 & 43 are background music that occur in various parts of the film. Track 42 is the scene where the Japanese explorers and their guide are trying to negotiate with the natives by giving them gifts. One of the gifts is a transistor radio which startles the natives when they turn it on and suddenly hear the female calypso singer.Overall this is a very good CD that is very listenable as stand alone music away from the movie. Even though the last three tracks seem out of place for this kind of movie, they belong here because they do appear in the movie.

The disc is now out of print. However it has been nicely redone as part of the new Box Set 1 released September 20, 2004. See CD 3 on this site from that set. The set itself is located here at: 50th Anniversary GODZILLA Soundtrack Perfect Collection

 

U.S. Title:      King Kong vs. Godzilla 
Japanese Title:  Kingu Kongu tai Gojira

1	Main Title
2	Series of World Wonders
3	The Sparkling Iceberg
4	The Seahawk in Crisis               *1
5	The Seahawk's SOS                   *1
6	Fallow Island                       *1
7	The Natives
8	Thunder and the Devil               *2
9	Fumiko's Misgivings
10	Godzilla's Resurrection
11	The Cry of the Devil                *2
12	A Prayer to the Rolling Thunder
13	The Devil in the South Seas         *2
14	Drums of Battle
15	Giant Octopus vs. King Kong
16	The Sleeping Devil                  *2
17	The Terror of Godzilla
18	The Invincible King Kong            *4
19	Preparation for Operation 'Burial'
20	King Kong vs. Godzilla I
21	Preparations for Operation 'One Million Volts'
22	Operation 'Burial'
23	Operation 'Burial' Fails
24	Operation 'One Million Volts' I
25	Operation 'One Million Volts' II
26	Kong Shows up in Tokyo
27	The Plan to Rescue Fumiko I
28	The Plan to Rescue Fumiko II
29	The Plan to Transport King Kong
30	King Kong Advances on Fuji
31	The Confrontation at Fuji
32	King Kong's Resurrection
33	King Kong vs. Godzilla II
34	Ending
35	The Giant Devil I                   *2
36	The Giant Devil II                  *2
37	The Giant Devil III                 *2
38	The Giant Devil IV                  *2  
39	Thunder and the Devil (NG)          *2
40	The Plan to Rescue Fumiko III (ending)
41	Background Music Inside the Apartment
42	Transistor Radio Background Music
43	On-Site Noise

*1  This is a direct transliteration from the Japanese
*2  Alternative translation:  Instead of 'the Devil', 
   'the Malevolent Deity' could be used throughout.
*4  Alternative translation:  The Immortal King Kong