In a Nutshell. Mini reviews of movies old and new. No fuss. No spoilers. And often no sleep.

Thursday 16 May 2019

King Kong Escapes (1967)

aka King Kong's Counterattack

Because King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962) did well, Toho wanted more ape. The result is a joint production with Rankin/Bass that's part US monster movie and part Japanese kaijū movie, with an American lead and a Japanese evil-doer.
The plot is bonkers: a rich madame (Mie Hama) wants a rare element mined from the earth, so needs the help of Dr Who (not that one), a crazy James Bond-esque scientist (Hideyo Amamoto), who builds a mecha version of Kong to do the dangerous work. Shit happens (radiation, naturally) and Mecha ends up battling the real King Kong, while dashing US submarine commander Carl Nelson (Rhodes Reason) stays dashing, especially during close-ups.

2 white-gloved subordinates out of 5

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