Fellow Svengoolie SvenPals everywhere will be dancing for joy for his big broadcast of a classic mammoth kaiju monster battle masterpiece produced by Japan’s Toho Studios.
“Svengoolie” presents his big broadcast of “Destroy All Monsters” (1968/69)
A snippet from Ishirô Honda‘s classic mammoth Toho Studios kaiju creature battle masterpiece production of “Destroy All Monsters” (1968).
“The Battle Cry that could Save the World!” 1969 American-International exhibitors’ leaflet art for the U.S. dubbing of Ishiro Honda’s classic mammoth Toho Studios kaiju creature battle masterpiece, “Destroy All Monsters” (1968).
The legendary and iconic Berwyn/Chicago-based classic mammoth monster/creature film host will present his big broadcast of “Destroy All Monsters” (1968/69), this Sat., May 25 at 8 p.m. Eastern/7 p.m. Central on Me-TV.
The classic mammoth 1968 Toho Studios kaiju creature battle masterpiece production of “Destroy All Monsters” was co-directed by veteran Toho Studios feature film director and the father of kaiju creature cinema, Ishirô Honda and veteran Toho Studios feature film drector Jun Fukuda.
Honda’s best-known productions throughout his feature film directorial career include his classic mammoth Toho Studios pioneering kaiju creature masterpiece production of “Gojira”/”Godzilla” (1954, released in the United States under the title of “Godzilla, King of the Monsters!” with added scenes directed by Terry O. Morse that featured Raymond Burr of TV’s “Perry Mason” fame), “Rodan“ (1956), “Mothra” (1961, released through Columbia Pictures in the United States), “King Kong vs. Godzilla” (1963, released through Universal Studios in the United States). “Mothra vs. Godzilla” (1964, released theatrically in the United States by Samuel Z. Arkoff and James H. Nicholson’s American-International Pictures under the title of “Godzilla vs. the Thing”), “Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster” (1964), “The War of the Gargantuas” (1966), “All Monsters Attack” (1969, released theatrically in the United States under the title of “Godzilla’s Revenge”) and “Terror of Mechagodzilla” (1975).
Alongside his numerous classic mammoth Toho Studios kaiju creature cinema masterpiece productions throughout the majority of his filmmaking career, Honda also specialized in several classic mammoth sci-fi feature film masterpiece productions for Toho Studios included “The H-Man” (1958) and “Battle in Outer Space” (1959). Honda’s Toho productions of “The H-Man,” “Battle in Outer Space” and “Mothra” were released theatrically in the United States through Columbia Pictures by arrangement with Toho Studios, Columbia/Sony still owns the North American theatrical re-release, television syndication and home entertainment/streaming distribution rights to Honda’s classic mammoth Toho Studios feature masterpiece productions of “The H-Man,” “Battle in Outer Space” and “Mothra”).
Jun Fukuda previously directed the classic mammoth Toho Studios action-adventure spy comedy masterpiece production of “Ironfinger” (1965) with Akira Takarada, Mie Hama and Ichirô Arishima; which was Toho Studios’ answer to the classic mammoth Guy Hamilton-Eon Productions-United Artists “James Bond”/”007” action-adventure spy masterpiece production of “Goldfinger” (1964) with Sean Connery. Fukuda’s first kaiju creature production was his classic mammoth Toho Studios kaiju creature battle masterpiece production of “Ebirah, Horror of the Deep” (1966). His other classic mammoth Toho Studios kaiju creature masterpiece productions include “Son of Godzilla” (1967, released in the United States through the now-defunct theater/cinema circuit, the Walter Reade Organization and their Continental Distribution subsidiary), “Godzilla vs. Gigan” (1972), “Godzilla vs. Megalon” (1973), “Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla” (1974) and “Terror of Mechagodzilla” (1975).
The original screenplay for the classic mammoth Honda-Fukuda production of “Destroy All Monsters” (1968) for Toho Studios was co-written by Honda, along with veteran screenwriter Takeshi Kimura; who received screen credit under the pseudonym of Kaoru Mabuchi.
Veteran producer Tomoyuki Tanaka produced the original Toho Studios theatrical release edition of Honda’s classic mammoth 1968 kaiju creature masterpiece production of “Destroy All Monsters” in Japan. Tanaka helped supervise many of the classic mammoth Toho Studios “Gojira”/”Godzilla” kaiju creature feature masterpiece productions for the majority of his feature film producing career; dating back to Honda’s original classic mammoth 1954 Toho Studios “Gojira”/”Godzilla” kaiju creature masterpiece production and concluding with Tako Okawara‘s modern classic mammoth Toho Studios “Gojira”/”Godzilla” kajiu creature masterpiece production of “Godzilla vs. Destoroyah” (1995, the North American theatrical dub release was later handled through Columbia Pictures/Sony’s TriStar Pictures imprint). Alongside Honda, it was noted that Tanaka was the other pioneer of Toho Studios’ classic mammoth kaiju creature masterpiece productions, notably for the studio’s classic mammoth “Gojira”/”Godzilla” kaiju feature film masterpiece productions.
The U.S. dubbed edition of Ishiro Honda’s classic mammoth 1968 Toho Studios kaiju creature battle masterpiece production of “Destroy All Monsters” was handled by Samuel Z. Arkoff and James H. Nicholson’s American-International Pictures. Both Arkoff and Nicholson established American-International as the American Releasing Corporation in 1954, according to the Samuel Z. Arkoff papers collection housed at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California. Arkoff later sold American-International to television and feature film production-syndication company Filmways in 1979, which was later acquired by Orion Pictures in 1982. Orion, along with the majority of the American-International (AIP)/Filmways holdings were then sold to the present incarnation of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) in 1997. Following MGM’s re-introduction of the “Orion Pictures” name for current feature films and current television productions, the modern incarnation of MGM recently revived the “American-International Pictures” name for select theatrical releases/feature film productions.
Alongside “Destroy All Monsters” (1968), Arkoff and Nicholson’s American-International Pictures also handled the North American theatrical dub releases of the classic mammoth Toho Studios kaiju creature battle masterpiece, “Godzilla vs. Mothra” (1964, released under the title of “Godzilla vs. the ‘Thing’”) and Yoshimitsu Banno’s classic mammoth Toho Studios “Gojira”/”Godzilla” kaiju creature masterpiece installment, “Godzilla vs. Hedorah” (1971, released in 1972 by American-International under the title of “Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster”).
According to additional details from Rob Craig’s retrospective book on Arkoff and Nicholson’s American-International Pictures, “A Comprehensive Guide to American-International Pictures;” it was reported that the North American theatrical dub/theatrical release of Ishiro Honda’s classic mammoth Toho Studios kaiju creature masterpiece production of “Destroy All Monsters” (1968) was released in several markets as a double-feature presentation with another production. The second feature in the twinset was the American-International dub of Giuseppe Colizzi‘s Italian “Spaghetti Western” production of “God Forgives.. I Don’t” (1967/68) with Terence Hill, Bud Spencer and Frank Wolff.
It was reported that production of the classic mammoth Toho Studios kaiju creature masterpiece production of “Destroy All Monsters” (1968) marked the final kaiju creture feature collaboration between the veteran director, veteran producer Tomoyuki Tanaka, veteran Toho Studios kaiju creature special effects supervisor Eiji Tsubyara and veteran Toho Studios source music score composer, Akira Ifukube- the trio had worked on numerous classic mammoth Toho Studios kaiju creature feature masterpiece productions since the production of Toho Studios classic mammoth pioneering kaiju creature masterpiece, “Gojira/Godzilla” (1954, a.k.a. “Godzilla, King of the Monsters!” for the 1955 North American theatrical dub). The production of “Destroy All Monsters” (1968) marked the 20th kaiju/sci-fi creature feature film masterpiece production for Toho Studios of Japan; according to additional details from Rob Craig’s 2019 retrospective book, “American-International Pictures: A Comprehensive Filmography” and IMDB’s trivia section,
This will mark Sven’s second big broadcast of the U.S. dub of Ishiro Honda’s classic mammoth Toho Studios kaiju battle masterpiece production of “Destroy All Monsters” (1968) on the airlanes of Me-TV. He previously showcased the dubbed edition of Honda’s classic mammoth Toho Studios kaiju creature battle masterpiece production as a coast-to-coast big broadcast premiere back in April 2023.
Who was in the Toho Studios kaiju creature masterpiece production of “Destroy All Monsters” (1968)?
The players who appeared in Ishirō Honda’s classic mammoth Toho Studios kaiju creature battle masterpiece production of “Destroy All Monsters” (1968) were veteran Toho Studios stunt performer/kaiju creature suit stunt performer Haruo Nakajima (in the dual kaiju creature roles of Gojira/Godzilla and Baragon and in a human role as one of the Military Advisors), veteran stunt performer Teruo Nigaki (as Rodan), veteran stunt performer Yû Sekita (in the dual kaiju creature roles of Anguirus and Gorosaurus and in a human role as one of the medical doctors), veteran stunt performer Masao “Little Man” Machan Fukazawa (as Minya/Manilla), veteran stunt performer Susumu Utsumi (as King Ghidorah), Kenji Sahara (as Commander Nishikawa), Akira Kubo (as SY-3 Capt. Katsuo Yamabe), Jun Tazaki (as Dr. Yoshido), Yukiko Kobayashi (as Kyoko Manabe), Yoshio Tsuchiya (as Dr. Otani), Kyôko Ai (as the Kilaak Queen), Andrew Hughes (as Dr. Stevenson), Chôtarô Tôgin (as Ogata), Yoshifumi Tajima (as a General), Hisaya Itô (as Maj. Tada), Yoshio Katsube (as a young scientist), Heihachirô Ôkawa (as an engineer), Ikio Sawamura (as an elderly farmer), Saburô Iketani (as a news anchor/presenter), Wataru Ômae (as an SY-3 astronaut), Yutaka Sada (as a police officer), Atsuko Takahashi, Rei Maki, Yoshio Miyata, Ari Sagawa, Kôko Mori, Midori Uchiyama, Wakako Tanabe and Michiko Ishii (as Kilaaks); Kazuo Suzuki, Tôru Ibuki, Susumu Kurobe and Minoru Itô (as Kilaak-controlled officers).
Silver Screen Reflections 