“Svengoolie” presents his big Me-TV premiere of “Empire of the Ants” (1977) w/Joan Collins, this Sat. on Me-TV

Fellow Svengoolie Super SvenPals everywhere will be dancing & jumping for joy for his upcoming big coast-to-coast premiere of a cult classic mammoth American-International sci-fi thriller masterpiece.

“Svengoolie” presents his big coast-to-coast premiere of “Empire of the Ants” (1977) with Joan Collins

Original 1977 American-International Pictures theatrical release trailer for Bert I. Gordon‘s classic mammoth sci-fi thriller masterpiece production of “Empire of the Ants” with Joan Collins.

“For they shall inherit the earth.. sooner than you think!” Original 1977 American-International Pictures theatrical poster art for Bert I. Gordon’s “Empire of the Ants” featuring Joan Collins.

The legendary and iconic Berwyn/Chicago-based classic mammoth sci-fi thriller masterpiece host will present his big coast-to-coast broadcast premiere of “Empire of the Ants” (1977), this Sat.; Nov. 18 at 8 p.m. Eastern/7 p.m. Central on Me-TV.

The classic mammoth 1977 American-International sci-fi thriller masterpiece production of “Empire of the Ants” was directed by veteran feature film director  Bert I. Gordon.  Some of Gordon’s best-known cult classic sci-fi/visual effects feature film masterpiece productions include  “The Cyclops” (1957) for Allied Artists with Lon Chaney Jr., “Beginning of the End” (1957)* with Peter Graves, Peggie Castle and Morris Ankrum; “Earth vs. the Spider” (1958, a.k.a. “The Spider”)* with Ed Kemmer, June Kenney and Hank Patterson; “Tormented” (1960) for Allied Artists with Richard Carlson, Susan Gordon, Lugene Sanders and the vocal stylings of Paul Frees; “Village of the Giants” (1965) for Joseph E. Levine’s Embassy Pictures with Ron “Ronny” Howard, legendary singer Freddy “Boom Boom” Cannon (who wrote/performed the mammoth 2016 Sven song masterpiece with Sven, “the Svengoolie Stomp”), Joy Harmon, Beau Bridges, Tisha Sterling, Johnny Crawford, The Beau Brummels, Tommy Kirk, Toni Basil, Rance Howard, Tim Rooney  and Orangey the Cat.

The 1977 Bert I. Gordon/American-International feature production of “Empire of the Ants” was loosely inspired by a short story written by veteran science fiction author and novelist H.G. Wells.  The screenplay adaptation of Wells’ short story that inspired the production of “Empire of the Ants” was co-written by Gordon and veteran TV/feature film screenwriter Jack Turley.   Alongside his numerous TV and feature film screenwriting credits, Turley previously wrote the teleplay for two episodes of the brief classic mammoth Leslie Stevens–Warner Bros./NBC masterpiece adventure series “Search” (inspired by Stevens and Russ Mayberry‘s earlier classic mammoth 1972 Warner Bros./NBC made-for-TV movie masterpiece, “Probe“) that had an alternating lead for each episode of the week (Hugh O’Brian, Anthony Franciosa and Doug McClure) along with Burgess Meredith (Turley wrote the teleplay for 1972’s “The Andonis File” with O’Brian in the lead and 1973’s “The 24 Carat Hit” with Franciosa in the lead).

*For the majority of his motion picture directorial career, Gordon released his classic mammoth “giant” sci-fi/creature masterpiece productions, including “Empire of the Ants” (1977) through Samuel Z. Arkoff‘s American-International Pictures . Arkoff and James H. Nicholson established American-International Pictures in 1954, according to the Samuel Z. Arkoff papers collection housed at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California. During Nicholson’s final years at AIP, he often had personal and professional disagreements with co-founder Samuel Z. Arkoff, according to Eamon Harrington and John Watkin’s retrospective documentary on American-International Pictures titled;  “It Conquered Hollywood! The Story of American International Pictures” (2001).  Nicholson then worked for a brief while for rival studio Twentieth Century Fox (Twentieth Century Studios), but was short-lived, as Nicholson’s health declined due to a brain tumor.  Arkoff mentioned that in Nicholson’s last days that he was the only person outside of Nicholson’s family that kept in touch with him.  Nicholson died on Dec. 10, 1972; according to IMDB.

After Arkoff managed the company by himself, he sold American-International to Filmways in 1979, which was later acquired by Orion Pictures in 1982.  Orion (along with the majority of the American-International/Filmways holdings)** was then sold to the present incarnation of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) in 1997.  Following MGM’s recent revival of the “Orion Pictures” moniker, the studio recently revived the “American-International Pictures” moniker. The classic mammoth 1977 sci-fi thriller masterpiece production of “Empire of the Ants” was co-produced between Arkoff’s American-International Pictures and Gordon’s “Cinema 77 Productions” moniker.

Who was in Bert I. Gordon’s American-International production of “Empire of the Ants” (1977)?

The players who appeared in Gordon’s classic mammoth American-International sci-fi/insect thriller masterpiece production of “Empire of the Ants” (1977) were Joan Collins (as Marilyn Fryser), Robert Lansing (as Dan Stokely), Robert Pine (as Larry Graham), John David Carson (as Joe Morrison), Albert Salmi (as Sheriff Art Kincade), Jacqueline Scott (as Margaret Ellis), Pamela Susan Shoop (as Coreen Bradford), Edward Power (as Charlie Pearson), Brooke Palance (as Christine Graham), Tom Fadden (as Sam Russell), Irene Tedrow (as Velma Thompson), Harry Holcombe (as Harry Thompson), Jack Kosslyn (as Thomas Lawson), Ilse Earl (as Mary Lawson), Janie Gavin (as Ginny), Norman Franklin (as Anson Parker), Florance McGee (as Phoebe Russell), Jim Wheelus (as a crewman), Mike Armstrong (as Jim), Tom Ford (as Pete), Charles Redd (as a taxi driver) and the vocal stylings of Marvin Miller (as the opening narrator).

“Svengoolie” presents his big broadcast of “King Kong vs. Godzilla” (1963), this Sat. on Me-TV

Fellow Svengoolie SvenPals everywhere will be jumping for joy for his big broadcast of a classic mammoth Toho Studios/Universal Studios  kaiju creature battle masterpiece.

“Svengoolie” presents his big broadcast of “King Kong vs. Godzilla” (1962/1963)

Original Universal Studios theatrical release trailer for the U.S. theatrical dub/release of Ishirô Honda’s classic mammoth Toho Studios kaiju creature battle masterpiece, “King Kong vs. Godzilla” (produced and released by Toho Studios in Japan in 1962, released theatrically by Universal Studios  in the United States in 1963).

Original 1962 Toho Studios theatrical poster artwork for the original Japanese theatrical release of  Ishirô Honda’s classic mammoth kaiju creature masterpiece, “King Kong vs. Godzilla; ” released theatrically one year later in the United States by Universal Studios.

The legendary Berwyn/Chicago creature film host will present his big broadcast of “King Kong vs. Godzilla” (1963), this Sat., Nov. 20 at 8 p.m. Eastern/7 p.m. Central on Me-TV.

Produced by Toho Studios of Japan and released theatrically in the United states by Universal Studios, the 1963 classic mammoth Toho Studios kaiju creature battle feature masterpiece was directed by veteran director Ishirô Honda, who was credited in the film under his full name of Inoshiro Honda.  Honda’s best-known classic mammoth kaiju creature masterpiece productions for Toho Studios in Japan include “Gojira”/”Godzilla” (1954, released/re-purposed in 1956 under the title of “Godzilla: King of the Monsters!” in the United States with Raymond Burr in the North American dub); “Rodan“ (1956), “Mothra” (1961),“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), “Frankenstein vs. Baragon” (1965), “The War of the Gargantuas” (1966), “Destroy All Monsters” (1968), “All Monsters Attack” (1969, released theatrically in the United States under the title of “Godzilla’s Revenge”) and “Terror of Mechagodzilla” (1975).  For the Universal/North American filmed segments for “King Kong vs. Godzilla,” the scenes for the North American dubbed edition of Honda’s 1963 production were directed by Tom Montgomery.

Honda’s classic mammoth Toho Studios-Universal kaiju creature masterpiece production of “King Kong vs. Godzilla” (1963) was produced by Tomoyuki Tanaka.  In addition to producing the majority of Honda’s classic mammoth kaiju creature masterpiece productions for Toho Studips, Tanaka also served as a producer for Akira Kurosawa’s classic mammoth Japanese samurai drama masterpiece for Toho Studios, with Toshirô Mifune  “Yojimbo” (1961).   The Universal/North American dub of “King Kong vs. Godzilla” (1963) was produced by veteran Universal Studios producer John Beck. Alongside “King Kong vs. Godzilla” (1963) during his time at Universal, Beck previously served as an associate producer for the classic mammoth William A. Seiter– Gregory La Cava– Frank Tashlin-Universal comedy adaptation masterpiece of S.J. Perelman, Ogden Nash & Thomas Anstey Guthrie’s “One Touch of Venus” (1948) with Ava Gardner, Robert Walker, Eve Arden, Dick Haymes, Olga San Juan, Eve Arden and Tom Conway.  John Beck also served as an associate producer for Henry Koster’s classic mammoth Universal fantasy-comedy masterpiece adaptation of Mary Chase’s award-winning play, “Harvey” (1950) with James Stewart, Peggy Dow, Wallace Ford, Cecil Kellaway, Jesse White, Josephine Hull and “Harvey.”

The screenplay for “King Kong vs.Godzilla” was written by veteran screenwriter Shin’ichi Sekizawa, who also wrote the screenplay for Honda’s classic mammoth Toho Studios kaiju creature masterpiece production of “Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster” (1964).  Alongside producing the Universal/North American dub,  John Beck also served in an uncredited position for the screenplay treatment, which was originally written under the title of “”King Kong vs. Prometheus.”  Elements were also inspired by an unproduced script titled “King Kong vs. Frankenstein,” which was written by veteran stop-motion visual effects pioneer Willis H. O’Brien.  O’Brien worked on the majority of the visual/stop-motion effects for the original Ernest B. Schoedsack– Merian C. Cooper––David O. Selznick–RKO Radio Pictures* classic mammoth stop-motion creature/fantasy masterpiece, “King Kong” (1933, with Fay Wray, Robert Armstrong, Noble Johnson, Victor Wong,  Frank Reicher, Bruce Cabot,  and the “eighth wonder of the world,” Kong!).

The additional screenwriters for John Beck’s Universal/North American theatrical dub of Ishiro Honda’s classic mammoth Toho Studios kaiju creature masterpiece production of “King Kong vs. Godzilla” (1963) were Bruce Howard and Paul Mason.

This will mark Sven’s fourth big broadcast of “King Kong vs. Godzilla” (1963) on Me-TV. He previously showcased Ishirô Honda’s classic mammoth Toho Studios/Universal Studios kaiju monster masterpiece back in Feb. 2014, March 2015 and April 2016.

Who was in “King Kong vs. Godzilla” (1963)?

The players who appeared in Ishirô Honda’s classic mammoth Toho Studios/Universal Studios kaiju monster masterpiece production of “King Kong vs. Godzilla” (1963) were were veteran stunt performer Haruo Nakajima (in the “Gojira/Godzilla” suit), Shôichi Hirose (in the “King Kong” suit), Katsumi Tezuka (for additional scenes in the “Gojira/Godzilla” suit), James Yagi  (as Yutaka Omura), Kenji Sahara (as Kazuo Fujita, Sahara received screen credit under the name of Kenji Sahaka), Ichirô Arishima (as Mr. Tako), Byron Morrow (as Dr. Arnold Johnson), Harry Holcombe (as Dr. Johnson), Mie Hama (as Fumiko Sakurai), Akiko Wakabayashi (as Tamiye), Akihiko Hirata (as Dr. Shigezawa), Jun Tazaki (as Gen. Masami Shinzo), Yû Fujiki (as Kinsaburo Furue) and Les Tremayne (in uncredited roles as the narrator and the dubbed dialogue for Jun Tazaki’s characterization of Gen. Shinzo).