Destroy All Monsters

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***Destroy All Monsters!*** (怪獣総進撃, *Kaijū Sōshingeki*, Lit. Monster Attack March) is a 1968 Japanese *kaiju* film written and directed by Ishirō Honda, Takeshi Kimura also write the script (the latter under the pseudonym "Kaoru Mabuchi"). The film, which was produced and distributed by Toho Studios, is the ninth film in the *Godzilla* franchise, and features eleven monster characters, including Godzilla, Mothra, Rodan, King Ghidorah, Anguirus, and Minilla. The film stars Akira Kubo, Jun Tazaki, Yukiko Kobayashi and Yoshio Tsuchiya, with special effects directed by Sadamasa Arikawa, which were provided under the supervision by Eiji Tsuburaya.

In the film, humans have achieved world peace by the year 1999, and various giant monsters are confined to an area known as Monsterland. The monsters are freed from the area and are mind-controlled by aliens known as Kilaaks, who send them to attack major cities. When the monsters are freed from the Kilaaks' influence, the aliens send King Ghidorah to challenge the other monsters.

*Destroy All Monsters* was released theatrically in Japan on August 1, 1968. The film was released by American International Pictures with an English-language dub in the United States on May 23, 1969. Contemporary American reviews were mixed, with praise mainly held for the climactic monster battle. Retrospectively, the film has received more praise, and is considered a favorite among *Godzilla* fans for its "audacious and simple story", "innovative action sequences", and a "memorably booming" score by Akira Ifukube.

## Plot

It's the year 1999 and all of Earth's monsters have been collected and are living together on Monster Island. The monsters are kept on the island by special devices such as magnetic walls and metal cylinders that spray out gas that repels the monsters. All of this is controlled from a base deep below the island's surface. All was going just fine on the island until the command center and the surface of the island are coverd in a strange knockout gas that takes out both the monsters and the humans on the island. A few days later, the monsters from the island begin to appear in major cities throughout the world... Godzilla in New York, Rodan in Moscow, Mothra in Beijing, Gorosaurus in Paris, Manda in London, etc. Only Tokyo being spared from these attacks. The spaceship Moonlight SY-3 is recalles from the moon to investigate the island, but the crew finds the base surprisingly operational and aliens calles the Kilaaks say that they are taking over the world with the humans and the monsters are under their control.

## Cast

* Akira Kubo   as   Moonlight SY-3 Captain Katsuo Yamabe
* Yukiko Kobayashi   as   Kyoko Manabe, Monsterland personnel
* Kyoko Ai   as   Kilaak Queen
* Jun Tazaki   as   Dr. Yoshida
* Yoshio Tsuchiya   as   Dr. Otani, Monsterland scientist
* Kenji Sahara   as   Nishikawa, Moon Base commander
* Kazuo Suzuki   as   Ogasawara Monsterland control center engineer
* Toru Ibuki   as   Tetsuo Ise, Monsterland engineer
* Minoru Ito   as   Minoru Kudo, Monsterland engineer
* Susumu Kurobe   as   Nobuo Kuroiwa, Monsterland engineer
* Hisaya Ito   as   Major Tada
* Yoshibumi Tajima   as   Security Commander Sugiyama
* Nadao Kirino, Naoya Kusakawa   as   International Police detectives
* Wataru Omae   as   Arima, Moonlight SY-3 crew member
* Chotaro Togin   as   Okada, Moonlight SY-3 crew member
* Yasuhiko Saijyo   as   Fujita, Moonlight SY-3 crew member
* Seishiro Kuno   as   Yanai, Moonlight SY-3 crew member
* Ken Echigo   as   Yoshikawa, Moonlight SY-3 crew member
* Ikio Sawamura   as   Elderly farmer in the village
* Yutaka Sada   as   Village police officer
* Kenichiro Maruyama   as   Moon Base engineer
* Yutaka Oka   as   Newspaper reporter
* Hideyo Shibuya   as   Newspaper reporter
* Yoshio Katsube   as   United Nations Scientific Committee engineer
* Kamayuki Tsubono   as   International Police detective
* Tadashi Okabe   as   TTV announcer
* Haruya Sakamoto, Rinsaku Ogata   as   Joint Defense Command officers
* Yukihiko Gondo   as   Command vehicle soldier
* Yoshiko Miyata, Kyoko Mori, Ari Sagawa, Rei Maki, Atsuko Takahashi   as   Kilaaks
* Haruo Nakajima   as   Godzilla / Joint Defense Command officer
* Hiroshi Sekita   as   Anguirus / Gorosaurus / Hospital doctor
* Teruo Aragaki   as   Rodan
* Susumu Utsumi   as   King Ghidorah
* Masao Fukazawa   as   Minilla (as "Little Man Machan")
* Saburo Iketani   as   Toshio Fukuzawa, announcer
* Henry Okawa   as   UNSC engineer
* Andrew Hughes   as   Dr. Stevenson
* Tadaaki Watanabe   as   Anguirus (uncredited)

### International English dub

* Burr Middleton   as   Captain Katsuo Yamabe
* Bud Widom   as   Dr. Yoshida
* Carole Wyand   as   Kyoko Manabe / Kilaak Queen
* Gregory Starr   as   Major Tada
* Robert Dunham   as   Okada / Security Commander Sugiyama

### Titan Productions English dub

* Hal Linden   as   Captain Katsuo Yamabe
* Bret Morrison   as   Dr. Yoshida
* Paulette Rubinstein   as   Kyoko Manabe
* Bernard Grant   as   Dr. Otani
* Lucy Martin   as   Kilaak Queen
* Kenneth Harvey   as   Major Tada
* Jack Curtis   as   Arima / UNSC Technician / Newscaster
* Larry Robinson   as   Moonlight SY-3 astronaut
* Norman Rose   as   Narrator

## Monsters

* Godzilla
* Rodan
* Anguirus
* Gorosaurus
* Mothra
* Minilla
* Manda
* Kumonga
* Baragon
* Varan
* King Ghidorah

## Staff

* Directed by   Ishiro Honda
* Written by   Ishiro Honda, Kaoru Mabuchi
* Produced by   Tomoyuki Tanaka
* Music by   Akira Ifukube
* Cinematography by   Taiichi Kankura
* Edited by   Ryohei Fujii
* Production design by   Takeo Kita
* Assistant directing by   Seiji Tani
* Special effects by   Sadamasa Arikawa, Eiji Tsuburaya

## Titles

* Monster Total Advancement (Literal Japanese title)
	+ Charge of the Monsters (Alternate translation)
	+ Attack of the Marching Monsters (Alternate translation)
	+ Godzilla: The Grand Blitz Operation (ゴジラ電撃大作戦 Gojira Dengeki Daisakusen, Japanese re-release title)
	+ Assemble All Monsters! (オール怪獣集合せよ！ Ōru Kaijū Shūgōseyo!, Japanese 8mm title)
	+ Monster Olympics (怪獣オリンピック Kaijū Orinpikku, Japanese 8mm title)
	+ Operation Monsterland (Early English title)
	+ The Invaders Attack (Les envahisseurs attaquent; France; French Belgium)
	+ Frankenstein and the Monsters from Space (Frankenstein und die Monster aus dem All; Germany)
	+ The Heirs of King Kong (Gli eredi di King Kong; Italy)
	+ Extraterrestrial Invasion (Invasión Extraterrestre; Spain)#
	+ The Monsters are Threatening the World (Hirviöt uhkaavat maailmaa; Finland)
	+ Starfield Monsters (Feza Canavarları; Turkey)
	+ Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters (Australia)

## U.S. release

Some time after *Destroy All Monsters* was released in Japan, Toho commissioned Frontier Enterprises to produce an English-dubbed version. This international version of the film was subsequently released in some foreign territories, although it would go unreleased in the U.S. until 1996, when the Sci-Fi Channel would license *Destroy All Monsters* and *Godzilla vs. Hedorah* for broadcast.

American International Pictures released *Destroy All Monsters* theatrically in North America in May 1969. A second English-language version was handled by Titan Productions. There were some minor alterations done to prepare the film for U.S. release:

* AIP moved the credits to the end of the film. Instead of the futuristic design employed in the Japanese and international versions, AIP's credits play out in white text against a black background. The original Akira Ifukube cue was retained.
* Deleted: After the destruction of Tokyo, an establishing shot of a Japanese sign reading "Integrated Defense Headquarters".
* Deleted: A shot of Minilla frenzying amid the battle with King Ghidorah.
* Deleted: Another shot of Minilla covering his eyes as King Ghidorah drops Anguirus.

Although AIP chose to produce its own English version instead of using Toho's existing international version, both dubbed versions share dialogue that is notably different from the Japanese version. Significantly, the opening narration in both dubs sets the film in 1999; the narration in the Japanese version sets the film in "the end of the 20th century." Titan's script may have been based on the Frontier dub.

AIP's version of the film remained in syndication through the early 1980s. The film, however, would be the last Showa Godzilla film released on home video in the United States. Toho's international version would finally be released on VHS by ADV in 1998. In 2011, Media Blasters released *Destroy All Monsters* on DVD and Blu-ray with both English dubs and the Japanese language track, but Toho forced the company to pull the discs from circulation after about a month due to rights issues pertaining to the special features. Media Blasters reissued the film in 2014 without the Titan dub or any of the special features.

## United Kingdom release

Warner-Pathe brought AIP's version of *Destroy All Monsters* to UK theaters in 1969, as part of a double feature with *Killers Three*. It received an X rating from the British Board of Film Censors, preventing children under 16 from seeing it. The international version of the film was first released in the UK in 1992, when PolyGram Video released it on VHS with *Invasion of Astro-Monster* and *Ebirah, Horror of the Deep*. 4 Front Video reissued the film on VHS in 1998. Sony released the Japanese version of the film on Blu-ray in 2019 as part of the The Criterion Collection's *Godzilla: The Showa-Era Films, 1954–1975* box set, with the international English dub available as a secondary audio option.

## DVD

**ADV Films** DVD (1999/2004)

* Region: 1
* Discs: 1
* Audio: English (2.0 Mono, international dub)
* Subtitles: None
* Special Features: None
* Notes: The 2004 release is packaged with the film's soundtrack. Out of print.

**Toho** DVD (2003)

* Region: 2
* Discs: 1
* Audio: Japanese (2.0 Mono, 5.1 Surround)
* Subtitles: Japanese
* Special Features: Audio commentary by Seiji Tani, three 8mm films (two for *Destroy All Monsters*, one for *Atragon*) and narrated storybooks based on them, theatrical trailer

**Madman** DVD (2006)

* Region: 4
* Discs: 1
* Audio: Japanese, English (2.0 Mono, international dub)
* Subtitles: English
* Special Features: Theatrical trailer, trivia, poster gallery, Madman-produced trailers

## References

This is a list of references for **Destroy All Monsters**. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: [1]

1. ↑ "怪獣総進撃" (in Japanese). Japanese Movie Database. Retrieved 2010-09-09.
2. ↑ Madman film DVD 2006

## External links

* Destroy All Monsters on IMDb
* Destroy All Monsters on Eiga.com
* Destroy All Monsters on JMDB
* Destroy All Monsters on Wikipedia
* Destroy All Monsters on Wikizilla