All Monsters Attack

All Monsters Attack
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Ishirō Honda
Produced by Tomoyuki Tanaka[1]
Screenplay by Shinichi Sekizawa[1]
Starring
Music by Kunio Miyauchi[1]
Cinematography Mototaka Tomioka[1]
Edited by Masahima Miyauchi[1]
Production
companies
Distributed by Toho
Release date
  • 20 December 1969 (1969-12-20)
Running time
 69 minutes[1]
Country Japan
Language Japanese

All Monsters Attack, released in Japan as Gojira-Minira-Gabara: Ōru Kaijū Daishingeki (ゴジラ・ミニラ・ガバラ オール怪獣大進撃, lit. Godzilla, Minilla, and Gabara: All Monsters Attack), is a 1969 Japanese science fiction kaiju film featuring Godzilla, produced and distributed by Toho. The film is directed by Ishirō Honda with special effects directed by Honda and Teruyoshi Nakano and stars Tomonori Yazaki, Hideyo Amamoto, and Kenji Sahara, with Haruo Nakajima as Godzilla, Marchan the Dwarf as Minilla, and Yasuhiko Kakuyuki as Gabara. It is tenth film in the Godzilla franchise and Shōwa series.

The film was released in Japan on December 20, 1969 and theatrically in the United States in the winter of 1971 by Maron Films as Godzilla's Revenge, where it was paired up nationwide on a double bill with Night of the Big Heat.

Plot

Ichiro Miki (Tomonori Yazaki) is a highly imaginative but lonely latchkey kid growing up in urban (and at that time, polluted) Kawasaki. Every day he comes home to his family's empty apartment. His only friends are a toymaker named Shinpei Inami (Eisei Amamoto) and a young girl named Sachiko (Hidemi Ito). Every day after school, Ichiro is tormented by a gang of bullies led by a child named Sanko Gabara (Junichi Ito). To escape his loneliness, Ichiro sleeps and dreams about visiting Monster Island. During his visit, he witnesses Godzilla battle three Kamacuras and Ebirah, a giant sea monster. Ichiro is then chased by a rogue Kamacuras and falls into a deep cave, but luckily avoids being caught by Kamacuras. Shortly afterward, Ichiro is rescued from the cave by Minilla. Ichiro quickly learns that Minilla has bully problems too, as he is bullied by a monstrous ogre known as Gabara.

Ichiro is then awoken by Shinpei who informs him that his mother must work late again. Ichiro goes out to play, but is then frightened by the bullies and finds and explores an abandoned factory. After finding some souvenirs (tubes, a headset, and a wallet with someone's license), Ichiro leaves the factory after hearing some sirens close by. After Ichiro leaves, two bank robbers (played by Sachio Sakai and Kazuo Suzuki) who were hiding out in the factory learn that Ichiro has found one of their driver's licenses and follow him in order to kidnap him.

Later, after his sukiyaki dinner with Shinpei, Ichiro dreams again and reunites with Minilla. Together they both watch as Godzilla fights Ebirah, Kumonga, and some invading jets. Then in the middle of Godzilla's fights, Gabara appears and Minilla is forced to battle him, and after a short and one-sided battle, Minilla runs away in fear. Godzilla returns to train Minilla how to fight and use its own atomic ray. However, Ichiro is woken up this time by the bank robbers and is taken hostage as a means of protection from the authorities.

Out of fear and being watched by the thieves, Ichiro calls for Minilla's help and falls asleep again where he witnesses Minilla being beaten up by Gabara again. Finally, Ichiro helps Minilla fight back at Gabara and eventually, Minilla wins, catapulting the bully through the air by a seesaw-like log. Godzilla, who was in the area watching comes to congratulate Minilla for its victory but is ambushed by a vengeful Gabara. Godzilla easily beats down Gabara and sends the bully into retreat, never to bother Minilla again. Now from his experiences in his dreams, Ichiro learns how to face his fears and fight back, gaining the courage to outwit the thieves just in time for the police, called by Shinpei, to arrive and arrest them. The next day, Ichiro stands up to Sanko and his gang and wins, regaining his pride and confidence in the process. He also gains their friendship when he plays a prank on a billboard painter.

Cast

Ishiro Honda gives instructions to Minilla (Marchan the Dwarf) and Ichiro (Tomonori Yazaki), during filming.
  • Midori Uchiyama as the voice of Minilla[2]
  • Yasuhiko Kakuyuki as Gabara, the monster[2]

Production

Due to production costs, All Monsters Attack includes extensive stock footage of Ebirah, Horror of the Deep, Son of Godzilla, King Kong Escapes and Destroy All Monsters. The filmmakers also employed the same Godzilla suit used for Destroy All Monsters. Despite being credited as the film's special effects director, Eiji Tsuburaya was not actively involved with the production. Director Ishiro Honda not only directed the drama scenes but the special effects scenes as well, with assistance from Teruyoshi Nakano, who was a first assistant special effects director at the time. Honda would later confirm that Tsuburaya was given credit as the film's special effects director "out of respect" and the reason why Honda took over Tsuburaya's duties was due to "budget and time constraints". A small studio was used for the production, where both the special effects and drama scenes were filmed (usually the two were filmed in separate studios).[1][3][4]

Release

All Monsters Attack was released theatrically in Japan on 20 December 1969 where it was distributed by Toho.[1] The film was the first "Toho Champion Matsuri", a festival-style program that included shorts and feature films.[1]

The film had been test-screened under the title Minya, Son of Godzilla in the United States.[1] The version was edited further and released with an English-language dubbed version in 1971 under the title Godzilla's Revenge.[1] This version of the film was distributed by Maron Films as a double feature with Island of the Burning Damned.[1] The film was released on home video in the United States in 2007 with its original Japanese version.[1]

References

Footnotes
  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Galbraith IV 2008, p. 261.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Ryfle 1998, p. 358.
  3. ↑ Ryfle 1998, p. 156.
  4. ↑ Ryfle 1998, p. 157.
Bibliography

  • Galbraith IV, Stuart (2008). The Toho Studios Story: A History and Complete Filmography. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 1461673747.
  • Ryfle, Steve (1998). Japan’s Favorite Mon-Star: The Unauthorized Biography of the Big G. ECW Press. ISBN 1550223488.
  • Ryfle, Steve; Godziszewski, Ed (2017). Ishiro Honda: A Life in Film, from Godzilla to Kurosawa. Wesleyan University Press. ISBN 9780819570871.
  • All Monsters Attack on IMDb
  • "ゴジラ・ミニラ・ガバラ オール 怪獣大進撃 (Gojira Minira Gabara Ōru Kaijū Daishingeki)" (in Japanese). Japanese Movie Database. Archived from the original on 14 July 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-18.
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