Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster

and originally released in the US as "Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster", is a 1964 tokusatsu kaiju film, and is the 5th film in Toho's Godzilla series. It was directed by Ishiro Honda with special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya.

This movie is noted for having Godzilla playing a role where he benefits Japan, instead of trying to destroy it. It also features Mothra and Rodan, and introduces King Ghidorah.

Plot

In 1965, a princess from Selgina, a small Himalayan country becomes possessed by the spirit of a Venusian and escapes a plane just as it explodes. As this happens a meteorite falls from the sky containing King Ghidorah, the monster responsible for her planet's destruction. At the same time, Godzilla and Rodan emerge from hibernation and not only attack Japan, but each other as well. Mothra, along with her twin priestesses, attempt to convince Godzilla and Rodan to stop fighting each other and to team up to fight the three-headed monster. At the same time, the princess is being hunted by a group of assassins who want to kill her so that her enemies can take over her homeland.Then, just when the only living assassin is about to kill the princess, King Ghidorah crushes him by knocking over a pile of boulders on him. Godzilla, Rodan, and Mothra finally drive King Ghidorah off. The movie ends with the princess going back to her home land and Godzilla and Rodan watching Mothra swim back to Infant Island.

Trivia

* Because the completion of Akahige by director Akira Kurosawa was falling behind, this film was pushed through to cover the planned release of Akahige. Therefore, this new Godzilla film was released successively in the winter, proceeded by "Mothra vs. Godzilla" in spring of the same year.

* Princess name 『MAASU-DOORINA-SARUNO』is a parody of the meaning "Oh, do you pass by my front?" in Japanese.

* The Yokohama Marine Tower, a miniature of which is destroyed by King Ghidorah's rays in the film, was completed three years before the movie was produced.

* The Godzilla suit design used in this movie is referred to as “Sandai-Goji.”

* Godzilla not once uses his atomic breath against Ghidorah despite the original Japanese Poster showing that he does.

* An early concept for Ghidorah had him with rainbow-colored wings and his three heads spitting fire from their mouths, instead of gravity beams which was used in the final draft.

* The first Godzilla film to not feature military weapons such as tanks and jets, used against the monsters, and was the rigor-du-jour in previous films.

* In the game "", the Ravenge of Ed-Zilla bonus level, The "Kankerator" (the Kankers as a monster) is based on Ghidorah.

*This film marks the first appearance of Rodan in a Godzilla film.

* In the conversation with Mothra, Godzilla states that he only hates humans because humans hate him, and because of what he perceives as unprovoked attacks towards him, suggesting that he was not really a villain in the first place.

*This film also marks the first appearance of King Ghidorah, who would become Godzilla's most frequently recurring opponent, appearing as Godzilla's enemy in Invasion of the Astro Monster, Destroy All Monsters, Godzilla vs. Gigan, Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, GMK, and as Godzilla's final opponent dubbed as Kaiser Ghidorah in .

*In Mothra vs. Godzilla, two Mothra larva hatched but in this movie there is only one. This is explained in this film, via exposition by the twin faeries, or Shobijin (Little Beauties), stating that one of the twin larva had grown up and the mother had died.

*A multitude of deleted scenes were exised from the original Japanese print and are widely unavailable for viewing. These include:-A continued conversation between Shindo and Detective Okida after Shindo sees her picture for the first time. He marvels at her beauty, but then Okida scolds him for being distracted from his mission.-More dialogue between Malness and his gang.-Longer conversations held in Dr. Tsukamoto's laboratory.-A hurricane wind duel between Rodan and King Ghidorah, which results in Rodan being blasted backwards by an exceptionally powerful gust.-A brief shot of Godzilla biting down onto one of Ghidorah's necks.-A shot of Ghidorah angrily throwing all three other monsters off him at once.-A spectacular matte shot of Ghidorah chasing victims during his attack on Yokohama. This was cut at the whim of director Ishiro Honda, which is unfortunate because the shot was one of the most expensive in the movie.

U.S. release

The English-dubbed version was presented in American theaters in September 1965 by Walter Reade-Sterling, and distributed by Continental Distributing on a double bill with Elvis Presley's musical-comedy, "Harum Scarum". Originally titled "Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster."

Several alterations were made to the American version, including:

* Much of Akira Ifukube's score was cut.

* Ghidorah's name was romanized as "Ghidrah".

* The line "Are you a man or a woman?" It would be easier if you removed your clothes!" became, "Are you a boy or a girl? Why don't you do a striptease for us!"

* In the American version, King Ghidorah destroys Mars (it was Venus in the Japanese version), and the Princess claims that she is from Mars. This was most likely because of the strong association the western world has with the possibility of Mars having been able to support life.

* Continuity Error: The sequence of Godzilla climbing on the docks in Yokohama harbor was changed around. First he is on the docks, then appears to be back in the bay, and then back on shore.

* The scene of Princess Salno telling Dr. Tsukamoto. Shindo and Naoko about Ghidorah's arrival occurs after it comes from the meteorite in the American version.

The American version runs 85 minutes, seven minutes shorter than the Japanese version.

Critical Reception

"New York Times" film critic Vincent Canby gave it a rather condescending review, concluding with, "This fascination, on the part of contemporary Japanese filmmakers, with the destruction of their land by fantastic, prehistoric forces only 20 years after Hiroshima, might be of interest to social historians. The film, otherwise, is strictly for the comic book set."

Box Office

The film sold approximately 4,320,000 tickets in Japan.

Alternate Titles

* Earth's Greatest Battle (literal English title)

* Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (DVD packing title; although the film's title card reads "Ghidrah, The Three-Headed Monster")
* Ghidrah

* Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster (USA)

* Gojira Mosura Kingu Gidora: chikyu saidai no kessen (Japan) (reissue title)

* Monster of Monsters, Ghidorah (Toho's International Sales title)

* The Biggest Battle on Earth

* The Biggest Fight on Earth

* The Greatest Battle on Earth

* The Greatest Fight on Earth

* Three Giant Monsters: The Earth's Greatest Decisive Battle

* Godzilla vs. Rodan

External links

*
*
* Martinez, Mike A. " [http://millionmonkeytheater.com/Ghidrah.html Ghidrah the Three-Headed Monster] " (extended film analysis) "Millon Monkey Theater". June 28, 2008.
*

References

*Canby, Vincent. " [http://movies2.nytimes.com/mem/movies/review.html?title1=Ghidrah%2C%20The%20Three-Headed%20Monster%20(Movie)&title2=&reviewer=VINCENT%20CANBY.&pdate=19651216&v_id= Presley Shares Billing] " (film review) "The New York Times". December 16, 1965.
* [http://www.kensforce.com/Ghidrah_The_Three_Headed_Monster_1964.html San daikaiju: Chikyu saidu no kessen / Ghidrah: The Three-Headed Monster (1964)] at [http://www.kensforce.com/ kensforce.com] (press release information for the American release)
*"Variety Weekly". October 6, 1965.

DVD Releases

"Classic Media"

* Release date: June 5, 2007
*Ejii Tsuburaya bio.
*Audio Commentary by David Kalat, author of A Critical History and Filmography of Toho's Godzilla Series

* Note: Contains the both the original Japanese version and the U.S. release