All Monsters Attack
(ゴジラ・ミニラ・ガバラ オール怪獣大進撃 Gojira Minira Gabara Ōru Kaijū Daishingeki, lit. Godzilla, Minilla, Gabara: All Monsters Attack)
is a 1969 tokusatsu kaiju film produced by Toho and the tenth installment in the Godzilla series as well as the Showa series.
The film was released to Japanese theaters on December 20, 1969/December 8, 1971 (United States) .
Nine giant monsters rival in the battle of the century! A Godzilla father-son crisis: the furious new monster Gabara appears, taking aim at the throne of Monster Island!
(ずらりならんだ九大怪獣世紀の決戦！ゴジラ親子の大ピンチ 怪獣島の王座を狙う猛烈新怪獣ガバラ登場！)
~ Japanese Tagline
SEE: Prehistoric monsters crawl out of the hidden depths of the Earth and take revenge against the living!
~ American Tagline
Released just one year after the Godzilla series' intended finale, Destroy All Monsters, and with monster scenes consisting mostly of stock footage culled from Ebirah, Horror of the Deep and Son of Godzilla, All Monsters Attack was the franchise's first entry to be aimed primarily at children, setting off a new campaign of films under the "Toho Champion Festival" banner. It follows Ichiro Miki, a latchkey kid living in Tokyo who daydreams about visiting Monster Island, the home of Godzilla, his son Minilla, and other famous kaiju. Ichiro befriends Minilla and learns that just like him, he deals with bullying, specifically from the giant toad monster Gabara. Ichiro helps Minilla face his tormentor and triumph, while the lessons in bravery Ichiro learns from Minilla inspire him to escape when he finds himself kidnapped by two bank robbers.
Directed by: Ishiro Honda
Written by: Shinichi Sekizawa
Produced by: Tomoyuki Tanaka
Music by: Kunio Miyauchi
Theme song "Monster March" performed by: Lily Sasaki, Tokyo Children's Choir
*Composed by: Gendai Kano
*Lyrics by: Shinichi Sekizawa
*Arranged by: Hitoshi Kosugi
Cinematography by: Motoyoshi Tomioka
Edited by: Masahisa Himi
Production design by: Takeo Kita
1st assistant director: Masaaki Hisamatsu
Director of special effects: Ishiro Honda (uncredited)
Special effects supervisor: Eiji Tsuburaya
1st assistant director of special effects: Teruyoshi Nakano
Cast
Kenji Sahara as Kenkichi Miki, Ichiro's father
Machiko Naka as Tamie Miki, Ichiro's mother
Tomonori Yazaki as Ichiro Miki
Hideyo Amamoto as Shinpei Minami, toy consultant
Sachio Sakai as Senbayashi, bank robber
Kazuo Suzuki as Okuda, bank robber
Ikio Sawamura as Bartender
Shigeki Ishida as Landlord
Yutaka Sada as Hei, trainman
Chotaro Togin as Young detective
Yutaka Nakayama as Billboard painter
Yoshibumi Tajima as Middle-aged detective
Junichi Ito as Sanko ("Gabara")
Toru Mori, Toshiya Kurokawa, Hiroyuki Miyaoka, Nobuto Takahashi as Gabara's gang
Hidemi Ito as Sachiko
Masao Fukazawa as Minilla (as "Little Man Machan")
Yasuhiko Kakuko as Gabara
Haruo Nakajima as Godzilla
Midori Uchiyama as Voice of Minilla
Monsters
Godzilla
Minilla
Gabara
Kamacuras
Maneater
Anguirus (Stock Footage)
Gorosaurus (Stock Footage)
Manda (Stock Footage)
Kumonga (Stock Footage)
Giant Condor (Stock Footage, as Giant Eagle)
Ebirah (Stock Footage)
Vehicles
Red Bamboo Fighter Jet (Stock Footage)
Locations
UNSC Moon Base (Stock Footage)
Alternate Titles
Godzilla, Minilla, Gabara: All Monsters Attack (literal Japanese title)
Monster No. 1 Godzilla (怪獣Ｎｏ．１ゴジラ Kaijū Nanbā Wan Gojira, Japanese 8mm title)
Godzilla's Revenge (United States)
Attack All Monsters (original international title)
Minya, Son of Godzilla (alternate American title)
Godzilla - Attack All Monsters (West Germany)
The Island of the Monsters (La Isla de los Monstruos; Argentina; Spain; L'Illa dels Monstres; Spain (Catalonia))
Monsterland (Monstrolândia; Brazil)
Attack of Godzilla (Атака Годзиллы; Russia)
U.S. release
All Monsters Attack was released on December 8, 1971 by Maron Films aka UPA as Godzilla's Revenge on a double bill with Island of the Burning Damned in North American theaters. There are some minor alterations:
Dialogue is dubbed to English.
The Japanese version featured the vocal song Monster March over the opening credits, while the American version features the instrumental jazz piece "Crime Fiction" composed by Ervin Jereb.
In the American version, Minilla is called "Minya," and is given a goofy male voice, while he was voiced by a female actress in the Japanese version.
All Monsters Attack was acquired by Henry Saperstein's United Productions of America[7] and released in American theaters in August 1971[5] by Maron Films as Godzilla's Revenge. It was released as a double feature with Island of the Burning Damned,[7] with some theaters screening it alongside Monster Zero and The War of the Gargantuas.
The film's original U.S. title was Minya, Son of Godzilla, which appeared in BoxOffice magazine's list of upcoming releases from May 3 to May 31, 1971.[5] Publicity materials, including a poster, for Minya, Son of Godzilla exist, and a version of the film under that title saw limited screenings in the northeastern U.S. from February to April of 1972.[6] The title was changed to Godzilla's Revenge for general release to avoid confusion with Son of Godzilla, which had already been shown in the U.S.[8] The film was also promoted as Terror of Godzilla in BoxOffice from June 7 to July 26, 1971.[5] A variation of this title, The Terror of Godzilla, would later be used as the American theatrical title for Terror of Mechagodzilla, another film acquired by Saperstein.
The dubbed version of Godzilla's Revenge was recorded at Ryder Sound Services, Inc. in Hollywood under the supervision of Riley Jackson.[7] Minilla, called "Minya" in the dub, was voiced by a man instead of a woman, as in the Japanese version. The only significant change to the film was the removal of the vocal song "Monster March," which played over the opening credits and once again during the film.[7] It was replaced in both instances by a stock instrumental jazz piece by Ervin Jereb titled "Crime Fiction,"[9] although the credit for "Monster March" remains in the American version.[10]
In 1998 the U.S version was released by Simitar in DVD.
UK release
The UK television premiere of All Monsters Attack took place on Channel 4 in December 1999, in Japanese with English subtitles.[11] Sony released the Japanese version of the film on Blu-ray in 2019 as part of The Criterion Collection's Godzilla: The Showa-Era Films, 1954–1975 box set.
Reception
All Monsters Attack has gained very negative reviews from Godzilla fans, with many considering it the weakest of all the Godzilla films.
Trivia
*All Monsters Attack is considered by many fans to be the worst Godzilla film, often along with the 1998 film.
*Often considered the most notorious of Godzilla movie there are some fans that appreciate it's attempt at meta-textual commentary, with some even referring to it a masterpiece.
*Several fan scholars and historians have attempted to locate lead actor Tomonori Yazaki for interviews but has not been found and his exact whereabouts are unknown.
*Due to this film's extensive use of stock footage, it currently holds the title of the second-largest amount of kaiju footage shown in a single film, after its predecessor Destroy All Monsters.
*Despite using copious amounts of stock footage from earlier films, the scene in which Godzilla tries to teach his son how to breathe atomic flame was newly shot. Director Ishirô Honda wanted to avoid simply reusing a very similar sequence from Son of Godzilla (1967) and instead put his own spin on the scene by making Godzilla be more strict with his son this time around. This was part of the movie's theme of paternal neglect and children having to stand up for themselves.
*Despite its large roster of billed kaiju, a considerable portion of the monster scenes in All Monsters Attack is made up of stock footage from Ebirah, Horror of the Deep, King Kong Escapes, Son of Godzilla, and Destroy All Monsters. The only monsters to appear in newly-shot footage for this film are Godzilla, Minilla, and Gabara, along with a single new shot of Kamacuras walking above the hole Ichiro falls into.
*All Monsters Attack is similar to Gamera: Super Monster because both were made in the Showa era, have a large amount of stock footage, have a kid as the main protagonist and are considered the worst in their respective series.
*When Godzilla arrives to fight Kumonga, stock footage from Son of Godzilla is employed where Kumonga has Minilla wrapped in webbing before getting hit by a boulder thrown by Godzilla. This film hides Minilla from the shot by superimposing a rock over him, but if one pays attention during this scene as Kumonga flips from the rock hitting him, Minilla can be seen wrapped in web for a brief second.
*This is one of three films in which monsters speak. The other two are Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, though it was translated by the Shobijin, and Godzilla vs. Gigan, where Godzilla speaks to Anguirus.
*The "Monster March" theme song from the Japanese version is composed by Genta Kano, best known for composing the theme song to the Japanese classic, Tokyo Drifter (1966).
*Ichrio's cry of "Okaasan!" is a riff on a popular miso soup commercial at the time. The children also shout out "Yattaze baby!", a popular catchphrase at the time.
*Although Ichiro says Rodan lives on Monster Island, he does not make any kind of appearance in the entire movie.
*All Monsters Attack is unique among the Showa Godzilla series as it is not considered to be part of the other films' continuity, but rather is said to be set in the "real world," where Godzilla and the other kaiju are fictional characters that appear in films.
*All Monsters Attack is the first onscreen appearance of Monster Island, a location that would be featured as the home of Godzilla and most of the other Earth kaiju in subsequent films.
*This would be the first Godzilla film made for the Toho Champion Film Festival. This was a seasonal matinee event aimed at children the consisted of re-edited Godzilla films, other tokusatsu films and shows, as well as several anime and cartoons.
*All Monsters Attack was released at the Winter Toho Champion Film Festival on December 10 alongside the comedy film Konto 55: Grand Outer Space Adventure and an animated film entitled Star of the Giants: Go Hyuma!.
*This was deliberately set out to be a Godzilla film aimed at small children for release during the Christmas season. It is also the first to feature a child protagonist. However, it is a misconception that Godzilla films from this era prominently featured children. Including this film, only three of the fifteen Godzilla films made in the Showa era would feature children. This misconception likely arises from people mistaken Godzilla for Gamera, a series with lower production values that prominently featured children. The success of the Gamera films influenced the tone and direction of the series.
*Every Godzilla movie of the 1970s would made for the Champion Festival while previous entries would be re-edited and shorten to fit the program.
*Toho's Champion Festival was a seasonal film campaign consisting of matinee screenings of new films along with popular cartoons, superhero shows, and re-releases of their older films.
*The film's original English title was originally meant to be Minya: Son of Godzilla. According to Henry G. Saperstein of UPA Productions, after realizing that Continental was already showing Son of Godzilla (1967) on U.S. television stations, there was worry that the two films would be mistaken for one another, so the title was changed. The extent of the film being billed as Minya: Son of Godzilla is uncertain, but collectors have managed to unearthed advertising posters that indicate a limited release under the original title.
*This was deliberately set out to be a Godzilla film aimed at small children for release during the Christmas season. It is also the first to feature a child protagonist. However, it is a misconception that Godzilla films from this era prominently featured children. Including this film, only three of the fifteen Godzilla films made in the Showa era would feature children. This misconception likely arises from people mistaken Godzilla for Gamera, a series with lower production values that prominently featured children. The success of the Gamera films influenced the tone and direction of the series.
*Eiji Tsuburaya was so busy with his company, Tsuburaya Productions, during the production of this film that Ishirô Honda had to take over the effects direction, which resulted in limited special effects work and stock footage. According to Honda, the extent of Tsuburaya's involvement was limited to some aspects of the editing. Tsuburaya hadn't been directly involved with the effects since Invasion of Astro-Monster (1965), with most of his credits in the following films being honorary.
*National box office numbers in Japan the prior year had shown significant decline. When the studio where example the prospects for their holiday film slate, screenwriter Sekizawa proposed the concept of the film being a child's fantasy so previous seems could be re-purposed. The execs fast tracked this proposal and Sekizawa delivered his first draft a week after. A month later the final draft was completed, the actors were cast, and the props were built.
*Ishiro Honda himself considered this as one of his own personal favorites of the Godzilla movies he directed. In an interview he stated that, despite budgetary constraints, "We decided to take on one of the social problems of that time, the latchkey kid. We set it up that the kid liked monsters, so he pretends and makes it all real [in his dreams]. It is one of my favorites as well."
*Director Ishirô Honda intended the movie to have a somber ending, but was forced by Toho to add the more cheerful final sequence in which Ichiro goes to school with the children. When the movie was re-released on home video during the 80s, Honda removed this scene, so the movie ends with Ichiro's mother crying due to not being able to spend more time with her son.
*While Ishirô Honda considered the original Godzilla was the best, he considered this as one of his own personal favorites. With the death of special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya, Honda felt that there should not have been any more Godzilla films and that the series should have ended to honor Tsuburaya's passing. He was already disappointed with the direction Toho took the series but wasn't able to do anything due to studio mandates. After worked on only a few more films and TV he would essentially retire from filmmaking, only returning when called upon by his old friend Akira Kurosawa.
*In their biography of Ishirô Honda, authors Steve Ryfle and Ed Godziszewski refer to this film as a masterpiece of children's entertainment, elaborating that the film is all to often dismissed for the stock footage and consider it a personal and heartwarming monster movie that is unique among it's genre.
*This is the first Godzilla film to only use one crew for filming both the human drama and the monster scenes. Previous films divided the staff into two large crews that handled the human drama and monster scenes individually. This marked a change in the series as, up until the previous entry, Godzilla films were elaborate productions with larger budgets for Japanese films. As director Honda described, "I directed almost [everything]. The two reasons why I did were the limited size of the production budget and time constraints In addition the movie was shot on a very small sound stage, so it was decided not to separate the filming of the special effects and the standard footage as was usually done."
*Prior to this, Honda has expressed reservation about directing children saying that child actors tended to forget their characters after uttering their lines. According to assistant director Hashimoto, for this film Honda would explain the scene to the kid, have him do the scene once or twice, then film it. This was to get the purity of the performance and the emotions of the child.
*Before the production of this film, Toho had reached an agreement with Filmation to produce an animated Godzilla series that would have aired in both Japan and the US from 1967 to 1970. The deal however fell through.
*This was the final appearance of the Gorosaurus. Manda, Kamacuras, Kumonga and Minya would not be seen again until Godzilla: Final Wars (2004).
*The head of the monster Gabara was created by tweaking the head design of a previous Godzilla suit.
*According to the production notes, the monster Gabara is supposed to be a mutated toad, hence why he lacks a tail. His name has had a couple disputed origins: some believe it's a dig at Argentine revolutionist Ernesto 'Che' Guevara, others say it was based on the German word "Gewalt", meaning "violence".
*The shot of Gorosaurus is actually a reused shot from King Kong Escapes (1967)
*The Maneater, like Gabara, could be completely imaginary and like him, is a dream counterpart to one of Ichiro's real-life problems.
In the Maneater's case, it's the robbers kidnapping him.
He is one of several minor Showa monsters.The others are the Giant Lizard, the Giant Octopus, the Vampire Plant, Mystery Bones of Infant Island, the Giant Condor and the Giant Sea Serpent.He has no corresponding toy, like the Giant Lizard and the Vampire Plant.
Since all of the monsters appear only in Ichiro's imagination, this is the only Godzilla movie in which the monsters are fictional characters in their own film. Much of those imaginary scenes are made up of stock footage taken from various other Godzilla films. Toho wanted another film but didn't offer the resources to do so. However, the scene when Godzilla tries to teach his son how to fire nuclear breath was newly shot instead of being a reuse of an similar scene from Son of Godzilla (1967).
The aspect of the bank robbers in the film was ripped from the headlines, inspired by a 1968 robbery that was the largest heist in Japanese history up until that point.
The Maneater
(人喰い植物 Hitokui shokubutsu?, lit. Flesh-Eating Plant)
is a humanoid plant kaiju created by Toho that first appeared in the 1969 Godzilla film, All Monsters Attack.
The Maneater's Japanese name, Hitokui shokubutsu, is literally "flesh-eating plant," referencing how it grabbed Ichiro Miki and tried to eat him.
The Maneater is a figment of Ichiro's imagination.
The Maneater is very humanoid, having the same body shape of a human and having arms and legs. Unlike humans, however, the Maneater's body is made out of green leaves, letting it blend with the jungle environment of Monster Island.
The Maneater doesn't have a true personality, though it seems to instinctively grab prey that walks in front of it and try to eat them.
The Maneater appears when Ichiro Miki walks in front of it, distracted by watching Minilla trying to fire atomic breath in front of Godzilla but failing. The Maneater sneakily grabs Ichiro, puts him up to his body, and covers his mouth so he can't talk. Ichiro then wakes up from his dream and realizes that he was being kidnapped by the robbers who were hiding out on the same place he was in.
