All Monsters Attack (1969)

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Image gallery for All Monsters Attack
Credits for All Monsters Attack
All Monsters Attack soundtrack


Godzilla films
Destroy All Monsters
All Monsters Attack
Godzilla vs. Hedorah
All Monsters Attack
The Japanese poster for All Monsters Attack
Alternate titles
Flagicon Japan.png Godzilla, Minilla, Gabara: All Monsters Attack (1969)
Flagicon United States.png Godzilla's Revenge (1971)
See alternate titles
Directed by Ishiro Honda
Producer Tomoyuki Tanaka
Written by Shinichi Sekizawa
Music by Kunio Miyauchi
Distributor TohoJP, Maron FilmsUS
Rating GUS
Box office ¥260 million[1][2]
Running time 70 minutes
(1 hour, 10 minutes)
Aspect ratio 2.35:1
Rate this film!
2.41
(116 votes)

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

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.[3]

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.

Plot

A young boy named Ichiro Miki walks home from school alongside his friend Sachiko. After a brief run-in with his father, a train driver, the two come across an abandoned factory. Despite Sachiko’s warning, he crawls under the fence to investigate. Immediately, a group of bullies surround him, led by a boy named Sanko, whom Ichiro refers to as "Gabara." Sachiko leaves with her mother, leaving Ichiro alone. Gabara takes a vacuum tube he found earlier in his walk, and then tells him he can have it back if he honks the horn on a bike belonging to a sign-painter nearby. Ichiro refuses and runs away as the bullies jeer.

At his apartment, Ichiro visits his neighbor Shinpei Minami, a toymaker, who is working on a miniature computer for children. When he turns it on, a voice begins talking about the Moon. Ichiro is unimpressed, saying that he would prefer visiting Monster Island instead, where monsters like Godzilla, Rodan, and Minilla live. He then begins telling Shinpei about the bully Gabara. Shinpei encourages him to stand up for himself. Ichiro, realizing it is getting late, heads to his home. He prepares his own supper, per his mother’s instructions, and watches a news report of a bank robbery with disinterest. To entertain himself, he pretends to contact Monster Island through a toy radio. He imagines himself traveling to the island on a passenger jet.

Upon arrival, he immediately witnesses Godzilla fighting three Kamacuras, killing two of them as one escapes. Climbing up a tree, he spots Gorosaurus, Manda, Anguirus, and a Giant Eagle, who engages Godzilla. After a scuffle, Godzilla sends the monster plummeting into the sea to his death with a blast of his atomic ray. The surviving Kamacuras then takes notice of Ichiro, and he falls down a hole while trying to run away. The Kamacuras peers into the hole, but moves on. As he struggles to climb out, someone lowers a vine and lifts him out. When he gets to the surface, he is surprised to see a cheerful, human-sized Minilla, Godzilla's son. Their conversation is interrupted by the warble of a giant toad monster, who also happens to be named Gabara. Like Ichiro, Minilla is bullied by Gabara and is too afraid to fight him.

Ichiro, now asleep, is awakened by Shinpei, who tells the boy that his mother will be home late. Wandering around outside, Ichiro encounters Gabara's gang again and runs away after they call him over. His escape leads him into the same abandoned factory. The bullies follow him, but are distracted by a passing police car. A locker door behind Ichiro then falls to the ground, drawing his attention. He finds a pair of dusty headphones inside, and a driver's license nearby. Above the license, he spots a hole in the ceiling. Before he can go upstairs, loud sirens send him running out of the factory.

As soon as he leaves, the two bank robbers, Senbayashi and Okuda, emerge from hiding. Senbayashi berates Okuda for letting his license fall down the hole, and sends him after Ichiro to get it back. Back at his apartment building, Ichiro eats dinner with Shinpei, and asks not to be awakened the next time he falls asleep, as he plans to visit Godzilla and Minilla again. Unfortunately, the first monster he comes upon is Gabara, who chases him for a time. Upon escaping, he encounters Minilla again, who laments his distant relationship with Godzilla. They watch with admiration as Godzilla defeats Ebirah and Kumonga in successive battles. Minilla decides to confront Gabara, growing to giant size - though he is still only half the beast's height. His smoke rings have no effect on Gabara, who pummels him mercilessly. Reverting to his human-sized form, Minilla retreats alongside Ichiro. They watch Godzilla destroy a squadron of fighter jets, the latest human incursion on Monster Island. Godzilla calls Minilla over and attempts to teach him to generate an atomic ray; he is unable to until Godzilla steps on his tail. As Ichiro cheers his success, a plant monster seizes him from behind. He awakens to the sight of the two robbers, who kidnap him at knifepoint and take him to the factory.

As Senbayashi keeps an eye on Ichiro, Okuda breaks into Shinpei’s car. Ichiro quietly covers the hole in the floor with newspapers and begins to daydream about Monster Island again. There, Minilla is fighting another losing battle against Gabara. Ichiro helps by pushing a boulder onto Minilla’s tail, allowing him to fire an atomic ray into Gabara's face. A newly confident Minilla easily evades the monster's attempts to grab him. Godzilla arrives on the scene, but refuses to enter the fight himself. Minilla tries to attack Gabara head-on again, but is overpowered and retreats. Ichiro suggests that Minilla use a fallen tree as a see-saw, jumping down on one end after he taunts Gabara into standing on the other. The plan is a success, and Gabara goes flying through the air. Godzilla congratulates Minilla on his victory, only to be bitten on the leg by Gabara. The resulting fight is one-sided, with Gabara running away after Godzilla flips him over his shoulder.

Ichiro reacts with fear as Godzilla reaches for him, only to be shaken awake by Senbayashi. Okuda returns with the car, and they plan to leave with Ichiro. Inspired by Minilla's example, he breaks free of the handkerchiefs they used to tie his hands, running back inside the factory. The robbers, thoroughly on edge, split up to find him. Outside, Shinpei happens upon his car. Stunned by the stolen money inside, he calls the police.

Ichiro tricks Okuda into falling through the hole on the second floor and wards off Senbayashi with a fire extinguisher, buying enough time for the police to arrive and arrest them both. The next morning, Ichiro’s mother vows not to work at night anymore. Reporters surround him as he leaves for school; he surprises them by saying that Minilla was with him as he fought the robbers. Shinpei explains that Minilla is a type of god to children.

Ichiro and Sachiko encounter Gabara and his gang again, but this time Ichiro rushes into a fight with the bully. He then runs over to the sign-painter and honks his motorcycle's horn. He falls from his ladder, getting paint on his face, and chases after Ichiro. He runs into his father driving a train and asks him to stall the painter with an apology. Now accepted by the gang, he continues on his way to school with them.

Staff

Main article: All Monsters Attack/Credits.

Staff role on the left, staff member's name on the right.

Cast

Actor's name on the left, character played on the right.

  • 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   Minilla (voice)

Appearances

Monsters

Weapons, vehicles, and races

Gallery

Main article: All Monsters Attack/Gallery.

Soundtrack

Main article: All Monsters Attack (Soundtrack).

Alternate titles

  • Godzilla, Minilla, Gabara: All Monsters Attack (literal Japanese title)
  • Monster No. 1 Godzilla (怪獣No. (ナンバー) (ワン)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 (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)

Theatrical releases

View all posters for the film here.

  • Japan - December 20, 1969[3]   [view poster]Japanese poster
  • United States - August 1971[5]   [view poster]American poster; February 1972[6]   [view poster]American poster
  • Brazil - January 1971

Foreign releases

U.S. release

American Godzilla's Revenge and Island of the Burning Damned poster

All Monsters Attack was acquired by Henry G. Saperstein's United Productions of America[7] and released in American theaters on December 8, 1971 by Maron Films as Godzilla's Revenge.[8] It was released as a double feature with Island of the Burning Damned,[8] with some theaters screening it alongside Monster Zero and The War of the Gargantuas.[citation needed]

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.[9] 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.[10] 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,"[11] although the credit for "Monster March" remains in the American version.[12] UPA's version of Godzilla's Revenge was subsequently released on VHS and DVD by companies such as Simitar Entertainment and Classic Media. Classic Media made the original Japanese version of the film officially available in North America for the first time in a 2008 DVD release.

UK release

The United Kingdom television premiere of All Monsters Attack took place on Channel 4 in December 1999, in Japanese with English subtitles.[13] 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.

Box office

In Japan, the film sold 1,480,000 tickets. This was over a million tickets less than the previous Godzilla film, Destroy All Monsters, and it was the first Godzilla film to sell less than 2 million tickets.

Reception

All Monsters Attack has gained very negative reviews from Godzilla fans, with many considering it the weakest of all the Godzilla films.

Video releases

Paradise DVD (year unknown)

  • Region: 2
  • Discs: 1
  • Audio: Japanese (2.0 Mono)
  • Subtitles: Dutch
  • Special features: Trailers for the film and other entries in the Godzilla series

Simitar DVD (1998)

  • Region: 1
  • Discs: 1
  • Audio: English (2.0 Mono and 5.1 Surround)
  • Subtitles: None
  • Special features: Optional 1.33:1 presentation (cropped), Simitar-produced trailers for the company's other kaiju releases, art gallery, trivia game
  • Notes: Out of print.

Classic Media DVD (2002)

  • Region: 1
  • Discs: 1
  • Audio: English (2.0 Mono and 5.1 Surround)
  • Subtitles: English
  • Special features: Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee trailer
  • Notes: Cropped 1.33:1 aspect ratio. Out of print.

Toho DVD (2004)

  • Region: 2
  • Discs: 1
  • Audio: Japanese (2.0 Mono and 5.1 Surround)
  • Subtitles: Japanese
  • Special features: Audio commentary by Koji Hashimoto and Kenji Konuta, scans of the theatrical program, theatrical trailer

Madman DVD (2006)

  • Region: 4
  • Discs: 1
  • Audio: Japanese, English (2.0 Mono and 5.1 Surround)
  • Subtitles: English
  • Special features: Theatrical trailer, poster gallery, trivia, Madman-produced trailers

Classic Media DVD (2008)

  • Region: 1
  • Discs: 1
  • Audio: Japanese (2.0 Mono), English (2.0 Mono)
  • Subtitles: English
  • Special features: Audio commentary for Godzilla's Revenge by Richard Pusateri, Ishiro Honda featurette (7 minutes), poster slideshow, gallery of production stills and publicity photos. Reissued in 2012; both releases are out of print.

Toho Blu-ray (2014)

  • Region: A/1
  • Discs: 1
  • Audio: Japanese (2.0 Mono and 5.1 Surround)
  • Subtitles: Japanese
  • Special features: Audio commentary by Koji Hashimoto and Kenji Konuta, interview with Teruyoshi Nakano and Takao Tsurumi (26 minutes), Kunio Miyauchi interview (13 minutes), scans of the theatrical program, theatrical trailer, text history of the Toho Champion Festival

The Criterion Collection Blu-ray (2019) [Godzilla: The Showa-Era Films, 1954–1975]

  • Region: A/1 or B/2
  • Discs: 8
  • Audio: Japanese
  • Subtitles: English
  • Special features: All the bonus features on Criterion's Godzilla Blu-ray, 1990 Ishiro Honda interview by Yoshimitsu Banno, interview with director Alex Cox, interviews with actors Bin Furuya and Tsugutoshi Komada, 2011 interview with critic Tadao Sato, unused effects sequences from Toho releases including Destroy All Monsters, trailers, illustrated hardcover book with an essay by Steve Ryfle and liner notes on each film by Ed Godziszewski[14]
  • Notes: Uses a new English subtitle translation. Sony distributed a Region B/2 version of the set in the United Kingdom.

Videos

Trailers

Japanese All Monsters Attack trailer
American Godzilla's Revenge
double feature trailer
Simitar Godzilla's Revenge VHS promo

Miscellaneous

YouTube Movies & Shows upload of All Monsters Attack
All Monsters Attack location tour

Trivia

  • 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, as both were produced in the Showa era, rely on a large amount of stock footage for monster scenes, and feature a young boy as the human protagonist.
  • 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.
  • Although Ichiro says Rodan also lives on Monster Island, he does not make any kind of appearance in the entire film.
  • 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 terrestrial kaiju in subsequent films.
  • All Monsters Attack was released at the Winter Toho Champion 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 the first Champion Festival, which would be continually held in Japan until 1978.
  • 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 webbing for a brief second.
  • 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]. [I]t is one of my favorites as well."[15]

References

This is a list of references for All Monsters Attack. 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. "ゴジラ・ミニラ・ガバラ オール怪獣大進撃". Japanese Wikipedia. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
  2. "List of Godzilla Movies". Nenda Ryuukou. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
  3. 3.0 3.1 ゴジラ・ミニラ・ガバラ オール 怪獣大進撃|ゴジラ 東宝公式サイト (official Godzilla.jp page)
  4. Steve Ryfle and Ed Godzizewski (2017). Ishiro Honda: A Life in Film. Wesleyan University Press. p. 255. ISBN 9780819577412.
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 Classic Horror Film Board - Alternate Japanese monster movie titles
  6. 6.0 6.1 Welcome to the Boston Horror TV Memories Page!
  7. 7.0 7.1 Ryfle 1998, p. 157.
  8. 8.0 8.1 Ryfle 1998, p. 155.
  9. An Interview with Henry G. Saperstein | The History Vortex
  10. Ryfle 1998, p. 151.
  11. CD: Younger Generation - Toho Kingdom
  12. Godzilla's Revenge - GodzillaMonsterMusic.com
  13. Monsters From An Unknown Culture: Godzilla (and friends) in Britain 1957-1980 by Sim Branaghan – Part 2
  14. Godzilla: The Showa-Era Films, 1954-1975 | The Criterion Collection
  15. https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/7-revelations-about-the-co-creator-of-godzilla

Bibliography

Comments

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