History Film / KingKongVsGodzilla

* AnAesop: After Tako finally gives up his pursuits after all that's happened, Dr. Shigezawa delivers one at the end.
-->"All I can tell you is that we humans must change the way we view nature. We still have much to learn."

* CantHoldHisLiquor: Kong spends the majority of the film either passed out drunk or feeling the aftereffects of a severe hangover.

** Every dub actor repeatedly pronounces Hokkaido as "Hokkai-yaddo". The only individual to pronounce it properly is James Yagi during the added U.N. scenes.

* EvasiveFightThreadEpisode: The reason why this movie exists is to show the two most famous giant movie monsters from America and Japan duking it out. In terms of who is actually stronger, Godzilla's atomic breath gives him a ranged edge and he holds the upper hand in most of the slugfests the two engage in, Kong's intelligence and use of Godzilla's kryptonite factor helps turn the tide. While the ending is ambiguous to a degree, Kong is officially the victor.

The original idea for the film was actually conceived by Willis O'Brien, although it didn't feature Godzilla at all. It was only through numerous rewrites that Godzilla eventually became King Kong's adversary, and that was only after the script was bought by John Beck, who then sold it to Toho. The differences between the Japanese version of the film and the American version are discussed on the trivia page. The plot description in the synopsis page will cover the Japanese version of the film.

* ArtisticLicensePaleontology: Dr. Arnold Johnson, curator of the New York Museum of Natural History, classifies Godzilla as a dinosaur "possibly crossed between the tyrannosaurus and the stegosaurus". A carnivore and a herbivore separated by millions of years of evolution can interbreed? What!? Made worse when the doctor holds up a children's dinosaur book to support his theories. It seems he couldn't even afford a copy of ''[[Film/GodzillaRaidsAgain Anguillosaurus, Killer of the Living.]]''

* CuriosityKilledTheCast: The crew of the Seahawk's fate after investigating the glowing iceberg containing Godzilla.

* DubInducedPlothole: In a cut subplot, Fujita is running experiments on his tensile strength wire aboard a ship, departing at Nemuro shortly before Godzilla destroys the same ship off screen. A plane crash is what motivates Fumiko to look for him in Hokkaido in the English script, even though the newspaper she's reading clearly shows a ship.
* DumbDinos: Dr. Johnson claims that Godzilla's brain is the size of a small marble (as in the marble that he's literally holding in his hand) while Kong's brain is about 10 times the size of a real gorilla's. This is playing into the stereotype that the [[PrimateVersusReptile dinosaur is a dumb brute while the primate is a thinking animal]], never mind the [[ArtisticLicenseBiology astonishing claim]] that a marble-sized brain can properly handle a 50-meter tall radioactive {{Kaiju}}.

* EvasiveFightThreadEpisode: The reason why this movie exists is to show the two most famous giant movie monsters from America and Japan duking it out. In terms of who is actually stronger, Godzilla's atomic breath gives him a ranged edge and he holds the upper hand in most of the slugfests the two engage in, Kong's intelligence and use of Godzilla'a kryptonite factor helps turn the tide. While the ending is ambiguous to a degree, Kong is officially the victor.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Godzilla is shown to be weak against prolonged exposure to high-voltage electricity. The following [[Film/GodzillaVsMothra film]] would take it a step further and had the JSDF nearly kill him with it.

* MarketBasedTitle: Was released in Germany during 1974 as ''Die Rückkehr des King Kong'', while ''[[Film/GodzillaVsMechagodzilla Mechagodzilla]]'' was released as ''King Kong gegen Godzila'' later in the same year (in which Mechagodzilla ''actually'' is called King Kong). Italy similarly changed the title to ''Il Trionfo Di King Kong'' to avoid confusion with the earlier ''King Kong contro Godzilla'' (''[[Film/GameraVsGuiron Gamera vs. Guiron]]''...)
* MrExposition: Dr. Shigezawa, played by Akihiko Hirata. Eric Carter, Yutaka Omura and Dr. Arnold Johnson in the U.S. version also count.

* NukeEm: This standard B-movie plan is considered by the authorities, but is dropped in favor of the film's title. This is also touched upon in the Japanese cut, albeit more briefly. It should be noted that during the first scene with Shigezawa (which was shifted ''before'' Godzilla attacks the army base), he is talking about how no one should really be surprised about Godzilla's return, and the references to the 3000 year old lotus seed and the ancient frog are put in Johnson's mouth instead in the U.S. cut.

%%* PrimateVersusReptile: The TropeCodifier.

* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: After Godzilla melts a tank with his heat ray, the rest of the tanks head back the way they came.
** At their first meeting, after Godzilla lets off a few blasts of atomic breath at King Kong and the ground in front of him, Kong realizes he's outmatched and executes a strategic withdrawal.

* WaistDeepOcean: Captured by bumbling corporate executive Mr. Tako, King Kong is en route to Japan from the Solomon Islands when the dynamite on the raft he's secured to is blown up. The 45-meter-tall Kong stands upright waist-deep in the Pacific Ocean — a fair distance outside of Japanese maritime boundaries — and wades the rest of the way to Japan.

* NukeEm: This standard B-movie plan is considered by the authorities, but is dropped in favor of the film's title. This is also touched upon in the Japanese cut, albeit more briefly. It should be noted that during the first scene with Shigezawa (which was shifted ''before'' Godzilla attacks the army base), he is talking about how no one should really be surprised about Godzilla's return, and the references to the 3000 year old lotus seed and the ancient frog are put in Johnson's mouth instead in the U.S. cut.

* OffModel:
** The stop-motion model used for Godzilla's infamous dropkick only resembles the suit very slightly.
** Kong's puppet used for closeups also qualifies, being largely different from the costume. Occasionally the length of Kong's arms also noticeably changes from human-length to longer ape-length from scene to scene.

''King Kong vs. Godzilla'' also remains notorious for being one of the most poorly preserved Kaiju Films from the 1960s and has had a rough history on video. In the 1970s, the film was edited down to 74 minutes for the Toho Champion film festival... [[WhatAnIdiot on the original negative]]. As consequence, the cut 24 minutes went missing. In the 1980s, Toho's first video release used an awful 16mm print for all cut shots, but in 1991, the cut portions magically reappeared in 35mm, which Toho used for a marginally better restoration. Then those elements went missing again, somehow, and Toho's DVD is just an upscale of the laserdisc master. For Toho's Blu-Ray release, most of the rediscovered segments were finally integrated again along with footage from the U.S. cut. Finally, in 2014, the uncut version of the film underwent a serious digital 4K restoration that finally used the entirety of the available Japanese camera negative, as the shots from the first reel were uncovered again. The restoration was simulcast on TV and in Toho-owned theaters in the summer of 2016, and was met with very positive reception from audiences.

* UnbuiltTrope: While not the [[Film/GodzillaRaidsAgain first]] it popularized movies with giant monsters fighting each other and one of the earliest examples of [[UltimateShowdownOfUltimateDestiny two popular icons duking it out.]] but the movie feels like a parody of these two tropes. The entire joke of the movie's crossover is a greedy businessman by the name of Mr. Tako brings King Kong to Japan to fight Godzilla for ratings but when Kong and Godzilla first meet Godzilla just shoots Atomic breath at King Kong, and the ape leaves seeing no point in fighting another strong monster for no reason, like most animals would. The only reason they do fight is that humanity slides King Kong down a hill into Godzilla. Also unlike most crossovers fights, there's an actual winner: [[spoiler: King Kong]][[note]]Though, technically, the fight itself was actually a draw.[[/note]]

* UnbuiltTrope: While not the [[Film/GodzillaRaidsAgain first]] it popularized movies with giant monsters fighting each other and one of the earliest examples of [[UltimateShowdownOfUltimateDestiny two popular icons duking it out.]] but the movie feels like a parody of these two tropes. The entire joke of the movie's crossover is a greedy businessman by the name of Mr. Tako brings King Kong to Japan to fight Godzilla for ratings but when Kong and Godzilla first meet Godzilla just shoots Atomic breath at King Kong, and the ape leaves seeing no point in fighting another strong monster for no reason, like most animals would. The only reason they do fight is that humanity slides King Kong down a hill into Godzilla. Also unlike most crossovers fights, there's an actual winner: [[spoiler: King Kong]]

* NoPronunciationGuide: Every dub actor repeatedly pronounces Hokkaido as "Hokkai-yaddo". The only individual to pronounce it properly is James Yagi during the added U.N. scenes.

* {{Foreshoadowing}}: Godzilla is shown to be weak against prolonged exposure to high-voltage electricity. The following [[Film/GodzillaVsMothra film]] would take it a step further and had the JSDF nearly kill him with it.

%%* [[HumanPopsicle Kaiju Popsicle]]: Godzilla.

%%* SealedBadassInACan: Godzilla.

* InconsistentDub: General Shinzo (who is unnamed in the Japanese script) is called Kenzo during one loop.

* InconsistentDub: General Shinzo (who is unnamed in the Japanese script) is called Kenzo during one loop.

* NoPronunciationGuide: Every dub actor repeatedly pronounces Hokkaido as "Hokkai-yaddo". The only individual to pronounce it properly is James Yagi during the added U.N. scenes.

* CutAndPasteTranslation: Akira Ifukube's score was almost completely removed from the American version and replaced with stock music. It severely downplays any thematic leitmotifs for the two monsters and the excision of Godzilla's first real theme is unfortunate.

* CutAndPasteTranslation: Where to begin... The infamous "corns" exchange only serves to coverup the fact that the scene has been shifted. In the Japanese version, Furue is talking about Godzilla's sudden return, which took place ''after'' the expedition party reached Faro Island.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: The advertising men go to a lot of trouble to capture King Kong and bring him to Japan...only for the government to declare Kong a threat as well as an illegally smuggled good.

[[caption-width-right:350:[[The most colossal conflict the screen has ever known! The two mightiest monsters of all time!]]

[[caption-width-right:350:[[{{Tagline}}The most colossal conflict the screen has ever known! The two mightiest monsters of all time!]]

[[caption-width-right:350:The most colossal conflict the screen has ever known! The two mightiest monsters of all time!]]