The third film in the Godzilla series, King Kong Vs. Godzilla was the highest grossing to date, selling 11.2 million tickets during its initial theatrical run.

This was the second of eight Godzilla films for director Ishirō Honda

Special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya rubbing elbows with the stars.

Eiji Tsuburaya and an octopus wrangler prepare to terrorize a miniature village with a “giant” octopus. 

Monsters, but certainly not heathens: a Shinto priest performs a purification ceremony prior to the start of filming.

Bringing cinema’s greatest questions to the round table in a winner-takes-all battle.

This Week’s Battle: Who is the better monster, Godzilla or King Kong?

Both of these monsters have become icons. Each has multiple films under their belts as well as remakes. And of course, both of them are recognizable household names. But now it’s time to bring it to the Andy vs. Brian arena. The question that’s been asked for decades! Which of these two beasts is the better all-around monster?

A:

King Kong is the better monster hands down. Godzilla is a giant reptile. He just looks like a mutated deformed dinosaur. And do I really need to remind you what happens when a dinosaur confronts King Kong? Even when they double-team him AND he is busy trying to keep a pretty lady safe, he comes out victorious Primates will always beat reptiles. That’s just science.

B:

King Kong is a legitimate monster, no one will argue that.  But if you want to take the scientific path, then let’s try to remember that while Godzilla shares many similarities with dinosaurs, he also has a few attributes that make him a bit more …monstrous.  He’s bigger, he’s badder, and what’s that? He breathes fire? He breathes fire.

A: 

Ok sure, I may have forgotten about the fire. But it’s not all about causing destruction. Primates are much smarter than lizards. King Kong makes a deep and personal connection with Ann. They connect in a way that only mammals can. and Dr. Seussian constructed sentences aside, In the end, King Kong is also a hero. Not just a mindless beast that happens to be a metaphor for nuclear war. Those airplanes should be ashamed of themselves.

B:

You know what’s really terrifying, more so than a giant ape that loves a woman? - Hearing Godzilla’s roar as he decimates a city center and bullets ricochet off his crocodile-esque dorsal plates.

A:
I do love Godzilla’s roar… But I shall leave you with this. Do you know what “Gojira” means? It’s a mixture of the japanese words for gorilla (gorira) and whale (kujira). Yeah, that’s right. “Gorilla”. I think I’ve proven my point. (In case you missed it, I’m trying to say Gorillas rock.)

B:
Godzilla breathes fire.


What do you guys think. Godzilla or King Kong? 

The original idea for the monster showdown came from the animator of the first stop-motion Kong, Willis O’Brien, and was meant to be a battle between Kong and giant version of Frankenstein. This idea never made it off the drawing board and was eventually sold to the Japanese studio Toho, who decided to substitute Godzilla for Frankie and make it the third film of the Godzilla series.

This begs the question: What did we miss!?! What would a battle between the over-sized and fierce gorilla and the fire-hating patch-work zombie look like? And who would have won? These two have one thing in common for sure: they both have a soft-spot for the ladies. Something you couldn’t accuse our cold-blooded mutant lizard friend of.

Things could have gotten pretty ugly if they fell for the same girl.

 
 

“Now an all-mighty all-new motion picture brings them together for the first time in the colossal clash of all time!”

Forty-nine years ago today, King Kong and Godzilla took the big screen by firestorm, to have a showdown of terror and destruction on the island of Japan. Okay, so it’s not the true anniversary of the film, since it had been released in Japan the Summer before, but by the time if made it across the pond to US audiences it had seen some big changes. Tailored to perceived American tastes, with a new soundtrack, nips and tucks to cut out the satire, and new American characters, it was quite a different experience when it hit the US screenings on June 17th 1963.

We’re celebrating King Kong Vs. Godzilla all day long on the blog, paying homage with photos, fun facts, footage, common myths, reviews from the time, and a very special Andy Vs. Brian in which they will duke it out to determine once and for all which is the greatest monster.

Want to add to the conversation? Email socialmedia@tugginc.com!

Happy Anniversary Vertigo!

On this day in 1958, Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo premiered at the Stage Door Theater in San Francisco. Starring Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak, Vertigo is regarded as one of Hitchcock’s finest, and is one of our favorites, so we decided to make it our film of the month.

All day we will be posting facts, thoughts, and articles about Vertigo. Join the fun by commenting with any Vertigo-related photos or fun facts!

Anthony Hopkins brings Hitchcock back to the screen in Sacha Gervasi’s coming film.

“The Fox Searchlight production, which could be ready by year’s end, stars Anthony Hopkins as Hitchcock and Helen Mirren as his wife and creative collaborator, Alma Reville. The cast includes Jessica Biel as Vera Miles, Scarlett Johansson as Janet Leigh and James D’Arcy as Anthony Perkins.” Read More

One of the things that the film “Vertigo” has gone down in history for is the creation of the “Hitchcock Zoom”. Now also known as the “dolly zoom”, “vertigo effect”, “contra-zoom”, and “trombone shot” among many others, the technique is used worldwide to convey a feeling of uneasiness, or naussea.

The technique was actually created by an uncredited Second-unit cameraman named Irmin Roberts on the “Vertigo” production.

The famous “Vertigo” Dolly shot view down the mission stairwell cost $19,000 to shoot and ended up having just a couple of seconds of screen time. 

Hitchcock had wanted to use a technique like this while shooting his film Rebecca. However, the technology was not yet available so he was forced to wait. According to Hitchcock, the idea for this shot came to him during an incident at a party where he ended up fainting.
     

Whether you’re a fan of film noir, or simply watch comedies or blockbusters, we’ve all come across the “Hitchcock zoom”.  Just another reason why “Vertigo” deserves to be our celebrated film of the month.

One day about eight years ago, I walked out of a Target store and the earth started moving. The ground became a giant balance board, sliding back and forth on top of a ball. I had never had vertigo before and have only had one attack since. I had gone shopping by myself so the only account I have of what happened is my own, which could be inaccurate. I couldn’t move for what seemed like a minute or two, but was probably a few seconds. I thought I was screaming for help but no one stopped, either because I wasn’t screaming or I seemed insane.

I finally made it to the side of the building and leaned on it for a few minutes before stumbling into the help desk to ask for water. I think I may have sat down on the floor, maybe I was standing. I was definitely crying and desperate.

I recovered eventually and drove home safely, but that moment of vertigo is burned in my memory as one of the scariest, loneliest, and most out of control moments of my life.

I had seen Vertigo before this happened and had loved it, but after experiencing vertigo myself, I had a whole new appreciation for the film. The dolly zoom that Hitchcock made famous in Vertigo is a remarkable depiction of what vertigo does. Vertigo continually shifts your visual perspective, making it impossible to see things accurately. This film, for me, explores loss of control and loss of perspective better than any film that came before or after.

Watching Scottie fall into his obsession with Madeleine, and subsequently turn Judy into her, is creepy. I feel sorry for Judy when I watch the film, but there is also a part of me that wants Scottie to succeed in completely transforming her. I shouldn’t want to see this. I should want Judy to run away and be safe. But I still want Scottie to win, I still sympathize with him even in his most horrible moments and I think that was Hitchcock’s plan all along. I want to see Scotty succeed because then order succeeds, control over chaos succeeds, and the ground might possibly stop moving.

—Emma Holder

The Role of Madeleine/Judy was played by Kim Novak (above: on set with Hitchcock), but Hitchcock always felt she was miscast and totally wrong for the part.

He originally had Vera Miles (Psycho) picked out for the part, but she became pregnant and was not available.

In an interview later, Kim Novak said:

“Hitchcock didn’t like having me in his picture and he felt I was ruining it. It was only after the film was finished that I heard how much he thought I’d wrecked his picture. I felt I did a lot of good work in that movie,  and I got some of the best notices of my career. But Hitchcock couldn’t blame himself, so he blamed me.”

                                                   Kim Novak V. Vera Miles

                Kim Novak                                                                 Vera Miles

What do you think? Would Vera have made a better Madeleine?

Hitchcock on why he likes to scare people and one of the scariest experiences in his life.

Hitchcock reportedly spent a week filming the museum scene  just to get the lighting right.

The title became a issue of hot debate between Hitchcock and the studio. See Paramount’s list of suggested replacement titles.

We personally are very happy Hitchcock won.

What the press had to say on this edgy new Hitchcock:

“[The] secret [of the film] is so clever, even though it is devilishly far-fetched.”

–New York Times

“Hitchcock has never made a thriller more stately and deliberate in technique”

-Sight and Sound

“Vertigo is prime though uneven Hitchcock… Stewart, on camera almost constantly throughout the film’s 126 minutes, comes through with a startlingly fine performance as the lawyer-cop who suffers from acrophobia—that is, vertigo or dizziness in high places.”

–Variety

Happy Vertigo day everyone!