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Ichirō Arishima (有島 一郎, Arishima Ichirō, March 1, 1916 – July 20, 1987) was a Japanese comedian and actor. Nicknamed "The Japanese Chaplin", he is best known outside Japan for his appearance as Tako, the promoter of King Kong in King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962). Arishima's real name was Tadao Oshima.
Ichirō Arishima (有島 一郎, Arishima Ichirō, March 1, 1916 – July 20, 1987) was a Japanese comedian and actor. Nicknamed " The Japanese Chaplin ", he is best known outside Japan for his appearance as Tako, the promoter of King Kong in King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962).
Japanese actor who specialized in comedy. He joined a theatre company while still in his teens, following the death of his parents. Following the Second World War, he began to get small film roles. Within a decade, he had become a prominent character actor and also one of Toho Films' biggest comedy stars, often teamed with comedian Furankî Sakai.
- January 1, 1
- Nagoya, Japan
- January 1, 1
Ironfinger (100発100中, Hyappatsu Hyakuchu, lit. '100 Shot, 100 Killed') [1] is a 1965 Japanese action comedy film [2] directed by Jun Fukuda. [3] A parody of James Bond -style spy movies, [4] [3] the film stars Akira Takarada, Mie Hama, and Ichirō Arishima.
- Plot
- Cast
- Production
- Release
- Reception
- Preservation
- Legacy
- External Links
Mr. Tako, head of Pacific Pharmaceuticals, is frustrated with the television shows his company is sponsoring and wants something to boost his ratings. When a doctor tells Tako about a giant monster he discovered on the small Faro Island, Tako believes that it would be a brilliant idea to use the monster to gain publicity. Tako sends two men, Osamu ...
American version
Cast taken from Japan's Favorite Mon-Star,except where cited otherwise.
Crew
Personnel taken from Japan's Favorite Mon-Star.
Conception
King Kong vs. Godzilla had its roots in an earlier concept for a new King Kong feature developed by Willis O'Brien, animator of the original stop-motion Kong. Around 1960, O'Brien came up with a proposed treatment, King Kong Meets Frankenstein, where Kong would fight against a giant Frankenstein Monster in San Francisco. O'Brien took the project (which consisted of some concept art and a screenplay treatment) to RKO to secure permission to use the King Kong character. During this time, the st...
Themes
Director Ishirō Honda wanted the theme of the movie to be a satire of the television industry in Japan. In April 1962, TV networks and their various sponsors started producing outrageous programming and publicity stunts to grab audiences' attention after two elderly viewers reportedly died at home while watching a violent wrestling match on TV. The various rating wars between the networks and banal programming that followed this event caused widespread debate over how TV would affect Japanese...
Theatrical
King Kong vs. Godzilla was released in Japan by Toho on August 11, 1962, where it played alongside Myself and I for two weeks, afterward, it was extended by one more week and screened alongside the anime film Touring the World. The film was re-released twice as part of the Toho Champion Festival, a children's festival centered on marathon screenings of kaiju films and cartoons. The film was first heavily re-cut and screened at the festival on March 21, 1970, and again on March 19, 1977, to co...
American version
When John Beck sold the King Kong vs Prometheus script to Toho (which became King Kong vs. Godzilla), he was given exclusive rights to produce a version of the film for release in non-Asian territories. He was able to line up a couple of potential distributors in Warner Bros. and Universal-Internationaleven before the film began production. Beck, accompanied by two Warner Bros. representatives, attended at least two private screenings of the film on the Toho Studios lot before it was released...
Home media
In July 2014, the Japanese version was released for the first time on Blu-ray in Japan as part of Toho's plan to release the entire series on the Blu-ray format for Godzilla's 60th anniversary. Universal Pictures released the English-language version of the film on Blu-ray on April 1, 2014, along with King Kong Escapes. The Blu-ray sold $738,063 in domestic video sales. In 2019, the Japanese and American versions were included in a Blu-ray box set released by The Criterion Collection, which i...
Box office
In Japan, this film has the highest box office attendance figures of all of the Godzilla films to date. It sold 11.2 million tickets during its initial theatrical run, accumulating ¥352 million ($972,000) in distribution rental earnings. The film became the second-highest-grossing Japanese-produced film in history upon its release and was the fourth-highest-grossing film released in Japan that year as well as Toho's second-biggest release. At an average 1962 Japanese ticket price, 11.2 millio...
Critical response
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 52% based on 21 reviews, with an average rating of 5.10/10. On Metacritic, the film has a score of 40/100, based on 4 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". The reviews tended to evaluate the film as an exploitation or kiddie film. Some of the more positive reviews were from James Powers of The Hollywood Reporter who wrote "A funny monster picture? That's what Universal has in "King Kong Versus Godzilla [sic]"....
The original Japanese version of King Kong vs. Godzilla is infamous for being one of the most poorly-preserved tokusatsu films. In 1970, director Ishirō Honda prepared an edited version of the film for the Toho Champion Festival, a children's matinee program that showcased edited re-releases of older kaiju films along with cartoons and then-new kai...
Due to the great box office success of this film, Toho wanted to produce a sequel immediately. Shinichi Sekizawa was brought back to write the screenplay tentatively titled Continuation: King Kong vs. Godzilla(続 キングコング対ゴジラ, Zoku Kingu Kongu tai Gojira). Sekizawa revealed that Kong had killed Godzilla during their underwater battle in Sagami Bay wit...
King Kong vs. Godzilla at the official Godzilla website by Toho Co., Ltd. (in English)King Kong vs. Godzilla at IMDbKing Kong vs. Godzilla at Rotten TomatoesKing Kong vs. Godzilla at the TCM Movie DatabaseAko and Bambi, If the Villainess and Villain Met and Fell in Love, Whoever Steals This Book, more ― Yen Press announced on Friday that it has licensed three manga and four light novel series for ...
Ichirō Arishima. Ichirō Arishima (有島 一郎, Arishima Ichirō, March 1, 1916 – July 20, 1987) was a Japanese comedian and actor. Nicknamed "The Japanese Chaplin", he is best known outside Japan for his appearance as Tako, the promoter of King Kong in King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962).
