A lot of people do not realize how good the 1967 film is, until they see it on the big screen, instead of grainy and faded, 16mm pan and scan television prints. Here's my entry for the film from the Godzillafest Program Book:

Sunday 11/22, 7:35 PM

WEST COAST PREMIERE!

SON OF GODZILLA
Kaijuto-no Kessen Gojira-no Musuko, 1967, 86 minutes
Director JUN FUKUDA

Executive Producer TOMOYUKI TANAKA Screenplay SHINICHI SEKIZAWA and KAZUE SHIBA Production Design TAKEO KITA Cinematographer KAZUO YAMADA Film Editor RYOHEI FUJII Music MASARU SATO Special Effects Production Design YASUYUKI INOUE Special Effects Photography SOKEI TOMIOKA and YOICHI MANODA Special Effects Director SADAMASA ARIKAWA Special Effects Supervisor EIJI TSUBURAYA

AKIRA KUBO (Goro Maki) TADAO TAKASHIMA (Dr. Kusumi) BIBARI MAEDA (Saeko Matsumiya) AKIHIKO HIRATA (Fujisaki) YOSHIO TSUCHIYA (Furukawa) KENJI SAHARA (Morio) KEICHIRO MARUYAMA (Osawa) SEISHIRO KUNO (Tashiro) and YASUHIKO SAIJO (Suzuki)

"The sooner we get off this island, the better I'll like it!"

Following in the footstomps of GODZILLA VS. THE SEA MONSTER, action director Fukuda refines his take on the Godzilla series with this absolutely underrated gem -- arguably his best genre film. While SON OF GODZILLA is not to be taken seriously, and wasn't intended to be, it is a seriously wonderful popcorn adventure (set on a beautiful south pacific isle Where Monsters Dwell), that urges you to leave your copy of Science Digest at home, and instead, bring your Sense of Wonder.

This time around, Fukuda handles the material with much more confidence than on display in GODZILLA VS. THE SEA MONSTER, which is further polished by the veteran ensemble of thespians on-tap, including one of our Guests of Honor, Akira Kubo (see Guest Biographies), Akihiko Hirata (SANJURO), Yoshio Tsuchiya (RED BEARD) and Kenji Sahara (CHUSHINGURA). Working together as a seasoned troop, the actors really sell the film, thanks to Sekizawa's writing, and make it almost... believable. The sole feminine touch is provided by the statuesque Bibari Maeda (b. 1948), who appears in her only genre role, a familiar face to Japanese audiences, because of her renown as an stage entertainer, singer and dancer -- in such stage productions as Gone With the Wind.

In order to show a great contrast in size between Godzilla and Minilla, the towering former baseball great, Seiji Onaka, was tapped for the role of Godzilla, while seasoned "Little Person," Ma-chan, essayed the titular Son of Godzilla. Tsuburaya's regular monster actor, Haruo Nakajima, was relegated to Godzilla's water scenes (using the suit from the previous film), since the new costume was fitted specifically for the taller Onaka. But, when Onaka broke his fingers after only completing a few scenes, the equally tall Hiroshi Sekita (who played Sanda in WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS) was called in, and completed the film as Godzilla.

Like Fukuda, Arikawa's special visual effects also reveal a much more assured hand, and the effects are a marked improvement over GODZILLA VS. THE SEA MONSTER, especially in regards to matte paintings and optical photography by Hiroshi Mukoyama, Sadao Iizuka and Yoshiyuki Tokumasa. What is astonishing about SON OF GODZILLA, is the incredible wire-operated-marionettes in the film -- just in a scene with the three monster mantises, there were approximately 30 wires (10 per mantis), fifteen operators (five per mantis), all working in unison to make each insect come to life (not including the radio control operators to manipulate the mandibles on each of the creatures). When Godzilla appears on-screen with the insects, there are even more wire operators employed in the scenes -- all up in the studio rafters, hoping not to get tangled up. Credit goes to wire-operations master Fumio Nakadai, who certainly had his work cut out for him on this film. Let's not get started on 20+ wire-operated mammoth spider...

All of this work, coupled with the beautiful cinematography by Akira Kurosawa's regular cameraman, Kazuo Yamada, on location in Guam -- as well as on incredibly huge soundstage sets in Tokyo -- and underlined by a marvelous score by Masaru Sato (YOJIMBO), add up to make SON OF GODZILLA superior entertainment. Really.

In attendance: actor Akira Kubo (7:30 PM)

Co-feature: MONSTER ZERO (9:30 PM)
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NOTE ABOUT THE PRINT: Godzillafest is proud to present a brand-new 35mm print of the original Japanese version with English subtitles. This print features a pre-credit sequence featuring the crew of a weather plane (Susumu Kurobe, Kazuo Suzuki, Wataru Omae and Chotaro Togin) encountering Godzilla during a storm out at sea, was originally dropped from US versions of the film, and can been seen in this uncut version. SON OF GODZILLA was originally sold to television and was never released to US theaters. Now, it can be seen in all its widescreen glory. Source: Sony Repertory.
August Ragone
Author, EIJI TSUBURAYA: MASTER OF MONSTERS
Coming this fall from Chronicle Books

Director, SHOCK IT TO ME! Classic Horror Film Festival
Oct. 5-7, 2007 • Castro Theatre • San Francisco