DESTROY ALL MONSTERS "Coming Soon" Ad (April 3, 1969)

 

Here is what is probably a very unique ad for DESTROY ALL MONSTERS, which says "Coming Soon" (the film was released in late May of that year).  This full-page ad comes from the April 3, 1969 issue of the Motion Picture Daily, which was a publication about the film industry that ran from 1931 to 1972.  

It is 9.5 by 12 inches, and had to be scanned and stitched together.  I always love how the listed stars are the monsters, and even HOLY CRAP WHAT DID I JUST SEE?

Bwa ha HA! I can't stop laughing.  I hope somebody got in big trouble (I doubt it) for screwing that one up, and also for the mess I have to clean up, because Little Debbie Christmas Tree cakes were just spat everywhere.

Also, American International has a slogan here: "The Film Company With The Future Look."  It's rather confusing.  You could read it as 1) they look futuristic, or 2) they are looking to the future...in which case, why not just say that? I think its usage was short lived.

Speaking of looking to the future, we are now just days away from a New Year, which will of course include the 50th anniversary of Mechagodzilla.  This is as good a place as any, and as good a time as any, to share this artwork I recently assembled (these logos are very hard to find, especially in good quality).  Enjoy!

"The Firebird" GODZILLA! Pilot Script (Hanna-Barbera, 1978) REVISITED

 

"Say, what are we looking at?"

Scouring the KING KONG vs. GODZILLA script made me remember--with much embarrassment--that I'd never found time in the past three years to go back to the other script I own, that of the pilot for what at the time was called GODZILLA! with an exclamation point.  When I first got the script, it was messily stapled together in bundles, and I was afraid of taking it apart...well, that fear is conquered. It's been carefully un-stapled and completely scanned, as well as meticulously compared to the finished episode.  As hinted at in the few lazy photos I'd included in the original post, it's very different from the finished product.

Whereas the KING KONG vs. GODZILLA script included mostly smaller differences to the finished product (and may have even been constructed after the fact?), the Firebird script is full of altered dialogue, cut lines, and most of all, unproduced scenes...multiple pages of them, in fact. 

As I slowly went through the finished episode a couple of seconds at a time, I annotated all of the changes in red (using Adobe Acrobat which enabled me to both line through discarded parts, and type in new and changed dialogue because you don't want to mess with my handwriting), which you can see in the screenshot above.  Spoiler alert:  there is metric tons of red.

Here are some of my random observations:

*This obviously wasn't the "Final Draft," which would've been the working version for the episode--which makes this script all the more important, and interesting!

*While lots of dialogue is cut out, and conversations are compressed for time, it quickly becomes apparent that many of the scenes were simply changed because they would've required too much animation...in other words, cost more. Let's fact it, Hanna-Barbera wasn't known for high art, but instead for cutting corners to crank out as much product as possible.  Two shocking examples of this are: 1) the scientists fleeing the flowing lava, which was shortened and simplified to the point of embarrassment, and 2) the final battle between Godzilla and the Firebird as originally written, which took place on a shrinking ice floe that melts down to just enough room for the two of them.  That would've been really cool!

*While much was deleted from the 52-page script, I had to type 9 pages of my own that wasn't in the original draft.  As you would guess, lots of the material involves cramming more Godzooky into the proceedings.  It's not that he's absent from the original, just not nearly goofy enough for their liking.  The rest of the additions involve rewrites of the more complicated scenes, to simplify them for animating.  

It's a very interesting read, and a real behind-the-scenes lesson in the production of the show and others like it.  I should point out that the download includes two complete versions of the script; the original untouched script AND my annotated/red-lined/supplemented version.  Read along with the finished episode, and you will be quite surprised!

LINK:  The Firebird (Pilot Script) both versions  

KING KONG vs GODZILLA - Continuity & Dialogue Script (1963)

 

When it gets quiet around here, you can be sure we're working on something big.  Today, it's a pretty amazing rarity.  This is the "Continuity & Dialogue Script" for KING KONG vs. GODZILLA, dated June 7, 1963!

At 129 pages, this script covers the complete film, and came from a movie script and props dealer in California.  In fact, here is the information about it that they gave me:  

"This piece was deaccessioned by the Universal Script Files approximately 20 years ago...this Continuity & Dialogue Script was created after the American version was edited and ready for release...this script was to be used as a tool for further cutting of the film and dubbing tracks for international prints."

So which came first, the film or the script?  It could be just as the seller said, but it's just hard for me to believe this script was typed after the film was dubbed, especially because there are several moments where the script doesn't match up with the finished film! These moments fell into two categories:

1) Sometimes there is dialogue that wasn't followed exactly.  It's as if, when the dubbing (looping) was being done, things here and there fit or worked better, and perhaps such changes were decided on the fly. This type are the most common discrepancies that I found.

2) A few times there is dialogue or directions for ad libs listed that simply don't happen in the finished film.  There aren't many, but it's still interesting.

Obviously, a "shooting script" is a different animal, and I'd speculate that things work differently in the case of a film that's completely dubbed, HOWEVER the film in question has some newly-filmed American scenes! So there's that.

Anything is possible, of course. Another clue is the cover date of June 7, when the  film premiered in New York City on June 23, 1963.  

ANYWAY, this blog being this blog...using a copy of the film, I've painstakingly compared it to the script over the course of two afternoons, and recorded all of the differences I've found! These are included in the download below, along with a full scan of the script itself.  Enjoy!

LINK:  KKvsGodzilla Script, etc.