King Kong vs. Godzilla/Trivia

When U.S. producer John Beck was not satisfied with King Kong vs. Godzilla, he and his team of rookie editors tried to "fix" the film in the best ways they could: Chopping away scenes that actually made the characters a bit dimensional, adding in mind numbingly boring segments of UN personnel explaining what's been cut out, shifting scenes and shots beyond recognition, bizarre dubbing, and finally, the near complete removal of Akira Ifukube's wonderful compositions. In terms making it feel like a completely different film, they succeeded. Unfortunately, this is version seen in most parts of the world. John Beck and Universal were given exclusive rights to the film throughout the Americas, Britain, Israel and so on. The Japanese version has never been given a stateside release and probably never will.

Tropes exclusive to the U.S. version:

• Continuity Reboot: Despite a helicopter pilot clearly identifying the monster, the U.S. version ignores the previous two films completely, presenting Godzilla as a generic frozen dinosaur with no connections to the H-Bomb.
• Cut and Paste Translation: Where to begin... The infamous "corns" exchange only serves to coverup the fact that the scene has been shifted. In the Japanese version, Farue is talking about Godzilla's sudden return, which took place after the expedition party reached Faro Island.
• Nuke'Em: This standard B-movie plan is considered by the authorities, but is dropped in favor of the film's title. It should be noted that during the first scene with Shigezawa (which was shifted before Godzilla attacks the army base), he is actually referencing the previous film rather than blabbering on about the usage of the A-Bomb.
• No Pronunciation Guide: 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.
• Recycled Soundtrack: With Ifukube's score almost entirely out of the picture, the Gillman's three note leitmotif now serves as both monsters' theme. Some cues go back as far as 1941's Man-Made Monster.
• Redubbing: The original voices of the Seahawk's crew were not retained and Harold S. Conway was given a foreign accent for whatever reason. A bit of dialogue changes occur too: In the Japanese version, the captain utters "Oh my god" after the engine fails, while in the dub he says "Oh, great" instead. The helicopter pilots' dialogue was changed as well.
• Stock Footage: In addition to the U.S. produced scenes, footage lifted from The Mysterians is thrown in for good measure. The invaders' otherworldly orbiting mothership stands in for the U.N.'s International Communications Satellite, scenes of panicking civilians obviously not tinted to match the rest of the scene pad out Kong's rampage through the suburbs, and by far the most notable usage occurs during the ending, where scenes of entire villages sinking into the ground and tidal waves flooding valleys were used to make Godzilla and King Kong's fall into the water and the following tremor seem more climactic.

Tropes exclusive to the Japanese version:

• Ishiro Honda originally did not want the monsters in a Lighter and Softer approach, as most of his kaiju films are serious in nature. From this film onwards, he chose to not direct anymore films after Terror of Mechagodzilla.