DEEP DIVE: Was King Ghidorah's Gold Color Inspired by an Animated Soviet Film?

Keiko Suzuki in January 2019. Photo by Brett Homenick.

Earlier this year, I was interviewed for a documentary (Keizo Murase: The Last Monster Maker) on the life and career of the legendary suitmaker Keizo Murase. While looking over some old notes in preparation for the interview, I found that I had uncovered some fascinating information several years before and never even realized it. Let's start with the source of this information: Keiko Suzuki.

Keiko Suzuki worked under Eiji Tsuburaya as his script supervisor from the late 1950s through most of the '60s. Born Keiko Hisamatsu, she would go on to marry future Tsuburaya Productions producer Kiyoshi Suzuki. Ms. Suzuki joined Tsuburaya's tokusatsu team on The Three Treasures (1959), which she remembered as the longest SFX shoot at Toho, spanning four months. She passed away on May 23, 2024.

Keiko Suzuki with Teruyoshi Nakano (left) and Takashi Naganuma in January 2019. Photo by Brett Homenick.

On January 13, 2019, I spoke with Keiko Suzuki about several topics, one of which was her recollections of the creation of King Ghidorah. I knew that she and Mr. Murase had completely different memories of King Ghidorah's original color, so I wanted to get her take. Even though it wasn't a formal interview, I took contemporaneous notes on the discussion, which serve as the basis of the material below.

When Eiji Tsuburaya showed her the King Ghidorah suit painted blue for Ghidrah the Three-Headed Monster (1964), Ms. Suzuki was surprised to see it designed that way. The kaiju was supposed to be a space monster, yet it had been colored blue, which she didn't think was the right presentation.

Kin is the English word "gold" in Japanese. Ms. Suzuki pointed out that King Ghidorah was from Venus (Kinsei in Japanese) and that the Japanese word kin is even right there in its name, King Ghidorah. According to Ms. Suzuki, blue had already been used for the Yamata no Orochi in The Three Treasures (1959), so a new look was in order.

King Ghidorah heads on display in April 2019. Photo by Brett Homenick.

When Ms. Suzuki suggested to Tsuburaya that it should be gold, Tsuburaya apparently stopped what he was doing and left. Shortly thereafter, the suit was painted gold.  

Additionally, Ms. Suzuki revealed that she had been partially inspired by a Russian film she had seen with a golden bird and had the idea in mind to use that color for something eventually. While she didn't remember the name of the film, she remembered that the plot was based on Leo Tolstoy's short story "Ivan the Fool."

The movie that most closely matches Ms. Suzuki's description is The Hunchback Horse (1947), an animated Soviet movie that features a brightly-colored firebird. 

The firebird from the Soviet film The Hunchback Horse (1947).

Why did this tidbit fly right over my head? I'd read for years about how partial inspiration for King Ghidorah came from a 1956 Soviet flick that featured a three-headed dragon, so, without checking it out, I figured that must have been what she was talking about. (I mean, how many Russian movies could have influenced a Japanese monster?!) I'm glad I finally did my homework and ferreted this one out. Better late than never, as they say.

Of course, much of this depends on whose memories are more accurate. Both Keizo Murase and Keiko Suzuki have since passed away, and it's not very likely we'll ever get a definitive answer. Ms. Suzuki's memories are detailed and consistent, but Mr. Murase was probably in a better position than anyone else to know what King Ghidorah's original color was. I can't side with anyone in this dispute; all I can do is share what they have said.