The King Kong That Appeared in Edo (lost Japanese monster film; 1938)

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File:King Kong Edo.jpg
Advertisement for the movie, taken from the April 14th, 1938 issue of Kinema Junpo.
File:KinemaJunpo30March1938b.JPG
Advertisement taken from March 30th, 1938 issue of the same magazine.

King Kong Appears in Edo was a 1938 Japanese monster movie. The plot involves a woman (Reiko Mishima) being mysteriously kidnapped and her father (Reizaburo Ichikawa) offering a large sum of money for her safe return. In the movie "King Kong" is actually a pet trained ape that the villain (Eizaburo Matsumoto) used to kidnap the girl.[1] The movie was made without the permission of RKO Pictures, who owned the rights to the character of King Kong at the time. 

This silent period piece drama film was produced in 1938[2] by Zenshō Cinema. The film was broken into two parts. The first part called Edo ni Arawareta Kingu Kongu: Henge no Maki |キングコングは江戸出現:なしマキをヘンジない (King Kong Appears in Edo: The Episode of Transformation) was released on March 31, 1938, while the second part called Edo ni Arawareta Kingu Kongu: Ōgon no Maki |キングコングは、江戸出現:なし真紀黄金 (King Kong Appears in Edo: The Episode of Gold) was released a week later on April 7, 1938. Both films ran 5 reels in length and premiered at the Yûrakukan theater in Asakusa, Tokyo.

Going by the plot synopsis as well as flyers promoting the film, it is believed by historians that the ape (looking more like a Yeti) is only referred to as "King Kong" in name only and does not appear gigantic outside of promotional photos that appear on the flyers or advertisements which depict the character holding Chinami in the palm of his hand and straddling buildings as he faces down Hyoue Toba's men. This along with the fact that Zensho was a typical Poverty Row studio who didn't have sound recording equipment (none of the 173 films they produced between 1936 and 1941 were talkies) leads to believe that Zensho was simply trying to capitalize on King Kong's 1938 re-issue in that country by promoting the ape as being a giant.[3]

However "King Kong" suit creator and actor Ryūnosuke Kabayama (who later changed his name to Fuminori Ohashi and later created the ape creature seen in the 1956 film 水戸黄門漫遊記 人喰い狒々|Mito Kōmon Manyūki: Hitokui Hihi,[9] as well as the suit for Godzilla in the original 1954 film) stated in a 1988 interview "The first model making to be counted as 'special art direction' in Japanese cinema was a giant gorilla which I did for the movie King Kong Appears in Edo fifty years ago. It was also the first movie to feature certain kinds of special effects.". With this statement from the suits creator there seems to be some contradiction over the actual size of the title character.

The film has not been heard from or seen since. It is believed that the film may have been destroyed in the 1945 Allied bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

References

  1. March 1, 1938 issue of Kinema Junpo
  2. "Chronology of Zensho films (in Japanese)". 2002. Archived from the original on 2007-09-20.
  3. 高槻真樹 (Maki Takatsuki). 戦前日本SF映画創世記 ゴジラは何でできているか (Senzen Nihon SF Eiga Souseiki). 河出書房新社 (Kawadeshobo Shinsha publishing). 2014. Pgs.183-188.