The King Kong That Appeared in Edo (lost Japanese monster film; 1938)
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 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.
The film was made in two halfs. the first part titled 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 titled 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 roughly 5 reels in length.
Going by the plot synopsis as well as flyers promoting the film, it is believed that the ape is only referred to as "King Kong" in name only and does not appear gigantic outside of promotional photos. This leads some to believe that Zensho (the company behind the film) were trying to capitalize on King Kong's 1938 re-issue by promoting the ape as being giant.[2]
However Godzilla suit creator Ryūnosuke Kabayama (who later changed his name to Fuminori Ohashi) 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.