King Kong Appears in Edo

nihongo|"King Kong Appears in Edo"|江戸に現れたキングコング|Edo ni Arawareta Kingu Kongu is a lost film released in Japan in 1938. [cite book
last = Morton
first = Ray
title = King Kong: The History of a Movie Icon from Fay Wray to Peter Jackson
publisher = Applause Books
date = 2005
location =
pages = 123
url = http://www.raymorton.com/kingkong.html
isbn = 1557836698] [cite web
last = Hood
first = Robert
title = Divided Kingdom: King Kong versus Godzilla
publisher =
date = 2005
url = http://www.roberthood.net/obsesses/divided_kingdom.htm
accessdate = 2007-10-01 ]

An unofficial and enigmatic Japanese-made monster/period piece by studio Zenkatsu [cite web
last =
first =
title = Chronology of Zenkatsu films (in Japanese)
publisher =
date = 2002
url = http://www.bunkajnara.pref.nara.jp/movie/movie_zenkatsu.html
accessdate = 2007-10-01 ] in which King Kong attacks medieval Edo (the former name of Tokyo), it was one of Japan's first "kaiju" (giant monster) films, predating "Godzilla" by sixteen years. Although inaccurate to its historical setting, some Caligari-esque expressionistic buildings were added for Kong to climb.Fact|date=October 2007 The film has been lost since its theatrical run in 1938. It is claimed the film either "disappeared due to negligent maintenance" or was destroyed during the bombings of Japan in World War II. [cite web
last = Hall
first = Phil
title = Top 10 Lost Films
publisher = Film Threat (Gore Group Publications)
date = 2007-03-01
url = http://www.filmthreat.com/index.php?section=features&Id=1899
accessdate = 2007-10-01 ]

Fuminori Ohashi, who would later create the suit for Godzilla in the original 1954 film, created the ape suit and special effects for this film. [cite book
last = Brin, Ph.D.
first = David
coauthors = Wilson
title = King Kong Is Back!: An Unauthorized Look at One Humongous Ape
publisher = BenBella Books
date = 2005
location =
pages = 213
url = http://www.davidbrin.com/kongintro.html
isbn = 1932100644] He explained, "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." [cite web
last = Johnson
first = Bob
authorlink =
coauthors = Ragone, August
title = A Look Back at the Many Incarnations of Ambassador Magma
publisher = SciFi Japan
date = 2007-08-27
url = http://www.scifijapan.com/articles/2007/08/27/the-space-giants-series-guide/
accessdate = 2007-10-01 ]

References

External links

*imdb title|0157898
* [http://www.jmdb.ne.jp/1938/bn005620.htm "King Kong"] , Japanese Movie Database entry (in Japanese). [http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/trurl_pagecontent?lp=ja_en&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jmdb.ne.jp%2F1938%2Fbn005620.htm Babelfish translation]