The King Kong that Appeared in Edo: Difference between revisions

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|header      ={{Kaijup}} {{Film}}
|header      ={{Kaijup}} {{Film}}
|caption    =The Japanese poster for King Kong Appears in Edo
|caption    =The Japanese poster for King Kong Appears in Edo
|nameoffilm  =King Kong Appears in Edo
|nameoffilm  =''King Kong Appears in Edo''
|director    =Sōya Kumagai
|director    =Sōya Kumagai
|producer    =?
|producer    =?

Revision as of 01:34, 18 January 2017

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{{{name}}}
The Japanese poster for King Kong Appears in Edo
Directed by Sōya Kumagai
Producer ?
Written by Daijō Aoyama
Music by ?
Distributor Zenshō Cinema
Rating ?
Budget ¥???,???,???
Box office ¥???,???,???
Running time ?

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 1938 tokusatsu Template:Kaiju film produced by Zenshō Cinema. It was released to Japanese theaters on March 18, 1938.

Plot

Part 1

In the first part, titled King Kong Appears in Edo: The Episode of Transformation (江戸に現れたキングコング:変化の巻,   Edo ni Arawareta Kingu Kongu: Henge no Maki), Chinami, a daughter of Hyoue Toba, is mysteriously kidnapped one night. Toba offers a 3,000 Ryō reward for his daughter. (Note: Ryō is one of currency units used by Tokugawa shogunate, roughly equivalent to 330 US dollars.) Yuzuru Kawasaki and other spongers set about searching for Chinami. But Magonojyō Gō, one of Toba’s spongers, sneers at his fellows’ efforts. In fact, Gō is the very man who kidnapped Chinami. He made his father Senbei’s pet ape abduct her.

Part 2

The second part, titled King Kong Appears in Edo: The Episode of Gold (江戸に現れたキングコング:黄金の巻,   Edo ni Arawareta Kingu Kongu: Ōgon no Maki) has complex circumstances behind it. Toba influences Senbei to counterfeit coins, but he refuses. Toba imprisons Senbei somewhere. To get a clue of his father’s whereabouts, Gō disguises himself as one of Toba’s spongers. Gō menaces Toba with the ape covertly. He offers Toba Chinami's location in exchange for the prize money. He takes Toba to his secret cellar to shut him up. The vengeful ape kills Toba but he, too, is fatally wounded. Gō then leaves Edo with 3,000 Ryō. What happened to Chinami after that is unknown, but it is assumed she was freed when Magonojyō received his money from Hyoue.

History

King Kong Appears in Edo was one of Japan's first Template:Kaiju films, predating Godzilla by sixteen years. Although inaccurate to its historical setting, some Caligari-esque expressionistic buildings were added for Kong to climb. The film is now completely lost after either the atomic bombing in Japan or the Kanto Earthquake.

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. 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."

Staff

Staff role on the left, staff member's name on the right.

  • Directed by   Sôya Kumagai
  • Written by   Daijô Aoyama
  • Cinematography by   Yozo Okuda
  • Special Effects by   Fuminori Ôhashi

Cast

Actor's name on the left, character played on the right.

  • Eizaburo Matsumoto   as   Misato Magonojo
  • Fuminori Ôhashi   as   Anthropoid
  • Reizaburo Ichikawa   as   Toba Hyoei
  • Reiko Mishima   as   Chinami
  • Shojiro Ogata   as   Kuroami the Hunchback
  • Yasutarô Yagi   as   Inoue Ginbei
  • Noboru Takashima   as   Kawasaki Yuzuru
  • Keinosuke Yashiro   as   Segawa Kinnosuke
  • Shotaro Shiba   as   Azuma Tetsusaburo
  • Shin Taga   as   Nakazawa Shinjûro
  • Ryutaro Hibiki   as   Matsudaira Izunokami
  • Keisuke Matsudaira   as   Clerk at Charcoal Shop
  • Kikutaro Yoshii   as   Clerk at Soy Sauce Shop
  • Do Jitsukawa   as   Rice Shop Apprentice

Appearances

Monsters

Gallery

Main article: King Kong Appears in Edo (1938 film)/Gallery.

Soundtrack

Main article: King Kong Appears in Edo (Soundtrack).

Alternate Titles

  • King Kong (Kingu Kongu; Japan)

Trivia

  • There is a video on YouTube that claims to be the lost footage of King Kong Appears in Edo. The video turned out to be fake due to its high quality for a 1938 film, and the most obvious fact, that the user used footage from a movie named Yeti: Giant of the 20th Century. The video also used footage of a Japanese man with a gun, while the film was supposed to be set in medieval Japan as well as the use of tiger roars that were actually recorded in the middle of the 20th century.

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