USA, UK, 1961
90m
35mm film, SpectraMation, Eastmancolor
mono (Westrex Recording System), English
An American/British science fiction film directed by John Lemont. Production began on 4 April 1960 1 Variety vol.218 no.13 (25 May 1960) p.22.
Plot Summary
Scientist Charles Decker returns from a plane crash in Africa with a species of carnivorous plant. He begins experiments on his chimpanzee Konga using a serum created from the plants that causes Konga to grow to immense size.
Credits
* = uncredited
Crew
Directed by: John Lemont
© 1961 by Alta Vista Productions
A Herman Cohen production
Produced by: Herman Cohen
Production Manager: Bill Shore
Original Story and Screenplay by: Aben Kandel, Herman Cohen
Assistant Director: Buddy Booth
Continuity: Olga Brook
Director of Photography: Desmond Dickinson
Camera Operator: Harry Gillam
Film Editor: Jack Slade
Music Composed by: Gérard Schurmann
Conducted by: Muir Mathieson
Sound: Sidney Rider, Ronald Abbott
Sound Effects Editor: Derek Holding
Wardrobe: Bridget Sellers
Makeup: Jack Craig
Hairdresser: Daphne Volmar
Art Director: Wilfred Arnold
Cast
Michael Gough (Dr Charles Decker)
Margo Johns (Margaret)
Jess Conrad (Bob Kenton)
Claire Gordon (Sandra Banks)
Austin Trevor (Dean Foster)
Jack Watson (Superintendent Brown)
George Pastell (Professor Tagore)
Vanda Godsell (Bob's mother)
Stanley Morgan (Inspector Lawson)
Grace Arnold (Miss Barnesdell)
Leonard Sachs (Bob's father)
Nicholas Bennett (Daniel)
Kim Tracy (Mary)
Rupert Osborne (Eric Kenton)
Waveney Lee (Janet Kenton)
John Welsh (Commissioner Garland)
Paul Stockman [Konga] *
Herman Cohen [man buying newspaper] *
Steven Berkoff [student on field trip] *
Alternative Titles
I Was a Teenage Gorilla – US/working title
King Gorilla – working title
King Kongin paluu – Finnish title
Links
Extracts included in
Invasion Earth: The Aliens Are Here (1988)
Terror in the Aisles (1984)
Trailer Cinema (1992)
References
Periodicals
- Castle of Frankenstein no.12 p.36
- The Dark Side no.206 (2019) p.40 – illustrated DVD review (Dark Side DVD library by AB [Allan Bryce])
- Kine Weekly vol.512 no.2729 (21 January 1960) p.5 – note (Long shots)
- Kine Weekly vol.517 no.2752 (30 June 1960) p.5 – note (Long shots)
- Monthly Film Bulletin April 1961 pp.48-49 – credits, synopsis, review
- Scary Monsters no.18 pp.5-7 – illustrated article
- Supernatural no.1 (January 1969) p.31 – note (Round the cinema's zoo of horrors with Supernaturalist)
- Variety vol.218 no.13 (25 May 1960) p.22 – credits (Hollywood production pulse)
Books
- American International Pictures: A Comprehensive Filmography by Rob Craig p.337
- American International Pictures: A Filmography by Robert L. Ottoson p.70-71 – credits, synopsis, review
- Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Science Fiction by Phil Hardy (ed) p.200 – illustrated credits, review
- Creature Features Movie Guide Strikes Again by John Stanley p.219 – credits, review
- English Gothic: A Century of Horror Cinema by Jonathan Rigby pp.74, 90, 90
- Faster and Furiouser: The Revised and Fattened Fable of American International Pictures by Mark Thomas McGee pp.101-102; 315
- Feature Films, 1960-1969: A Filmography of English-language and Major Foreign-language United States Releases by Harris M. Lentz III p.242 – credits
- The Liverpool Companion to World Science Fiction Film by Sonja Fritsche (ed.) pp.89-103 – article (Invaders, Launchpads, and Hybrids: The Importance of Transmediality in British Science Fiction Film in the 1950s by Derek Johnston) – article
- Reference Guide to Fantastic Films by Walt Lee p.247 – credits
- Rock ‘n' Roll Monsters: The American International Story by Bruce G. Hallenbeck pp.106-111; 290
- Sixties Shockers by Mark Clark and Bryan Senn pp.256-257 – illustrated credits, review
- Uneasy Dreams: The Golden Age of British Horror Films, 1956-1976 by Gary A. Smith p.140
