Konga (film)

*Konga*
Konga
	Konga battles "the Creature from Uuang-Ni", from issue #23 of the Konga comic book published by Charlton Comics
Publication information
Publisher	Charlton Comics
Schedule	Bi-monthly
Format	Ongoing series
Genre	Fantasy;
Publication date	Konga: ; June 1960 – Nov. 1965 ; The Return of Konga:; Jan. 1962; Konga's Revenge: ; summer 1963 - fall 1964; Konga's Revenge (vol. 2): ; 1968
No. of issues	Konga: ; 23 ; The Return of Konga:; 1 ; Konga's Revenge: ; 2 ; Konga's Revenge (vol. 2): ; 1
Main character(s)	Konga
Creative team
Written by	Joe Gill
Artist(s)	Steve Ditko; Dick Giordano; Rocco Mastroserio

Konga
Konga
	Theatrical release poster by Reynold Brown
Directed by	John Lemont
Written by	Herman Cohen; Aben Kandel
Produced by	Herman Cohen; Nathan Cohen; Stuart Levy
Starring	Michael Gough; Margo Johns; Jess Conrad; Claire Gordon
Cinematography	Desmond Dickinson
Edited by	Jack Slade
Music by	Gerard Schurmann
Production; company	Anglo Amalgamated
Distributed by	Anglo Amalgamated (Eastern hemisphere); American International Pictures (Western hemisphere)
Release dates	26 March 1961 (United Kingdom); 22 March 1961 (Boston); 3 May 1961 (United States);
Running time	90 minutes
Countries	United Kingdom; United States
Budget	$500,000

Konga is a 1961 Eastmancolor monster film directed by John Lemont and starring Michael Gough, Margo Johns and Austin Trevor.^[1] It was written by Herman Cohen and Aben Kandel.

It was the basis for a comic book series published by Charlton Comics and initially drawn by Steve Ditko (prior to Ditko's co-creation of Spider-Man) in the 1960s.^[2]

Plot

British botanist Dr. Charles Decker comes back from Africa after a year, presumed dead. During that year, he came across a way of growing plants and animals to an enormous size. He brings back a baby chimpanzee, named Konga, to test out his theory. Decker goes insane after he discovers a serum that turns his chimpanzee subject into a ferocious gorilla-sized ape. To further his hideous experiments, he mesmerizes Konga and sends it to London to kill all of his enemies who have more credit in the scientific community than he already has. Among his targets are Dean Foster and Professor Tagore.

During a field trip to the woods with a group of his students he makes an inappropriate advance to Sandra. He is later confronted by her boyfriend Bob and, although seeming to concede to Bob, sends Konga to strangle him.

Decker's assistant and lover Margaret sees him ask Sandra to become both his new assistant and his lover, then sexually assaults Sandra when she refuses. Margaret attempts to get even by hypnotizing Konga into obeying her, then giving him an enormous amount of the strange serum, which turns him into an enormous monster, at which point she becomes Konga's first victim. He keeps growing, and bursts through the roof of the house.

Seeing Decker still attacking Sandra in the greenhouse, the super-sized Konga grabs Decker in one of his enormous hands, while Sandra's arm is seized by one of Decker's carnivorous plants (her ultimate fate is not shown). His rampage comes to a stop when he is attacked by heavily armed soldiers. After he throws Decker to his death, Konga falls. Upon his demise, Konga changes back to a baby chimpanzee.

Cast

Michael Gough as Dr. Charles Decker
Margo Johns as Margaret Decker
Jess Conrad as Bob Kenton
Claire Gordon as Sandra Banks
Austin Trevor as Dean Foster
Jack Watson as Superintendent Brown
George Pastell as Professor Tagore
Vanda Godsell as Mrs. Kenton
Stanley Morgan as Inspector Lawson
Grace Arnold as Miss Barnesdell
Leonard Sachs as John Kenton
Nicholas Bennett as Daniel
Kim Tracy as Mary
Rupert Osborne as Eric Kenton
Waveney Lee as Janet Kenton
John Welsh as Commissioner Garland
Paul Stockman as Konga (uncredited)

Production

Following the success of Herman Cohen's previous British made film Horrors of the Black Museum (1959) that also featured Michael Gough, Nat Cohen (no relation to Herman) of Anglo-Amalgamated asked Cohen for another exploitation film.

As Cohen had long admired King Kong (1933), he thought of a giant ape film shot in colour. Due to Cohen's success with his I Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957), AIP used "I Was a Teenage Gorilla" as the working title.^[3] Cohen paid RKO Pictures $25,000 for the rights to the name of Kong for exploitation purposes. Cohen recalled that the special effects for the film, that was one of the first giant monster movies shot in colour (Eastmancolor), took 18 months to complete.^[4]

It was shot at Merton Park Studios and in Croydon. The climactic scene in London streets was possible when the producer convinced the police that the scenes could be effectively staged late at night on essentially empty streets. The resultant mayhem was especially alarming for residents, who were awakened by sounds of gunfire.^[3] A combination of miniature sets, an actor in a gorilla suit, and use of studio mattes also made the technical aspects of the production look better than its meagre budget would otherwise have allowed.^[3]

Paul Stockman (uncredited) was the actor inside the ape suit. In an interview, he revealed: "How I came to get the part of Konga: my agent told me there was an American producer looking for a six-foot actor. Would I go to Mac's Rehearsal Rooms, Leicester Square, London? So I toddled along; I walked into the room and there's 20 six-foot tall blokes! I thought, "Oh, dear, it's a lineup!" Anyway, the producer Herman Cohen came in carrying a big cardboard box. He said, "The actor I need must be exactly six foot, so if you're six foot, one or five foot, eleven, thank you for coming but you won't do". So everybody left except three, two other guys and myself. The producer then opened a cardboard box and took out the gorilla headpiece. He said, "Now I'd like all three of you to try this on because the guy who gets the part will have to wear this six to eight hours a day, so see how you feel with it". So, we each put the gorilla head on. The other two had blue eyes and I’ve got brown eyes. And we all knew a gorilla has brown eyes. So that was how I got the part!"^[5]^[6]

Release

The film was distributed in the United States by American International Pictures (AIP) as a double feature with Master of the World (1961). Anglo Amalgamated and AIP each provided half the funding for the US$500,000 film, with each studio receiving distribution rights in their respective hemispheres.^[7]

Critical reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "The picture has undeniable exuberance, but defects in the acting and direction, slow development and ludicrously inadequate dialogue reduce the obviously intended thrills to ridicule. Further more the climax, compared to King Kong, is unimpressive and the trick work is deplorable. Though good for a laugh, the film is in every other respect a wasted opportunity."^[8]

In The New York Times, Eugene Archer noted the film played to "misplaced guffaws" and wrote: "... the British 'Konga' is nothing more than an overblown 'King Kong', hammily played by Michael Gough and an improbable-looking ape".^[9]

In a later review, Time Out wrote that Konga was considered: "Inept, silly, and ludicrously enjoyable monster movie, with Gough as the mad boffin who injects a chimp with a growth serum, only to see it turn into an uncredited actor in a gorilla suit. Thereafter the ape grabs a Michael Gough doll and heads for Big Ben. Deeply political".^[10]

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 33% based on 6 reviews, with a weighted average rating of 4.4/10.^[11]

Novel and comic book adaptations

A novelization of the film was released in paperback at the time of its original release (Konga by Dean Owen (real name: Dudley Dean McGaughey) (Monarch Books 1960)).

From 1960 to 1965, Charlton Comics published 23 issues of the comic book Konga.^[12] It included work by Spider-Man co-creator Steve Ditko. The series was renamed Fantastic Giants with issue #24, which turned out to be the last issue of the series.^[13]^[14]

Konga also appeared in a three-issue miniseries that started off as The Return of Konga, before it was renamed Konga's Revenge with issue #2.^[15]^[16] The series ran from 1962 to 1964 and was followed by a one-shot reprint of issue #3 in 1968.^[17]

In 1990, Steve Ditko illustrated a back-up story in Web of Spider-Man Annual #6 called "Child Star".^[18] In this story, Captain Universe creates huge versions of toys based on Gorgo and Konga to battle giant monsters that are attacking the neighborhood. For copyright reasons, Konga's name was altered to "Kongo".^[19] This sequence was Ditko paying homage to his earlier work with these two characters in their 1960s Charlton Comics comic book series.

Some of these issues were reprinted (in black and white) in a trade paperback in 2011 called Angry Apes n' Leapin Lizards.^[20]

In August 2013, IDW Publishing reprinted all the issues that artist Steve Ditko worked on (Konga #1 and 3–15 and Konga's Revenge #2) as a deluxe hardcover collection called Ditko's Monsters: Konga!.^[21] In April 2019, IDW published a book called Ditko's Monsters: Gorgo vs. Konga which collected issues #5 and 6 of the series.^[22]

Starting in March 2023, PS Artbooks began reprinting the entire series in a series of hardcover and trade paperback editions.

References

^ "Konga". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
^ "Steve Ditko". Archived from the original on 2018-07-07. Retrieved 2017-12-12.
^ ^a ^b ^c Axmaker, Seam. "Article: 'Konga'" Archived 2013-07-22 at the Wayback Machine Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved: 8 April 2015.
^ Weaver 1994, p. 69.
^ "Behind the Scenes with Konga!". 23 July 2017. Archived from the original on 20 February 2020. Retrieved 6 March 2021.
^ "Inside the Konga suit: Unmasking Paul Stockman". 23 July 2014. Archived from the original on 6 March 2021. Retrieved 6 March 2021.
^ Heffernan 2004, p. 127.
^ "Konga". The Monthly Film Bulletin. 28 (324): 48. 1 January 1961. ProQuest 1305828778 – via ProQuest.
^ Archer, Eugene. "Screen: New twin bill: 'Konga' and 'Master of the World' arrive" Archived 2016-03-05 at the Wayback Machine The New York Times, September 16, 1961.
^ Pym 2004, p. 639.
^ "Konga (1961) - Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes.com. Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on 3 December 2017. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
^ "Konga (1960 series)" Archived 2011-09-18 at the Wayback Machine comics.org. Retrieved: April 8, 2015.
^ Fantastic Giants, Charlton, 1966 series" Archived 2012-06-22 at the Wayback Machine at the Grand Comics Database. Retrieved on April 8, 2015.
^ Shaw, Scott (March 5, 2007). "Fantastic Giants, Vol. 2, No. 24". Oddball Comics. Archived from the original on May 16, 2007. Retrieved January 16, 2018.
^ "The Return of Konga, Charlton, 1962 series" Archived 2012-04-25 at the Wayback Machine comics.org. Retrieved: April 8, 2015.
^ "Konga's Revenge, Charlton, 1963 series" Archived 2011-09-20 at the Wayback Machine comics.org. Retrieved: April 8, 2015.
^ "Konga's Revenge, Charlton, 1968 series" Archived 2012-04-25 at the Wayback Machine comics.org. Retrieved: April 8, 2015.
^ "Web of Spider-Man Annual #6 [Direct Edition] (1990)" Archived 2013-10-17 at the Wayback Machine comics.org. Retrieved: April 8, 2015.
^ "Web of Spider-Man annual #6". Retrieved 3 May 2024.
^ "Upcoming Ditko - New PI collection" Archived 2011-10-28 at the Wayback Machine ditko.blogspot.com, May 2005. Retrieved: April 8, 2015.
^ "Steve Ditkos: Monsters, HC (2013) IDW Publishing" Archived 2013-08-31 at the Wayback Machine Comic Book Realm. Retrieved: April 8, 2015.
^ "B Movie Giants Gorgo & Konga Return in Ditko’s Monsters" Archived 2019-07-19 at the Wayback Machine www.outrightgeekery.com, April 17, 2019. Retrieved: July 19, 2019.

Bibliography

Heffernan, Kevin. Ghouls, Gimmicks, and Gold: Horror Films and the American Movie Business, 1953-1968. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press, 2004. ISBN 978-0-8223-3215-2.
Pym, John, ed. "Konga". Time Out Film Guide. London: Time Out Guides Limited, 2004. ISBN 978-0-14101-354-1.
Weaver, Tom. "Herman Cohen Interview". Attack of the Monster Movie Makers: Interviews With 20 Genre Giants. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 1994. ISBN 978-0-7864-9574-0.