Konga (1961)

User Rating:

2.7/10   

Director:

John Lemont

Writers:

Herman Cohen (story)
Aben Kandel (story)

Release Date:

March 1961 (UK)

Genre:

Horror | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Not since "King Kong"...has the screen exploded with such mighty fury and spectacle!

Plot:

Dr.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...

Plot Keywords:

Plant | Chimpanzee | University | Student | Laboratory

Cast

Michael Gough	...	Dr. Charles Decker
Margo Johns	...	Margaret
Jess Conrad	...	Bob Kenton
Claire Gordon	...	Sandra Banks
Austin Trevor	...	Dean Foster
Jack Watson	...	Supt. Brown
George Pastell	...	Prof. Tagore
Vanda Godsell	...	Bob's mother
Stanley Morgan	...	Insp. Lawson
Grace Arnold	...	Miss Barnesdell (Foster's secretary)
Leonard Sachs	...	Bob's father
Nicholas Bennett	...	Daniel (student with radio)
Kim Tracy	...	Mary
Rupert Osborne	...	Eric Kenton
Waveney Lee	...	Janet Kenton

Also Known As:

I Was a Teenage Gorilla (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | USA:Unrated | UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (video rating)

Filming Locations:

Putney, London, England, UK

Company:

Merton Park Studios

Trivia:

German Import DVD has a Super-8 Version (German language only), as a special feature on the disc.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: The second time Konga grows, his feet are cut off by the traveling matte.

Quotes:

Dr. Charles Decker: [after shooting his cat twice with a pistol] Even those few drops might have made Tabby swell up to huge proportions!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Meatrack (1970)

Curious George Gets A Make-Over

***Plot Points Ahead, or my interpretation of those plot points***

What can you say about a cute funny little chimpanzee who grows up to be a not so funny giant Gorilla? That he was once young and beautiful? That he loved bananas? That he once played carefree in the jungle, only to journey to England to become the star of his own feature film? That they surrounded him with some of the worst over- acting ever to grace a horror film? That his toy doll people were not much fun to play with? That he had to die to be returned to his former lovable monkey self? Oh the horror of it all!

For most of this film, when the wicked Dr. Decker, played with a giant side order of ham by Michael Gough, injects that poor Chimpanzee with his nasty super grow essence of hulk formula, it is just plain stupid, boring, ridiculous, and dumb. Apparently the good Doctor also sees the new formula as sort of a viagra type grow drug, because he suddenly gets the hots for a young college student. He's got it bad, really bad, so much so that he sends Konga out to kill a young male college student who has the hots for the same gal. And that guy didn't even have any of the drug. When the doctor's female assistant who apparently has the hots for the good doctor also, (guess she sees him making good use of the drug also) finds out about all this nonsense, she overdoses poor Konga with this super steroid, thinking Konga will rip the good doctor and/or the college girl to shreds. Instead she only manages in getting herself killed, and letting a gigantic Konga loose on London and an unsuspecting movie going public. Konga has a little jealousy streak of his own, does away with the college girl, then carries the good Dr. through London. At First, all the people run hurriedly away, but eventually they reach the end of the studio back lot and can't go any further, so they stop to gawk and stare. At this point, Konga realizes he doesn't have the good doctor in his hand after all, but a wooden doll, so angrily he throws the doll to the ground, which must have been under some kind of magic spell because it suddenly turns back into the now very dead doctor. Unfortunately for Konga, the movie has reached it's budget limit, so unable to tear down any buildings or step on any gawking spectators, the police show up and fire one million shots at him, none of them actually hitting him. This is all too much for the poor Konga, who drops dead of a heart attack and shrinks back to the innocent chimpanzee he was at the beginning. I'm not sure how they shrunk the man in the ape suit but I think he died and shrunk into a dead chimpanzee suit because the fellow is nowhere to be found. Shakespeare should have written such a tragedy.

Till Next Time With tongue held firmly in cheek Next Class Please