King of Kong Island (1968)

Eve is a jungle girl brought up by apes. She is captured with a number of apes by a mad scientist, conducting mind control experiments on them. Eventually she is liberated by a young explorer.

Director:

Roberto Mauri (as Robert Morris)

Writers:

Walter Brandi (story), Roberto Mauri

Stars:

Brad Harris, Esmeralda Barros, Marc Lawrence

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Brad Harris	...	Burt Dawson
Esmeralda Barros	...	Eva - The Savage Girl
Marc Lawrence	...	Albert Muller
Adriana Alben	...	Ursula
Mark Farran	...	Robert
Aldo Cecconi	...	Theodore (as Jim Clay)
Paolo Magalotti	...	Turk (as Paul Carter)
Mario Donatone	...	Forrester (as Dan Doney)
Miles Mason	...	Malik - The Gorilla
Gino Turini	...	Turk's Goon (as John Turner)
Ursula Davis	...	Diana
Gianni Pulone	...	Payroll Robber (as Bianni Pulone)

Storyline

A group of mad scientists travel to Kong Island where they implant receptors into the brains of gorillas planning to create a gorilla war for world domination. Out to break a few heads is a descendant of King Kong.

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Plot Keywords:

mind control | female nudity | mad scientist | jungle girl | experiment | 

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Taglines:

From the forest came the terror of...

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Horror | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

Unrated

Did You Know?

Trivia

Although the U.S. version was promoted under the title "King of Kong Island", the on screen title reads simply "Kong Island".

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Quotes

Albert Muller: [to Burt Dawson] You're an excellent specimen of the human race - strong, clever, brave. That's why I've chosen you for my first experiment on a human being. You'll have the honor of being the first man to become my slave.

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Alternate Versions

The Retromedia DVD release offers two variants of Eva- La Venere Selvaggia ('Eva-The Savage Venus')- 'Kong Island' a watered down version that played US theaters in the late sixties and 'King of Kong Island' the 'uncut European version'. 'Kong Island' looks the better of the two but is poorly panned and scanned and removes shots of the thrill-seeking daughter's gorilla observed striptease, the whole introduction of Esmeralda Barros' topless female Tarzan character as well several instances where Barros' long hair fails to hide her bosom. Despite Retromedia's hyping of 'See: chicks without their tops' these scenes are unlikely to rustle even the most conservative of collars nowadays. 'King of Kong Island' restores all these previously censored moments, offers a new title sequence and presents the film in widescreen. Unfortunately this version has been sourced from a Greek video release, and so features large Greek subtitles, and quality which is bellow par for a DVD presentation. An uncut, letterboxed British release on the 'Intervision' label in the early 1980's, began the film with its US 'Kong Island' credits, but concluded with the Italian end credits (!), that allowed for a reprise of Barros' slow motion nude jog and alluded to the film's Italian/Spanish/New York financing

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Connections

Referenced in Best of the Worst: The Vindicator, Cyber Tracker, Robot Jox, and R.O.T.O.R. (2013)

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Soundtracks

Jungle Shake
Written by Roberto Pregadio
Performed by Roberto Pregadio

User Reviews

No King! No Kong! No Science!

One of the things I've discovered as I make my way through a bunch of B (or C), movies, is that they seem to plod along forever. We enter this film with a group of crooks turning on each other over some stolen money. As things unwind, we are introduced to a mercenary who was wounded by a man he trusted during the opening scene. He obsesses over revenge. We have a couple of women. One a kind of Rita Hayworth type without the good looks (no offense), and a sixties kind of go go dancing looking type, who can handle a rifle. Her father, who is the Ernest Hemingway type, and her brother live with these people. Anyway, there is a subplot of a mad scientist (why are they always mad?) who has done things to affect the brains of gorillas. They can then be controlled by the scientist (the odd thing is that it also transforms them into upright creatures that look like skinny men in cheap monkey suits). Through a series of convoluted plot developments and some deaths, some tribal unrest, a few organized gorilla attacks, the young go go dancer girl ends up in the clutches of the mad scientist. Somehow she ends up with less clothes on than she used to. The scientist ogles her and has future plans which we can only imagine. There's also a native woman who is a kind of queen of the gorillas. They love and respect her, and she always was able to talk to them and get them to do what she wants. Unfortunately, the brain thing messes this up. Need I go on, There is some ridiculous finale with people exchanging the upper hand. The only thing missing is the word "Aha!" My poorly written explanation actually makes the movie sound better than it is. Sorry!

Details

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

29 September 1968 (Italy)

Also Known As:

King of Kong Island

Company Credits

Production Co:

Three Star Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

92 min 85 min (DVD)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1