''Queen Kong'' is a 1976 British-West German

adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme spo ...

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

parody A parody is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satire, satirical or irony, ironic imitation. Often its subject is an Originality, original work or some aspect of it (theme/content, author, style, e ...

ing ''

King Kong King Kong, also referred to simply as Kong, is a fictional giant monster resembling a gorilla, who has appeared in various media since 1933. The character has since become an international pop culture icon,Erb, Cynthia, 1998, ''Tracking Kin ...

''. The film was never released theatrically in the United Kingdom, due to legal action by

Dino De Laurentiis Agostino "Dino" De Laurentiis (; 8 August 1919 – 10 November 2010) was an Italian film producer and businessman who held both Italian and American citizenship. Following a brief acting career in the late 1930s and early 1940s, he moved into f ...

, producer of the 1976 ''King Kong'' remake and

RKO RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, is an American film production and distribution company, historically one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Kei ...

, the copyright holder of

at the time. It got a limited release in Italy and Germany. The film has since resurfaced on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

. The film has a

cult following A cult following is a group of fans who are highly dedicated to a person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The latter is often called a cult classic. A film, boo ...

in Japan. In 1998, a troupe of Japanese comedians produced their own Japanese dialogue for the film, in a similar spirit to

Woody Allen Heywood Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; November 30, 1935) is an American filmmaker, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades. Allen has received many List of awards and nominations received by Woody Allen, accolade ...

's ''

What's Up, Tiger Lily? ''What's Up, Tiger Lily?'' is a 1966 American comedy film directed by Woody Allen in his feature-length directorial debut. Allen took footage from a Japanese spy film, '' International Secret Police: Key of Keys'' (1965), and overdubbed it with ...

''; this version with the new Japanese dialogue was released on DVD in 2001. The film was novelized by James Moffat and published by Everest Books in 1977. It was shot at

Shepperton Studios Shepperton Studios is a film studio located in Shepperton, Surrey, England, with a history dating back to 1931. It is now part of Pinewood Group, the Pinewood Studios Group. During its early existence, the studio was branded as Sound City (not ...

and on location around London and

Newhaven Newhaven is a port town in the Lewes district of East Sussex, England, lying at the mouth of the River Ouse. The town developed during the Middle Ages as the nearby port of Seaford began drying up, forcing a new port to be established. A ...

. In addition, miniature sets were created. They utilised the scale model of London at the now long-defunct

Bournemouth Bournemouth ( ) is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area, in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. At the 2021 census, the built-up area had a population of 196,455, making it the largest ...

theme park

Tucktonia Tucktonia was a late 1970s Amusement park, theme park located on Stour Road, Christchurch, Dorset, Christchurch, Dorset, England. It was officially opened on 23 May 1976 by Arthur Askey. It originally occupied of the Tuckton Park Leisure Compl ...

Plot

This film switches the traditional roles of females and males and reverses the sexes of the original cast of King Kong. The main character Ray Fay plays the

damsel in distress The damsel in distress is a narrative device in which one or more men must rescue a woman who has been kidnapped or placed in other peril. The "damsel" is often portrayed as beautiful, popular, and of high social status; she is usually depicted ...

, which tends to usually be played by women. He is kidnapped by film director Luce Habit to star in her new African jungle movie. He then finds himself the attraction of an amorous giant female

gorilla Gorillas are primarily herbivorous, terrestrial great apes that inhabit the tropical forests of equatorial Africa. The genus ''Gorilla'' is divided into two species: the eastern gorilla and the western gorilla, and either four or five su ...

that pursues him across London.

Main cast

Robin Askwith Robin Mark Askwith (born 12 October 1950) is an English actor and singer who has appeared in a number of film, television and stage productions. Making his film debut as Keating in the film '' if....'' (1968), a role he would reprise in '' Brit ...

as Ray Fay *

Rula Lenska Rula Lenska (born Roza Maria Leopoldyna Lubienski 30 September 1947) is an English actress. She mainly appears in British stage and television productions and is known in the United States for a series of television advertisements in the 1970s ...

as Luce Habit *

Valerie Leon Valerie Therese Leon (born 12 November 1943) is an English actress and model who has had roles in many film and television productions, including six of the '' Carry On'' film series and two James Bond films, '' The Spy Who Loved Me'' (1977) and ...

as Queen of the Nabongas * Roger Hammond as Woolf * Linda Hayden as the Singing Nun *

John Clive John Clive (6 January 1933 – 14 October 2012) was an English actor and author, known internationally for his historical and social fiction, such as ''KG200'' and ''Barossa''. Clive was also an established British television and film actor. ...

as Comedian *

Carol Drinkwater Carol Drinkwater (born 22 April 1948) is a British actress, writer and filmmaker residing in France. She portrayed Helen Herriot (née Alderson) in the television adaptation of the James Herriot books '' All Creatures Great and Small'', which l ...

as Ima Goodbody *Anthony Morton as Antique Dealer *

Vicki Michelle Vicki Michelle (born Michelle Vicki Nathan; 14 December 1950) is an English actress, radio presenter, businesswoman, film producer and former model. She is best known for her role as Yvette Carte-Blanche in the BBC television comedy series '' ...

as Crew Girl *

Anna Bergman Anna Bergman (born 5 May 1948) is a Swedish retired actress. She is the daughter of film and theatre director Ingmar Bergman and choreographer-director Ellen Lundström, sister to Eva, Jan, and Mats Bergman (twin); and half-sister to Daniel ...

as Crew Girl *Geraldine Gardner as Crew Girl *Jeannie Collings as Crew Girl

References

External links

* *
''Queen Kong'' on Nanarland
1976 films 1970s fantasy comedy films 1970s monster movies 1970s parody films 1970s adventure comedy films 1976 comedy horror films Fictional queens King Kong (franchise) films British parody films Constantin Film films Films set in London Giant monster films Films shot at Shepperton Studios Films shot in London Films shot in East Sussex British monster movies British natural horror films British comedy horror films 1970s English-language films 1970s British films 1970s Japanese films English-language adventure comedy films Films about gorillas Films about kidnapping 1976 science fiction films 1976 comedy-drama films English-language comedy horror films English-language science fiction horror films English-language fantasy comedy films {{1970s-adventure-film-stub