Jungle Emperor (Anime – 1966 Film)

Also known as ジャングル大帝 (Junguru Taitei)

1966 Jungle Emperor Theatrical Movie

In an effort to capitalize on the huge success of the 1965-66 Jungle Emperor animated television show, the Jungle Emperor Theatrical Movie was released in Japan in July 1966. Assembled from already existing animation from the television show, the only new scenes are simply short connecting segments that stitch together the revised edit. Animation is most heavily borrowed from episodes 01 (Go, Child of Panja), and 41 (Wandering Death Gods), although there are also scenes lifted from episodes 02 (The Wind in the Desert), 04 (Samson, the Wild Ox), 20 (Restaurant Rebellion), and 48 (The Red Monster). The longest single piece of all-new animation is used during the running of the end credits.

Since the Theatrical Movie tells the same basic story, most of the original dialogue remains intact. However some changes to the music and dialogue were re-recorded to ensure a smooth transition between re-sequenced scenes.

Somewhat ironically, the 1966 Jungle Emperor Theatrical Movie won an award at the 1967 Venice International Film Festival. The award? A Silver Lion.