Charlotte Allen Approves
In the L.A. Times, Andrew Erish tells the story of Ingagi, the 1930 exploitation movie that posed as "an authentic incontestable celluloid document showing the sacrifice of a living woman to mammoth gorillas!" The bestiality-obsessed pseudo-documentary, which arguably influenced the original King Kong, was one of the most popular pictures of the Depression. After it was exposed as a hoax, it spawned investigations by the Hays Office and the Federal Trade Commission.
Vaguely related reading: Joe Bob Briggs wrote about the exploitation circuit in this classic Reason piece. And my appreciation of Kong star Fay Wray is here.