Contains Spoilers!!!
My Rating: 7/10
This is a classic film, and a great piece of cinema history. It’s a true representation of the ‘Golden Era’ of Hollywood, with everything you might expect from that sort of film.
The special part of this film is it is the first major film with stop-motion in Hollywood. It’s certainly the most iconic. Now while we think of Aardman Animations and Ray Harryhausen when we talk of stop-motion, but Willis Harold O’Brien is the genius behind this earlier version. You might not know it, but the origins of stop-motion go back almost 100 years earlier. More about Willis H. O’Brien can be found here and here.
Anyway, back to Kong.
We all know the story. A filmmaker hears of the legend of Kong, takes a film crew to Skull Island to record it, takes a beautiful girls with him to put in the film and it all goes wrong.
Some of the wonderful things about King Kong involve the interaction of the actors with pre-recorded projections in front of them, many of which are the stop-motion animation. There is a moment when, while shooting at a dinosaur emerging from the water, one of the actors keeps aiming and ducking after the dinosaur has emerged! We also have the over-the-top acting, especially with the pre-recorded scenes. Lots of exaggerated movements and reactions, the characteristics of each role are projected by the actors. I also enjoyed the very neat rips in the shirts of surviving characters. Very tidy, no loose threads and perfectly straight. Even when dishevelled, our heroes are tidy, and the heroine has perfect make up. Nothing gets missed.
The Eighth Wonder of the World!
The actors all have the ‘Mid-Atlantic’ accent, which was preferred at the time for the American Upper Class and throughout the entertainment industry. It’s not the true accent of the players on the screen (or stage) but it was clear for everyone. The lead male, John ‘Jack’ Driscoll (Bruce Cabot), is the pessimistic type that falls in love with the female lead within just a few lines of dialogue, is devilishly brave and doesn’t think twice about swooping in and saving the day.
Ann Darrow (Fay Wray) could be argued as being portrayed as the helpless, damsel-in-distress. However, she is determined to be involved throughout the film. It is a real reflection of society at the time, where women were getting their feet into serious work and trying to be taken seriously in life.
In my little rummaging’s for information on King Kong, I found some interesting facts about how heavily cut and censored it was at the time. It was seen as a very violent film, understandably. A Brontosaurus kills five sailors, which was cut to three; Kong ‘peeling’ Ann’s clothes and sniffing them was cut; Kong’s attack on then natives in the village was cut due to his stamping on one; and some of his attacks in New York, including dropping another woman from the Empire State, was cut.
King Kong was re-released with all those scenes added back many years later (I’ve not found out how long) but there was one scene with a giant spider attack. This was cut before release and never added back. This was recreated for the 2005 remake by Peter Jackson.
Any fans who have watched all the iterations of Kong will be happy to know that Godzilla Vs Kong was released in March 2021 as a follow up to Godzilla: King of Monsters, and Kong: Skull Island. Should be fun!
I’ll review those films prior to watching Godzilla Vs Kong and we’ll see what it’s like.
"It wasn't the planes. It was beauty that killed the beast."
Directed by: Merian C. Cooper, Ernest B. Schoedsack
Screenplay by: James Creelman, Ruth Rose
Starring: Fay Wray, Robert Armstrong, Bruce Cabot
Released: March 2nd, 1933
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