KingKong1933

King Kong (1933)

I feel silly even reviewing this movie. I mean who hasn’t seen King Kong? But then again I’m continually shocked by the horror fans that haven’t seen things like Carpenter’s Halloween and Romero’s Dawn of the Dead. So thinking that there might be some that haven’t seen this true classic I feel obligated to talk about it.

A maverick filmmaker named Carl Denham wants to make another of his adventure pictures, but this time he gives into the studio heads that keep wanting him to have some romance. So he goes off in search of a leading lady for his movie. Being that times are tough (the depression and all) he finds a down on her luck actress named Ann. After getting her to come with him they set sail for a location known only to Denham. That location is Skull Island, which turns out to be much more than anyone expected. Not only is the island full of dinosaurs long though extinct, but there is also a giant ape. If that weren’t bad enough he takes a liking to Ann and takes off with her with others in pursuit. Eventually the ape (King Kong of course) is captured and taken back to NYC. He makes his escape, grabs Ann again, and has the iconic fight with some airplanes atop the Empire State Building. But we all knew this right?

What can you say about King Kong? I mean this really is a classic movie. The story is a wonderful adventure that is evenly paced and fun from start to finish. At least I think that is the case, I’m not sure how the “Xbox” generation that is used to shiny flashy things thrown at them every .5 seconds will feel about it. I suppose the story is a bit dated, especially the parts with the natives on the island. But then again it creates the formula that most monster movies still follow to this day. Hell when Peter Jackson remade this thing he pretty much shot the same script that they did, just with modern effects and a bit flashier. I also wanted to point out that this was a pretty gruesome picture when it first came out. I think the body count is in the high 30s or low 40s (depending on what cut you see). Hell when the movie was re-released 5 years after it’s initial run they had to cut some of the death scenes out of the movie to follow the new movie code. These scenes weren’t put back in until the late 60s or early 70s. Again for the time this was a scary movie and needs to be appreciated for it.

I’d have to say that the performances from the cast are pretty good, though I will add a caveat. The acting style from the early days of cinema was still very theatrical, which made the performances seem very “large”. Today they could be considered overacting, but one needs to understand that this was the style. So I’m sure that the performances might come off a bit melodramatic, but you need to cut them some slack. And as someone that has watched a lot of old movies, both good and bad, I can tell you people like Bruce Cabot, Robert Armstrong, and Fay Ray were some of the best at what they did.

But lets talk about the real star of the movie and the one that probably gets the most flack from modern audiences. Of course I’m talking about King Kong himself. While it might seem kind of crude and silly to the audiences spoiled by the visual effects provided by computers today Kong was the first movie that cemented (though not the first to use) the magic that could be accomplished by the use of stop motion animation. Basically moving a puppet around a miniature set and shooting it one frame at a time. This kind of work really was an art form, and though later masters like Ray Harryhausen are better know the man responsible for Kong, Willis O’Brien, was the first true master and the genius behind King Kong. More than just a creature effect Kong becomes a character on screen. This was such an amazing feat and is still some of the best work in the field of stop motion animation more than 75 years later.

I also wanted to mention a bit about the DVD that I watched for this review. I have a copy of the special edition 2-disc anniversary set. The first disc contains the restored and uncut version of the movie, as it was seen in 1933. On the 2nd disc there is an amazing documentary that is 2 ½ hours long that will cover anything you could ever want to know about the people behind King Kong, making the movie, and those that still love it today. Also really cool is the participation of Peter Jackson and his crew in recreating the lost spider footage. There was an entire sequence that was shot and then cut from the original film before it went into wide release that has been lost since 1933. Using their knowledge of the original film and the script an attempt is made to go back and recreate what is lost. Since those scenes are probably lost forever this is as close as an audience will ever get to seeing the footage. If you are a Kong fan you need to check out this set and watch the documentary. It is one of the best movie documentaries that I’ve ever seen.

Seriously if you are a fan of creature features, love horror films, or really just love movies at all you need to see King Kong at least once in your life. And I’m thinking if any of those categories that I’ve mentioned applies to you then King Kong will have another fan. Highly recommend this classic of cinema.

4 out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer