KING KONG (1933)
Director: Merian C. Cooper
Genre: Monster on the loose/Adventure/Lost World
THE MOVIE
King Kong is probably the most important in influential monster movie of all time. It spawned a whole genre of giant monster movies and a slew of imitators and copycats as well as one direct sequel, two official big-budget remakes and a short lived Japanese series from Toho studios. It was one of the first big “special effects” movies. Kong’s influence even reaches into far-flung and unexpected places. For example, King Kong was an obvious inspiration for the classic video game Donkey Kong which in turn spawned Super Mario Brothers and the whole series of classic video games that followed. In fact, Kong was so popular in Japan that he receives billing over Japan’s own signature monster in King Kong vs. Godzilla, not to mention that he is the ultimate victor at the end of the movie.
Although the story of Kong was created for the movies, its roots go far back to the “Lost World” stories that became popular in the Victorian era. These stories were created as a response to the discoveries of dinosaur fossils that captured the imagination of the world. It featured the requisite distant tropical island that was the last haven for a population of extinct animals such as dinosaurs and giant bugs. King Kong is also a spin on the beauty and the beast theme in which a beautiful woman is kept and grows an attachment to a monstrous male. These elements were mixed together and turned into something fresh for this (at the time) new medium.
King Kong actually started out as something closer to Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Lost World and Edgar Rice Burroughs’ The Land that Time Forgot in which a ship is stranded on a prehistoric island. This film was to be called Creation and it was the brain child of special effects director Willis O’Brien. Creation was never finished but the special effects convinced Merian Cooper that this genre could be done well on film. In fact, many elements from Creation (and many of the dinosaur models) were later used for Kong.
THE MONSTER/EFFECTS
Kong is probably the most famous movie monster of all time and in his first appearance he is realized through stop-motion animation. One of the great successes of the movie is that Willis O’Brien manages to get a genuine performance out of his little articulated doll. Like any truly memorable screen monster, Kong is more than just an animal. In his first incarnation he begins the long trek towards becoming a truly tragic antihero that comes to fruition in Peter Jackson’s 2005 remake. Unfortunately, there is too much going on in the filmmaker’s 1933 point of view that keeps that from really happening here. This has primarily to do with an unpleasant racial subtext and silly ideas about gorilla behavior. This was a time when people still thought that gorillas were carnivorous and that they would kidnap and rape women, hence Kong’s creepy stripping of Anne’s dress in the movie.
The extent and use of effects in this movie are truly revolutionary and may not be apparent at first glance to a Twenty-First Century viewer. They go beyond simply the animation of the many creatures in the movie and many of them are “invisible” effects that serve to cleverly and seamless composite the animation and live action together. Many of the effects serve to expand and deepen the lush jungles on Skull Island. Unlike today, this was all done optically and in camera using matte paintings as backgrounds and several layers of paintings created on glass to give a sense of depth to the jungle environment. Again, we look at it now and don’t notice it because we take it for granted but the special effects in the original King Kong are incredibly sophisticated and the artists who worked on this movie deserve eternal respect for their contributions to movie making.
DVD AVAILABILITY
This movie is widely available in several versions but I strongly suggest getting a copy of the deluxe two-disc edition which is loaded with bonus material befitting this classic movie.
MOST MEMORABLE SEQUENCE
My most memorable sequence is actually not in the move but in the extras. One of the nice things about the extras is that Peter Jackson is involved in some of the documentaries talking about his love for the original movie as he was in preproduction for his remake at the time. He even shows off some of his collection of Kong memorabilia such as one of the original stop motion models.
I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s back up. There is an infamous lost sequence from King Kong. When the sailors are shaken off the log the fall into a pit filled with giant spiders and other bugs. This sequence is referred to as the Lost Spider Pit Sequence and is analogous to the scene in Jackson’s remake. The scene was filmed for the original movie but cut at some point prior to the movie’s release either because it was too horrific or perhaps only for pacing reasons. All that exists from this scene are some still photos and the original models (some of which were featured in The Black Scorpion.)
So there is this very intriguing idea that somewhere in the world in some vault there may be a famous lost scene from King Kong. Or maybe it was tossed in the incinerator. Re-enter Peter Jackson, who has been semi-obsessed with this scene since he was a young man. What Jackson and his people at WETA did for this Kong DVD was to take all of the original designs that exist from the Spider Pit sequence and rebuild them, animate them and film them using 1933 technology to recreate what this lost sequence would have looked like to the best of their ability. It is not edited into the movie but is available as part of a documentary in the extras. This is just cool on so many levels.
SEQUELS
Son of Kong (1934)
MINORITY REPORT
Where to begin with what’s messed up with King Kong? A bunch of white Americans come on a boat to some island in the Pacific inexplicably filled with African “savages” who worship a giant horny gorilla that is obsessed with a blond white woman. This may be the origin of the term “jungle fever.” I guess the main thing is that the movie propagates a generic and Eurocentric idea about “primitive” people. What’s even worse is that most people who have seen the movie are so accustomed to these jungle stereotypes that they will not stop to think about how condescending and offensive they are. Africa (and other naturally rich but underdeveloped places) were often depicted in old movies as an exotic and dangerous background for an adventure story whose people happened to be servants or adversaries of the white protagonists. King Kong is a great movie but it is definitely a product of early Twentieth Century American thoughts and attitudes.
THE TRAILER:
SEE ALSO:
The remakes from 1976 and 2005.
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