King Kong (1933)
by Robbo
Posted on 2 November 2021
Rating -
King Kong is a 1933 American pre-Code adventure fantasy horror film directed and produced by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack.
The screenplay by James Ashmore Creelman and Ruth Rose which was developed from an idea conceived by Cooper and Edgar Wallace.
King Kong was the brainchild of Merian C. Cooper, a former pilot and adventurer who got his start in film with the Explorers Club, travelling the world and documenting his adventures.
Cooper’s initial idea depicted a gorilla battling Komodo Dragons and included a lone woman on an expedition to appease those critics who berated him for neglecting romance in his films. A remote island would be the setting and the gorilla would have a spectacular death in New York City.
Willis O’Brien had created cutting edge stop-motion effects for a 1925 adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Lost World featuring dinosaurs.
Cooper realised he could economically make his gorilla film by scrapping the Komodo dragons and costly location shoots for O’Brien’s animated dinosaurs and the studio’s existing jungle set.
King Kong opens in New York Harbor, film-maker Carl Denham, known for wildlife films in remote and exotic locations, charters Captain Englehorn’s ship, the Venture, for his new project, however, he is unable to secure an actress for a female role he has been reluctant to disclose. Searching the streets of New York City, he finds Ann Darrow and promises her the adventure of a lifetime.
The crew boards the Venture and sets off, during which the ship’s first mate, Jack Driscoll, falls in love with Ann.
Denham reveals to the crew that their destination is in fact Skull Island, an uncharted territory, and alludes to a mysterious entity named Kong, rumoured to dwell on the island.
The crew arrives at the island and anchors offshore. Going ashore they encounter a native village, separated from the rest of the island by an enormous stone wall with a large wooden gate. They witness a group of natives preparing to sacrifice a young woman termed the “bride of Kong”. The intruders are spotted, and the native chief stops the ceremony. When he sees Ann, he offers to trade six of his tribal women for the “golden woman”. They rebuff him and return to the Venture.
That night, the natives kidnap Ann from the ship and take her through the gate and onto an altar, where she is offered to King Kong, an enormous gorilla-like creature. Kong carries a terrified Ann away as Denham, Jack and some volunteers enter the jungle in hopes of rescuing her.
They encounter a living dinosaur, a charging Stegosaurus, which they manage to kill. After facing an aggressive Brontosaurus and Kong himself, Jack and Denham are the only survivors. A Tyrannosaurus Rex attacks Ann and Kong, but Kong kills it in battle.
Jack continues to follow them while Denham returns to the village for more men.
Upon arriving in Kong’s lair, Ann is menaced by a snake-like Elasmosaurus, which Kong also kills. While Kong is distracted killing a Pteranodon that tried to fly away with Ann, Jack reaches her, and they climb down a vine dangling from a cliff ledge and run through the jungle and back to the village, where Denham, Englehorn, and the surviving crewmen are waiting.
Kong, following, breaks open the gate and relentlessly rampages through the village. Onshore, Denham, now determined to bring Kong back alive, knocks him unconscious with a gas bomb.
Shackled in chains, Kong is taken to New York City and presented to a Broadway theatre audience as “Kong, the Eighth Wonder of the World!” Ann and Jack are brought on stage to join him, surrounded by a group of press photographers. Kong, believing that the ensuing flash photography is an attack, breaks loose as the audience flees in horror.
Ann is whisked away to a hotel room on a high floor, but Kong, scaling the building, soon finds her and rampages through the city and climbs the Empire State Building. At its top, he is attacked by four airplanes. Kong destroys one, but finally succumbs to their gunfire. He gazes at Ann one last time before falling to his death.
Denham arrives and pushes through a crowd surrounding Kong’s corpse in the street. When a policeman remarks that the planes got him, Denham tells him, “No, it wasn’t the airplanes. It was Beauty killed the Beast”.
I remember first seeing King Kong on television at the age of about 4 years old, and believe me it left a big impression on me, and it was this film that started my love of monster movies.
King Kong has everything; adventure, romance, an ocean voyage to a mysterious island, an overgrown Gorilla battling dinosaurs and then a spectacular ending where Kong rampages through New York City, eventually finding his match in modern weaponry. It was the ultimate Beauty and the Beast story.
Looking back on it now, yes it does look a bit dated but you can’t compare films made nearly 90 years ago with films of today. Back in 1933, stop motion photography was cutting edge special effects but now seem passée in the world of CGI.
Kong is an enduring and popular character which lives on in sequels, remakes, reboots and crossovers, most famously fighting Godzilla.
Even so, the original King Kong will always be a favourite of mine, one that I would urge everyone to see.
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