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KING KONG (Dir: Merian C. Cooper & Ernest B. Schoedsack, 1933).
RKO Radio Pictures’ modern day Beauty and the Beast is the daddy of all monster movies; chronicling the tale of the Eighth Wonder of the World, King Kong.
Maverick filmmaker Carl Denham (Robert Armstrong) and actress Ann Darrow (Fay Wray) travel to the exotic Skull Island to shoot Denham's latest movie, there encountering the 20 foot tall ape King Kong. Kong falls for Darrow and is used by Denham as bait for the primate's capture. They return to New York with the intention of parading the mammoth beast before a paying public. The plan fails when Kong goes ape, resulting in a climax both thrilling and surprisingly touching and featuring one of the greatest last lines of any movie.
With a cast relatively unknown to modern audiences the real star of the picture is, of course, the gorilla. We are roughly halfway through the movie before we meet Kong. He is mesmerising. Provoking terror and eliciting sympathy from the audience, Kong is completely believable as a living, breathing creature. The animated ape has more personality than most leading men!
Willis O’Brien’s stop motion special effects are astonishing. King Kong is full of breathtaking special effects set pieces which must have seemed miraculous in 1933. Of course the effects do not look as slick as modern day computer graphics but they do have a tactile quality missing from CGI. They are certainly more impressive than the man in the monkey suit of some later Kong movies.
Kong would inspire countless imitations and spawn sequels, remakes and reboots including the forthcoming Godzilla vs Kong (Adam Wingard, 2020). While, admittedly, many of the Kong spin-offs have had their merits, the original has never really been equalled.
A truly astounding piece of filmmaking, King Kong is a work of art that is rightly regarded a masterpiece.
Visit my blog JINGLE BONES MOVIE TIME for a longer, more in-depth review of King Kong! Link below.
THE SON OF KONG (Dir: Ernest B Schoedsack, 1933).
How would the makers of Son of Kong manage to top the groundbreaking, blockbuster original King Kong (Merian C Cooper & Ernest Schoedsack, 1933)? Short answer: they wouldn’t. But neither did they try. Ernest Schoedsack returns as producer/director but Merian C Cooper, his collaborator on the first movie, bowed out when RKO slashed the budget. Scriptwriter Ruth Rose also returns, as do cast members Robert Armstrong as Denham and Victor Wong as Charlie the Cook.
A month after the disastrous events of the first movie, beleaguered showman and moviemaker Carl Denham escapes his creditors by chartering a ship to Kong's Skull Island, in search of mythical hidden treasure. Joined by an animal trainer cum singer (Helen Mack) and shady ships' captain (Frank Reicher) and faithful cook Charlie, the gang are cast overboard by a mutinous crew and arrive on the island via rowboat. After a hostile encounter with the native islanders they encounter the ape sinking into quicksand. Denham and the singer rescue pint-sized Kong who then befriends the pair as they battle a cave bear and brave a massive earthquake in their search for riches.
Although this movie lacks the grandiose special effects set pieces of the original King Kong, Kong Jr is still an impressive beast. Smaller than his pa at 12 foot, as opposed to Kong’s 20ish foot, Kong Jr is also more anthropomorphised than his father. The stop motion ape is, once again, beautifully animated by special effects genius Willis O’Brien. Yet with more human like expressions he is less menacing than his dad, but likewise less sympathetic.
Son of Kong adopts a much lighter, more comic tone than its predecessor and a result the movie is, sadly, less impressive, less poignant and less engaging than the original King Kong. But it is by no means the disaster it was initially perceived to be. Its special effects are still superlative; the performances are strong and at barely 70 minutes it doesn’t outstay its welcome. Lower your expectations (slightly) and you will find The Son of Kong a highly entertaining time waster.
Visit my blog JINGLE BONES MOVIE TIME for a longer, more in-depth review of Son of Kong! Link below.
MIGHTY JOE YOUNG (Dir: Ernest B Schoedsack, 1949).
16 years after scoring a massive hit with fantasy epic King Kong (Merian C Cooper & Ernest B Schoedsack, 1933), RKO Radio Pictures resurrected the mega-ape genre with Mighty Joe Young. Returning are Kong producers and directors Ernest B Schoedsack and Merian C Cooper and star Robert Armstrong. However, this is not a sequel to King Kong and its follow-up Son of Kong (Ernest B Schoedsack, 1933).
Joe is a massive gorilla (not as big as Kong, but still pretty hefty) raised by young Jill Young (Terry Moore) in his African home since a baby. Persuaded by showman Max O’Hara (Robert Armstrong) and his buddy Gregg (Ben Johnson) to accompany them to the US, Max employs Jill and Joe as star attraction at his California nightclub. As is often the case with exhibiting giant gorillas (or, indeed, dinosaurs), things do not go to plan. Otherwise gentle Joe is taunted by drunks to the point where he wrecks the joint. With Joe subsequently imprisoned, Jill, Gregg and Max plot a daring rescue attempt to free the gorilla and return him to Africa.
Shot in black and white with dramatic use of colour filters, Mighty Joe Young is a visual treat. King Kong’s Willis O’Brien and assistant Ray Harryhausen handle the outstanding special effects which elaborate upon the techniques perfected in Kong. Joe is brought to life by beautiful stop motion animation and the interaction between him and his human counterparts is astonishing! A scene where Joe wrestles live action/animated lions is particularly impressive as is the dramatic climax in which Joe rescues children from a burning orphanage.
While it did not have the same impact as the original King Kong, Mighty Joe Young is an impressive movie in its own right with much to recommend it. It is undoubtedly more sentimental than Kong but it is still a thoroughly entertaining feature; well paced, with plenty of humour amidst the thrills and some of the most spectacular visual effects committed to celluloid. Fans of King Kong not familiar with Mighty Joe Young would do well to check out this fantasy classic!
Visit my blog JINGLE BONES MOVIE TIME to read a longer, more in-depth review of Mighty Joe Young! Link below.
DR CYCLOPS (Dir: Ernest B Schoedsack, 1939).
Legendary King Kong (1933) co-directors and producers Ernest Schoedsack and Merian C Cooper reunite for this unusual shocker, based on a story by Henry Kuttner. Co produced by Dale Van Every, Dr Cyclops was released through Paramount Pictures.
Dr Alexander Thorkel (Albert Dekker) has been in the depths of the Peruvian jungle for some years working on a secret experiment. Fellow scientists Dr Robinson and Dr Bullfinch are duly dispatched to his remote lab as Thorkel's assistants. On arriving, they are dismayed when the less than welcoming Doc Thorkel asks them to leave. Eager to learn why the doctor is so secretive, the gang do some snooping and are surprised to learn he has discovered a rich vein of pitchblende ore, containing uranium and radium. The demented doc is using the ore to shrink living creatures and promptly downsizes his curious colleagues. The gang must return to normal size and thwart the doctor's evil plans, but not before battling with oversized jungle foliage and enduring some close calls with enormous crocodile and a kingsized kitty cat.
Read the full review on my blog JINGLE BONES MOVIE TIME. Link below.
