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Thrice Told Tales – King Kong
(Thrice Told Tales is an occasional series about stories brought to the screen at least three times.)
Let’s keep this simple. 1933’s King Kong is one of the best films ever made. American Film Institute lists have regularly ranked it in the top 50 films, along with their lists of best Fantasy, Thrillers, and their list of Best Quotes (#84, “Oh no, it wasn’t the airplanes. It was Beauty killed the Beast.”) Third round pick for the National Film Registry. Over ninety years after its release, Kong is still a fixture in our culture.
And it’s still a fun watch.
The 1933 film was directed by two men who had already lived lives of adventure. Ernest B. Schoedsack ran away from home at 14 and worked in road crews. He served with the U.S. Army Signal Corps as a cameraman in Europe during World War I. He worked with the American Red Cross, helping refugees during the Polish/Soviet War and the Greco/Turkish War. He met Merian C. Cooper and the two filmed Chang: A Drama in the Wilderness in the northern Siamese jungle.
In 1916, Merian C. Cooper joined the Georgia National Guard to chase Pancho Villa (they didn’t catch him). Cooper served in the United States Army Air Service and the Polish Air Force; he was held as a prisoner of war by the Germans in WWI and the Soviets in the Polish/Soviet War. He worked for the National Geographic Society and in 1925 made the documentary, Grass: A Nation’s Battle for Life, which followed a branch of the Bakhtiari tribe of Lurs in Persia.
So, though Cooper and Schoedsack made a fantasy film in King Kong, the character of documentary filmmaker, Carl Denham (Robert Armstrong), is not created out of whole cloth. They knew what it was like to risk their lives exploring exotic, dangerous locations.
It takes a third of the film’s hour-and-forty-minute length to reach the exotic, dangerous location of Skull Island. During that important, introductory segment of the film, we meet First Mate Jack Driscoll (Bruce Cabot) and Ann Darrow, the woman who will play the actress in Carl Denham’s new film, played by Fay Wray. Ann is an out-of-work actress living on the streets of New York. She’s willing to sign up for the adventure of exploring a new land, facing grave danger. Ann Darrow does a lot of screaming in the film, but she is shown not just as a beauty, but as a tough and resourceful character.
The real hero, of course, is the Big Guy, King Kong himself – though he was actually a rather Small Guy. He was a model, 22 inches high, with a structure made of steel and clay with hair on top. But he was brought to life with stop motion photography, matte paintings, rear projection, and other models. And he was truly brought to life on the screen. You see Kong’s rage and curiosity and tenderness on a face that is so very real.
The Hays Code was adopted by studios in 1930 but wasn’t enforced until 1934, which means when the film was released in 1933, certain scenes were included such as a giant spider attacking a man, Kong stomping and eating people, and Kong pulling the wrong woman out of a building and tossing her down. Many scenes were cut when the Code was enforced the next year, and it would be decades before they were reinstated.
Numerous writers and filmmakers were inspired by the film. Ray Bradbury credited the film with sparking his imagination. Ray Harryhausen brought a menagerie of characters to the screen inspired by the Great Ape. Tomoyuke Tanaka credits Kong with leading to the creation of Godzilla.
It also led to other appearances of the King and related characters on the big and small screens. The Son of Kong, featuring Kong’s offspring, premiered in the same year as the original in 1933. (The lack of a mother was never explained.) Toho Studios came out with a couple of original stories, King Kong Versus Godzilla (1962) and King Kong Escapes (1967). An animated TV program, The King Kong Show ran on ABC Saturday mornings from 1966 to 1967.
But a retelling of the original story was still to come. 1976’s King Kong was produced by Dino De Laurentiis who famously said, “When my monkey die, everybody gonna cry.” It is quite handily the worst telling of the tale. It’s set in 1976, just as the first Kong was set in 1933.
Instead of a movie producer named Carl Denham looking for adventure, we have Fred Wilson (Charles Grodin), a greedy executive for Petrox Oil Company looking to take a ship to a mysterious island in the Indian Ocean permanently surrounded by clouds. “Primate Paleontologist” Jack Prescott (Jeff Bridges) stows away on the ship to warn against the dangers of going to the island. They are joined by a woman stranded on an exploding yacht (sure, it happens). A beautiful, unconscious woman, Dwan (Jessica Lange). Let’s look at each of these characters.
Fred Wilson is the personification of the evil power industry, looking to destroy the earth for profit. When he discovers Kong he decides to make him his company’s corporate mascot. (“A tiger in the tank made Exxon millions!”) He brings Kong to New York City for a big corporate event. I can’t imagine that was at all cost-effective.
Jack Prescott is a scientist, so, of course, he is the voice of wisdom and reason. Somehow, his background as a “primate paleontologist” allows him to understand the language of the native people and predict the actions of a previously undiscovered giant ape. He’s always ready to lecture Wilson, “Even an environmental rapist like you wouldn’t be willing to wipe out a new species of animal!”
Sadly, Dwan is a much dimmer character than Ann in the previous film. (Yes, her name is spelled D-W-A-N and pronounced like the sunrise.) She’s found on a life raft in tattered rags and tends toward skimpy clothing throughout the film. She’s a devotee of two fads of the era, Women’s Lib and astrology (yelling at Kong at one point, “You G-d d-mned chauvinist pig ape!” and at another time coos, “You’re a sweet ape, we’re going to be great friends. I’m a Libra, I bet you’re an Aries.”)
Of course, the major character, Kong himself, doesn’t work nearly as well. When he ogles Dwan, he comes across as a bit of a pervert. In early promotion for the film, Kong was said to be a creature creation from Carlo Rambaldi. But it was later learned that most of the Kong “effects” were performed by make-up man Rick Baker in an ape suit. There’s certainly a place for “man in a suit” monster films. It’s the basis of the whole Godzilla franchise. But it seemed a cheat when this picture earned an Oscar for Best Visual Effects.
At the end of this film, Kong climbs the World Trade Center rather than the Empire State Building. He is brought down by helicopters and flamethrowers rather than biplanes. But he is brought down. I’m afraid I didn’t cry.
Oh, and I should mention a very strange end credit. “Hair style for Kong by Michaeldino.”
Peter Jackson set his 2005 version of King Kong in the same period as the first film – during the Great Depression of the 1930s.
Faithful to the first film, producer Carl Denham (Jack Black) hires starving actress Ann Darrow. Denham introduces himself to Ann saying, “I’m someone you can trust, a movie producer.” On the ship we meet First Mate Jack Driscoll (Adrien Brody) and as in the first film, Ann and Jack quickly fall for each other. In a clever conceit, some of the romantic dialogue from the first film is used for the script Denham has for Ann and a costar to read for filming on the ship. Nearly an hour is spent in New York and the sea voyage.
Once we get to Kong, he is an impressive sight. In this version he’s brought to life through Computer Generated Images (CGI). His battles with dinosaurs and other beasts on the island are well-rendered and exciting. But strangely, for me at least, he doesn’t seem as “real” as the first Kong made with stop motion.
After two hours and twenty minutes, we’re back in New York for Denham to present Kong as “The Eighth Wonder of the World.” The remaining 40 minutes of the film cover Kong’s rampage through the city, his capture of Ann, and his death, falling from the Empire State Building. The iconic line, “It wasn’t the airplanes, it was beauty that killed the beast” is used again.
There is much to commend in this third version of King Kong. I’m sure it’s much easier to get some children and teens to watch this version simply because it’s in color.
But Peter Jackson has a hobbit habit of making his films too long. This one probably could have been pruned an hour.
Warner Brothers came out with Kong: Skull Island in 2017, an interesting combination of King Kong with a Vietnam film. And the big ape has teamed up with the big lizard in 2021’s Godzilla vs. Kong and this year’s Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire.
But as far as I’m concerned, none of these films has captured the magic of the first.
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HDTV was still relatively new when the 2005 version made it to cable, and King Kong was spectacular. Scenes of Times Square were amazingly realistic. Peter Jackson and Jack Black deserve more kudos than they got.
I also liked one of the Kong rip-offs, 1949’s Mighty Joe Young. MJY‘s rampages were on a more modest scale. Same studio as the original, RKO, and even the same pair of directors.
Who could forget the big ape’s other contribution to cinema? Part of the Kong set was set on fire by producer David Selznick and filmed for the burning of Atlanta in Gone With the Wind.
Jessica Lange debuted in the second Kong and went on to an illustrious career. Fay Wray, not so much. She tried retiring from acting in 1942 but financial difficulties brought her back. She made a decent living appearing on television. When she passed they dimmed the lights on the Empire State Building for 15 minutes in her honor.
Thanks. Yeah, the Jackson King Kong was overlong and should have been trimmed by at least forty minutes. The Giant Ape Graveyard scene was brilliant, though, and the backstory they give to Ann Darrow was quite well done.
I’m glad you mentioned Mighty Joe Young. I first saw it on Sunday morning TV when the local station would show a mix of Shirley Temple movies (which are pretty good) and monster movies (Godzilla, Kong, etc). It’s a good story with giant simian heroics (Joe saves kids from a burning orphanage), a happy ending, and Ben Johnson. Plus, it was my introduction to Beautiful Dreamer, which became one of my standard songs to sing the kiddly-winks at bedtime.
Also, I am amazed that, in the 1933 and 2005 versions, they were able to sail the ship back to America. The death rate of the crew on the island was horrendous.
When I finally watched the 1933 version I was surprised to see Bruce Cabot in the leading role. I was aware of him, but then became a fan. Any guy who wasn’t upstaged by John Wayne (Big Jake) is impressive.
I tend to agree with your assessment of the original film. I always loved it. Watched it, perhaps 10 time over the years beginning when it was first released to television some time in the 50s, I think. I am pretty sure I was a pre-teen when it came out on TV. The later versions did very little for me. I suspect that a quote from Antoine De St. Exupery explains why. He said, and I have to paraphrase here, Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing further to add, but when there is nothing left to remove. Both of the later films, as you pointed out, could easily have been trimmed a good deal without any loss of dramatic effect or plot.
That is a great quote.
Here is the exact quote from Wind, Sand, and Stars:
“In anything at all, perfection is finally attained not when there is no longer anything to add, but when there is no longer anything to take away, when the body has been stripped down to its nakedness. “
The quote was in reference to aircraft. Saint-Exupery was a pilot during the early days of WW2. As a climber I always felt the same applied to alpinism where is it easy to find all sort of tools that take the place of real skill and talent. The ethic of climbing calls for minimal aids. Ideally, you climb naked. That being absurd, you add the minimal number of tools. You never use more on a climb than what the first ascender used so that you do not degrade the route. Using less is even better.
One other good thing about Mighty Joe: he was of a more consistent size than his predecessor. Kong seemed to vary between 20 and 150 feet tall, depending on the scene. Mighty Joe came in at the low end of that range, but his rampage was more realistically scaled than Kong’s. Destroying a west coast nightclub that’s using him as a laughingstock is pretty tame (and audience friendly) compared to pulling an El train off the tracks.
I learned something similar about cropping photographic prints from a professional photographer. It can be applied to writing, speaking, and many other things.
I totally agree!