KING KONG (1933)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia
The story has Carl Denham (Robert Armstrong), a daring, adventurous filmmaker who is looking for the next scream queen in one of his pictures. He finds a wandering woman in the streets of Manhattan, Ann Darrow (Fay Wray), whom he's convinced will be a major star. They are off and running, headed for a ship voyage to an unknown island unlisted in any map, Skull Island. Of course, a dim sailor (Bruce Cabot) takes an interest in Ann, especially when she is photographed in lascivious, provocative poses by Carl. Carl's intention is to see how she'll look when horrified by something unnatural. Eventually, they make it to the island, which is surrounded by fog and inhabited by a native tribe who keep chanting the name "Kong." The ship crew is seen by the natives who are clearly interested in the blonde babe, Ann. During the night, some natives kidnap Ann as a sacrifice for Kong. It turns out Kong is a 25-50 foot burly ape who pounds his chest and can wrestle giant snakes, T-rexes and pterodactyls. He also has a way with heavy wooden logs and women. This Skull Island is clearly the land that time forgot.
What delivers in "King Kong" is the sight of this ape and all the special-effects necessary to make it believable. This was the time of the groundbreaking work of stop-motion animation, thanks to Willis O'Brien who pioneered those effects (check out 1925's "The Lost World" for some amazing dinosaur effects). As a result, there was a jerkiness to the effects that lend it some modicum of credibility. Even Ray Harryhausen, who later utilized the possibilities of stop-motion animation even further, was recently quoted as saying that they had a nightmarish quality. Very true, and that is why nobody has forgotten the original King Kong creature. He is as much a part of the New York City skyline as the Empire State Building. It has a peculiar magic realism that today's CGI effects lack.
That is not to say that everything else in "King Kong" is as eye-openingly incredible. The performances by Armstrong, Cabot and Fay Wray (a helluva screamer) wouldn't merit a mention on any Broadway playbill - there is not much depth or personality to these actors. The dialogue stinks and is as witless as they come, though I liked the line said by a New Yorker in reference to men being like gorillas. What does work is King Kong, a creature unlike any other in cinematic history. He is an angry beast who wants his female companion to stick with him, even laying near his feet at the top of the Empire State Building as he fights attacking biplanes. He is seen as a terror by all, though I think making Armstrong something of a good guy at the end when he utters the famous line, "It was beauty that killed the beast" is clearly off-the-mark.
The main reasons to see "King Kong" are to see Kong in action, particularly demolishing everything in his path. And there are those close-ups of Kong munching on citizens of New York and the tribesmen of Skull Island (shots that were initially cut out of the original release). And who can forget Kong as he practically strips poor Fay Wray while she sleeps (another censored scene)! If you can get past the wooden acting and cliched dialogue, "King Kong" will deliver as a nightmare ride of epic proportions.
