Film Review
Possibly the greatest monster movie of all time, certainly one of the
most celebrated, the original
King
Kong still manages to impress with its groundbreaking special
events and unexpected degree of humanity.
The gigantic gorilla standing on top of the Empire State Building, fighting off an attack of
biplanes, is one of cinema's most enduring images. The film was
conceived by RKO producer Merian C. Cooper as a variant on the
Beauty and the Beast story and the
result was so successful that it helped save the company from going
bankrupt at a critical time in its history.
The success of
King Kong is
almost entirely down to its use of stop-motion animation, which had
been pioneered by effects technician Willis H. O'Brien. All of
the monsters which appear in the film (Kong and a wide variety of
prehistoric creatures) were in fact highly detailed models (between one
and two feet in height) with a flexible wire skeleton which allowed
every part of their bodies to be moved. Stop-motion animation is
a painstaking process requiring the models to be moved by minute
amounts between brief shots which, when edited together, create the
illusion of continuous motion. Standard matte techniques
could then be used to combine live action shots with the animation
shots, so that we can see humans being menaced by a giant-sized
Kong. Effects guru Ray Harryhausen would employ the same methods,
with remarkable results, in several classic fantasy adventure films,
notably
Jason and the Argonauts (1963).
So effectively rendered is the animation of Kong that the monster is by
far the most sympathetic and believable character in the film (indeed,
the film only really comes to life when Kong enters the frame).
Fay Wray has often been praised for her performance but all she has to
do is stand around looking scared and scream (and scream and
scream). No, this is most definitely Kong's film - he (presumably
it's a he) brings pathos, horror and humour to the film, much as Boris
Karloff did in his
Frankenstein
films. It is one of the tragedies of cinema that the oversized
ape was never allowed to progress his career in Hollywood beyond a
rather disappointing sequel,
The Son of Kong (1933). (We won't mention those silly Japanese
films made in the 1960s, nor the pretty but soulless 2005 remake.)
Watching
King Kong today,
perhaps the most striking thing about it is how relentlessly gruesome
it is, particularly for a film made in the 1930s. It has more
grisly deaths than practically any film made up until this time, and
the sequences where Kong is seen ripping his dinosaur chums apart are
not something you would want to put in front of a five year old child,
even today. That
King
Kong was made before the Hollywood Production Code came into
force is evidenced by the sheer visceral horror that we see in the last
third of the film. For the film's 1938 re-release, numerous cuts
had to be made, so out went all the shots where Kong is happily
snacking on live human beings and the scene where the naughty ape tries
to disrobe Fay Wray. Fortunately, several decades later,
the film was restored so that the version which exists today shows
King Kong in all his savage glory -
a sadly misunderstood creature with a penchant for screaming blondes and
an irresistible urge to climb up the side of tall
buildings. Could there perhaps be a Freudian subtext here somewhere?
© James Travers 2008
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Film Synopsis
The illustrious filmmaker Carl Denham is preparing an expedition to a
remote island where he intends to shoot his next film. He has
heard that on the island there is a fantastic beast known as Kong who
is worshipped by the natives. Having found a young woman, Ann
Darrow, to play the starring role in the film, Denham and his crew set
off for the island. There, the natives kidnap Ann and offer her
up as a sacrifice to Kong. Before Denham and his men can free
her, Kong appears - in the form of a giant-sized gorilla - and seizes
Ann, before disappearing into the jungle. Denham manages to
rescue Ann and renders Kong unconscious with a powerful grenade, but
loses a dozen of his men along the way. Convinced that the giant
ape will make him his fortune, Denham has Kong transported back to New
York. On the night when the filmmaker presents his discovery to
the world, Kong manages to break free and goes on a killer rampage
across the city...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.