King Kong is a 1933 American pre-Code adventure fantasy monster film directed and produced by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack. The screenplay by James Ashmore Creelman and Ruth Rose was developed from an idea conceived by Cooper and Edgar Wallace. It stars Fay Wray, Robert Armstrong and Bruce Cabot, and tells the story of a giant ape dubbed Kong who attempts to possess a beautiful young woman. It features stop-motion animation by Willis O’Brien and a music score by Max Steiner. It is the first entry in the King Kong franchise.
via Wikipedia
Let’s address the pre-Code bit, it means that rules regulating what could be shown in movies weren’t completely in place yet, so violence, nudity, sexual assault, and basic woman’s rights were always regulated. Even so, this movie still pales in comparison to some of the movies of today.
King Kong is featured by stop-motion animation (I honestly do love this kind of cinematography and wish more movies featured it), which I found ingenious, and makes the movie for me. However, it comes down a notch in the scene where King Kong starts undressing our little starlet (who’s only requirement is to have a blood-curdling scream it seems).
Our pretentious instigator is the typical businessman/move producer who’s only got eyes on the prize which, of course, causes disaster (do I really need to tell you about this movie?), and the other male involved is the “Alpha Male’ (I don’t like women, but I guess I like you, now you’re mine to protect) who is useless apart from saving Anne when Kong left her alone.
As the first American Creature Feature horror movie it’s pretty good for the time period, but the remake in 2005 has better character development. I can’t rag on it too much as it is a classic piece of cinema and I’m not going to tell you not to watch it, but it is a product of it’s time.
My Ranking: ★ ★
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