"King Kong" is well known for its groundbreaking use of special effects, such as stop-motion animation, matte painting, rear projection and miniatures, all of which were conceived decades before the digital age. The numerous prehistoric creatures inhabiting Skull Island were brought to life through the use of stop-motion animation by Willis O'Brien and his assistant animator, Buzz Gibson. The stop-motion animation scenes were painstaking and difficult to achieve and complete after the special effects crew realized that they could not stop, because it would make the movements of the creatures seem inconsistent and the lighting would not have the same intensity over the many days it took to fully animate a finished sequence.
Special effects
King Kong (1933 film)
King Kong (1933 film) | Special effects
Stop-motion animation, matte painting, rear projection and miniatures Stop-motion animation, matte painting, rear projection and miniatures. Stop-motion animation, matte painting, rear projection and miniatures Stop-motion animation, matte painting, rear projection and miniatures
is gary cooper an actor?
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Yes
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from which origin?
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Helena, Montana, United States
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what is his style like?
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Natural, authentic, and understated acting style
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with whom he was in relation?
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Veronica Balfe
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did he marry her?
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Yes
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in which films were he involved during the span 1925 to 28?
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The Thundering Herd, Wild Horse Mesa, The Johnstown Flood
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is this above lady also from film industry?
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Yes - American actress
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which film did she work in?
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The Gay Nighties, King Kong, Blood Money
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is she alive?
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No - she died on February 16, 2000.
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who is the director of this second film?
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Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack.
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what was the above actress's role in it?
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She played parts in "King Kong"
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which special effects were used in it?
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The background of the scenes in the jungle (a miniature set) were also painted on several layers of glass to convey the illusion of deep and dense jungle foliage.
King Kong (1933 film) | Special effects
A device called the surface gauge was used in order to keep track of the stop-motion animation performance. The iconic fight between Kong and the "Tyrannosaurus" took seven weeks to be completed. O'Brien's protegé, Ray Harryhausen, who later worked with him on several films, stated that O'Brien's second wife noticed that there was so much of her husband in Kong. The backdrop of Skull Island seen when the Venture crew first arrive was painted on glass by matte painters Henry Hillinck, Mario Larrinaga and Byron C. Crabbé. The scene was then composited with separate bird elements and rear projected behind the ship and the actors.
King Kong (1933 film) | Special effects
"King Kong" is well known for its groundbreaking use of special effects, such as stop-motion animation, matte painting, rear projection and miniatures, all of which were conceived decades before the digital age. The numerous prehistoric creatures inhabiting Skull Island were brought to life through the use of stop-motion animation by Willis O'Brien and his assistant animator, Buzz Gibson. The stop-motion animation scenes were painstaking and difficult to achieve and complete after the special effects crew realized that they could not stop, because it would make the movements of the creatures seem inconsistent and the lighting would not have the same intensity over the many days it took to fully animate a finished sequence.
King Kong (1933 film) | Special effects
The Production Code's stricter decency rules had been put into effect in Hollywood after its 1933 premiere and it was progressively censored further, with several scenes being either trimmed or excised altogether. These scenes were as follows: A "Brontosaurus" mauling crewmen in the water, chasing one up a tree and killing him; Kong undressing Ann Darrow and sniffing his fingers; Kong biting and stepping on natives when he attacks the village; Kong biting a reporter in New York; Kong mistaking a sleeping woman for Ann and dropping her to her death, after realizing his mistake. An additional scene portraying giant insects, spiders, a lizard and a tentacled creature devouring the crew members shaken off the log by Kong into the floor of the canyon below was deemed too gruesome by RKO even by pre-Code standards, and thus the scene was studio self-censored prior to original release.
King Kong (1933 film) | Censorship and restorations
The 'big head bust' was placed in the theater's forecourt and a seventeen-act show preceded the film with "The Dance of the Sacred Ape" performed by a troupe of African American dancers the highpoint. "Kong" cast and crew attended and Wray thought her on-screen screams distracting and excessive. The film opened nationwide on April 10, 1933, and worldwide on Easter Day in London, England. It was re-released in 1938, 1942, 1946, 1952 and 1956, the latter following a successful telecast on WOR-TV.
King Kong (1933 film) | Theatrical
B. Gibson, and Fred Reese. Inside the structure, metal levers, hinges, and an air compressor were operated by three men to control the mouth and facial expressions. Its fangs were 10 inches in length and its eyeballs 12 inches in diameter. The bust was moved from set to set on a flatcar. Its scale matched none of the models and, if fully realized, Kong would have stood thirty to forty feet tall.
King Kong (1933 film) | Models
This new "Kong" isn't a horror movie-it's an absurdist love story." Richard Schickel from "Time" wrote that "The special effects are marvelous, the good-humored script is comic-bookish without being excessively campy, and there are two excellent performances" from Charles Grodin and Jeff Bridges. "Variety" wrote that "Faithful in substantial degree not only to the letter but also the spirit of the 1933 classic for RKO, this $22 million-plus version neatly balances superb special effects with solid dramatic credibility." Film historian Leonard Maltin cited the remake as "Addle-brained...has great potential, but dispels all the mythic and larger-than-life qualities of the original with idiotic characters and campy approach...Hardly the sort of picture one would touch after making "Tootsie" (for which Lange won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar, 6 years later)." Vincent Canby, reviewing for "The New York Times", claimed the movie was "inoffensive, uncomplicated fun, as well as a dazzling display of what special-effects people can do when commissioned to construct a 40-foot-tall ape who can walk, make fondling gestures, and smiles a lot." However, he was critical of the use of the World Trade Center instead of the Empire State Building during the climax, but he praised the performances by Bridges and Grodin and the special effects creation of Kong.
King Kong (1976 film) | Critical response
The vocalizations of the Tyrannosaurus were additionally mixed in with puma screams. Bird squawks were used for the Pteranodon. Spivak also provided the numerous screams of the various sailors. Fay Wray herself provided all of her character's screams in a single recording session. For budgetary reasons, RKO decided not to have an original film score composed, instead instructing composer Max Steiner to simply reuse music from other films. Cooper thought the film deserved an original score and paid Steiner $50,000 to compose it. Steiner completed the score in six weeks and recorded it with a 46-piece orchestra. The studio later reimbursed Cooper.
King Kong (1933 film) | Post-production
James Flavin played Second Mate Briggs, and a host of stuntmen and bit players as the ship's crew. Etta McDaniel played a native mother of a child she rescues from Kong's rampage. Sandra Shaw played the New York woman Kong drops to the street from the hotel ledge. Merian C. Cooper played an airplane pilot and Schoedsack the machine gunner in uncredited roles in the film's final scenes. James Dime played a member of the ship's crew
King Kong (1933 film) | Cast
"Kong" did not receive any Academy Awards nominations. Selznick wanted to nominate O'Brien and his crew for a special award in visual effects but the Academy declined. Such a category did not exist at the time and would not exist until 1938. Sidney Saunders and Fred Jackman received a special achievement award for the development of the translucent acetate/cellulose rear screen – the only "Kong"-related award.
King Kong (1933 film) | Awards and nominations
It was praised for its special effects, performances, sense of spectacle and comparison to the 1933 original, while some criticised its 3-hour run time. It won three Academy Awards: Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing and Best Visual Effects. A tie-in video game was released alongside the film, which also became a commercial success.
King Kong (2005 film) | Introduction
Though searched for, the footage is now considered "lost forever" with only a few stills and pre-production drawings. After the 1956 re-release, the film was sold to television (first being broadcast March 5, 1956). RKO did not preserve copies of film's negative or release prints with the excised footage, and the cut scenes were considered lost for many years. In 1969, a 16mm print, including the censored footage, was found in Philadelphia. The cut scenes were added to the film, restoring it to its original theatrical running time of 100 minutes. This version was re-released to art houses by Janus Films in 1970.
King Kong (1933 film) | Censorship and restorations
"King Kong" was filmed in several stages over an eight-month period. Some actors had so much time between their "Kong" periods that they were able to fully complete work on other films. Cabot completed "Road House" and Wray appeared in the horror films "Dr. X" (1932) and "Mystery of the Wax Museum" (1933). She estimated she worked for ten weeks on "Kong" over its eight-month production. In May and June 1932, Cooper directed the first live-action "Kong" scenes on the jungle set built for "The Most Dangerous Game". Some of these scenes were incorporated into the test reel later exhibited for the RKO board.
King Kong (1933 film) | Live-action scenes
The script was still in revision when the jungle scenes were shot and much of the dialogue was improvised. The jungle set was scheduled to be struck after "Game" was completed, so Cooper filmed all of the other jungle scenes at this time. The last scene shot was that of Driscoll and Ann racing through the jungle to safety following their escape from Kong's lair. In July 1932, the native village was readied while Schoedsack and his crew filmed establishing shots in the harbor of New York City. Curtiss F8C-5/O2C-1 Helldiver war planes taking off and in flight were filmed at a U.S.
King Kong (1933 film) | Live-action scenes
In 2009, one sold for £121,000 ($200,000) at Christie's in London. Kong's torso was streamlined to eliminate the comical appearance of the real world gorilla's prominent belly and buttocks. His lips, eyebrows, and nose were fashioned of rubber, his eyes of glass, and his facial expressions controlled by thin, bendable wires threaded through holes drilled in his aluminum skull. During filming, Kong's rubber skin dried out quickly under studio lights, making it necessary to replace it often and completely rebuild his facial features. A huge bust of Kong's head, neck, and upper chest was made of wood, cloth, rubber, and bearskin by Delgado, E.
King Kong (1933 film) | Models
Even allowing for its slow start, wooden acting and wall-to-wall screaming, there is something ageless and primeval about "King Kong" that still somehow works."
King Kong (1933 film) | Critical response
King Kong is a 1933 American pre-Code monster adventure romance 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, Bruce Cabot and Robert Armstrong, and opened in New York City on March 2, 1933, to rave reviews. It has been ranked by Rotten Tomatoes as the fourth greatest horror film of all time and the forty-sixth greatest film of all time. The film portrays the story of a huge, gorilla-like creature dubbed Kong who perishes in an attempt to possess a beautiful young woman (Wray).
King Kong (1933 film) | Introduction
Over the next two decades, Universal Studios carried out further photochemical restoration on "King Kong". This was based on a 1942 release print, with missing censor cuts taken from a 1937 print, which "contained heavy vertical scratches from projection." An original release print located in the UK in the 1980s was found to contain the cut scenes in better quality. After a 6-year worldwide search for the best surviving materials, a further, fully digital, restoration utilizing 4K resolution scanning was completed by Warner Bros. in 2005. This restoration also had a 4-minute overture added, bringing the overall running time to 104 minutes.
King Kong (1933 film) | Censorship and restorations
In his executive capacity, Cooper ordered the "Creation" production shelved, and put its crew to work on "Kong".
King Kong (1933 film) | Concept
The “beauty and the beast” angle was first developed at this time. Kong's escape was switched from Madison Square Garden to Yankee Stadium and (finally) to a Broadway theater. Cute moments involving the gorilla in Wallace's draft were cut because Cooper wanted Kong hard and tough in the belief that his fall would be all the more awesome and tragic. Time constraints forced Creelman to temporarily drop "The Eighth Wonder" and devote his time to the "Game" script. RKO staff writer Horace McCoy was called in to work with Cooper, and it was he who introduced the island natives, a giant wall, and the sacrificial maidens into the plot.
King Kong (1933 film) | Script
King Kong is a 1976 American monster adventure film produced by Dino De Laurentiis and directed by John Guillermin. It is a remake of the 1933 film of the same name about a giant ape that is captured and taken to New York City for exhibition. Featuring special effects by Carlo Rambaldi, it stars Jeff Bridges, Charles Grodin and Jessica Lange in her first film role. The idea to remake "King Kong" was conceived by Michael Eisner, who was then an ABC executive, in 1974. He separately proposed the idea to Universal Pictures CEO Sidney Sheinberg and Paramount Pictures CEO Barry Diller.
King Kong (1976 film) | Introduction
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 98% based on , with a weighted average rating of 9/10. The site's critical consensus reads, ""King Kong" explores the soul of a monster – making audiences scream and cry throughout the film – in large part due to Kong's breakthrough special effects." On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 90 out of 100, based on 12 critics, indicating "Universal acclaim". "Variety" thought the film was a powerful adventure. "The New York Times" gave readers an enthusiastic account of the plot and thought the film a fascinating adventure.
King Kong (1933 film) | Critical response
John Mosher of "The New Yorker" called it "ridiculous", but wrote that there were "many scenes in this picture that are certainly diverting". The "New York World-Telegram" said it was "one of the very best of all the screen thrillers, done with all the cinema's slickest camera tricks". The "Chicago Tribune" called it "one of the most original, thrilling and mammoth novelties to emerge from a movie studio." On February 3, 2002, Roger Ebert included "King Kong" in his "Great Movies" list, writing that "In modern times the movie has aged, as critic James Berardinelli observes, and 'advances in technology and acting have dated aspects of the production.' Yes, but in the very artificiality of some of the special effects, there is a creepiness that isn't there in today's slick, flawless, computer-aided images...
King Kong (1933 film) | Critical response
The film's special effects were created by Clifford Stine, whose career began in 1933 with "King Kong." Alternate takes from Universal's "It Came from Outer Space" (1953), which Stine also created, were used for the meteor crash in the film's opening sequence.
The Monolith Monsters | Special effects
Naval airfield on Long Island. Views of New York City were filmed from the Empire State Building for backgrounds in the final scenes and architectural plans for the mooring mast were secured from the building's owners for a mock-up to be constructed on the Hollywood sound stage.
King Kong (1933 film) | Live-action scenes
After the RKO board approved the production of a test reel, Marcel Delgado constructed Kong (or the "Giant Terror Gorilla" as he was then known) per designs and directions from Cooper and O'Brien on a one-inch-equals-one-foot scale to simulate a gorilla 18 feet tall. Four models were built: two jointed 18-inch aluminum, foam rubber, latex, and rabbit fur models (to be rotated during filming), one jointed 24-inch model of the same materials for the New York scenes, and a small model of lead and fur for the climactic plummeting-down-the-Empire-State-Building shot. At least two armatures have survived – one believed to be the original made for the test footage – and are owned by Peter Jackson and Bob Burns.
King Kong (1933 film) | Models
It also included the colorized version of the film and a 25-minute documentary, "It Was Beauty Killed the Beast" (1992). The documentary is also available on two different UK "King Kong" DVDs, while the colorized version is available on DVD in the UK and Italy. Warner Home Video re-released the black and white version on VHS with the 25-minute documentary included under the "Warner Bros. Classics" label in 1999. In 2005 Warner Bros released their digital restoration of "King Kong" in a US 2-disc Special Edition DVD, coinciding with the theatrical release of Peter Jackson's remake. It had numerous extra features, including a new, third audio commentary by visual effects artists Ray Harryhausen and Ken Ralston, with archival excerpts from actress Fay Wray and producer/director Merian C.
King Kong (1933 film) | Home media
The film was an immediate hit, and by some estimates it was one of the highest-grossing films of the 1930s at over $4 million. Although Cooper never listed "Ingagi" among his influences for "King Kong," it has long been held that RKO green-lit "Kong" because of the bottom-line example of "Ingagi" and the formula that "gorillas plus sexy women in peril equals enormous profits".
King Kong (1933 film) | Background
Murray Spivack provided the sound effects for the film. Kong's roar was created by mixing the recorded growls of zoo lions and tigers, subsequently played backwards slowly. Spivak himself provided Kong's "love grunts" by grunting into a megaphone and playing it at a slow speed. For the huge ape's footsteps, Spivak stomped across a gravel-filled box with plungers wrapped in foam attached to his own feet, while the sounds of his chest beats were recorded by Spivak hitting his assistant (who had a microphone held to his back) on the chest with a drumstick. Spivak created the hisses and croaks of the dinosaurs with an air compressor for the former and his own vocals for the latter.
King Kong (1933 film) | Post-production
"King Kong" was also, somewhat controversially, colorized in the late 1980s for television.
King Kong (1933 film) | Censorship and restorations
Leon Gordon also contributed to the screenplay in a minimal capacity; both he and McCoy went uncredited in the completed film. When Creelman returned to the script full-time, he hated McCoy's “mythic elements”, believing the script already had too many over-the-top concepts, but Cooper insisted on keeping them in. RKO head Selznick and his executives wanted Kong introduced earlier in the film (believing the audience would grow bored waiting for his appearance), but Cooper persuaded them that a suspenseful build-up would make Kong's entrance all the more exciting.
King Kong (1933 film) | Script
Dunn photographed the rotating RKO radio tower trademark used at the beginning of all RKO films. In the early 1930s, Dunn became part of the effects team responsible for the creation of the original "King Kong" (1933). Many effects set-ups consisted of miniature Kong models being animated frame-by-frame in front of a rear-screen projected "background plate"—of either still or live-action elements. As time progressed during animation—when using moving footage as a background—animators might neglect to advance the projected image (on the rear screen) to the next frame as they concentrated on Kong's movements, spoiling the illusion that the animated model and the plate coexisted in reality, requiring time-consuming (and expensive) re-takes.
Linwood G. Dunn | Body of work
The stampede was going to utilize the models that had been built for "Creation" (1931) (most being used in the earlier "King Kong"). However these sequences were never filmed due to the film's tight budget and shooting schedule. Helen Mack's character is never referred to as "Hilda" in the film. The name "Hilda" is used in the credits and her father refers to her as "Madame Helene" during the show. Denham just calls her "kid".
Son of Kong | Production
That night, the natives kidnap Ann from the ship and take her through the wall gate and to an altar, where she is offered to King Kong, an enormous gorilla-like creature. Kong carries a terrified Ann into the wilderness as Denham, Jack, and some volunteers enter the jungle in hopes of rescuing her. They are ambushed by another giant creature, a "Stegosaurus" (on Skull Island, dinosaurs still exist), which they manage to defeat. After facing a carnivorous "Brontosaurus" and Kong himself, Jack and Denham are the only survivors.
King Kong (1933 film) | Plot
Some have held that it was Haydon and not Fay Wray who provided the heroine's bone-chilling screams in 1933's "King Kong", but this claim is disputed.
Julie Haydon | Early career and films
It was also the first movie to feature certain kinds of special effects." With this statement from the suits creator there seems to be some contradiction over the actual size of the title character.
King Kong Appears in Edo | Production
It was hoped that "She" would follow Cooper's previous success, "King Kong". Cooper had originally intended to shoot the film in color, but budget cuts by RKO forced him to shoot the film in black and white at the last minute. However, the black and white film had disappointing results at the box office. It initially lost $180,000, although it later had a successful re-release. The film is listed in Golden Raspberry Award founder John Wilson's book "The Official Razzie Movie Guide" as one of the 100 Most Enjoyably Bad Movies Ever Made.
She (1935 film) | Introduction
Despite not using any of the draft in the final production beyond the previously agreed upon plot outline, Cooper gave a screen credit to Wallace as he had promised it as a producer. Cooper called in James Ashmore Creelman (who was working on the script of "The Most Dangerous Game" at the time) and the two men worked together on several drafts under the title "The Eighth Wonder". Some details from Wallace's rough draft were dropped, such as his boatload of escaped convicts. Wallace's Danby Denham character, a big game hunter, became film director Carl Denham. His Shirley became Ann Darrow and her lover-convict John became Jack Driscoll.
King Kong (1933 film) | Script
This did not stop Cooper from playing around with Kong's size as he directed the special effect sequences; by manipulating the sizes of the miniatures and the camera angles, he made Kong appear a lot larger than O'Brien wanted, even as large as in some scenes.
King Kong | Appearances and abilities
Inspired by Dougal Dixon's works, the designers imagined what 65 million years or more of isolated evolution might have done to dinosaurs and the other creatures.
King Kong (2005 film) | Visual effects
The inspiration for the climactic scene came when, "as he was leaving his office in Manhattan, he heard the sound of an airplane motor. He reflexively looked up as the sun glinted off the wings of a plane flying extremely close to the tallest building in the city... he realized if he placed the giant gorilla on top of the tallest building in the world and had him shot down by the most modern of weapons, the armed airplane, he would have a story of the primitive doomed by modern civilization." The film was initially banned in Nazi Germany, with the censors describing it as an "attack against the nerves of the German people" and a "violation of German race feeling".
King Kong (1933 film) | Racism allegation
"King Kong" contains stop-motion animation by Willis O'Brien and a music score by Max Steiner. In 1991, it was deemed "culturally, historically and aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry. A sequel quickly followed with "Son of Kong" (also released in 1933), with several more films made in the following decades, including two remakes which were made in 1976 and 2005 respectively.
King Kong (1933 film) | Introduction
Despite this increased technical sophistication, this film, like "King Kong", features some serious scale issues, with Joe noticeably changing size between many shots (the title character is not supposed to be as large as Kong, perhaps 10–12 feet tall). Harryhausen attributed these lapses to producer Cooper, who insisted Joe appear larger in some scenes for dramatic effect. Buoyed by the enormous success of "King Kong" in 1933 and its profitable theatrical reissues in 1938, 1942, and 1946, RKO had great hopes for "Mighty Joe Young". Upon its release in 1949, the film was honored with an Academy Award for Special Effects (a category that did not exist in 1933 for "King Kong").
Mighty Joe Young (1949 film) | Production
In 1933, Radio Pictures produced the original classic "King Kong" which was followed by the less respected "Son of Kong" later the same year. The films were largely praised for their use of stop-motion effects.
King Kong (franchise) | Radio Pictures period (1933)
These photos that appear on the films flyers and advertisements, depict him being so big that he is holding Chinami in the palm of his hand and is straddling buildings as he faces down Hyoue Toba's men. This, along with the fact that Zensho was a typical Poverty Row studio who did not have sound recording equipment (none of the 173 films they produced between 1936 and 1941 were talkies), leads to believe that Zensho was simply trying to capitalize on "King Kong"'s 1938 re-issue in that country by promoting the ape as being a giant. However "King Kong" suit creator and actor Ryūnosuke Kabayama (who later changed his name to Fuminori Ohashi and later created the ape creature seen in the 1956 film "水戸黄門漫遊記 人喰い狒々"|"Mito Kōmon Manyūki: Hitokui Hihi", as well as the suit for Godzilla in the original 1954 film) stated in a 1988 interview "The first model making to be counted as 'special art direction' in Japanese cinema was a giant gorilla which I did for the movie "King Kong Appears in Edo" fifty years ago.
King Kong Appears in Edo | Production
The film was produced and released in 1933, immediately following the success of "King Kong" (1933), and was a modest success. Script writer Ruth Rose intentionally made no attempt to make a serious film on the logic that it could not surpass the first. She stated "If you can't make it bigger, make it funnier." For his part, Denham's actor, Robert Armstrong, preferred the second film, saying that the sequel offered more character development for Carl Denham. The script/screenplay featured scenes of tribal warfare and a climactic dinosaur stampede during the massive cyclone/earthquake that sinks Skull Island at the film's end.
Son of Kong | Production
Profits from the 1952 re-release were estimated by the studio at $2.5 million.
King Kong (1933 film) | Box office
In 1984, "King Kong" was one of the first films to be released on LaserDisc by the Criterion Collection, and was the very first movie to have an audio commentary track included. Criterion's audio commentary was by film historian Ron Haver; in 1985 Image Entertainment released another LaserDisc, this time with a commentary by film historian and soundtrack producer Paul Mandell. The Haver commentary was preserved in full on the FilmStruck streaming service. "King Kong" had numerous VHS and LaserDisc releases of varying quality prior to receiving an official studio release on DVD. Those included a Turner 60th anniversary edition in 1993 featuring a front cover which had the sound effect of Kong roaring when his chest was pressed.
King Kong (1933 film) | Home media
A remote island would be the setting and the gorilla would be dealt a spectacular death in New York City. Cooper took his concept to Paramount Studios in the first years of the Great Depression but executives shied away from a project that sent film crews on costly shoots to Africa and Komodo. In 1931, David O. Selznick brought Cooper to RKO as his executive assistant and promised him he could make his own films. Cooper began immediately developing "The Most Dangerous Game", and hired Ernest B. Schoedsack to direct. A huge jungle stage set was built, with Robert Armstrong and Fay Wray as the stars.
King Kong (1933 film) | Concept
In February 1933, the title for the film was registered for copyright. Throughout filming there were creative battles. Critics at RKO argued that the film should begin with Kong. Cooper believed that a film should begin with a "slow dramatic buildup that would establish everything from characters to mood ..." so that the action of the film could "naturally, relentlessly, roll on out of its own creative movement," and thus chose to not begin the film with a shot of Kong. The iconic scene in which Kong is on top of the Empire State Building was almost called off by Cooper for legal reasons, but was kept in the film because RKO bought the rights to "The Lost World".
Merian C. Cooper | "King Kong"
Further extended broadcasts followed in November 1980 and March 1983.
King Kong (1976 film) | Extended television version
Jungle films were launched in the United States with "Beasts in the Jungle" (1913), and the film's popularity spawned similar pictures such as "Tarzan of the Apes" (1918). "The Lost World" (1925), made movie history with special effects by Willis O'Brien and a crew that later would work on "King Kong". "King Kong" producer Ernest B. Schoedsack had earlier monkey experience directing "" (1927), also with Merian C. Cooper, and "Rango" (1931), both of which prominently featured monkeys in authentic jungle settings. Capitalizing on this trend, Congo Pictures released the hoax documentary "Ingagi" (1930), advertising the film as "an authentic incontestable celluloid document showing the sacrifice of a living woman to mammoth gorillas." "Ingagi" is now often recognized as a racial exploitation film as it implicitly depicted black women having sex with gorillas, and baby offspring that looked more ape than human.
King Kong (1933 film) | Background
Feature films in which she played character parts include "King Kong" (1933), "Mark of the Vampire" (1935), and "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" (1939).
June Gittelson | Career
the Extra-Terrestrial" (1982), "Dune" (1984), "Conan the Destroyer" (1984), "Silver Bullet" (1985), "King Kong Lives" (1986) and "Cameron's Closet" (1988), among others. Rambaldi had the distinction of being the first special effects artist to be required to prove that his work on a film was not 'real'. Dog-mutilation scenes in the 1971 film "A Lizard in a Woman's Skin" were so convincingly visceral that its director, Lucio Fulci, was prosecuted for offenses relating to animal cruelty. Fulci would have served a two-year prison sentence, had Rambaldi not exhibited the film's array of props to a courtroom, proving that the scene was not filmed using real animals.
Carlo Rambaldi | Career
Cooper assigned recently hired RKO screenwriter and best-selling British mystery/adventure writer Edgar Wallace the job of writing a screenplay and a novel based on his gorilla fantasy. Cooper understood the commercial appeal of Wallace's work and planned to publicize the film as being "based on the novel by Edgar Wallace". Wallace conferred with Cooper and O'Brien (who contributed, among other things, the "Ann's dress" scene) and began work on January 1, 1932. He completed a rough draft called "The Beast" on January 5, 1932. Cooper thought the draft needed considerable work but Wallace died on February 10, 1932, just after beginning revisions.
King Kong (1933 film) | Script
"King Kong" opened at the 6,200-seat Radio City Music Hall in New York City and the 3,700-seat RKO Roxy across the street on Thursday, March 2, 1933. The film was preceded by a stage show called "Jungle Rhythms". Crowds lined up around the block on opening day, tickets were priced at $.35 to $.75, and, in its first four days, every one of its ten-shows-a-day was sold out – setting an all-time attendance record for an indoor event. Over the four-day period, the film grossed $89,931. The film had its official world premiere on March 23, 1933 at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.
King Kong (1933 film) | Theatrical
In 1933, during the Great Depression, New York City actress Ann Darrow is hired by financially troubled filmmaker Carl Denham to star in a film alongside actor Bruce Baxter. Ann learns her favorite playwright, Jack Driscoll, is the screenwriter. Filming takes place on the SS "Venture", under Captain Englehorn, and under Carl's pretense that it will be sailing to Singapore. In truth, Carl intends to sail to and film the mysterious Skull Island. Captain Englehorn has second thoughts about the voyage, prompted by his crew's speculation of trouble ahead. On the voyage, Ann and Jack fall in love. The "Venture" receives a radio message informing Englehorn there is a warrant for Carl's arrest due to his defiance of the studio's orders to cease production.
King Kong (2005 film) | Plot
Willis O'Brien, creator of the stop-motion animation effects for the original "King Kong", was the special-effects supervisor, albeit on a smaller budget. Pete Peterson, who worked with O'Brien on "Mighty Joe Young" and would again on "The Giant Behemoth", did most of the actual hands-on animation. O'Brien borrowed heavily from his previous films for the stop-motion special effects. The miniatures used for the trapdoor spider and the giant tentacled worm have been reported to be the same ones that were used in the now "Lost Spider Pit Sequence" from the original "King Kong" (1933). The trapdoor spider model matches precisely the smaller spider model seen in behind-the-scenes stills from King Kong.
The Black Scorpion (film) | Production
In 1998, Warner Bros. released the direct-to-video animated musical film "The Mighty Kong" based upon the plot of the original 1933 film. It featured the voices of Jodi Benson as Ann Darrow and Dudley Moore as Carl Denham. This film also featured a song score by the Sherman Brothers. At the end of the film, King Kong falls from the Empire State Building after getting out of the net that the blimps were using on him. Due to this being a family film, King Kong survives the fall.
King Kong (franchise) | Animated musical film (1998)
Jackson, Walsh and Boyens began to write a new script in late October 2003. Jackson acknowledged that he was highly unsatisfied with the original 1996 script. "That was actually just Fran and Peter very hurriedly getting something down on paper", Boyens explained. "It was more one of many possible ways the story could go." The writers chose to base the new screenplay on the 1933 film rather than the 1996 script. They also included scenes from James Ashmore Creelman's screenplay that were either abandoned or omitted during production of the original film. In the scene where Kong shakes the surviving sailors pursuing Ann and himself from a log into the ravine, for example, directors Merian Cooper and Ernest B.
King Kong (2005 film) | Revival of the project
Once the film was underway, Cooper turned his attention to the studio's big-budget-out-of-control fantasy, "Creation", a project with stop motion animator Willis O'Brien about a group of travelers shipwrecked on an island of dinosaurs. When Cooper screened O'Brien's stop-motion "Creation" footage, he was unimpressed, but realized he could economically make his gorilla picture by scrapping the Komodo dragons and costly location shoots for O'Brien's animated dinosaurs and the studio's existing jungle set. It was at this time Cooper probably cast his gorilla as a giant named Kong, and planned to have him die at the Empire State Building. The RKO board was wary about the project, but gave its approval after Cooper organized a presentation with Wray, Armstrong, and Cabot, and O'Brien's model dinosaurs.
King Kong (1933 film) | Concept
However, according to confidant Ernst Hanfstaengl, Adolf Hitler was "fascinated" by the film and saw it several times.
King Kong (1933 film) | Racism allegation
"Don't play ["Kongo"] on Sunday", she reports, "I did so, to my sorrow". Fordyce then adds, "It did not draw and those who saw it complained." Several months later, other exhibitors continued to express regret for showing the film. In the March 25, 1933 issue of "Motion Picture Herald", Robert Yancey of Cotter, Arkansas, describes the film as a box-office disaster at his Paradise Theatre: "Not the type of picture people will pay good money to see. No business at all."
Kongo (1932 film) | Reception
Ann thanks him for his kindness and, after he leaves, examines the dresses and wonders what exactly this whole job is going to entail ("Cabin Soliloquy"). Back on the main deck, tensions are high between Englehorn and Denham. Despite the repeated questions as to where they were going, Denham dodges every single one. ("Pressure Up"). Ann explains to Denham that she isn't your typical damsel in distress once he asks her to scream for the camera. After two months on the water, the captain and crew are ready to snap. During filming Carls explains to Ann about the filming location, Skull Island and Englehorn hearing this snaps.
King Kong (2013 musical) | Act I
Meryl Streep has said that she was considered for the role of Dwan, but was deemed too unattractive by producer Dino De Laurentiis. Dwan was also proposed to Barbra Streisand but she turned it down. The role eventually went to Jessica Lange, then a New York fashion model with no prior acting experience.
King Kong (1976 film) | Casting
Rick Baker, who designed and wore the ape suit in collaboration with Carlo Rambaldi, was extremely disappointed in the final suit, which he felt was not at all convincing. He gives all the credit for its passable appearance to cinematographer Richard H. Kline. The only time that the collaboration of Baker and Rambaldi went smoothly was during the design of the mechanical Kong mask. Baker's design and Rambaldi's cable work combined to give Kong's face a wide range of expression that was responsible for much of the film's emotional impact. Baker gave much of the credit for its effectiveness to Rambaldi and his mechanics.
King Kong (1976 film) | Filming
To film the scene where the "Petrox Explorer" finds Dwan in the life raft, Jessica Lange spent hours in a rubber raft in the freezing cold, drenched and wearing only a slinky black dress. Although Lange was not aware of it, there were sharks circling the raft the entire time. Shooting of this scene took place in the channel between Los Angeles and Catalina Island during the last week in January 1976.
King Kong (1976 film) | Filming
The reasons for the dropped subplot was due to the increased attention on Kong and Dwan's love story and financial reasons as De Laurentiis did not want to use stop-motion animation in the film. Nevertheless, a giant boa constrictor was incorporated into the film.
King Kong (1976 film) | Writing
Willis O'Brien, who created the animation for "King Kong", was the supervisor of the film's stop-motion animation special effects. Ray Harryhausen was hired in 1947 on his first film assignment as an assistant animator to O'Brien. O'Brien, however, ended up concentrating on solving the various technical problems of the production, delegating most of the actual animation to Harryhausen; Pete Peterson and Marcel Delgado also animated a few sequences in the film. The models (constructed by Kong's builder Marcel Delgado) and animation are more sophisticated than in "King Kong", containing more subtle gestures and even some comedic elements, such as a chase scene where Joe is riding in the back of a speeding truck and spits at his pursuers.
Mighty Joe Young (1949 film) | Production
In fact, some of film sets for "Kongo", which were designed by MGM's art director Cedric Gibbons, were also used for "Red Dust".
Kongo (1932 film) | Production notes
Special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya was planning on working on other projects at this point in time such as a new version of a fairy tale film script called "Kaguyahime" ("Princess Kaguya"), but he postponed those to work on this project with Toho instead since he was such a huge fan of King Kong. He stated in an early 1960s interview with the Mainichi Newspaper, "But my movie company has produced a very interesting script that combined King Kong and Godzilla, so I couldn't help working on this instead of my other fantasy films. The script is special to me; it makes me emotional because it was "King Kong" that got me interested in the world of special photographic techniques when I saw it in 1933." Eiji Tsuburaya had a stated intention to move the Godzilla series in a lighter direction.
King Kong vs. Godzilla | Filming
Fan and filmmaker tributes to Harryhausen abound in many forms. In March 1983, Harryhausen participated in a special one-day event at Mann's Chinese Theater celebrating the 50th anniversary of premier screening of the 1933 "King Kong" in the same theater. Visual effects technicians from several film-effects facilities recreated the life-sized bust of Kong as it appeared in the theater's outer lobby area 50 years earlier. The August 1983 issue of "American Cinematographer" features three articles about the event.
Ray Harryhausen | In popular culture
The film was a box-office success making about $5 million in worldwide rentals on its initial release, with an opening weekend estimated at $90,000. Receipts fell by up to 50% in the second week of the film's release because of the national "bank holiday" called in President Franklin D. Roosevelt's first days in office. During the film's first run it made a profit of $650,000. Prior to the 1952 re-release, the film is reported to have worldwide rentals of $2,847,000 including $1,070,000 from the United States and Canada and profits of $1,310,000. After the 1952 re-release, "Variety" estimated the film had made an additional $1.6 million in the United States and Canada taking its total to $3.9 million in cumulative domestic (United States and Canada) rentals.
King Kong (1933 film) | Box office
Before "King Kong" entered production, a long tradition of jungle films existed, and, whether drama or documentary, such films (for example "Stark Mad") generally adhered to a narrative pattern that followed an explorer or scientist into the jungle to test a theory only to discover some monstrous aberration in the undergrowth. In these films, scientific knowledge could be subverted at any time, and it was this that provided the genre with its vitality, appeal, and endurance. In the early 20th century, few zoos had primate exhibits so there was popular demand to see them on film. At the turn of the 20th century, the Lumière Brothers sent film documentarians to places westerners had never seen, and Georges Méliès utilized trick photography in film fantasies that prefigured that in "King Kong".
King Kong (1933 film) | Background
While Schoedsack and Cooper made several other films together, they are most known for directing the 1933 film "King Kong." After finishing production on "The Most Dangerous Game," Schoedsack joined Cooper in the production of "King Kong." Schoedsack focused on scenes with human actors, while Cooper headed the special effects. Schoedsack, Cooper, and Rose inspired the characters of John Driscoll, Carl Denham, and Ann Darrow respectively. The script was co-written by Schoedsack's wife, Rose. This film marked a transition in the working relationship of Schoedsack and Cooper. After the film, Schoedsack only directed films, while Cooper produced them. Their partnership ended, however, in the late 1930s.
Ernest B. Schoedsack | "King Kong" and early 1930s films
The 1933 "King Kong" film and character inspired imitations and installments. "Son of Kong", a direct sequel to the 1933 film was released nine months after the first film's release. In the early 1960s, RKO had licensed the King Kong character to Japanese studio Toho and produced two King Kong films, "King Kong vs. Godzilla" (a crossover with the "Godzilla" series) and "King Kong Escapes", both directed by Ishirō Honda. In 1976, Italian producer Dino De Laurentiis released his version of "King Kong", a modern remake of the 1933 film, which was followed by a sequel in 1986 titled "King Kong Lives".
King Kong (1933 film) | Adaptations
When the tram drives into the building of the 3-D attraction, it drives onto a motion based platform, which can make the tram tilt left and right, vibrate, and raise up and drop down. The theater is equipped with physical effects that enhance the experience such as wind, water, air blasts, the scent of King Kong's banana breath, and the motion.
King Kong: 360 3-D | Special effects
Despite his dislike for the film's story, the special effects in the completed footage impressed Cooper and inspired him to hire O'Brien to create the effects in Cooper's film "King Kong" (1933). Some of the dinosaur scenes planned for "Creation" were even rewritten and inserted into the "King Kong" script and most of the dinosaur models O'Brien used in "Kong" had originally been made for "Creation". The shipwreck sequence in "Kong"s companion production, "The Most Dangerous Game", was reportedly salvaged from this film. In the two-disc 2005 DVD release of "King Kong", the surviving footage from "Creation" is shown, as well as a dramatization of how the entire film might have been like if completed, using a combination of the existing footage, along with production sketches, test stills and a voiceover narrator.
Creation (unfinished film) | Legacy
"Gorillas have such a similar looking set of eyes and brows, you can look at those expressions and transpose your own interpretation onto them." Photos of silverback gorillas were also superimposed on Kong's image in the early stages of animation. Serkis had to go through two hours of motion capture makeup every day, having 135 small markers attached to different spots on his face. Following principal photography, Serkis had to spend an additional two months on a motion capture stage, miming Kong's movements for the film's digital animators. Apart from Kong, Skull Island is inhabited by dinosaurs and other large fauna.
King Kong (2005 film) | Visual effects
The 1933 release of "King Kong" was an immediate hit at the box office, and had a huge impact on the popular culture of the 1930s. It was the first film to play in two of New York City's largest theatres at the same time, and the first in the 1930s trend for horror films. The combination of advanced special effects and primitivist content in the film made it popular among American and European intellectuals, especially the surrealists. Ray Bradbury remarked that when "King Kong" was released, "a mob of boys went quietly mad across the world, then fled into the light to become adventurers, explorers, zoo-keepers, filmmakers." There was a version of King Kong in the 1933 animated Mickey Mouse cartoon "The Pet Store" (also known as "Mickey and the Gorilla Tamer").
King Kong in popular culture | 1930s and 1940s
The camera-man Herb is the only supporting character in the original draft who made it to the final version. The fight between Kong and the three "V. rex" also changed from the original draft. In the draft, Ann is actually caught in the "V. rex" jaws, where she becomes wedged, and slashed by the teeth; after the fight, Kong gets her out but she is suffering from a fever, from which she then recovers.
King Kong (2005 film) | Earlier attempts and 1990s
In New York Harbor, filmmaker Carl Denham, known for wildlife films in remote and exotic locations, charters Captain Englehorn's ship, the "Venture", for his new project. However, he cannot secure an actress for a female role he has been reluctant to disclose. Searching in the streets of New York City, he finds Ann Darrow and promises her the adventure of a lifetime. The crew boards the "Venture" and sets off, during which the ship's first mate, Jack Driscoll, falls in love with Ann. Denham reveals to the crew that their destination is, in fact, Skull Island, an uncharted territory of which he has come to knowledge from a Norwegian ship captain who saved some natives of the island from a canoe, although they died before reaching land.
King Kong (1933 film) | Plot
In 1932, after filming "King Kong," Schoedsack worked on shooting for a film that was never completed called "Arabia". For this project, Schoedsack went to shoot on location in Syria. Another film was made in the "King Kong" franchise. Rose wrote the screenplay for the next film, "Son of Kong" which was released in 1933 by RKO. Schoedsack was the sole director of the film. Also in 1933, Rose and Schoedsack collaborated on the film "Blind Adventure."
Ernest B. Schoedsack | "King Kong" and early 1930s films
Frank Willard Van der Veer (June 2, 1921 - January 7, 1982) was an American optical and visual special effects artist who won (and shared) a Special Achievement Academy Award at the 49th Academy Awards for Best Visual Effects for the film "King Kong" (1976). His career spanned over three decades from the 1950s until his death in the early 1980s, having participated in the Hollywood special effects industry with such other films as "The Towering Inferno" (1974), "Killer Bees" (1974), "Logan's Run" (1976), "Star Wars" (1977), "1941" (1979), "Flash Gordon" (1980), "Clash of the Titans" (1981) and "Conan the Barbarian" (1982).
Frank Van der Veer | Introduction
This time, he doesn't fight back. Giving Ann one last look, the great beast falls off of the Empire State Building, plummeting to his death and leaving Ann all alone ("Empire Soliloquy"). Ann grieves over the loss of Kong as she manages to make her way down from the Empire State Building. As she reaches the streets, she tries to spread the world on how Kong wasn't a monster, nor was he an attraction to be displayed. He was, to put it simply, a wonder ("The Wonder").
King Kong (2013 musical) | Act II
A giant gate built for this film was later used in the 1933 film "King Kong", and was among the sets torched for the "burning of Atlanta" in "Gone with the Wind" (1939). Other sets and costumes were re-used for the 1965 Elvis Presley film, "Harum Scarum". "The King of Kings" was the first movie that premiered at the noted Grauman's Chinese Theater in Los Angeles, California on May 18, 1927. The film was screened there again on May 24, 1977 to commemorate the theater's 50th anniversary. The movie has two Technicolor sequences, the beginning and the resurrection scene, which use the two-strip process invented by Herbert Kalmus.
The King of Kings (1927 film) | Production details
Dino De Laurentiis quickly acquired the film rights from RKO-General and subsequently hired television writer Lorenzo Semple, Jr. to write the script. John Guillermin was hired as director and filming lasted from January to August 1976. Before the film's release, Universal Pictures sued De Laurentiis and RKO-General alleging a breach of contract and attempted to develop their own remake of "King Kong". In response, De Laurentiis and RKO-General filed separate countersuits against Universal Pictures, all of which were withdrawn by January 1976. The film was released on December 17, 1976 to mixed reviews from film critics, but was a box office success.
King Kong (1976 film) | Introduction
Merian C. Cooper's fascination with gorillas began with his boyhood reading of Paul Du Chaillu's "Explorations and Adventures in Equatorial Africa" (1861) and was furthered in 1929 by studying a tribe of baboons in Africa while filming "The Four Feathers". After reading W. Douglas Burden's "The Dragon Lizards of Komodo", he fashioned a scenario depicting African gorillas battling Komodo dragons intercut with artificial stand-ins for joint shots. He then narrowed the "dramatis personae" to one ferocious, lizard-battling gorilla (rather than a group) and included a lone woman on expedition to appease those critics who belabored him for neglecting romance in his films.
King Kong (1933 film) | Concept
Schoedsack originally intended to depict giant spiders emerging from the rock to devour their bodies. This was cut from the original release print, and remains known to "Kong" fans only via a rare still that appeared in "Famous Monsters of Filmland". Jackson included this scene and elaborated upon it. Jackson, Walsh and Boyens also cited Delos W. Lovelace's 1932 novelisation of "King Kong" as inspiration, which included the character Lumpy (Andy Serkis). To make the relationship between Ann Darrow and Kong plausible, the writers studied hours of gorilla footage. Jackson also optioned "Early Havoc", a memoir written by vaudeville performer June Havoc to help Walsh and Boyens flesh out Ann Darrow's characterisation.
King Kong (2005 film) | Revival of the project
It was placed on the 'top ten' lists of several critics, with Roger Ebert giving it four stars, and listed it as 2005's eighth-best film. The film received four Academy Award nominations, for Visual Effects, Sound Mixing (Christopher Boyes, Michael Semanick, Michael Hedges, Hammond Peek), Sound Editing, and Production Design, winning all but the last. "Entertainment Weekly" called the depiction of Kong the most convincing computer-generated character in film in 2005. Some criticised the film for retaining racist stereotypes that had been present in the 1933 film, though it was not suggested that Jackson had done this intentionally. "King Kong" ranks 450th on "Empire" magazine's 2008 list of the 500 Greatest Movies of All Time.
King Kong (2005 film) | Critical response
As a promotional gimmick, candles were made and sold to advertise the film. One poster for the film included the statement: "Rick Baker, the new master of special effects, who brought you the magic of "The Exorcist" and gave you the wonder of "King Kong", now brings you his greatest creation, "The Incredible Melting Man"". Although Baker assisted with the effects in "The Exorcist" (1973), Dick Smith was the makeup artist who primarily worked on that film, not Baker. "Exorcist" director William Friedkin was so angry about the poster that, upon seeing it on an associate's wall, he tore it down and ripped it to pieces.
The Incredible Melting Man | Distribution
The film has since received some significant honors. In 1975, "Kong" was named one of the 50 best American films by the American Film Institute, and, in 1991, the film was deemed "culturally, historically and aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. In 1998, the AFI ranked the film #43 on its list of the 100 greatest movies of all time. American Film Institute Lists
King Kong (1933 film) | Legacy
The film was re-released in 1952, becoming one of the media events of that year. "Time magazine" named it "Movie of the Year". The film's studio RKO tried an experimental reissue of "King Kong" in the Midwest United States in 1952. In an unprecedented move they committed most of "King Kong's" promotional budget to television spots. The re-release was an enormous success, with the film attracting triple the usual business in its markets. This showed that television was a powerful tool for promotion. "King Kong" generated more box office receipts than the original 1933 release had. Theatre owners named it Picture of the Year.
King Kong in popular culture | 1950s to the 1970s
However the company was able to get away with using King Kong's name not only in its native South Korea but also in some international markets where it was known as "Super King Kong" and "King Kong Returns" respectively. The film's special effect budget for the miniature buildings was only $1,200. The entire budget for "A*P*E" was $23,000. The film was shot in just 14 days. The film's title "A*P*E" stood for (Attacking Primate MonstEr), with the deliberate intention to spoof the acronym title of "M*A*S*H", a popular 1970 film and subsequent TV series of the same name that was based in Korea where this film was produced.
Ape (1976 film) | Production
He alludes to a monstrous creature named "Kong", rumored to dwell on the island. The crew arrives and anchor offshore. They encounter a native village, separated from the rest of the island by an ancient stone wall with an enormous wooden gate. They witness a group of natives preparing to presumably sacrifice a young woman termed the "bride of Kong" by confining her on the other side of the wall. The intruders are spotted, and the native chief stops the ceremony. When he sees Ann, he offers to trade six of his tribal women for the "golden woman." They rebuff him and return to the "Venture".
King Kong (1933 film) | Plot
Ruth Rose (January 16, 1896 – June 8, 1978) was a writer who worked on several films in the 1930s and the 1940s, most famously the original 1933 classic "King Kong".
Ruth Rose | Introduction
Stop motion animator Willis O'Brien, who had worked on "The Ghost of Slumber Mountain" and "The Lost World", was again responsible of special effects in the 1933 monster movie "King Kong", which featured a climactic battle between the giant ape and a "Tyrannosaurus". The "Tyrannosaurus" model was made using a cast based on an early painting by Charles R. Knight. O'Brien stated that the battle between Kong and the "Tyrannosaurus" was one of the most technically difficult scenes in the film to animate. Many early films depicted "Tyrannosaurus" with an upright posture based on the current thinking of the time.
Tyrannosaurus in popular culture | Film appearances
It has been noted by critics (including Bryan Appleyard) that the Hong Kong sequences in the film set in the late 1930s include "London taxis" of two types (FX3, FX4) that were only manufactured onwards from 1948 and 1958 respectively. The film also features Japanese orthography that wasn't used before 1946 in a classroom scene.
Lust, Caution | Anachronisms
The film is based on an original story written by real-life stuntman Bob Rose and is noteworthy for being produced by David O. Selznick and Merian C. Cooper, who would work together on 1933's groundbreaking "King Kong".
Lucky Devils (1933 film) | Production
Robert William Armstrong (November 20, 1890 – April 20, 1973) was an American film and television actor remembered for his role as Carl Denham in the 1933 version of "King Kong" by RKO Pictures. He uttered the famous exit quote, "'it wasn't the airplanes, 'twas beauty killed the beast," at the film's end.
Robert Armstrong (actor) | Introduction