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.
Critical response
King Kong (1933 film)
King Kong (1933 film) | Critical response
It was a hit It was a box-office success. Hit, with an opening weekend making approximately ninety-thousand dollars and going on to make five million dollars in worldwide rentals on initial release. Hit
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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Stop-motion animation, matte painting, rear projection and miniatures
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was it a hit or a flop?
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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
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
"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
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
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
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
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
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 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
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
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
"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
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
Siskel remarked "Obviously, they were scared [...] If you don't believe me or Roger, believe the film company, that, think about it, couldn't find a single scene that it wanted you to see." The film was nominated for one Razzie Award, Worst Visual Effects. Actor Peter Goetz received a residual check of 12 cents from the film and decided to frame it as a tribute, never cashing it. 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.
King Kong Lives | Critical response
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
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
Many film critics and movie-industry publications in 1932 objected to what they viewed as the gruesome, salacious content of "Kongo". In its distribution to various locations, especially in metropolitan areas like New York City, the film was often consigned to lesser theaters or "houses" and used as a filler on theater schedules until more highly anticipated or "prestigious" productions arrived. In its November 22 issue, the influential trade paper "Variety" states that "Kongo" "misses completely for the ace houses", adding "it was kept out of Loew's Broadway deluxer, the Capitol, and spotted into the Rialto as a stop-gap until Par's own 'Sign of the Cross'".
Kongo (1932 film) | Reception
Profits from the 1952 re-release were estimated by the studio at $2.5 million.
King Kong (1933 film) | Box office
After months of publicity before its release, the film received mostly mixed responses from critics, especially from admirers of the original "King Kong". However, it did obtain positive reviews from some prominent critics. Pauline Kael from "The New Yorker" praised the film, noting "The movie is a romantic adventure fantasy-colossal, silly, touching, a marvellous ["sic"] Classics Comics movie (and for the whole family). This new "Kong" doesn't have the magical primeval imagery of the first "King Kong", in 1933, and it doesn't have the Gustave Doré fable atmosphere, but it's a happier, livelier entertainment. The first "Kong" was a stunt film that was trying to awe you, and its lewd underlay had a carnival hucksterism that made you feel a little queasy.
King Kong (1976 film) | Critical response
"King Kong" received positive reviews from critics. On aggregate review site Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 84% based on 266 reviews, with an average rating of 7.69/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Featuring state-of-the-art special effects, terrific performances, and a majestic sense of spectacle, Peter Jackson's remake of "King Kong" is a potent epic that's faithful to the spirit of the 1933 original." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 81 out of 100, based on 39 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale.
King Kong (2005 film) | Critical response
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
"King Kong" was also, somewhat controversially, colorized in the late 1980s for television.
King Kong (1933 film) | Censorship and restorations
"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
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
"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
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)
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 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
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
Charles Champlin of the "Los Angeles Times" called it "a spectacular film" that "for all its monumental scale retains the essential, sincere and simple charm of the beauty and the beast story." Gene Siskel of the "Chicago Tribune" had a mixed reaction, giving the film two-and-a-half stars out of four as he wrote, "The original 'Kong' took itself seriously; and so, even now, 43 years later, do we. But the kidding around in the new film, though frequently amusing, knocks down the myth its special effects staff has so earnestly tried to build." Jonathan Rosenbaum of "The Monthly Film Bulletin" wrote that the remake "moves along reasonably well as a half-jokey, half-serious contemporary 'reading' of its predecessor; as an accomplishment in horror and fantasy adventure, it does not measure up to even the small toe of the original."
King Kong (1976 film) | Critical response
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
In his executive capacity, Cooper ordered the "Creation" production shelved, and put its crew to work on "Kong".
King Kong (1933 film) | Concept
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
In 2005, Universal Pictures released yet another remake of the 1933 film in conjunction with Peter Jackson and once more titled as simply "King Kong". The movie was well-received by audiences and praised for its special effects and cinematography and spawned masses of merchandise and spin-off attractions, including a highly praised video game adaptation acting as an alternate version of the movie.
King Kong (franchise) | Universal Studios period (2005)
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
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
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)
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
As of July 2019, the film holds a "fresh" 85% on Rotten Tomatoes.
King of Kings (1961 film) | Critical reaction
In the cartoon, the ape falls in love with Minnie Mouse and climbs to the top of a stack of boxes while holding her. Mickey and a group of birds, imitating the biplanes at the climax of "King Kong", defeat the ape. In the 1933 animated Mickey Mouse short film, "Mickey's Mechanical Man", Mickey's invention, a robot, is engaged in a boxing match against an ape known as "Killer Kong". In 1938, "King Kong" received its first re-release, although some shots, such as King Kong removing parts of Ann Darrow's dress, and his chewing and stomping various extras, often in graphic close-up (via use of full-scale mechanical head and foot props), were removed because they were now considered unacceptable under the Production Code.
King Kong in popular culture | 1930s and 1940s
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
"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
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
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
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
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
Jones questioned the film's setting, saying "this "Jurassic Park" knockoff takes place neither in the Depression era, which gave us the original "King Kong", nor in the present, when satellite photos would surely alert us to the existence of a 100-foot gorilla. Instead—and for no reason I can fathom, except perhaps the classic-rock tunes desired for the soundtrack—the story takes place in 1973, when the Vietnam war is winding down and President Nixon is being driven from office."
Kong: Skull Island | Critical response
However, according to confidant Ernst Hanfstaengl, Adolf Hitler was "fascinated" by the film and saw it several times.
King Kong (1933 film) | Racism allegation
Ebert criticized the effects as looking "crude", feeling the effects of the 1933 film "King Kong" were "more convincing" and concludes that "This is a bad movie, but it has earned its place in history." Keith Uhlich from Time Out awarded the film four stars out of five, calling the film "pop Art as purge," and praising the film's characters, themes, and Godzilla as a "potent and provocative metaphor, a lumbering embodiment of atomic-age anxieties birthed from mankind’s own desire to destroy." Desson Thomson from the Washing Post called the film's effects "pretty extraordinary" and "amazingly credible" for their time.
Godzilla (1954 film) | Critical response in America
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
Thereafter the ape grabs a Michael Gough doll and heads for Big Ben. Deeply political." On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 33% based on , with a weighted average rating of 4.4/10.
Konga (film) | Reception
"Motion Picture Herald" (Sept 23, 1933): "Pooch the Pup and his girl in Africa, when a giant ape captures the girl. Pooch rescues her, and they bring back the ape to exhibit in a sideshow. Everything goes well until the ape breaks loose, captures the girl again and escapes to the top of a skyscraper with her. Pooch effects another rescue, via a cartoonist's idea of an aeroplane and destroys the monster. It is an amusing takeoff in cartoon form on "King Kong".
King Klunk | Reception
Contemporary American reviews were mixed. "New York Times" film critic Vincent Canby gave it a particularly insulting review, commenting, "The Japanese ... are all thumbs when it comes to making monster movies like 'King Kong Escapes.' The Toho moviemakers are quite good in building miniature sets, but much of the process photography—matching the miniatures with the full-scale shots—is just bad ... the plotting is hopelessly primitive ..." The July 15, 1968, issue of "Film Bulletin", however, gave it a more positive review, saying, "Grown-ups who like their entertainments on a comic-strip level will find this good fun and the Universal release (made in Japan) has plenty of ballyhoo angles to draw the school-free youngsters in large numbers."
King Kong Escapes | Critical response
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
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"
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
It also confirms producer Dino De Laurentiis as the movie world's least astute remaker of '30s classics. Compared to this Chinese firedrill, his superfluous 'King Kong' was at least an A Production." David Ansen of "Newsweek" wrote, "On a purely sensuous level, 'Hurricane' is frequently arresting—and sometimes downright sexy ... But it's a humorless, bubble-headed affair, as dramatically underfed as it is visually overripe." The film currently holds a score of 38% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 8 reviews.
Hurricane (1979 film) | Reception
Cooper. Warners issued identical DVDs in 2006 in Australia and New Zealand, followed by a US digibook-packaged Blu-ray in 2010. In 2014 the Blu-ray was repackaged with three unrelated films in a "4 Film Favorites: Colossal Monster Collection". At present, Universal holds worldwide rights to "Kong"'s home video releases outside of North America, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. All Universal's releases only contain their earlier, 100 minute, pre-2005 restoration. However, in the UK, Warner Home Video released the film digitally and on Blu-Ray and DVD in early 2017. The Blu-Ray contained the same contents as the US release, but unfortunately for the DVD, that was based on the first Disc of the 2-Disc DVD release.
King Kong (1933 film) | Home media
Marketing and promotion costs were an estimated $60 million. The film's length also grew; originally set to be 135 minutes, it soon grew to 200, prompting Universal executives to fly to New Zealand to view a rough cut, but they liked it so their concerns were addressed. Other difficulties included Peter Jackson's decision to change composers from Howard Shore to James Newton Howard seven weeks before the film opened.
King Kong (2005 film) | Filming
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
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
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
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
Further extended broadcasts followed in November 1980 and March 1983.
King Kong (1976 film) | Extended television version
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
As such, it is a showcase for a technology's potential and also its limitations. It is a novel, intermittently powerful but synthetic spectacle that seeks to be more." The Broadway production opened to overwhelmingly negative reviews, with harsh critique for Jack Thorne's "stupefyingly banal" book, Eddie Perfect's "forgettable lyrics", and the actors' "shrill, one-note performances." Critics were very impressed with the mechanical King Kong puppet, but felt that it did not make up for the rest of the production.
King Kong (2013 musical) | Reception
"The Guardian" reviewer Peter Bradshaw said that it "certainly equals, and even exceeds, anything Jackson did in "Lord of the Rings"." However, Charlie Brooker, also of "The Guardian", gave a negative review in which he describes the film as "sixteen times more overblown and histrionic than necessary".
King Kong (2005 film) | Critical response
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
In 2005, Universal Pictures released another remake of "King Kong", directed by Peter Jackson. Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros. released a Kong reboot film titled "" in 2017 which was directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts and is the second installment of Legendary's MonsterVerse, which started with Legendary's reboot of " Godzilla".
King Kong (1933 film) | Adaptations
Later, Lucky and his gang corner Popcorn, King Kong's friend and second, and King and his crowd arrive just in time to save him. In the ensuing brawl, King kills one of the gangsters with his fists, and Lucky swears to get even with him ("Damn Him!").
King Kong (1959 musical) | Plot
Born in 1921, his life degenerated, after a meteoric boxing rise, into drunkenness and gang violence. He knifed his girlfriend, asked for the death sentence during his trial and instead was sentenced to 14 years' hard labour. He was found drowned in 1957 and it was believed his death was suicide. He was 36.
King Kong (1959 musical) | Background
The score was unlike any that came before and marked a significant change in the history of film music. "King Kong"s score was the first feature-length musical score written for an American "talkie" film, the first major Hollywood film to have a thematic score rather than background music, the first to mark the use of a 46-piece orchestra, and the first to be recorded on three separate tracks (sound effects, dialogue, and music). Steiner used a number of new film scoring techniques, such as drawing upon opera conventions for his use of leitmotifs. Over the years, Steiner's score was recorded by multiple record labels and the original motion picture soundtrack has been issued on a compact disc.
King Kong (1933 film) | Post-production
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
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
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
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 won a noncompetitive Special Achievement Academy Award and was also nominated for Best Cinematography and Best Sound. Of the three "King Kong" main films, it is the only one to feature the World Trade Center instead of the Empire State Building. A sequel titled "King Kong Lives" was released in 1986.
King Kong (1976 film) | Introduction
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
"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
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
Despite its marketing campaign, "King Kong Lives" was a box office flop in the United States and Canada, grossing $4,711,220 during its theatrical run. According to one accoung "Besides the fact that audiences have noses for a stinker, King Kong Lives lacked an effective advertising campaign that sold its premise (Kong finds a mate), and the movie was sold as if it was just another B-movie retread. Which it was, but on an A budget." Overseas, the film was a success in the Soviet Union, where it sold tickets in 1988, becoming the top-grossing foreign film of the year and one of the top 15 highest-grossing foreign films of all time.
King Kong Lives | Box office
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
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
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
The popular fan magazine, however, in its November edition did prepare its readers for John Huston's appearance in the film: "Huston's make-up is one that has proved rather painful. Scars cover almost his entire face and his features are pulled out of shape so that he is almost unrecognizable." Mordaunt Hall, the respected critic for "The New York Times", agreed with such negative comments about Huston's disturbing "exaggerated make-up". Hall in his review blames that excess on Director William Cowan, whom he characterizes as "obviously not a disciple of restraint". The review of "Kongo" in the December 1932 edition of "Photoplay" provides some additional insight into reactions by fan-based publications.
Kongo (1932 film) | Reception
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
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
On May 3, 2011, a DVD version of the film was released as part of the Warner Archive Collection series .
Kongo (1932 film) | Introduction
The controls also frustrated reviewers, between slow movement speed and camera angle issues. For example, characters who become unresponsive to control during their attack animations are vulnerable to encroaching enemies. "Edge" wrote that the lack of camera improvements over "Banjo-Kazooie" was inexcusable.
Donkey Kong 64 | Reception