RKO Studios 1933

Directed by Merian C. Cooper& Ernest B. Schoedsack

Written by Edgar Wallace& Merian C. Cooper

Special Effects by Willis O'Brien

Here we go with one of the most original and ambitious monster movies to be made, in a time when special effects were in there infancy. But never the less it was done in style by a man named Willis O'Brien, of The Lost World. His presentation of Kong and the Dinosaurs of Skull Island has never been surpassed; and the masterful use of many special effects, some of the techniques used in the production made Kong the most cohesive film ever to combine stop- motion animation with live action process shots. This a story of beauty and the beast, which starts with an ambitious film producer named Carl Denham (Robert Armstrong), who wants to give the world a new kind of thriller movie. He assembles a tough crew, hires a destitute ex- actress named Ann Darrow (Fay Wray) for his heroine, and she sails for an un- charted island in the South Seas. On the way to this mysterious island there are rumours on board the ship of strange creatures and monsters, but just how strange! During the voyage one of the crewmen, John Driscoll (Bruce Cabot), falls in love with Ann. Finally the ship arrives at Skull Island and they board a small boat to go and explore the new paradise, as Denham and his crew land on the beach they meet some black savages, who have never seen white people before. They are draw to the girl Ann and her golden hair, and want to trade for her, but Denham refuses and every one goes back to the ship. In the middle of the night a small canoe makes its way out to the ship and two natives board the ship, there plan is to kidnap Ann in which they succeed. Denham, Driscoll, and some of the crew go after the natives to rescue Ann, as they get to the island all you can hear is the beating of drums. The rescue party carefully sneak up on the natives, who are holding some kind of ceremony and it seems Ann is too be sacrificed. All around the village is an incredible wall at least 60 feet high, suddenly the gates are opened and Ann is lead out and tied between two poles. As the gates close the natives start chanting "KONG","KONG," "KONG."

As Denham and company make there way to the wall there is a sudden roar from the forest Kong, a 50 foot-high monster ape, comes crashing through the trees to claim his offering, and takes the screaming terrified Ann back to his rocky lair. On the way, they encounter a Tyrannosaur, one of the many types of prehistoric animals still alive on the island, and a tremendous battle ensues. Meanwhile, Driscoll and the crew follow the trail to rescue the screaming Ann, battling their own way through a nightmare of carnivorous dinosaurs (including an unjustly- maligned, man-eating brontosaurus: the real things were vegetarians). Several of the crew are killed, and all the rest except Driscoll die at the hands of Kong himself, who has also despatched the tyrannosaur. But Driscoll persists, and eventually rescues Ann from the giant ape while the primate is distracted by a marauding pterodactyl. Furious at the lost of his playmate, whom he has treated with kindness and affection, Kong comes roaring back to the village, bursting through the giant gates, and scattering huts and natives like ten-pins. Finally, Kong is subdued by gas bombs, and Denham takes him back to New York in chains to exhibit him as "The Eighth Wonder of the World." By now the audience is quite sympathetic towards Kong, but when he escapes his captors in New York the full ferocity of his nature asserts itself. He proceeds to trash a good part of the city, derailing a train and finally climbing up Ann's hotel and kidnapping her right through the twelfth-storey window. After this, the only way for Kong is up, and he takes Ann with him on a classic climb to the top of the Empire State Building. There he fights his last great battle, until he is gunned down by the Air Force, After hitting the ground with a rather large thud Denham stares at the corpse and says "It was beauty that killed the Beast." The sheer scope and audacity of the film's concept, and the excellence of its execution, have overcome most of the negative criticism of this film. It was enormously popular and made a lot of money for RKO; it has been re-released in theatre's and shown on TV probably more than any other Sci-Fi film, and most recently with the restoration of several scenes censored from the original version. There will always be a new generation of film-goers to appreciate its wonders.