 Tagline: A Monster of Creation's Dawn Breaks Loose in Our World Today! Tagline: "No... it wasn't the airplanes. It was Beauty that killed the Beast." Captured on blu-ray at last comes "the greatest of all horror films" with "masterly special effects" (Danny Peary, Guide for the Film Fanatic). Memorable moments abound: a moviemaking expedition on a fantastic isle filled with dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures; the giant simian's lovestruck obsession with the film shoot's blonde starlet (scream queen Fay Wray); Kong's capture; his Manhattan rampage; and the fateful finale atop the Empire State Building, where Kong cradles his palm-sized beloved and swats at machine-gunning airplanes. "It was beauty killed the beast." But in these and other great scenes, King Kong lives forever. Storyline: Carl Denham needs to finish his movie and has the perfect location; Skull Island. But he still needs to find a leading lady. This 'soon-to-be-unfortunate' soul is Ann Darrow. No one knows what they will encounter on this island and why it is so mysterious, but once they reach it, they will soon find out. Living on this hidden island is a giant gorilla and this beast now has Ann is it's grasps. Carl and Ann's new love, Jack Driscoll must travel through the jungle looking for Kong and Ann, whilst avoiding all sorts of creatures and beasts. Written by Film_Fan Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Kenneth Brown, September 27, 2010 -- Spectacle. No, King Kong doesn't make a spectacle of itself. It is a spectacle. Grand, bold, daring... an iconic film of enormous proportions and extraordinary pursuits. More than an early American creature feature, it actually has something to say. More than the granddaddy of visual effects extravaganzas, dazzling artistry and sure-handed storytelling oozes from its every pore. The forerunner of event cinema and one of the first classics to blur the line between fantasy and reality, it's a thrilling remnant of bare-knuckle, Old Hollywood filmmaking that, even some eighty years after its debut, still boasts impressive effects, a haunting adventure and an arresting exploration of man's inexplicable drive to subdue nature. Who would have thought a movie about a giant gorilla -- a movie, lest we forget, released in 1933 at the height of Depression-era socioeconomic devastation -- would encounter such amazing success and capture the cultural imagination for generations to come? Aviator, adventurer, filmmaker and producer Merian C. Cooper and visual effects pioneer Willis O'Brien, that's who. Whether you've grown old with King Kong, unearthed it from the annals of film history, debated the merits of Kiwi filmmaker Peter Jackson's inspired 2005 remake (which, for the record, I thoroughly enjoyed) or simply caught its most famous scenes in passing, chances are most everyone reading this is well acquainted with the tale. But for the uninitiated, I suppose a quick overview is in order. When film director Carl Denham (Robert Armstrong), a brave and respectable man who bears little resemblance to Jack Black's cocksure ring master, and demure actress Ann Darrow (Fay Wray) travel to a mysterious island in the middle of the Indian Ocean (the aptly named Skull Island), they hope to create a film unlike anything the world has seen. Instead, they inadvertently find themselves embroiled in the action. Ann is kidnapped by natives, offered as a sacrifice to a giant gorilla and kidnapped again, this time by the hairy monstrosity itself. Racing to save her, Denham, crew members from the S.S. Venture and the ship's First Mate, Jack Driscoll (Bruce Cabot), discover that a variety of deadly dinosaurs also call the jungles of Skull Island home. But Ann isn't in as much mortal peril as they assume, as Kong becomes utterly fascinated with the fragile female. Inevitably, Jack rescues Ann, Kong pursues the pair and Denham captures the beast. Before Kong can get his bearings, he's put on display in New York, escapes his chains, nabs Ann and ascends the Empire State Building to meet his fate. Let me be entirely clear though before delving into King Kong any further. Smooth-skinned cinefiles weened on post-60s cinema won't be easily wooed by Kong's Old World cinematography or stagecraft performances. Effective as they may be, Wray, Cabot, Armstrong and their supporting cast are beholden to their specific place in film history, and their grandiose gestures and theatrical expressions date Cooper's showstopper even more than its quaint but endearing stop-motion animation and animatronic effects. Does any of that undermine Kong's resonance or importance? It makes the film less accessible, sure, perhaps even less enjoyable (at least for those who can't shed their modern sensibilities, even for a moment). But it shouldn't, and in this humble reviewer's opinion, doesn't diminish its value as a film whatsoever. Nor should such trivialities prevent anyone from sampling everything it still has to offer. It's frightening to think that a lavish, if not crucial cog in Hollywood's wheel could one day fade from memory, all because movies like Transformers 7: Megatron Finally Does Something have continued to chip away at younger and younger filmfans' appreciation for the hand-crafted productions that made such CG-laden afterbirths possible. Be it Kong's grandiose scale, near-perfect pacing, charming performances, unexpectedly tragic third act or towering primate's undeniable humanity, it deserves to be treasured. Sermon aside, there's something to be said for the wonder of it all. In an age when actors still -- still -- go on and on about the challenges of performing in front of a green screen, Wray and her Skull Island castmates eagerly hurl themselves into Cooper and O'Brien's abyss. Despite all of its stop-motion glory, exotic sets and unexpectedly gruesome violence (presented in its entirety courtesy of the film's original cut), the true heart and soul of King Kong is nestled just behind Wray's eyes, sits stoically on Cabot's face, beams proudly from Armstrong's posture and at its best in Kong's childlike mannerisms and territorial outbursts. Screenwriters Ruth Rose and James Ashmore Creelman's dialogue is less essential to its core (if only because it's generally used to advance an already simplistic storyline), but the actors and animators' emotions transcend the aesthetics and techniques that shine a harsh light on Kong's seventy-seven years. Through it all, the film's underlying message slices heartstrings like a silent assassin. Kong's struggles, capture and eventual death land some staggering gut punches, and his infatuation with Ann is so convincing that it's easy to overlook his puppet fur and waxy eyes. When he sniffs at Ann's clothes, exacts rage on those would oppose him, touches his own blood in shock, swings angrily at passing planes or takes one last look at the love of his life before plummeting to the ground, there's something intrinsically human about Cooper and O'Brien's giant gorilla; something most other '30s filmmakers and early animators might have neglected altogether. I know King Kong's audience will continue to shrink in the coming years, but for those willing to remain faithful in the here and now, Warner's excellent Blu-ray release -- meticulously restored to its original black-and-white, monaural glory -- will be a godsend. I've already tucked it away in my collection and plan to revisit it again in the near future. I hope many of you do the same. King Kong isn't just a slice of cinematic history, it's a remarkable, entertaining, dare I say delightful bit of '30s spectacle that deserves to be seen by filmfans young and old. And Warner's Blu-ray release makes owning this stop-motion classic a cinch. The film's extensive restoration and subsequent video transfer is a faithful beast, its DTS-HD Master Audio Mono track is the stuff of purists' dreams and its five-hour supplemental package is worth the price of admission alone. All in all, this edition represents another worthwhile catalog release that deserves a spot on your shelves. Cast Notes: Fay Wray (Ann Darrow), Robert Armstrong (Carl Denham), Bruce Cabot (John Driscoll), Frank Reicher (Captain Englehorn), Sam Hardy (Charles Weston), Noble Johnson (Native Chief), Steve Clemente (Witch King [as Steve Clemento]), James Flavin (Second Mate Briggs), Ray Harryhausen's King Kong (King Kong). IMDb Rating (07/31/14): 7.8/10 from 117,444 users IMDb Rating (03/21/12): 7.8/10 from 68,036 users
 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
{}_1.jpg)
