Made in 1933, King Kong is the granddaddy of them all in more ways than one as it re-tells the tale of beauty and the beast with Faye Wray as the beauty and a twelve inches tall model gorilla as the beast, except that on screen Kong is much larger than life. Brought to life by stop/go motion photography by Mel Berns where the beast is photographed frame by frame with small adjustments to give the illusion of motion.
Carl Denham played by Robert Armstrong is a film director/producer that specialises in jungle action movies and to this end he and a crew set sail and come across an uncharted island. Encountering natives on the island engaged in one of their rituals the crew speculate as to the purpose of a huge log wall that divides the native’s habitat from the rest of the island. Spotted by the natives, a minor skirmish ensues when the islanders clap eyes on the glamorous blonde Faye.
Back on board ship whilst the crew sleeps the natives steal onboard and kidnap the heroine and take her ashore. Discovering the loss the crew sets off in pursuit and locates Faye tied by the hands between two large posts that are set outside the stockade. Before they can mount a rescue they hear wild stirrings in the jungle and mighty King Kong puts in an appearance and is immediately enchanted by our heroine. The crew now knows the purpose of the huge stockade wall. I can still hear her screams as Kong approaches and mercifully she faints and the audience gasps.
Many of the younger generation will not have seen the film so I won’t spoil it for them by divulging the tale other than to say that bearing in mind it was made in 1933 the fight scenes between Kong and other prehistoric monsters are realistic, for the period. In fact all the scenes involving King Kong are ahead of their time and the ending had some people in tears for the fate of the real king of the jungle.
Don’t question the plot or the rather wooden acting, just enjoy a film of yesteryear for what it is and keep the Kleenex handy for the ending.