King Kong (1933) | |
| Director(s) | Merian C. Cooper (uncredited), Ernest B. Schoedsack (uncredited) |
| Producer(s) | David O. Selznick (executive), Merian C. Cooper (uncredited), Ernest B. Schoedsack (uncredited) |
| Top Genres | Adventure, Fantasy, Horror |
| Top Topics | Animals, Exotic Lands, Monster, New York, Pre-Code Cinema |
Featured Cast:
King Kong Overview:
King Kong (1933) was a Adventure - Fantasy Film directed by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack and produced by David O. Selznick, Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack.
SYNOPSIS
A masterpiece of movie exotica and one of the top moneymakers of the '30s. Fortune hunters travel to Skull Island in search of the fabled giant ape "King Kong." Enticing him with the lovely Wray, they capture Kong and bring him back to New York to become a sideshow attraction. The rampaging ape escapes and ransacks the city searching for Wray, ending his quest swatting biplanes as he dangles from the Empire State Building in one of the most famous images in movie history. Directors Cooper and Schoedsack met as fliers in WWI Poland. They specialized in exotic documentaries and then adventure films with far-flung locations. Cooper later became a producer for David O. Selznick, and then produced John Ford masterpieces such as Fort Apache (1948) and The Quiet Man (1952), and one of the biggest hits of the '50s, This Is Cinerama (1952). Followed by Son of Kong (1934), a 1976 remake, and the related monkeyshines of Mighty Joe Young (1949). The special edition video includes archival footage, such as the scene in which Kong peels Wray like a banana and the excised giant spider scene. The laserdisc includes a second audio track with historical commentary from film historian Ronald Haver.
(Source: available at Amazon AMC Classic Movie Companion).
.King Kong was inducted into the National Film Registry in 1991.
BlogHub Articles:
Win Tickets to see ?TCM Big Screen Classics: King Kong? (Giveaway runs now through Feb 22)
By Annmarie Gatti on Feb 2, 2020 From Classic Movie Hub BlogWin tickets to see ?King Kong? on the Big Screen!In Select Cinemas NationwideSun March 15 CMH continues into our 5h year of our partnership with Fathom Events ? with the 4th of our 15 movie ticket giveaways for 2020, courtesy of Fathom Events! That said, we?ll be giving away FOUR PAIRS of tick... Read full article
Classic Movie Tourism: King Kong on Broadway
By Jennifer Garlen on Jan 16, 2019 From Virtual ViragoSome 85 years after the great ape's original screen debut, King Kong has made a triumphant return to New York City, this time as the star of his own Broadway musical. There have been plenty of sequels, reboots, revisions, and reincarnations featuring the oversized cinema gorilla, but I've never seen... Read full article
King Kong Escapes (1967, Honda Ishir?)
By Andrew Wickliffe on Jun 10, 2017 From The Stop ButtonDespite lacking special effects and a phoned in score from Ifukube Akira (reusing his previous Godzilla themes to various effect), King Kong Escapes has quite a bit of charm to it. The film opens with Kong enthusiasts?really, they?re sitting around drawing pictures of him?Rhodes Reason and Takarada ... Read full article
1001 Classic Movies: King Kong (1933)
By Amanda Garrett on Mar 6, 2017 From Old Hollywood FilmsKing Kong (1933) is one of the 1001 classic movies you should see. Each Monday, I'm going to recommend a classic movie you should see (for the reasons behind the 1001 series and reviews of earlier films covered go here). The new film, Kong: Skull Island (2017) has brought the monkey movie back in... Read full article
Classic Films in Focus: KING KONG (1933)
By Jennifer Garlen on Jun 23, 2015 From Virtual ViragoKing Kong rules as the alpha ape among a crowd of cinematic simians, and the original 1933 movie that bears his name has influenced countless other films. Many of our modern blockbusters can trace their roots to King Kong; its special effects work and emphasis on big action sequences showed later fi... Read full article
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Quotes from
Carl Denham: Why, the whole world will pay to see this.
Captain Englehorn: No chains will ever hold that.
Carl Denham: We'll give him more than chains. He's always been king of his world, but we'll teach him fear. We're millionaires, boys. I'll share it with all of you. Why, in a few months, it'll be up in lights on Broadway: Kong, the Eighth Wonder of the World.
Carl Denham: Throw your arms across your eyes and scream, Ann. Scream for your life!
Carl Denham: And now, ladies and gentlemen, before I tell you any more, I'm going to show you the greatest thing your eyes have ever beheld. He was a king and a god in the world he knew, but now he comes to civilization merely a captive - a show to gratify your curiosity. Ladies and gentlemen, look at Kong, the Eighth Wonder of the World.
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Facts about
This film was successfully reissued worldwide numerous times; some claim it was the first ever re-released film. In the 1938 reissue, several scenes of excessive violence and sex were cut to comply with the Production Code enforced in 1934. Though many of the censored scenes were restored by Janus Films in 1971 (including the censored sequence in which Kong peels off Fay Wray's clothes), one deleted scene has never been found, shown publicly only once during a preview screening in San Bernardino, California in January 1933. It was a graphic scene following Kong shaking four sailors off the log bridge, causing them to fall into a ravine where they were eaten alive by giant spiders. At the preview screening, audience members screamed and either left the theatre or talked about the grisly sequence throughout the subsequent scenes, disrupting the film. Said the film's producer, Merian C. Cooper, "It stopped the picture cold, so the next day back at the studio, I took it out myself."
Sensing a huge hit from industry buzz, MGM offered to buy the film outright from RKO for $1.072m (some $400,000 over its negative cost), figuring the little studio was reeling from losing $10+m in 1932. RKO was smart to decline the offer. The film smashed attendance records nationwide and ended up grossing $1.761m during its initial release. RKO would periodically, and extremely profitably, re-release the movie through the 1950s.
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