King Kong - The Eighth Wonder Of The World [DVD] [1933]

Fay Wray is remembered not just because she played opposite King Kong but also because as Ann Darrow she was both sexy and vulnerable. Plus she had the big ape's lung capacity beat six ways to Sunday. Granted, the special effects by Willis O'Brien are enough to make this a classic film, the cinematic forefather of "Jaws," "Jurassic Park" and other celluloid monster movies that involve something other than an actor in makeup. But every time you want to reduce "King Kong" to pure technical achievement, you hear Fay Wray screaming her head off.

The story was pretty much a cliché the moment it was set down on paper. Movie director Carl Denham (Robert Armstrong) has heard the legend of Kong and hires a ship to find Skull Island. Ann Darrow is starving and destitute, but photogenic and he hires her to be the beauty part of the equation in the film he has planned. Jack Driscoll (Bruce Cabot), the first mate of the tub they are traveling on takes an interest in the young girl's safety, and she responds with guarded affection. Then they get to the island and he discovers that he is indeed involved in a love triangle, but the third party is not Denham, but a giant ape.

One thing you have to give directors Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack credit for in this film is that they give Kong a big build up and then they deliver. On the way to the island Denham was making a film test with Ann and had her scream. Then she sees Kong for the first time and takes it to a whole new level. At that point the film becomes a series of action sequences as Kong takes the girl into the jungle, Driscoll leads a rescue party after her only to have Kong follow them back to the native village (the look of terror on Wray's face as she runs for her life through the jungle is equally memorable), which Kong proceeds to destroy before being captured. Then there is the final act of the drama as King Kong, the 8th Wonder of the World is put on display in New York City, only to break free, once again capture Ann, and take her to top of the Empire State Building (whose lights will be dimmed tomorrow night in Wray's honor).

I think the T-Rex attack sequence in "Jurassic Park" is one of the greatest in any monster movie ever made, and I have argued that in addition to the special effects and the masterful cutting of the scene, the sound of the T-Rex is an integral part of what makes the scene work so well. Tonight I am going to make the same argument for Kong's first appearance in "King Kong." After all, we are talking about mixing stop motion animation with a giant mechanical head, but such "primitive" special effects are forgiven because Fay Wray's screams convince you it is really happening. She was not remembered just because she was the girl in "King Kong" (quick, name the actresses who had the female lead roles in "Dracula" and "Frankenstein"). She was remembered because she was an integral part of the film's success (To save you the trouble of looking up the previous trivia point: Helen Chandler and Mae Clarke).

You might have heard that Peter Jackson, as his next project after "The Lord of the Rings," is doing a remake of King Kong for 2005. The cast has Jack Black as Carl Denham, Adrien Brody as Jack Discoll, Andy Serkis as both King Kong and Lumpy the Cook (?), and Naomi Watts as Ann Darrow. Watts is a fine actress, but can she scream like Fay Wray? I don't think so. But then Jessica Lange was not exactly a great screamer and her career turned out okay.

Final Notes: This is the "restored" version of the film, but it still does not include the legendary scene when four crewmen who are shaken off the log by Kong fall into a ravine where they are eaten alive by giant spiders. When first previewed the scene stopped the movie cold and Cooper pulled it from the film. The scenes that were cut in the late 1930s and not restored until the 1970s were (a) where Kong pulls Ann's clothes off; (b) the shots of the Apatosaurus (nee Brontosaurus) biting the sailors; (c) Kong eating natives when he breaks through the gate; (d) Kong stepping on a native; (e) Kong biting a New Yorker after escaping from the theater; and (f) Kong grabbing the wrong woman from the hotel and throwing her to her death. It would be nice if they could find the spider sequence or any of the other bits we know were cut by Cooper before the film was released, but it is probably never going to happen.

Denham, together with his beautiful, budding starlet, Ann Darrow (Fay Wray), as well as with the crew of the ship that brought him to Skull Island, investigates the strange ritual being performed on the island by its native population. Before she knows it, Ann finds herself captured by the natives. She is to become the bride of the mysterious "Kong".

When Ann discovers who the mysterious "Kong" is, she starts screaming and doesn't stop. The ship's first mate, Jack Driscoll (Bruce Cabot), who happens to be in love with Ann, manages to rescue her from the clutches of "Kong". Notwithstanding the fact that "Kong" has taken a shine to her, Ann is relieved to have been rescued by the man whom she loves.

Denham then arranges to capture the creature, whom he calls "King Kong", and takes him back to New York on the ship that brought them to Skull Island. There, King Kong makes his debut, one that movie lovers will long remember.

The special effects of this film were superlative for its time and still pass muster today. The relationship between the beauty and the beast still makes the viewer sit up and take notice. This is an attention grabbing film that is as exciting today, as when it was first released over seventy years ago. It is a truly timeless, cinema classic. Bravo!