"That's a nice-a donut."

Monday, April 10, 2006

King Kong (1933)

Let's get this out of the way, right from the beginning: for a film that is over 70 years old, the effects in the original King Kong are truly amazing. This set the standard for many action and adventure films to follow in its big footsteps. It was so far ahead of its time in many ways that the whole concept of the "summer blockbuster" wasn't even thought about for another 40 or so years. If Kong were colorized and someone were to come into this world and have no knowledge of film other than current movies, tabula rasa, they might very well guess that it was made as recently as twenty or thirty years ago. That's not to say that the effects are perfect by any stretch, for instance in an island scene on a cliff overlooking water, the ocean water is clearly just a still picture, but by and large it really wasn't that great of a leap from the dinosaurs in this movie to the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park or, more recently, Peter Jackson's King Kong remake.

Sort of ironically, unlike the Peter Jackson remake, which had been criticized by some for being unnecessarily long and perhaps a bit too self-indulgent, this one moves rather briskly at under 2 hours and even includes an overture - something usually linked to longer pictures. Anyway, directors Merian Cooper and Ernest Schoedsack waste no time in moving things along. Little time is actually spent in New York (in fact, the scenes near the end for which the movie is most famous for are actually only a scant fraction of the running time), as fictional film director Carl Denham (Robert Armstrong) hurriedly pushes on in his quest for the ultimate movie. He finds pretty Ann Darrow (Fay Wray) and has little trouble convincing her to come along on his daring and cavalier quest on the high seas. The ship's crew is a bumbling band of sexist roughnecks, led by first mate Jack Driscoll (Bruce Cabot), who would be reimagined as a screenwriter in the recent update. They are headed for a mysterious island, with a mythical beast (although Denham doesn't tell anyone this until they are almost there). Once there, they soon find out that it is a prehistoric island with a village of uncivilized native people, as well as many dinosaurs, large snakes, and of course the Eighth Wonder of the World.

Kong isn't seen until about 46 minutes in, but once that happens the movie is pretty much pure adrenaline until the end. There is an overarching them of "beauty and the beast." Perhaps the biggest difference with Jackson's version is the relationship between Ann and Kong. Here, it is simply one-way love, as Ann wants nothing to do with the beast. It is almost a tragedy, as Kong could have easily lived out a long life ruling his island being the king but, as Denham says, "some big hard-boiled egg gets a look at a pretty face and bang - he cracks up and goes sappy."

Fay Wray is pretty good when she has something to say, other than screaming, but really the acting is probably the movie's biggest weakness. It is almost as if the actors were acting as if guided by a real-life version of Carl Denham. It would be dishonest to say that King Kong hasn't lost a little bit of luster over time, as plenty of movies have come along in its path and surpassed it. But it's still a darn good film, and certainly in the upper echelon of what most of us consider to be "classic." Be sure to check out some of the many amazing special features on the wonderfully restored special edition DVD, a set that many reviewers deemed the best overall DVD of last year.

The Verdict: B+.

Michael Bentley 11:49 AM

"That's a nice-a donut."

Monday, April 10, 2006

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