Mighty Joe Young (1949)

Director:

Ernest B. Schoedsack

Writers:

Merian C. Cooper (story)
Ruth Rose (screenplay)

Release Date:

29 August 1949 (Sweden)

Genre:

Adventure | Fantasy | Drama

Tagline:

Ten Terrific Thrills !

Plot:

Jill Young has brought up her pet gorilla since she was a child. Twelve years later, when the gorilla is fully grown...

Plot Keywords:

Gorilla | Hollywood | Africa | Wrestler | Heroism

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 2 nominations

Cast

Terry Moore	...	Jill Young
Ben Johnson	...	Gregg
Robert Armstrong	...	Max O'Hara
Frank McHugh	...	Windy
Douglas Fowley	...	Jones
Denis Green	...	Crawford
Paul Guilfoyle	...	Smith
Nestor Paiva	...	Brown
Regis Toomey	...	John Young
Lora Lee Michel	...	Jill Young, as a Girl
James Flavin	...	Schultz
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Mary Gordon	...	Old Woman (unconfirmed)

Also Known As:

Mr. Joseph Young of Africa

Runtime:

94 min | USA:84 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Swahili

Color:

Black and White (Sepiatone) (some sequences) | Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Iceland:L | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Finland:K-12 | Sweden:15

Company:

Argosy Pictures

Trivia:

When Joe smashes through the facade during the nightclub riot, the first scream you hear is that of Fay Wray, stock audio from the original 'King Kong (1933)' which was also produced by RKO.

Goofs:

Continuity: Max O'Hara challenges Mighty Joe Young with a tug of war against ten of the strongest men alive. Each man demonstrates a feat of strength as they are introduced with a different prop each is holding or wearing. Chains are ripped apart, crowbars and long steel bars are bent, a phone book ripped in half, a large wooden post broken, steel bands snapped off of bulging biceps. After the individual introductions are done the men are shown again as a group and you can see the props are all back to their original state. This is just a repeat of the previous shot of the group before they had a chance to mangle their props.

Movie Connections:

Featured in I'm King Kong!: The Exploits of Merian C. Cooper (2005)

Soundtrack:

Beautiful Dreamer

Worthy successor to KING KONG

From many of the same folks who gave us the classic KING KONG, we have Joseph Young of Africa.

The FX are great, especially considering that this film was done long before razzle-dazzle computer work. The movie is an interesting, amusing, and touching variation on KING KONG but stands up as a strong, entertaining film in its own right. Robert Armstrong is once again the big showman who has to knock the public dead. In this case, nobody dies, but the public is still impressed.

It's interesting to note the different reactions of the theater audiences when Kong was first displayed and when Joe is first seen on stage. Perhaps the audiences were actually getting more sophisticated in 1949, and the difference could be an interesting comment by the movie makers on how jaded people were getting by 1949.

In any event, Joe Young is definitely worth seeing.