A film crew goes to a tropical island for an exotic location shoot and discovers a colossal ape who takes a shine to their female blonde star. He is then captured and brought back to New York City for public exhibition.
A practical man returns to his homeland, is attacked by a creature of folklore, and infected with a horrific disease his disciplined mind tells him can not possibly exist.
Director:
George Waggner
Stars:
Claude Rains,
Warren William,
Lon Chaney Jr.
A greedy film producer assembles a team of moviemakers and sets out for the infamous Skull Island, where they find more than just cannibalistic natives.
A strange prehistoric beast lurks in the depths of the Amazonian jungle. A group of scientists try to capture the animal and bring it back to civilization for study.
Director:
Jack Arnold
Stars:
Richard Carlson,
Julie Adams,
Richard Denning
Carl Denham needs to finish his movie and has the perfect location; Skull Island. But he still needs to find a leading lady. This 'soon-to-be-unfortunate' soul is Ann Darrow. No one knows what they will encounter on this island and why it is so mysterious, but once they reach it, they will soon find out. Living on this hidden island is a giant gorilla and this beast now has Ann in it's grasps. Carl and Ann's new love, Jack Driscoll must travel through the jungle looking for Kong and Ann, whilst avoiding all sorts of creatures and beasts.Written by
Film_Fan
Grossed ninety thousand dollars its opening weekend, the biggest opening ever at the time. See more »
Goofs
(at around 54 mins) When Kong puts Ann on the tree throne (just before the T-Rex encounter), she moves a meter or so to the left as stop-motion gives way to live-action. Also, because of the full-size tree and actress matted over a portion of the miniature jungle set, part of Kong's paw disappears, seemingly behind the tree but, in fact, behind the matted-in live-action at this moment. See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
Charles Weston:
Say, is this the moving picture ship?
Watchman:
The Venture? Yeah. Are you going on this crazy voyage?
Charles Weston:
What's crazy about it?
See more »
Crazy Credits
Opening Card: And the prophet said: "And lo, the beast looked upon the face of beauty. And it stayed its hand from killing. And from that day, it was as one dead." Old Arabian Proverb See more »
Alternate Versions
Other than the sequence where Kong pulls Fay Wray's clothes off, here are the other scenes that were cut in the late '30s, and not restored until the '70s:
All scenes of the Brontasourus biting sailors, including the sequence where a sailor climbs to the top of a tree, and soon, a dinosaur comes and takes him away in his mouth.
Kong biting and chewing natives when he breaks through the gate on Skull Island, and squashing one under his giant foot.
Kong biting a New Yorker when he escapes from the theater.
Kong picking a sleeping woman from her hotel room, inspecting her and upon deciding that she's not Ann throwing her to the sidewalk several stories below. Though these scenes were fully restored in 35mm to the 1972 re-release, some prints in the 1960s used 35mm blow-ups of an old uncensored 16mm print to restore the shots, creating a noticeable drop in quality. The 1972 restoration gets the censored shots that were discovered in an uncut British 35mm print from 1933.
It's a shame that young people these days, don't know how to enjoy a black & white movie! I'm 14, and I love black & white movies. We saw this movie at school, and everyone hated it. They said it sucked, because it was in black & white, and the effects were hilariously bad!
I disagreed!
This movie is nearly 80 years old, and it's still a hit!
The cinematography is incredibly beautiful. One of the greatest shots of all time is when Kong is on the top of the building!
The acting is fine.
The story is great, but my friends found it stupid. They thought it was unrealistic because there were dinosaurs and a giant gorilla on the island etc.
This movie is entertaining throughout the whole movie! Most black & whites movies got a lot of dialog and long scenes with no editing, but not in this one! There are plenty of scenes in this movie where there are no dialog, but great editing and entertainment!
The effects are so fantastic! Young people may find Kong hilarious when they see a close-up picture of him. But I was absolutely blown away! Imagine that you're in 1933. You go to the movies and you've never seen something like this before!
King Kong is a one small step for man. One giant leap for film making!
10/10
44 of 50 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
| Report this
It's a shame that young people these days, don't know how to enjoy a black & white movie! I'm 14, and I love black & white movies. We saw this movie at school, and everyone hated it. They said it sucked, because it was in black & white, and the effects were hilariously bad!
I disagreed!
This movie is nearly 80 years old, and it's still a hit!
The cinematography is incredibly beautiful. One of the greatest shots of all time is when Kong is on the top of the building!
The acting is fine.
The story is great, but my friends found it stupid. They thought it was unrealistic because there were dinosaurs and a giant gorilla on the island etc.
This movie is entertaining throughout the whole movie! Most black & whites movies got a lot of dialog and long scenes with no editing, but not in this one! There are plenty of scenes in this movie where there are no dialog, but great editing and entertainment!
The effects are so fantastic! Young people may find Kong hilarious when they see a close-up picture of him. But I was absolutely blown away! Imagine that you're in 1933. You go to the movies and you've never seen something like this before!
King Kong is a one small step for man. One giant leap for film making!
10/10