King Kong (1933)

Title: King Kong (1933)
Director: Merian C. Cooper
Ernest B. Schoedsack
Genre: Classic
Highs: Originator of monster movies
Lows: Freak'in old
RhynoBot Grade: C- (today), A (back in the day)

Turner Classic Movie channel was showing the original King Kong the other night in preparation for the release of Peter Jackson's new vision of the classic monster movie. So I decided to sit down and watch since the last time I saw it was several years ago when I was a kid. To be honest I found it boring when I was a kid and unfortunately it didn't really excite me now as an adult either. What I did find more interesting now as an adult was the production value of this movie having been made so long ago (1933). If you look at movies that were made in the 1950's the production value of those films did not significantly change in 20 year since King Kong was produced. That means there was a little something special about this movie and the people that created it. King Kong really set the stage for monster movies in general and more specifically the BLOCKBUSTER monster movie. The film had the highest price tag ever for a feature film back in 1933, something like $10 million in today's dollars compared to Peter Jackson's $207 million.

The thing that bugs me the most about this movie and all old movies is the style of acting and the manner of speech. When they start busting out with phases like, "Listen sister we got to get you down to the dock, see. You're gonna be a big star, just stick with me. I'll take you places." Spoken in that silly old movie actor fast talking drawl. Who the hell talks like that? I seriously doubt that people in the 1930's talked that way but for some reason it is rampant in Hollywood from it's inception until about the 1960's when movies started becoming more realistic.

The stop motion animation in this film was interesting - yes it is sooo inferior by today's standard but I'm sure it was quite a sight in 1933 since nothing like this had ever been done before to this magnitude. So to be fair I can't knock the film for poor special effects. But I have to say the two faces of Kong is some funny ass shit. Face 1 below is the long shot, ferocious, "I KILL YOU", Kong. Face 2 below is the close-up, laugh my f-ing ass off love struck Kong. Every time I saw the close-up I just started busting up - hello, not scary, funny as hell!












One final note about a very hot topic in Hollywood right now. Product placement is a huge problem in my mind and in the mind of many movie goers. But in watching this movie from 1933 it became apparent that product placement has always been a mainstay in Hollywood. King Kong opens with a wide view overlooking Times Square in NY. What do we see front and center in the screen, a huge advertisement for Chevrolet on one of the lit billboards in Times Square - product placement in 1933. Granted by today's standards, which have really taken product placement too far, this is pretty innocent but there it was clear as day. At least they didn't try to work the product into the script like they do today, "Look here sister, how's about I take to for a ride in my brand new Chevrolet Eagle Master Deluxe sedan." That would have been funny.

The movie is worth seeing for historic reasons but not much else.