This one. Hands down. Every remake or reboot fundamentally misunderstands the "Beauty And The Beast" angle or tries to shoehorn it in at the last minute with no buildup.
Peter Jackson's. Still my favourite of the versions. Andy Serkis motion capture gave Kong real heart and amazing visual effects and monsters. Also, preferred Jack in the Jackson version(less of a sexist jerk) The original was still when the movies were following the "killer gorilla"ideas of the time. Has a few racial tropes that make me cringe a little bit(Charlie and the Skull Island natives made me tug my collar and go "Yuhuhuhugggghhh...." I can't fault it though, it was of its. time period and if we hadn't gotten it, we wouldn't have gotten the remake.
The black and white gives a dreamy quality that is lost in striving for realism.Funniest reaction I ever witnessed was at a movie club screening in '73. Leaving the premises a friend of mine told his 10yr old son: " There's a lesson for you when you grow up, he was the King of his world and a little blonde caused him to die on a New York street like a bum!"
Great reaction! Loved seeing this undying classic reacted to by someone who can appreciate it. The film was such a shocker in 1933 that when it was re-released later that decade, several cuts were made: Kong stepping on and chewing up islanders and New Yorkers, the sea beast killing multiple sailors, Kong peeling off Ann's clothes, Kong pulling a sleeping woman out of her bed and dropping her over the street. The blood in the fight scenes was lessened by printing the entire film much darker to hide the blood along with much of the film's visual detail. For decades, this was the only version we got to see, but in the 70s the deleted scenes were rediscovered and added back to the film (which was incredibly exciting to us longtime Kong fans), and then a nice, bright copy (the one we see today) was found and the film was restored to almost its original glory. I'm glad you appreciated the realism of Ann's constant terror toward Kong, since I think Peter Jackson's turning it into a love story with Ann mooning like a schoolgirl over Kong is utterly absurd. This is one of my three favorite movies along with SHANE and THE WIZARD OF OZ, and I consider it one of the greatest films ever made.
I agree with 99% of what you just said but Ann was not mooning over Kong like a school girl in the 2005 version. She just has more empathy for him, doesn’t mean she was head over heels for him.
One of my favorite films of all time. And the 'making of' documentary on the 2 disc dvd/blu-ray is fascinating as well. These guys (specifically: Willis O'Brien, Ray Harryhausen's mentor) were basically inventing special effects techniques with this film, along with a prior silent film called The Lost World (1925). Layers of separate (painted) glass plates being filmed to create the deep jungle effects, the stop motion, rear projection, matte paintings, miniatures, etc. This was a landmark film and I still enjoy the heck out of it.
Fun facts a few Easter eggs in some kong Movies that are admittedly easy to miss, in this movie when kong puts ann down on the ledge in the cave of his lair, you can actually see the Plesiosaur sneaking up on him and ann in the water if you look carefully, you can also see the Pterodactyl soaring by outside on the cliff before it swoops down to grab ann, as if it was circling skull mountain. in king kong Lives from 1986 you can see a reference to the original film in the "kongmania" parade after kong has been operated one, with one of the people in the crowd Holding a sign that reads "you kong, me fay" as both a reference to fay wray who played ann and to the famous "you tarzan, me jane" line, and finally (for now) in Peter Jackson's king kong you can see the original native shields on the Walls of the Venture, the original gas bombs among the chloroform bottles, the Script jack hands to Carl is the original early Draft of the original kong called "the beast" evident also by the names of the characters in the script we see being called "john" and "Shirley" which were originally gonna be the names of jack and Ann.
Agree! Very impressive what they were able to pull off then, considering the resources we have now, and still be better than a lot of modern big IP blockbusters
@@latenightswithsammy The other great thing about Ann not having affection for Kong is that it makes the last line "it was beauty killed the beast" resonate more than it does in the '05 remake.
This film saved RKO. It was first released at two theatres in NYC which each showed the film 12 times a day. Both theatres were sold out for every showing for two weeks. The film ended up making over $5 million dollars, approximately 100 million in todays market. And tickets were 35 cents. I have seen this movie countless times on TV. A few years back I got to see it in a theatre and seeing Kong's face 20' high scared the crap out of me.
This film is sooooo groundbreaking in so many ways. The 1933 King Kong created visual effects itself. VFX didn't really exist before this picture. Even more impressive, this is when all your visual effects came from an arts & crafts shop! The background mattes had to be hand painted; the creatures and plants had to be built out of metal rods, hinge joints, plaster, paint, and animal fur. All lessons had to be learned the "hard way" because no one else had ever endeavored to pursue this type of story before. Since they pioneered these things, an obscene amount of trial and error went into creating the visual effects and the stop motion process. It's achievements go beyond it's visuals as it was also the first film to ever use a musical score as well. Backing music was also a sensory overload to 1933 movie audiences because it assisted the pacing through sound, and gently nudged the audience towards the mood the filmmakers wanted them in. Keep in mind the very first "talkie" film had only came out just 4 years earlier. Audiences were still getting used to the fact that technology had advanced enough to provide audible dialogue- and here, Merian C. Cooper & Ernest Schoedsack come along to really blow their minds with a musical score recorded by a symphony and conductor! In summary, there's a reason this film will always be considered an immortal classic.
What I never understood about King Kong is the doors in that wall. If you don't want a giant ape breaking through them, why make the doors giant ape sized? Why not make them people sized? LOL!
As much as I appreciate the sheer grandeur of Jackson's version, I like the pacing and compact story-telling of this spare and driven original. Fay Wray's Ann is a little under-appreciated - she is actually more than a damsel in distress: she shows a lot of gumption and curiosity through the entire first half of the movie, isn't afraid to talk back to or tease Driscoll, and establishes a friendly, understanding communication with the Asian cook (who is the one who quickly puts 1 and 1 together when finding the bracelet). Wray also contributed a treasure trove of recorded screams which have been used in many movies over the past decades (including the doorbell in "Murder by Death"). For fun, here is a sweet little tribute to King Kong from Wray, produced by TCM: ruclips.net/video/f76HELC8Wbk/видео.html
For 1933 ... this must have been beyond anything else! It is so daring and imaginative for its time ... could only imagine what the audience felt in those theatre seats 😆
@@latenightswithsammy dude it was man. It still one of the best king kong films that ever released. I bet the audience went crazy when they watched this in their local theater. Remember theaters were the only places where they watched their stuff like cartoons and other stuff. They never had tvs at that time.
@@latenightswithsammy so before watching king kong. Kids would be watching their cartoons to entertain them. So theaters at that time was really interesting.
In the beginning of the 2005 "King Kong", they are thinking who could be the Leading Lady of Denham's Adventure Film, and they mention Fay Wray, and say she wasn't available because she was doing a picture for RKO, which was a salute to her doing the 1933 '"King Kong" for RKO...
The wall was built on the back lot at RKO. A few years later it was burned down in another famous movie, "Gone With The Wind" as part of Atlanta being burned in advance of Sherman occupying the city. I believe now there's an apartment complex on the spot. You asked how they could have Kong in the same shot in the cave with Ann and Driscoll. Willis O'Brien filmed them separately and then "back projected" their images into the shot with Kong. Did you know that O'Brien was Ray Harryhausen's mentor and that Harryhausen worked with O'brien on a film or two? I'm probably wrong but I think it may have been Mighty Joe Young.
As the whole thing was ablaze, they pulled it down with cables and then the special effects department superimposed Rhett leading the horse and wagon from right to left. In the film you can see one of the burning cables just before the whole thing hits the ground. It's a great shot! This was in the Turner Entertainment documentary titled: The Making of a Legend: Gone With the Wind. It was originally released on a single VHS tape. Thankfully it was included in the Four-Disc Collector's Edition in 2004.
@@geraldmcboingboing7401 Really? I'll have to check that out. I have the 4 disc set but have never gotten around to watching all the extras for some reason.
I finally subscribed.I like the fact you react to a lot of classics no one else has touched,and you don't treat them like some silly movie to laugh at.
King Kong is my favorite movie. I first saw it when I was five years old and it had an impact on me when I first viewed it and I was frightened but after seeing the fight with the T-Rex I loved it.This was made 20 years before I was born and my dad had seen it when it was originally released. Kong is still on top of my list I still view it at least twice a year and still find it fascinating.
Fantastic reaction!!!!!!!!!! Now THAT'S a movie, huh?!!! Whew! Just found your channel - what a great lineup of movies! Can't wait to dig in! Going to subscribe right now!!! OUTSTANDING reaction to a movie that deserves WAY more reactions!!!
Wow ... Thank you so much for this comment + support ☺️ it's a great film! And I'm definitely game to watch more films along this kind of brilliance ☺️
@@latenightswithsammy I will be hitting more of your videos in the coming days so forgive me if you get a flurry of comments on old videos! PS: Do you do animation yourself?
Another film that begins with an overture: 2001 A Space Oddyssey. Music plays for several minutes while people find their seats, the lights come down slowly, the MGM lion roars three times and then the film most have seen begins.
The “Overture” wasn’t part of the movie - Some big theater releases had music before the curtain rose, and the disks preserved the experience. You’ll often see that on disks for classic musicals and blockbuster historical epics…Didn’t know the ‘33 Kong had one, though. Fun fact: Fay Wray was such a scream-Queen in this, that when they were sound-editing the movie, it rattled Katherine Hepburn taking an early screen test in the studio next door-“What are they DOING to that poor girl??”
From what I understand, the "Overture" was created for the 2005 restoration of the film by combining two music cues from the movie--when the ship was approaching the island in the fog and when Kong fell off the Empire State Building. I don't believe the movie ever officially had an overture before that.
@@latenightswithsammy Also the reason for the Overture was to give people a last chance to go to the concession stand and get some snacks before the film started. My dad was born in 58 he told me they did this for movies back in the day.
The critic and pianist Oscar Levant referred to the movie as "A concert of Max Steiner's music with visual accompaniment". Remember, sound in film was still comparatively new. Steiner's score changed the way music was used in film.
After this is Son of Kong, Mighty Joe Young (also had a remake), king kong vs godzilla 1962, King Kong Escapes, King Kong 1976, King Kong Lives, and then the modern ones. war of the gargantuas and frankenstein conquers the world are Kong Scripts that lost the rights to use Kong. and a lot of Movies, TV shows and Games used Gorillas in there plots after this. A*P*E, QUEEN KONG,Donkey Kong, KONGA, Monkey Kong, Keep Em Flying, Duck Tales (original version) The Flash, Rampage, Pixels, Congo, Africa Screams, Baby's Day Out, The Ghost Busters 1975
I wish that we would get a Max original series(whether it be live-action or animated) that's an official follow-up to 'King Kong'[1933] and is based on Joe DeVito's 'King Kong' books titled 'Kong: King of Skull Island', and 'King Kong of Skull Island - Part 1: Exodus' & 'King Kong of Skull Island - Part 2: The Wall' and the non-canonical offshoot comic books published by Boom Studios.
This movie would be given a hard "R" these days. I watched this for the first time in decades several years ago (I feel OLD just writing that line) and I was shocked at the violence depicted in the movie. Not that I'm a prude or anything, I was just taken aback by how brutal things get the minute King Kong appears. I guess I just didn't appreciate how graphic the movie was when I was a kid. Fun Fact: At around eighty minutes into the film, a man, LeRoy Mason, standing in line to see Kong complains to his lady companion, "These tickets cost me twenty bucks." At presumably ten dollars per ticket, this would have been a tremendous cost in Depression-wracked 1933. By contrast, a ticket to see the 1933 New York Yankees, which featured Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, or to this movie itself, would have been about 35 cents.
They got away with the violence and the peeling off of Fay Wray's clothing by Kong because 1933 was still pre-code. In fact, for years that scene with Kong peeling off her clothes was cut out of the film because it was considered too risque after the Motion Picture Production code was set in place. And of course for TV stations and the FCC. Thankfully everything available has been restored in recent years except for the Spider Pit scene which was cut and subsequently lost forever.
One thing to remember that when they made this movie was by stop action were they would take a picture, move the bigger take a picture move the bigger take a picture move the bigger. The person would be on his knees for up to 4 or five hours because he couldn’t take a break while he was working on the scene, because if he just standing up kidnapped finger over and you would shoot it, and they’re not know what that was in the village was even usable until the next day after the film with developed developed
I know it's just a movie but the moment one of the guys is waking up the village with knocking on the drum captain englehorn should've run as fast as he can in every house to warn the people that Kong was about to enter the village
I always prefer the 1976 Kong movie but I know it will never be shown on TV anymore because Kong climbs the twin towers in that movie, I remember all the hype surrounding the making of Kong because they built a full size robot Kong.
Oh my. Willis O'Brien. By the way, there's a lot of focus on the stop-action and the creatures but few mention the camera modifications needed for those filming. If you want the 'next' Willis O'Brien monster works, you'd got to skip ahead two decades and find THE BLACK SCORPION which has some outstanding scorpion vs. tank battle scenes.
O'Brien supervised the stop-motion animation for the classic giant ape film MIGHTY JOE YOUNG in 1948, but a young Ray Harryhausen did much of the animation. This would be a GREAT movie to react to. I agree that THE BLACK SCORPION has excellent effects. Not only that, but the sequence in the underground cavern is, in my opinion, very close to what KING KONG's deleted spider pit scene may have looked like.
It’s a great movie. I always liked the stop motion movie. The Spider scene. When kong was shaking off the men off the log 🪵. There was supposed to be a Spider scene in the movie. But it wasn’t made. Peter Jackson . Got the hold of that script. And made it. It’s on the Blu-ray of Peter Jackson movie version of King Kong. You should check it out.
Wonderful score as well. 1933 on a large screen. most impressive. Kong was not a "Mr Nice Guy". An adventure Very violent and graphic. Certain scenes were cut out from the theatrical release and long deemed to be lost. Only fairly recently restored. I praise Peter Jackson for the work he did for Lord of the Rings. but feel he did King Kong. no favors. Jackson sought to out do every thing that worked in the original, thinking more. is Better. My sentiments are voiced by Gollum, "You ruin's it". Way overdone, with a few nice touches . The original still Rules. I do like the "Skull Island" take on Kong,
@@latenightswithsammy unfortunately its rare to see someone really appreciate and understand how groundbreaking this work of art truly is. But you did in this reaction 👍
PURE CINEMA is hard to match ... and given that now, a director has pretty much no option to go all practical effects, I'd say you're right ... this film is just on another level! 😆
One of my all-time favourites, EVER! I really like Peter Jackson's remake as well, wich feels like a luxurious update of the original. You can see crearly that Peter is a HUGE fan.
for other great use of stop-motion in film watch "jason and the argonauts" (1963) and the original "clash of the titans" (1981). both are based upon greek myth. the 50s "godzilla," the japanese answer to kong, never used stop-motion. just some hoky man-in-a-monster-suit nonsense i always found cheesy. but a lot of people like godzilla. the 70s remake of "king kong" wasn't very good but the 2005 remake is excellent.
Other than the fact that there’s a ‘beauty’ and there’s a ‘beast,’ the similarities between KING KONG and BEAUTY AND THE BEAST end there. The two stories are not similar. Also, ‘Beauty’ did not kill the beast. Carl Denham, with his arrogance, avarice and unwillingness to take responsibility for his own actions is who killed Kong. Kong would have lived out his natural life in peace and at his own comfortable home had Denham not kidnapped him and brought him to a place where he could never survive.
Well, yeah, Denham is the one who captures Kong and brings him to New York. But the whole point of the film is that none of that would've happened without Kong's fatal attraction to Ann. As Denham tells the reporters, "Kong could've stayed safe where he was but he couldn't stay away from beauty". Also, Ann never returns Kong's affection. This is how 'beauty kills the beast' and brings full circle the 'Old Arabian Proverb' that opens the film.
@@Koviklay None of the events in the film would have happened if Denham wouldn’t have been so eager to bring Ann to the island and expose her to an untold amount of unknown dangers; it was his rash, impulsive irresponsibility from the get-go that put Ann in harm’s way. No Denham + no Ann = no Kong. Denham also saw to it that Kong could not have “stayed safe where he was.” Kong never had a choice in the matter. Also, at the conclusion of Beauty and the Beast, Beauty falls in love with the beast after she voluntarily lives with him, gets to know his true nature and then he is returned to the form of a handsome prince. They lived happily-ever-after. KING KONG enjoyed no such ending, he ended up a broken pile of gore, Ann still feared and hated him, and Denham continued to spout the same kind of disengaged rhetoric that he had been spewing throughout the film. Such talk proved less advantageous by the time the second film SON OF KONG began, when Denham was held legally and financially liable for Kong’s rampage. There was no ‘sweet-talk’ to enable Denham to escape justice, so he simply ran. Further adventures ensued…
@@Phil-r6k Denham wanted to make a movie about a beast who is led to his doom by his attraction to beauty. That premise becomes the plot of KING KONG itself. The 'beast' who turns into Ann's 'prince charming' is Driscoll, who is at first mean toward Ann but gradually 'grows soft ' and ultimately saves her from Kong. Driscoll becomes Ann's hero whereas Kong remains a beast in her eyes. So we have two parallel examples of beauty and the beast happening in the film -- one that ends happily, while the other ends tragically. Denham never made his movie, but the idea for it gets played out in the course of events. So it is fitting and ironic that Denham says Kong's epitath which would likely have been the closing line to his film. Actually, it was Ann's stealing of the apple - the 'forbidden fruit' - that started everything. Had she not done that she never would have met Denham. She also accepted his offer to act in his movie. Had she refused, she would have been spared the ordeal on Skull Island. KING KONG is a film that depicts how one small act can bring catastrophic consequences, and it does this by brilliantly combining fact with fiction, fantasy and reality.
@@Koviklay That’s some mighty fine insight! I appreciate the conversation! KING KONG has been my favorite film since I was a kid in the ‘60s, and I’ve written about it fairly extensively in Scary Monsters magazine. It’s a very subjective film; ten different people can have ten different interpretations of it, depending on their backgrounds. I’ve been known to weasel any topic into Kong in some way or another!
@@Phil-r6k Thank you! I appreciate the exchange. KONG is my favorite film as well and I too have written voraciously about it. There's a lot more subtext than is realized on an initial viewing. One thing I didn't discover until maybe my 100th viewing is that the Cooper/Schoedsack motto of the three D's - keep it distant, difficult and dangerous - is stamped into the film by the three main characters' names, Darrow, Denham and Driscoll.
Favourite King Kong, GO!
This one. Hands down.
Every remake or reboot fundamentally misunderstands the "Beauty And The Beast" angle or tries to shoehorn it in at the last minute with no buildup.
This Original One
Peter Jackson's. Still my favourite of the versions. Andy Serkis motion capture gave Kong real heart and amazing visual effects and monsters. Also, preferred Jack in the Jackson version(less of a sexist jerk)
The original was still when the movies were following the "killer gorilla"ideas of the time. Has a few racial tropes that make me cringe a little bit(Charlie and the Skull Island natives made me tug my collar and go "Yuhuhuhugggghhh...." I can't fault it though, it was of its. time period and if we hadn't gotten it, we wouldn't have gotten the remake.
This is hands down the greatest Kong film, not just of its time but of all time. The others are just wannabes.
The original,naturally.Just for the fact that,only 4 years since sound came in,that the makers pushed effects this far.
This movie is almost 90 years old and still kicks all kinds of ass!
Speak on the TRUTH!
The black and white gives a
dreamy quality that is lost in
striving for realism.Funniest
reaction I ever witnessed was
at a movie club screening in
'73. Leaving the premises a
friend of mine told his 10yr old
son: " There's a lesson for you
when you grow up, he was the
King of his world and a little
blonde caused him to die on a
New York street like a bum!"
The greatest Kong film to date. It'll never be surpassed.
So far, having watched the 2005 (Peter J), and 2017 (Skull Island) films, I can agree with your sentiment 😆
Great reaction! Loved seeing this undying classic reacted to by someone who can appreciate it. The film was such a shocker in 1933 that when it was re-released later that decade, several cuts were made: Kong stepping on and chewing up islanders and New Yorkers, the sea beast killing multiple sailors, Kong peeling off Ann's clothes, Kong pulling a sleeping woman out of her bed and dropping her over the street. The blood in the fight scenes was lessened by printing the entire film much darker to hide the blood along with much of the film's visual detail. For decades, this was the only version we got to see, but in the 70s the deleted scenes were rediscovered and added back to the film (which was incredibly exciting to us longtime Kong fans), and then a nice, bright copy (the one we see today) was found and the film was restored to almost its original glory. I'm glad you appreciated the realism of Ann's constant terror toward Kong, since I think Peter Jackson's turning it into a love story with Ann mooning like a schoolgirl over Kong is utterly absurd. This is one of my three favorite movies along with SHANE and THE WIZARD OF OZ, and I consider it one of the greatest films ever made.
I agree with 99% of what you just said but Ann was not mooning over Kong like a school girl in the 2005 version. She just has more empathy for him, doesn’t mean she was head over heels for him.
YOU'VE JUST LISTED ALL THE REASONS WHY THIS FILM IS ... PURE CINEMA 😊
@@anonymousgoblin792 From my angle, that wasn't empathy, that was giddy romance. At any rate, I found it silly and overdone.
@@latenightswithsammy agreed 😊
Hear Here !
I first saw this movie at the age of 5. It has remained in my top three favorite movies ever since. I could talk trivia on this film for days.
Wow! That's awesome! It is amazing ... so re-watchable, GREAT STUFF 😆
"Sounds like a lion."
Good ear. Kong's roar is based upon a lion's roar.
Specifically Kong's roar is a lion's roar is played backwards at half speed.
One of my favorite films of all time. And the 'making of' documentary on the 2 disc dvd/blu-ray is fascinating as well. These guys (specifically: Willis O'Brien, Ray Harryhausen's mentor) were basically inventing special effects techniques with this film, along with a prior silent film called The Lost World (1925). Layers of separate (painted) glass plates being filmed to create the deep jungle effects, the stop motion, rear projection, matte paintings, miniatures, etc. This was a landmark film and I still enjoy the heck out of it.
PURE CINEMA at its finest!
Fun facts a few Easter eggs in some kong Movies that are admittedly easy to miss, in this movie when kong puts ann down on the ledge in the cave of his lair, you can actually see the Plesiosaur sneaking up on him and ann in the water if you look carefully, you can also see the Pterodactyl soaring by outside on the cliff before it swoops down to grab ann, as if it was circling skull mountain. in king kong Lives from 1986 you can see a reference to the original film in the "kongmania" parade after kong has been operated one, with one of the people in the crowd Holding a sign that reads "you kong, me fay" as both a reference to fay wray who played ann and to the famous "you tarzan, me jane" line, and finally (for now) in Peter Jackson's king kong you can see the original native shields on the Walls of the Venture, the original gas bombs among the chloroform bottles, the Script jack hands to Carl is the original early Draft of the original kong called "the beast" evident also by the names of the characters in the script we see being called "john" and "Shirley" which were originally gonna be the names of jack and Ann.
12:40: I mean, Kong’s sound effects were lion & tiger roars, both combined, and also reversed.
Really good stuff
This movie's greatness is locked in place forever. You're correct about Ann's reaction to Kong as being more realistic than in the '05 remake. ❤
Agree! Very impressive what they were able to pull off then, considering the resources we have now, and still be better than a lot of modern big IP blockbusters
@@latenightswithsammy
The other great thing about Ann not having affection for Kong is that it makes the last line "it was beauty killed the beast" resonate more than it does in the '05 remake.
This film saved RKO. It was first released at two theatres in NYC which each showed the film 12 times a day. Both theatres were sold out for every showing for two weeks. The film ended up making over $5 million dollars, approximately 100 million in todays market. And tickets were 35 cents.
I have seen this movie countless times on TV. A few years back I got to see it in a theatre and seeing Kong's face 20' high scared the crap out of me.
I hope we get some of this kind of Cinema back and in theatres ... we need it 😊
Seeing it on a big theater screen is amazing. So intense.
@@IvorPresents Oh yeah - Kong's snarling face 30' high was amazing.
Still the best King Kong and i doubt it will be surpassed. So good!
BINGO! 😆
This film is sooooo groundbreaking in so many ways. The 1933 King Kong created visual effects itself. VFX didn't really exist before this picture. Even more impressive, this is when all your visual effects came from an arts & crafts shop! The background mattes had to be hand painted; the creatures and plants had to be built out of metal rods, hinge joints, plaster, paint, and animal fur. All lessons had to be learned the "hard way" because no one else had ever endeavored to pursue this type of story before. Since they pioneered these things, an obscene amount of trial and error went into creating the visual effects and the stop motion process.
It's achievements go beyond it's visuals as it was also the first film to ever use a musical score as well. Backing music was also a sensory overload to 1933 movie audiences because it assisted the pacing through sound, and gently nudged the audience towards the mood the filmmakers wanted them in. Keep in mind the very first "talkie" film had only came out just 4 years earlier. Audiences were still getting used to the fact that technology had advanced enough to provide audible dialogue- and here, Merian C. Cooper & Ernest Schoedsack come along to really blow their minds with a musical score recorded by a symphony and conductor!
In summary, there's a reason this film will always be considered an immortal classic.
There's also a deleted sequence after the log bridge where the crew is being attacked by giant insects and lizards.
Woah ... that's awesome! Where could I see that?
@@latenightswithsammy you can view it on RUclips. It was recreated by Peter Jackson and his crew.
A movie that was made at the same time, on the same sets to save money was ‘the Most Dangerous Game’. It’s pretty good and worth watching.
Interesting! Will give it a look 😊
What I never understood about King Kong is the doors in that wall. If you don't want a giant ape breaking through them, why make the doors giant ape sized? Why not make them people sized? LOL!
😂 - good point!
The large doors were so that the dinosaurs still on their side of the wall after its construction could eventually be herded out.
@@porflepopnecker4376 Uhm, riiiiiight, lol. I'm betting those would have been better candidats to wind up as Brontosaurus burgers. 😂🤣
Poor Kong. He tried so hard to be Ann's friend 😢
❤️🦍❤️🦍❤️🦍❤️🦍❤️
The overture was played while theatergoers found their seats ☮️
As much as I appreciate the sheer grandeur of Jackson's version, I like the pacing and compact story-telling of this spare and driven original. Fay Wray's Ann is a little under-appreciated - she is actually more than a damsel in distress: she shows a lot of gumption and curiosity through the entire first half of the movie, isn't afraid to talk back to or tease Driscoll, and establishes a friendly, understanding communication with the Asian cook (who is the one who quickly puts 1 and 1 together when finding the bracelet). Wray also contributed a treasure trove of recorded screams which have been used in many movies over the past decades (including the doorbell in "Murder by Death").
For fun, here is a sweet little tribute to King Kong from Wray, produced by TCM: ruclips.net/video/f76HELC8Wbk/видео.html
You are so on point with this ... everything about this film is sheer perfection! Oh, and yes! PERFECT PACING! 😆
considering this was made during the depression; it's special effects are great
Completely agree Roy!
This was the first king Kong movie I've watched when I was a kid and the second one was the 1976s one. Nothing beats the 1933 one.
For 1933 ... this must have been beyond anything else! It is so daring and imaginative for its time ... could only imagine what the audience felt in those theatre seats 😆
@@latenightswithsammy dude it was man. It still one of the best king kong films that ever released. I bet the audience went crazy when they watched this in their local theater. Remember theaters were the only places where they watched their stuff like cartoons and other stuff. They never had tvs at that time.
@@latenightswithsammy so before watching king kong. Kids would be watching their cartoons to entertain them. So theaters at that time was really interesting.
In the beginning of the 2005 "King Kong", they are thinking who could be the Leading Lady of Denham's Adventure Film, and they mention Fay Wray, and say she wasn't available because she was doing a picture for RKO, which was a salute to her doing the 1933 '"King Kong" for RKO...
Brilliant nod! I love those small touches ☺️
Those pilots that shoot down Kong - those are Merian Cooper and Ernest Schoedsack, the creative duo behind the film!
The wall was built on the back lot at RKO. A few years later it was burned down in another famous movie, "Gone With The Wind" as part of Atlanta being burned in advance of Sherman occupying the city. I believe now there's an apartment complex on the spot. You asked how they could have Kong in the same shot in the cave with Ann and Driscoll. Willis O'Brien filmed them separately and then "back projected" their images into the shot with Kong. Did you know that O'Brien was Ray Harryhausen's mentor and that Harryhausen worked with O'brien on a film or two? I'm probably wrong but I think it may have been Mighty Joe Young.
As the whole thing was ablaze, they pulled it down with cables and then the special effects department superimposed Rhett leading the horse and wagon from right to left. In the film you can see one of the burning cables just before the whole thing hits the ground. It's a great shot! This was in the Turner Entertainment documentary titled: The Making of a Legend: Gone With the Wind. It was originally released on a single VHS tape. Thankfully it was included in the Four-Disc Collector's Edition in 2004.
@@geraldmcboingboing7401 Really? I'll have to check that out. I have the 4 disc set but have never gotten around to watching all the extras for some reason.
@@Rebel9668 You won't be disappointed. They spill the beans on absolutely everything.
Rebel9668,you're right,it was indeed on Mighty Joe Young.O'Brien and Harryhausen won an Oscar for that movie.
Y'all are making me fall in more in-love with this film ... thank you 😊
I finally subscribed.I like the fact you react to a lot of classics no one else has touched,and you don't treat them like some silly movie to laugh at.
Thank you so much for the support and kind words 😄
The Herzog comparison is perfect for Denham! 😅
😆
King Kong is my favorite movie. I first saw it when I was five years old and it had an impact on me when I first viewed it and I was frightened but after seeing the fight with the T-Rex I loved it.This was made 20 years before I was born and my dad had seen it when it was originally released. Kong is still on top of my list I still view it at least twice a year and still find it fascinating.
There is a pretty good sequel, Son Of Kong(1933) 1hr9min.
Interesting! Thanks for sharing this :)
Fantastic reaction!!!!!!!!!! Now THAT'S a movie, huh?!!! Whew! Just found your channel - what a great lineup of movies! Can't wait to dig in! Going to subscribe right now!!! OUTSTANDING reaction to a movie that deserves WAY more reactions!!!
Wow ... Thank you so much for this comment + support ☺️ it's a great film! And I'm definitely game to watch more films along this kind of brilliance ☺️
@@latenightswithsammy I will be hitting more of your videos in the coming days so forgive me if you get a flurry of comments on old videos! PS: Do you do animation yourself?
Another film that begins with an overture: 2001 A Space Oddyssey.
Music plays for several minutes while people find their seats, the lights come down slowly, the MGM lion roars three times and then the film most have seen begins.
Soooo EPIC!
The last films I saw in theaters which had overtures were THE BLACK HOLE and STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE.
The “Overture” wasn’t part of the movie - Some big theater releases had music before the curtain rose, and the disks preserved the experience. You’ll often see that on disks for classic musicals and blockbuster historical epics…Didn’t know the ‘33 Kong had one, though.
Fun fact: Fay Wray was such a scream-Queen in this, that when they were sound-editing the movie, it rattled Katherine Hepburn taking an early screen test in the studio next door-“What are they DOING to that poor girl??”
Woah! That's interesting ... cool to have had it either way 😅
From what I understand, the "Overture" was created for the 2005 restoration of the film by combining two music cues from the movie--when the ship was approaching the island in the fog and when Kong fell off the Empire State Building. I don't believe the movie ever officially had an overture before that.
@@latenightswithsammy Also the reason for the Overture was to give people a last chance to go to the concession stand and get some snacks before the film started. My dad was born in 58 he told me they did this for movies back in the day.
The critic and pianist Oscar Levant referred to the movie as "A concert of Max Steiner's music with visual accompaniment".
Remember, sound in film was still comparatively new. Steiner's score changed the way music was used in film.
After this is Son of Kong, Mighty Joe Young (also had a remake), king kong vs godzilla 1962, King Kong Escapes, King Kong 1976, King Kong Lives, and then the modern ones. war of the gargantuas and frankenstein conquers the world are Kong Scripts that lost the rights to use Kong. and a lot of Movies, TV shows and Games used Gorillas in there plots after this. A*P*E, QUEEN KONG,Donkey Kong, KONGA, Monkey Kong, Keep Em Flying, Duck Tales (original version) The Flash, Rampage, Pixels, Congo, Africa Screams, Baby's Day Out, The Ghost Busters 1975
Woah!! Thank you for listing them all out ☺️
The gate in Kong, and was actually in the movie, gone with the wind being burned down in the burning of Atlanta
I wish that we would get a Max original series(whether it be live-action or animated) that's an official follow-up to 'King Kong'[1933] and is based on Joe DeVito's 'King Kong' books titled 'Kong: King of Skull Island', and 'King Kong of Skull Island - Part 1: Exodus' & 'King Kong of Skull Island - Part 2: The Wall' and the non-canonical offshoot comic books published by Boom Studios.
Bad bad old King Kong
Baddest ape on the whole damn island.
Favorite King Kong?.. the original
Awesome!
This movie would be given a hard "R" these days. I watched this for the first time in decades several years ago (I feel OLD just writing that line) and I was shocked at the violence depicted in the movie. Not that I'm a prude or anything, I was just taken aback by how brutal things get the minute King Kong appears. I guess I just didn't appreciate how graphic the movie was when I was a kid.
Fun Fact: At around eighty minutes into the film, a man, LeRoy Mason, standing in line to see Kong complains to his lady companion, "These tickets cost me twenty bucks." At presumably ten dollars per ticket, this would have been a tremendous cost in Depression-wracked 1933. By contrast, a ticket to see the 1933 New York Yankees, which featured Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, or to this movie itself, would have been about 35 cents.
They got away with the violence and the peeling off of Fay Wray's clothing by Kong because 1933 was still pre-code. In fact, for years that scene with Kong peeling off her clothes was cut out of the film because it was considered too risque after the Motion Picture Production code was set in place. And of course for TV stations and the FCC. Thankfully everything available has been restored in recent years except for the Spider Pit scene which was cut and subsequently lost forever.
Love how they took such risks despite censorship ... BRILLIANT STUFF!
Some of the dinosaurs in the movie also appeared in the silent film The Lost World.
Brilliant!
One thing to remember that when they made this movie was by stop action were they would take a picture, move the bigger take a picture move the bigger take a picture move the bigger. The person would be on his knees for up to 4 or five hours because he couldn’t take a break while he was working on the scene, because if he just standing up kidnapped finger over and you would shoot it, and they’re not know what that was in the village was even usable until the next day after the film with developed developed
This must be a restored print. In the theatrical release, Kong didn't eat people
Ahh I see, thank you for that clarification :)
I know it's just a movie but the moment one of the guys is waking up the village with knocking on the drum captain englehorn should've run as fast as he can in every house to warn the people that Kong was about to enter the village
19:23
23:45 that is cinema right there
PURE cinema! 😆
I always prefer the 1976 Kong movie but I know it will never be shown on TV anymore because Kong climbs the twin towers in that movie, I remember all the hype surrounding the making of Kong because they built a full size robot Kong.
Oh .. did not know that, but understandable why they'd not show it. Full size robot Kong sounds pretty cool though 😅
Oh my. Willis O'Brien. By the way, there's a lot of focus on the stop-action and the creatures but few mention the camera modifications needed for those filming. If you want the 'next' Willis O'Brien monster works, you'd got to skip ahead two decades and find THE BLACK SCORPION which has some outstanding scorpion vs. tank battle scenes.
How BRILLIANT! I've got to check out the 'Black Scorpion' now 😆
O'Brien supervised the stop-motion animation for the classic giant ape film MIGHTY JOE YOUNG in 1948, but a young Ray Harryhausen did much of the animation. This would be a GREAT movie to react to. I agree that THE BLACK SCORPION has excellent effects. Not only that, but the sequence in the underground cavern is, in my opinion, very close to what KING KONG's deleted spider pit scene may have looked like.
King Kong. Yes, 1933. The same year as Tarzan The Fearless
Yes 😆
Helicopter were used in the 1976 version
Interesting 🙂
It’s a great movie. I always liked the stop motion movie. The Spider scene. When kong was shaking off the men off the log 🪵. There was supposed to be a Spider scene in the movie. But it wasn’t made. Peter Jackson . Got the hold of that script. And made it. It’s on the Blu-ray of Peter Jackson movie version of King Kong. You should check it out.
Ohh! Thanks for writing in and letting me know! Haven't seen PJ's King Kong in quite some time, certainly ripe for a rewatch :)
Wonderful score as well. 1933 on a large screen. most impressive. Kong was not a "Mr Nice Guy". An adventure Very violent and graphic. Certain scenes were cut out from the theatrical release and long deemed to be lost. Only fairly recently restored. I praise Peter Jackson for the work he did for Lord of the Rings. but feel he did King Kong. no favors. Jackson sought to out do every thing that worked in the original, thinking more. is Better. My sentiments are voiced by Gollum, "You ruin's it". Way overdone, with a few nice touches . The original still Rules. I do like the "Skull Island" take on Kong,
😂 - Gollum makes for a great movie commenter! And believe me, I wish I could see this on the largest screen ... it would be epic!
How did they transport Kong👑 across the ocean? They just kind of skipped over that little detail, they gotz some splaining to do!
Very good point 😅
Great great film. You might also want to check out the 1949 classic “Mighty Joe Young”
Sweet! Will add it to the list 🙂
Faye Wray was my first crush as a child.
Great reaction. I had a good time watchin'.
Thank you so much for the kind words 😊
love your reaction
Thanks for the kind words :)
@@latenightswithsammy unfortunately its rare to see someone really appreciate and understand how groundbreaking this work of art truly is. But you did in this reaction 👍
Before he started the Nazi regime, Adolf Hitler watched this movie in the theatres.
... interesting.
When this film was released Adolf Hitler was Führer, exactly two months ago aprox.
love this movie better than the Peter Jackson remake the Peter Jackson version way too much cgi and not like the original movie from 1933😎
PURE CINEMA is hard to match ... and given that now, a director has pretty much no option to go all practical effects, I'd say you're right ... this film is just on another level! 😆
@@latenightswithsammy agreed 😎
One of my all-time favourites, EVER! I really like Peter Jackson's remake as well, wich feels like a luxurious update of the original. You can see crearly that Peter is a HUGE fan.
TRUE! A very loyal homage to the original masterpiece ... 😊
Can you react to king Kong 1976 please
The 2005 remake by Peter Jackson is also a great version that's very loyal to the original.
Agreed!
for other great use of stop-motion in film watch "jason and the argonauts" (1963) and the original "clash of the titans" (1981). both are based upon greek myth. the 50s "godzilla," the japanese answer to kong, never used stop-motion. just some hoky man-in-a-monster-suit nonsense i always found cheesy. but a lot of people like godzilla.
the 70s remake of "king kong" wasn't very good but the 2005 remake is excellent.
Scaery
Indeed!
Other than the fact that there’s a ‘beauty’ and there’s a ‘beast,’ the similarities between KING KONG and BEAUTY AND THE BEAST end there. The two stories are not similar. Also, ‘Beauty’ did not kill the beast. Carl Denham, with his arrogance, avarice and unwillingness to take responsibility for his own actions is who killed Kong. Kong would have lived out his natural life in peace and at his own comfortable home had Denham not kidnapped him and brought him to a place where he could never survive.
Well, yeah, Denham is the one who captures Kong and brings him to New York. But the whole point of the film is that none of that would've happened without Kong's fatal attraction to Ann. As Denham tells the reporters, "Kong could've stayed safe where he was but he couldn't stay away from beauty". Also, Ann never returns Kong's affection. This is how 'beauty kills the beast' and brings full circle the 'Old Arabian Proverb' that opens the film.
@@Koviklay None of the events in the film would have happened if Denham wouldn’t have been so eager to bring Ann to the island and expose her to an untold amount of unknown dangers; it was his rash, impulsive irresponsibility from the get-go that put Ann in harm’s way. No Denham + no Ann = no Kong. Denham also saw to it that Kong could not have “stayed safe where he was.” Kong never had a choice in the matter. Also, at the conclusion of Beauty and the Beast, Beauty falls in love with the beast after she voluntarily lives with him, gets to know his true nature and then he is returned to the form of a handsome prince. They lived happily-ever-after. KING KONG enjoyed no such ending, he ended up a broken pile of gore, Ann still feared and hated him, and Denham continued to spout the same kind of disengaged rhetoric that he had been spewing throughout the film. Such talk proved less advantageous by the time the second film SON OF KONG began, when Denham was held legally and financially liable for Kong’s rampage. There was no ‘sweet-talk’ to enable Denham to escape justice, so he simply ran. Further adventures ensued…
@@Phil-r6k
Denham wanted to make a movie about a beast who is led to his doom by his attraction to beauty. That premise becomes the plot of KING KONG itself. The 'beast' who turns into Ann's 'prince charming' is Driscoll, who is at first mean toward Ann but gradually 'grows soft ' and ultimately saves her from Kong. Driscoll becomes Ann's hero whereas Kong remains a beast in her eyes. So we have two parallel examples of beauty and the beast happening in the film -- one that ends happily, while the other ends tragically. Denham never made his movie, but the idea for it gets played out in the course of events. So it is fitting and ironic that Denham says Kong's epitath which would likely have been the closing line to his film.
Actually, it was Ann's stealing of the apple - the 'forbidden fruit' - that started everything. Had she not done that she never would have met Denham. She also accepted his offer to act in his movie. Had she refused, she would have been spared the ordeal on Skull Island.
KING KONG is a film that depicts how one small act can bring catastrophic consequences, and it does this by brilliantly combining fact with fiction, fantasy and reality.
@@Koviklay That’s some mighty fine insight! I appreciate the conversation! KING KONG has been my favorite film since I was a kid in the ‘60s, and I’ve written about it fairly extensively in Scary Monsters magazine. It’s a very subjective film; ten different people can have ten different interpretations of it, depending on their backgrounds. I’ve been known to weasel any topic into Kong in some way or another!
@@Phil-r6k
Thank you! I appreciate the exchange. KONG is my favorite film as well and I too have written voraciously about it. There's a lot more subtext than is realized on an initial viewing. One thing I didn't discover until maybe my 100th viewing is that the Cooper/Schoedsack motto of the three D's - keep it distant, difficult and dangerous - is stamped into the film by the three main characters' names, Darrow, Denham and Driscoll.
I love Kong, but this film is just so RACIST. YIKES!