King Kong! King Kong! What a name! One of the most infamous film
characters ever created, up there with Darth Vader, and from this
phenomenal film you'd find it incredibly difficult to argue with
such an award.
The film starts off rather slowly at first, for about half an hour,
however none of this time is 'boring' in any way, as you really do
get to see the different characters being developed and come to
like them. This really does help build it up slowly, tricking the
audience into a sense of relaxation (it was termed as a 'melodrama'
in one of its trailers!) which really adds to the second half of
the film when as soon as those huge doors are opened, wham!, the
audience are shoved onto a rollercoaster of excitement and danger
for practically the remainder of the film. Basically a long chase
sequence, the crew, Carl Denham (Robert Armstrong) and Jack (Bruce
Cabot) chase Kong in order to rescue the damsel in distress, Ann
Darrow (Fay Wray). Obviously heavily influenced by Arthur Conan
Doyle's THE LOST WORLD story, an array of dinosaurs, and other
creatures, attempt to attack the characters, even if they are
herbivores!
The animation of Kong and the creatures is mind-blowing, still to
this very day, in my opinion. When I was watching this, there were
a couple of people behind me laughing AT it! Which A) was very
annoying but B) was incredibly dumb and showed more about them then
the film, as it is still very impressive. Although having said
that, I may be a tad bit biased towards it as I really enjoy
stop-frame animation - often more than CGI (and I HATE cgi blood!
HOT FUZZ! (2007; Edgar Wright)) RKO is often associated with films
that are based upon visual special effects. Throughout this whole
sequence there is one downside however; Fay Wray. If there was an
award for the most annoying character she would probably win it.
She does not seem to stop screaming! This really presents her as
being incredibly weak and pathetic (emphasised by the dress she is
wearing, which so happens to be white). The whole film is
incredibly patriarchal and misogynistic; from the director having
to hire a woman in order to earn more money at the box-office, to
him actually selecting which woman would be best to pick, just like
a possession of some sort as well as the big ape falling for her
looks, rather than her... personality?!
Not only is it very misogynistic, more than NEW YORK RIPPER (1982;
Lucio Fulci) as reviewed before, but so racist! From the Chinese
character on board who fits into every possible stereotype; the
costume, the moustache, the accent "me likey..."to the black
characters who are introduced wearing gorilla costumes as well as
the connotations of the primitive beast (Kong) as a threat to the
white folk in New York! But hey, this was made in a time before PC!
Overall, a truly brilliant and timeless masterpiece that's so
bloody good it's been remade twice (1976 and 2005 - Peter Jackson's
one being the better of the two, obviously!) and spin-offs and cash
ins, my fav being KING KONG VS.GODZILLA (1962; Ishiro Honda) which
is one of the most unintentionally funny films made. As well as
influencing countless films, from the obvious like JURRASIC PARK
(1993; Steven Spielberg) and MIGHTY JOE YOUNG (1998; Ron Underwood)
and ONE MILLION YEARS B.C. (1966; Don Chaffey) to THE ROCKY HORROR
PICTURE SHOW (1975; Jim Sharman). The ending will stay with you
forever, in which King Kong climbs the E.S building which could be
seen as being a phallic symbol and trying to get dominance. If you
haven't seen it WHY NOT? If you have, well done!