King Kong (1933): Favourite Films Series

King Kong (1933): Favourite Films 

As far back as I can remember, I have loved dinosaurs, but never as much as I did at five years old. I watched every TV show and movie and documentary I could about them, and in almost every one of the documentaries I watched, clips from the same really old black-and-white movie were always being used. One in particular, Dinosaur! Hosted by Christopher Reeve, used more footage than any other. “What do you call this thing?” one guy asks, as they walk past a Stegosaurus so large all that fits on screen is the dorsal plates. “Why, something from the dinosaur family!” the other guy exclaims.

Later in the doc, the scene I would later discover was one of the film’s most-famous scenes shows a giant jet-black monster, like an ape or something, attack and fight a T-rex (my favourite dino back then), and brutally break its jaw and kill it. The scene left me so shaken and so devastated, I always fast-forwarded the VHS past that part, for fear of seeing my favourite dino murdered again. What kind of monstrosity could kill the king of the dinosaurs? 

I asked my mom what movie that was, and she said it was a really old monster movie called King Kong, but I wasn’t allowed to see it just yet. When I was nine years old, I was finally allowed to rent the original from the video store, and figure out why there was a part where a giant ape killed a T-rex, the most awesome of dinosaurs.   

Kong vs. T-rex: the most-famous monster brawl ever

I was glued to my seat the entire movie, until the T-rex strode out of the jungle and spotted the woman Kong had left in a tree, at which point I dashed behind the couch and watched the battle in full (I had never seen the whole fight, only clips), constantly ducking down thinking the T-rex’s end was near, but then I’d look back because the fight was so spectacular I couldn’t look away. By about the halfway point of the fight, I was fully attentive, and I soon returned to the couch to watch the rest of the movie. The most shocking part, the part I never anticipated, was actually feeling bad for Kong at the end as planes shot him off the Empire State Building and he fell to his death. This beast, the one I had hated at five years old for killing my then favourite dinosaur, had won me over. 

I don’t think I need to explain the plot of King Kong, not because the movie has been around for so long, but because it’s just such a well-known fable that, chances are, if you’re reading this, you know the story, whether from this version or the 70’s remake or the 2000’s remake, or some reference in another movie or TV show. Unfortunately, a lot of people haven’t seen the original version, and are turned off from it because of this notion that it’s “old” and “outdated”. I’m not trying to convince you otherwise, I’m just giving my take on it, and hopefully after reading you feel compelled to check it out of if you haven’t, because King Kong is not just some old B-movie about dinosaurs and a giant ape, it’s an all-time classic of cinema. 

A shot from the colourized version

King Kong has aged incredibly well. I always knew it was old, but I had no idea just how old it was until I was much older. When I saw it for the first time, I saw a colourized version on VHS. In retrospect, I think I enjoyed it more because of this, even though many purists think the colourized version is blasphemous. I wouldn’t go as far as to say that, but I definitely think the black-and-white version is the way to go. I know many people who won’t watch black-and-white movies (though I’ll never understand why) so if the B&W is making you apprehensive about seeing it, fear not. 

In my most recent re-watching, I really took note of how complex some of the shots in this movie are, especially on Skull Island. For instance, the shot where the T-rex finds Fay Wray in the tree. In the foreground, there’s Fay in the tree, then behind that is some layers of jungle, probably part of a set or a matte painting, then behind that the T-rex, which is brought to life by stop motion animation, a technique that takes hours, and behind the T-rex is more jungle, and all of this is meshed together into one cohesive shot. And that’s not

A promotional image, showing the impressive effects

even the most complex shot in the movie! Even today, I wonder how they got some of those shots. As impressive as cgi has become in today’s movies, I still find the old methods of filmmaking even more fascinating.  

But like the best effects-heavy movies, it’s easy to be swept up in the action and story and forget about how they made what’s playing on screen, and just be entertained. Admittedly, the first 30-40 minutes are a little slow and tedious at times, at least I found they were as a kid, but it’s really a good setup for the characters and adventure to come, and the pacing is damn near perfect. 

Kong's first on-screen appearance

As soon as they get to the island, things start ramping up to the eventual reveal of Kong, and from there, every scene becomes more epic in scale and action. In a day and age where comic book movies bombard the screen with countless explosions and characters and clock in well over two hours, King Kong doesn’t waste your time and doesn’t bore. It’s easy to think of old movies as slow and boring in comparison to more modern movies, but that’s not the case here. For instance, the entirety of Kong’s time in New York lasts about twenty minutes, and it is twenty well used minutes. 

I guess one thing to take away from this movie is that it’s a family film, as strange as that sounds. Many people, such as myself, saw it at a young age and were inspired by it, but you don’t have to be a kid to see it for the first time and love it. For instance, at age nine I watched it with my dad, who had never seen it, and we were both equally into it. Much like Star Wars, there’s stuff for everyone to love, regardless of age or gender or interests. There’s action, romance, adventure, creatures, intriguing story, interesting characters, and so much more, all packed into a movie that’s under two hours. It isn’t overly scary or violent, either, despite being a monster movie. As a kid I knew what I was seeing wasn’t real, but that didn’t make the effects any less effective. It shouldn’t traumatize kids, but shouldn’t bore teens or adults either.     

"Kong: The Eighth Wonder of the World!"

King Kong isn’t one of my favourite movies of all-time just because I saw it at a young age. It’s as impressive of a feat today as it was back in 1933. It’s a crucial part of pop culture, one that’s been around for decades, and will remain around for decades to come, and that isn’t by some random chance. It really holds up that well, and deserves every ounce of respect it’s received.