King Kong (1933)

Released in 1933, King Kong powerfully effected studio audiences, primed to feel fear by the clever gimmick of having nurses standing by in theaters where it was showing.

The Story

The story echoes a theme familiar to movie-goers of the 'thirties, that it is unwise of 'man' to meddle in things they don't understand.

Explorers discover a giant ape on Skull Island, where natives keep him propitiated by the judicious sacrifice of a maiden or two once in a while. Rather than leave the evolutionary throwback in situ and studying him in his native habitat, as Jane Goodall or Diane Fossey would have insisted, they have to capture him and bring him to New York, where he is nothing more than a sideshow display, albeit a very large and profitable one.

The natives call the ape 'Kong'; the regal title is appended by our explorer-exploiters as a marketing slogan.

Objecting to this affront to his person, the giant ape gets loose in New York, which provides the occasion for the image of the giant gorilla climbing up the side of the Empire State Building, at the time the largest building anywhere, with a struggling female clutched in one paw.

Monkeys Prefer Blondes

It was a common theme in movies of the time that wherever they come from, aliens, monsters, and other creatures all lust after human females, preferably blonde ones. Never mind that to aliens from Mars, Earth women must be as sexually attractive as sea slugs, "Mars Needs Women". To a gorilla the size of Kong, the character Ann Darrow, played, in her most famous movie role by Fay Wray, must have appeared mouselike. Picture being sexually attracted to a mouse. Don't tell me if you succeed; I don't want to know.

Never the less, Ann Darrow is the only character in the movie that Kong responds favorably to. He is gentle with her and cares for her well-being, thoughtfully setting her in a safe place before turning to do battle with the biplanes that ultimately shoot him down.

Kong Remakes

King Kong is one of those movies that film-law dictates must be remade every generation, as each new wave of moviemakers think they finally have the technology to do it justice. 1976 saw the first real remake, as opposed to a parody or Japanese 'cheap knockoff', such as were cranked out in the 'sixties.

The King was overdue for a remake and now in 2005, Peter Jackson, fresh off his triumph in filming the Lord of the Rings trilogy, is bringing Kong back.

A Better Kong

Oddly, a movie that might be considered a 'cheap knockoff' of King Kong actually is a better retelling of the 'giant ape loose in civilization' story. That movie is 1949's Mighty Joe Young. In this version of the basic Kong tale, the lovely lady is actually a child of the veldt; Jill Young grew up in Africa with her father in a wildlife preserve, and has been friends with the giant ape she calls Joe her whole life.

This makes the improbable attraction between ape and woman must less risible; just as kittens and puppies raised together bond as a pack, so a girl and gorilla might form a familial bond. While much less well known that the original King Kong, it's a much more logically cohesive story, and is preferable in any event because the giant ape lives to be returned to his native habitat.