# 91

91: King Kong (1933)

Fay Wray (Ann Darrow), Robert Armstrong (Carl Denham), Bruce Cabot (John Driscoll)

When director Merian C. Cooper told Fay Wray that her co-star was the “tallest, darkest leading man in Hollywood”, Fay thought he meant Cary Grant. That exchange was not unlike her character’s experience in the film. Ann Darrow is a young woman on the skids when director Carl Denham spots her stealing fruit from a stand. He offers her a part in a movie (ladies….if a director is casting from the bread lines and homeless shelters of NYC, chances are this is not an Oscar-worthy production) and soon Ann, director, and film crew are on a ship headed to Skull Island. Once on Skull Island the director’s vision becomes clear—he wants to make a film featuring the ginormous native gorilla and the lovely Ann—a modern day take on Beauty and the Beast. The natives of Skull Island and Kong have a deal: they give Kong sacrifices of lovely ladies, Kong stays on his side of the huge gate. All is peaceful and everyone is happy with this arrangement until Denham and his crew crash thru the gate and hunt down Kong—all for the love of art and cinema.

I first saw King Kong when I was around 8 or 9. It was shown on a program that aired on PBS in the 1980’s called Silver Screen. Silver Screen aired a different classic film every Saturday night, commercial free, with a short introduction and trivia before the show started.  My love of film was born out of those Saturday nights, watching classics with my parents. I didn’t really love King Kong the first time I saw it. I brushed it off saying that the effects were paltry compared to the effects being used in films of the day (circa 1987-1988) but the truth was I was scared to death of Kong. I remember having nightmares of dinosaurs looking through my bedroom window and I have King Kong to thank for that. Eventually, I got over my fear and learned to love Kong. All of my favorite blockbuster films are descendants of King Kong. This is the film that inspired countless film careers and watching it now I appreciate the ingenuity and craftsmanship that went into the making of Kong. Long Live King Kong!

Trivia: The awesome gate set piece made for King Kong makes an appearance six years later in the film: Gone with the Wind (1939). The Kong gate was one of the many set pieces which were set aflame during the burning of Atlanta scene in GWTW.

If you like this film I also recommend the following films which do not appear in the Lisa’s Top 100:

Jason and the Argonauts (1963)

Jurassic Park (1993)

Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)