King Kong (1933)

King Kong released in 1933 starring Fay Wray is one of the early examples of big monster movies. The film was released by RKO an ended up being one of RKO's largest grossing films of the 1930s. The film featured the amazing groundbreaking stop-motion special effects by Willis O'Brien, who was a big influence on the legendary Ray Harryhausen. The film was wonderfully cast, especially with the beautiful talented Fay Wray, who was also in Mystery Of The Wax Museum during the filming of this film. The film also featured Robert Armstrong as Carl Denham, and Bruce Cabot as John Driscoll. The film though was a bit of a product of its time with elements of sexism in the way that Ann is treated by the men on the ship, there is also racist elements such as Charlie The Cook played by Victor Wong, who plays a racist stereotype of a Chinese man, there are also issues with the way that black people are depicted as savages. The film makers have all stated that there were no intended hidden messages about racial or social issues, but that they were only attempting to make a film about beauty conquering the beast. The special effects are what this film is most notable for. The effects were groundbreaking, and were pure cinematic magic. The film however did take exceptionally long to film, and went far over budget. The film however grossed so much that the studio demanded a sequel by the end of the year, which the studio gave a smaller budget and a shorter film and production time, and the studio wanted an even bigger film, which resulted in the film Son Of Kong, which I will be talking about in more detail in the next review. I also really enjoy that the film is presented in three distinctly different parts, getting to Skull Island, on Skull Island, and return to New York City. King Kong has been hailed as one of the greatest films of all time, and has spawned multiple remakes and sequels, and even had a cross-over with Godzilla released by Toho. Critics have pretty much unanimously hailed the film as a classic and great film, with very few negative critiques. King Kong also inspired many similar films of giant apes that were successful in their own right. Would I recommend this film? Yes, this is a must see film, that every viewer should see at least once in their life. This is a film that has made a huge impact on pop-culture and is a name and image that is instantly recognizable. The King Kong inspired multiple movies, video games (Donkey Kong and Rampage to name a few). This is definitely a film very one should see.