From the first few minutes, it is obvious that "King Kong" is not a great movie. The script isn't good enough, full of cliches and one-dimensional characters. Fortunately, the film is partly redeemed by the special effects and action scenes. "King Kong" is a historically important and entertaining film, but not particularly good.
Carl Denham (Robert Armstrong) is a gregarious huckster and film producer/director/cameraman who specializes in jungle spectaculars. He needs a blonde for a love interest angle, for dramatic purposes finding her (Fay Wray) at the last possible moment. Wray is so hungry that she has resorted to stealing apples, yet she looks terrific. Armstrong hires her without any knowledge of her character, experience, or acting ability. Clumsy phrases such as "square", "straight" and "on the level" are used as code words to indicate that Armstrong will not try to seduce Wray.
On a ship headed for an uncharted island (chosen
by Armstrong based upon second-hand information,
quite the gamble) Wray meets Bruce Cabot, a crew
member who believes that women don't belong on
ships. When pressed, he can only state that "they
cause trouble".
Upon arrival, the crew stumbles onto a fantastic
native ritual. Somehow, ship captain Frank
Reicher is able to speak their language, despite
the tribe's isolation.
Since I've made my point about the clumsiness of
the story, I'll fast forward through the
synopsis. The natives worship King Kong, a giant
ape that abducts Wray and gives her a tour of the
island, stopping to fight various giant reptiles.
Kong is later captured by Armstrong and shipped
to New York. Kong escapes, re-kidnaps Wray, and
goes on a rampage in the Big Apple.
More complaints about the plot: how has Kong
survived for millenia on this island when he has
to fight giant reptiles for his life several
times daily? The large search party has two
survivors: predictably, the two male leads. How
did the crew drag Kong onto the ship? And keep
him fed through the return voyage? After his
escape, it defies probability that Kong is able
to find Wray in the big city, and that of all the
skyscrapers, he would choose the most famous, the
Empire State building, to climb. And anyway, why
would he climb it? To put a flag on the top of
the building?
Of course, the plot is secondary to the special
effects and action scenes. They age well: Kong
and his reptile enemies are obviously stop-motion
models, but they do not lack charm. Kong is the
deepest character in the film, and despite his
nasty temper, you can't help but feel sorry for
the poor guy.
"King Kong" has surprisingly graphic violence and
would be an "R" movie if re-released today. Kong
bites and squishes numerous screaming people, as
does a belligerent brontosaurus. A scene which
had crew members devoured by giant spiders had to
be deleted from the film, as it horrified a
preview audience. (62/100)
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