King Kong

[JamesEightBitStar]

Now THIS is a movie that deserves to be called a classic!

Having seen all three versions recently, and after seeing the original 1933 one twice, I can honestly say its the best version. I don't really remember the 1976 one all that well, and the 2005 one suffered from being too darn long. But the 1933 one was the porridge cooked just right.

It has Fay Wray, who is the best (and most adorable) Ann Darrow out there.

It has Stop-Motion... now, I know Stop-Motion looks more fake than a Christian who believes in free will, but... honestly, that's kind of why I like it. For me, a movie is more immersive if the special effects AREN'T too realistic. It evokes more of the "fantasy" sense. I mean, CGI looks good and real (in big-budget pictures, anyway... the Sci-Fi channel is a good arguement for CGI looking fake) but but it's not evocative, doesn't prod the imagination the same way Stop-Motion does.

And, it has the most sympathetic Kong. I mean really, the later versions tried too hard to make Kong sympathetic--the girl loves him and understands him, etc. But in my mind that just ruins the effect. Sort of like when you read a Spawn or X-Men comic and the narrator goes into a monologue about how tormented everyone is--it ruins whatever emotion you're supposed to be feeling and makes it laughable. But the 1933 Kong, you really care for him because the audience can SEE that he's all alone and misunderstood, and nobody in the movie quite "gets it"--even Ann Darrow just sees him as a horrible monster even as Kong himself does everything he can to DEFEND Ann, making it all the more tragic when he dies.

I'm beginning to think that the best time for American Movie-Making was from the 1920s to the 1950s. In that period, we had Kong, all the best Zorro films, dozens of great low-budget Science Fiction and Detective movies and serials, and even those "bad" horror movies I was talking about in another topic. With the 1950s was probably the first trip downhill when we made a bunch of anti-Communist propoganda in the form of giant monster movies... every last one of which was trumped by the Japanese and their wontabular film, Godzilla (which, IMO, is the best giant monster movie ever made). That was the general pattern of American cinema, television, and entertainment in general for every decade thereafter.

But King Kong was American moviemaking at its height, and shows exactly what Americans have lost the power to do: Imagination, adventure, and the ability to try new things. Our directors and creators aren't people like Miriam C. Cooper (who was a real-life adventurer before making this movie), but pampered rich kids who only do whatever their college professors say is "good." American films have become pretentious shlock with no real value.

But King Kong is on DVD now, so what's it matter? ^__^

[Thoth Amon]

The 2005 version suffered not from its length but to the fact it used CGI. Nothing ruins a movie quicker than CGI. You guys getting tired of me saying this?

[Mythmere]

Harryhausen rules!

[rogatny]

"I'm King Kong and I'm big and strong
I got a big thick skull
And everybody is scared

I'm King Kong, got a hydrogen bomb
Gonna blow up your house
So you better beware

(Doo doo doo doo) Everybody wants power
(Doo doo doo doo) Everybody wants fame
(Doo doo doo doo) Everybody wants money

Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah

Little man weak and big man strong
Everyone wants to be King Kong"

I like the Kinks a lot.

[T. Foster]

I'm beginning to think that the best time for American Movie-Making was from the 1920s to the 1950s. In that period, we had Kong, all the best Zorro films, dozens of great low-budget Science Fiction and Detective movies and serials, and even those "bad" horror movies I was talking about in another topic.

<snip>

But King Kong was American moviemaking at its height, and shows exactly what Americans have lost the power to do: Imagination, adventure, and the ability to try new things. Our directors and creators aren't people like Miriam C. Cooper (who was a real-life adventurer before making this movie), but pampered rich kids who only do whatever their college professors say is "good." American films have become pretentious shlock with no real value.

QFT.

[TRP]

The 2005 version suffered not from its length but to the fact it used CGI. Nothing ruins a movie quicker than CGI. You guys getting tired of me saying this?

Well, I think the length was detrimental as well.

I've been thinking about the difference lately between old school movies and newer movies. There's a parallel here, between old school gaming and the newer stuff.

The original King Kong was to the point and had minimal fluff. The director, and he's a prestigous one at that, in the film, needed a woman for his project, and BAM, he hits the streets and within 5 minutes he's got Fay Wray. In the recent flick, there's this long, boring back story about a looser director, played by Jack Black ( ). He needs a girl for his project, and after a lot more on her backstory, he finally gets her involved. There was a lot of unnecessary exposition on these characters in the latest film. I mean, when I go to see a King Kong movie, you know what I wanna see? King Freakin' Kong is what I want. For pete's sake, get the girl, get on the ship and get to the damned island already. In the new flick, there's this long stupid voyage sequence as well. Just get to the island and show me the big monkey.

The original flick? Get the girl, short boat trip and BLAMMO we're on the island dealing with hostile natives, dinosaurs and King Kong.

The new flick? Lots and lots of fluff about characters and why they do what they do and blah blah blah blah blah.

Old school gaming? Let's get to it.

New games? What's my motiviation in this scene?

Not worded very elegantly, but hope ya'll get the point.

[mjudge55]

New games? What's my motiviation in this scene?

Quoted for truth.

I just watched The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, having been inspired by the mention of Clash of the Titans on this forum, and having read up a bit on Harryhausen.

While watching this DE-friggin-LIGHTFUL film I could only imagine how Hollywood would butcher a remake. Thankfully it's probably not in the cards.

-Matt

[Deogolf]

Harryhausen rules!

I think it was Harryhausen's mentor that did the stop-motion animation, but I could be wrong!!

I agree that the first version was the best. The CGI didn't bother me. It was the non-stop, one after the other over-the-top scenes bothered me. The fight scene with three T-Rexes (sp?) was down-right ridiculous. The dinosaurs are still more interested in trying to eat a small human than they are of splatting on the earth below?! The idea of "more is better" just doesn't work. I like most of Peter Jackson's work, but this wasn't one of them. One of the scenes I did like the most was the ending - straight forward, no frills.

[TRP]

Harryhausen rules!

I think it was Harryhausen's mentor that did the stop-motion animation, but I could be wrong!!

This was the movie that inspired Harryhausen.

[JamesEightBitStar]

I've been meaning to pick up Beast From 20,000 Fathoms because I hear people saying its very similar to Godzilla. Hopefully I'll get the version that comes with Them! (which I watched a part of on AMC).

[order99]

The animator for the original King Kong(and Harryhausen's mentor) was the late great Willis O'Brien.
And yes, Stop-motion rocks.
Slightly off-topic...a fan of the stop-motion arts should check out Dragonslayer. The titular dragon(the great and mighty Vermithrax Perjorative) was animated using a technique called GoMotion. The models are fitted with tiny motors whch import a slight vibration, then filmed frame by frame as in regular stop-motion...the vibrations cause the minor blurring of a normal object moving at speed on camera, making a pleasing and realistic blending between scene and Effect.

After which, CGI came along.
Sigh.

[mjudge55]

I've been meaning to pick up Beast From 20,000 Fathoms because I hear people saying its very similar to Godzilla. Hopefully I'll get the version that comes with Them! (which I watched a part of on AMC).

I might be off base on this, but I seem to recall that Beast from 20,000 Fathoms inspired the creators of Godzilla.

-Matt

[JamesEightBitStar]

The booklet and commentary on the Godzilla 2-Disc Special Edition says that Beast inspired the creators to make Godzilla a dinosaur-esque creature (they had a number of ideas before that, including Godzilla as an octopus!), but otherwise the movie was inspired as an allegory for the atomic bomb.

[Algolei]

The '33 King Kong is an incredible movie. Sure the stop-motion scenes are clunky, but they were brilliant for the time.

All later versions ride the '33 version's coat tails.