Review of King Kong (1933) by Aidan D — 25 Jul 2015

This is a very early meta-film, meaning it is a film about film. I feel like this is what gets it a lot of attention - aside from the groundbreaking special effects that won audiences over back in the day. The theme of Carl Denham's film within the film is about Beauty and the Beast, which happens to be the theme of King Kong itself.

Carl Denham is portrayed as a man who stops at nothing in order to get his shots right, a very devoted director. He comes across as hot- headed and funnier than Jack Black's portrayal in Jackson's version. His character progression reaches its climax with the delivery of the line "we've got something worth more than all the movies in the world!" Brilliant writing in my opinion.

This may seem strange, but what turns me off from this movie a bit is specifically what it is known for - its special effects. I know its effects were groundbreaking for the time the film was released, but I still found them to be distracting, or not very well done. While it is cool that this film portrays giant monsters fighting - a great deal of spectacle - the stop-motion effects take away a lot from whatever reality is portrayed in the film.

It also bothers me how this movie is heavily focused on the Beauty and the Beast theme, but there seems to be no sympathy for Kong once "beauty killed the beast." So where is there a progression? Character-wise or Kong-wise? Denham realizes that beauty killed the beast, but he does not seem changed at all by this observation. As for Kong, we see him go on a rampage and take the leading lady up to the top of the Empire State Building, but we don't really identify with him at all. While Jackson's version may be too long, at least it portrays a connection between beauty and the beast, and we actually see a motivation for what Kong's actions are.

This is still a good movie, but I am not sure whether it should hold such a high spot on American Film Institute's 100 list. It is groundbreaking, yes, but I don't find the effects to be compelling and I don't really identify with any characters in this film.