Review of King Kong (1933) by Mike L — 08 Jul 2009

I remember seeing this at my public library during a weekly movie night in the 70's. As a teen growing up during that time I had seen many monster movies, especially from Japan, on Saturday afternoon TV. However once I saw King Kong my jaw dropped, this had action and dinosaurs that all seemed to be involved with everything else. I realized as a piece of film and art this was a step above anything I had ever seen, I was truly amazed.

Are parts of this film obsolete and insensitive, well as far as the exploitation of native cultures, yes. Does that make it wrong, IMO, no, much like showing a film about turn of the century Hawaiians or Eskimos, sorry for the Euro-name, but if that is what the culture did why is it a problem? In essence the story is about beauty and the beast, and that in 1933 since the far oceans were so exotic helped make this movie seem more mysterious.

It is a story that has proved to be a success for over 80 years so I have to give credence to the original.