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Robert Armstrong, Bruce Cabot, Fay Wray, Terry Moore

Kong and I have a long history. I, too, was inspired by Kong to make movies. So when I was asked by Alex DeBenetti (Executive Producer of “Evil Dead II” and story editor for Dino DeLaurentiis Productions) to come up with a story idea for the second “King Kong” I thought I’d go back to the roots of the character and stay away from the cheesy 1976 remake. Needless to say mine didn’t get made. So I’m happy to report that this DVD release of “King Kong”, the much maligned “Son of Kong” and the totally unrelated (well, it does have another big ape) “Mighty Joe Young” is a breath of fresh air. ***

”King Kong” is a pivotal film in the fantasy genre. Calling something a pivotal film can sometimes lead to disappointment particularly for contemporary audiences jaded and spoiled by CGI effects. “Kong” established the benchmark for nearly 25 years. Animator Willis O’Brien (a former newspaper man) had worked on “The Lost World” for director Harry Hoyt. O’Brien began world on “Creation” a film about sailors who find a lost world not unlike in the silent film by Hoyt. The project was abandoned when O’Brien and his collaborators began work on Kong the 8th Wonder of the World. Cooper developed stop-motion animation techniques and models (with model designer and builder Marcel Delgado) that would ultimately revolution visual effects. Director/writer Merian C. Cooper (“The Most Dangerous Game”, “Dr. Cyclops”) and producer/writer/director Ernest B. Schoedsack (“Son of Kong”, “Mighty Joe Young”) created a riveting fantasy film unlike anything ever seen before. ***

After the success of “Kong” RKO Studios clamored for a sequel and the team produced “Son of Kong” which proved to be an echo of the original film both in terms of content and success. Fifteen years later O’Brien got to return to doing what he did best—create fantasy—with “Mighty Joe Young” working with Cooper and Schoedsack again. On that feature legendary animator Ray Harryhausen got his start in the film industry working as a technician beside his idol O’Brien. Harryhausen continued O’Brien’s work pushing the envelope of visual effects on such classics as “The 7th Voyage of Sinbad”, “20 Million Miles to Earth” and “Jason and the Argonauts” Sadly, O’Brien’s life was touched by tragedy. During production of “Son of Kong” O’Brien’s wife Hazel (who was ill with cancer) shot and killed O’Brien’s two young children pushing O’Brien into the abyss of alcoholism. He soldiered on though returning to films later and working until two years before his death in 1962 on other visual effects movies including “Behemoth, the Sea Monster”, “The Animal World” and 1960 remake of “The Lost World” (which featured no stop-motion effects). --- In “King Kong” Carl Denham (Robert Armstrong) a film director takes his crew to a small South Pacific Island to shoot on location. His leading lady Ann Darrow (Fay Wray) was discovered just before Denham’s ship sailed shoplifting food and gets talked into the job of starring. Unfortunately, Denham discovers a savage world far beyond his imagination. The natives take Darrow to appease their “god” Kong. When the giant ape that rules the island takes the girl the sailors led by sailor Jack Driscoll (Bruce Cabot) go into the perilous jungle to save her. What they come back to New York with is a prize worthy of the Barnum and Bailey Circus the world’s biggest leading “man” the giant Kong! ***

In “Son of Kong” Denham returns to Skull Island (Kong’s home). When the crew on his ship mutinies, Denham and the survivors discover “little” Kong – a giant white ape half the size of his proud papa. Of course, we never meet Mrs. Kong but after seeing what she had to put up with in the first movie my guess is she flew the coop. ***

”Mighty Joe Young” isn’t a sequel to “King Kong” or “Son of Kong” but it shares the same co-director of “Kong” and “Son”, stop-motion animator Willis O’Brien and writer Ruth Rose. Terry Moore stars as Jill Young. She brings up her pet gorilla Joe after his mother was killed by poachers. When promoter Max O’Hara (Robert Armstrong again) discovers Joe in Africa he convinces Jill to bring Joe back to the states t be part of his “show”. Needless to say, Joe gets a bit fed up and runs on a wild rampage. ---

A beautiful looking transfer from Warner Home Video enhances this classic film which has been in very poor condition for a long, long time. The image clarity is exceptionally good as is the sharpness of the picture with rich, detailed vistas that haven’t looked this good since 1933. Grain is noticeable but that’s not a surprise given how far away from the original missing nitrate negative these elements are from. The DVD transfer minimizes grain as much as possible and analog artifacts in the form of dirt or flecks are minimal. The mono sound is also quite good benefiting from a substantial digital clean up that makes the dialogue clear and gives presence to Max Steiner’s classic score. ***

”Son of Kong” also looks quite good with solid mono sound. If it looks slightly better than “King Kong” that probably has to do more with the popularity of the first film and how often copies were made off of the prints that exist. “Might Joe Young” looks extremely good as well in this sharp transfer. Warner took as much care (although these latter films didn’t require as much TLC) in restoring and transferring these two classics as well. These two films are available only in the “The King Kong Movie Collection” not in either the limited edition collector’s tin or the 2 disc DVD Digipack release of “KingKong”. ***

Why has it taken so long for Kong and his brethren to appear on DVD? The original nitrate negative for Kong is long gone so Warner meticulously went back to recreate Kong in an image as close to the original as possible. This required the studio to find prints in decent shape, spruce them up, restore where necessary and use the best digital tools to recreate Kong in its original image. It was a hairy, daunting task but luckily the good folks at Warner were up to it.

We learn quite a bit about “Kong” and other films in the two documentaries include din this set. “I’m King Kong” focuses on director Merian C. Cooper’s many exploits. It’s clear how Cooper’s life influenced “Kong” once you see the documentary. The documentary runs about an hour. My only complaint is that there isn’t a documentary devoted exclusively to Willis O’Brien as part of this set. ***

”RKO Production 601: The Making of Kong, Eighth Wonder of the World” runs about 2 hours and gives you a complete history of the production. Featuring interviews with Ray Harryhausen, Peter Jackson, writer-director Frank Darabont and others, it’s an excellent glimpse into the atmosphere that produced the big ape. We also learn a bit about Willis O’Brien as well. “Son of Kong” comes only with the original theatrical trailer and doesn’t have any of the frills of the other two movies. ***

“Mighty Joe Young” includes a very good short documentary on the making of the film entitled “Ray Harryhausen and Mighty Joe Young”. We learn how Harryhausen became involved with working on this film and with his mentor/idol Willis O’Brien. Harryhausen did quite a bit more than just assist on the film doing quite a bit of animation on the film. ---

“King Kong” comes with an exceptional commentary track featuring Harryhausen, visual effects Ken Ralston and snippets of audio interviews of director Merian C. Cooper and actress Fay Wray. Harryhausen is really the expert on “Kong” though as he worked with O’Brien and had a chance to pick his brain. He uses his experience as a stop-motion animator and visual effects technician to provide interesting insights on the production of the film whether it be on the use of painted class backgrounds (to give depth to the miniatures) or the use of miniature projection of live actio into the miniatures to create a sense of realism. ***

Likewise Harryhausen and Ralston are both a highlight on the “Might Joe Young” commentary track. Again, Harryhausen uses his first hand knowledge of having worked on the film to enlighten film fans. Actress Terry Moore also appears on a commentary track discussing the live action shooting of the film and its overall impact on audiences among other things. ---

“Kong”, his son and cousin “Joe” provide the world with the eighth, ninth and tenth wonders of the world again in this deluxe DVD set with enough extras to spoil fans of vintage films. Warner has done a truly remarkable job of restoring “Kong” and the other films and presenting them in the digital age. Before you visit with Jackson’s “King Kong” you owe it to yourself to visit with the original “King”.