KING KONG (1933/DVD/SPECIAL EDITION/2 DISC/OSLEEVE/P&S-1.33/ENG-FR-SP SUB) DVD

King Kong
"How would you like to star opposite the tallest, darkest leading man in Hollywood?" Enticed by these words, brunette leading lady Fay Wray dyed her hair blonde and accepted the role of Ann Darrow in King Kong -- and stayed with the project even after learning that her "leading man" was a 50-foot ape. The film introduces us to flamboyant, foolhardy documentary filmmaker Carl Denham (Robert Armstrong), who sails off to parts unknown to film his latest epic with leading lady Darrow in tow. Disembarking at Skull Island, they stumble on a ceremony in which the native dancers circle around a terrified-looking young girl, chanting, "Kong! Kong!" The chief (Noble Johnson) and witch doctor (Steve Clemente) spot Denham and company and order them to leave. But upon seeing Ann, the chief offers to buy the "golden woman" to serve as the "bride of Kong." Denham refuses, and he and the others beat a hasty retreat to their ship. Late that night, a party of native warriors sneak on board the ship and kidnap Ann. They strap her to a huge sacrificial altar just outside the gate, then summon Kong, who winds up saving Ann instead of devouring her. Kong is eventually taken back to New York, where he breaks loose on the night of his Broadway premiere, thinking that his beloved Ann is being hurt by the reporters' flash bulbs. Now at large in New York, Kong searches high and low for Ann (in another long-censored scene, he plucks a woman from her high-rise apartment, then drops her to her death when he realizes she isn't the girl he's looking for). After proving his devotion by wrecking an elevated train, Kong winds up at the top of the Empire State Building, facing off against a fleet of World War I fighter planes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Cast Fay Wray as Ann Darrow Robert Armstrong as Carl Denham Bruce Cabot as Jack Driscoll Frank Reicher as Capt. Englehorn Sam Hardy as Charles Weston Noble Johnson as Native Chief James Flavin as Second Mate Steve Clemento as Witch King

Crew Carroll Clark - Art Director Alfred Herman - Art Director Van Nest Polglase - Art Director Walter Plunkett - Costume Designer Merian C. Cooper - Director Ernest B. Schoedsack - Director Ted Cheesman - Editor David O. Selznick - Executive Producer Max Steiner - Composer (Music Score) Alfred Herman - Production Designer J.O. Taylor - Cinematographer Eddie Linden - Cinematographer Vernon Walker - Cinematographer Merian C. Cooper - Producer Ernest B. Schoedsack - Producer Thomas K. Little - Set Designer Fred Reese - Special Effects Orville Goldner - Special Effects Mario Larrinaga - Special Effects Carroll L. Shepphird - Special Effects Marcel Delgado - Special Effects E.B. Gibson - Special Effects Willis O'Brien - Special Effects Linwood G. Dunn - Special Effects Byron L. Crabbe - Special Effects Ruth Rose - Screenwriter James Ashmore Creelman - Screenwriter Edgar Wallace - Short Story Author

King Kong
Generally thought of as a monster movie (not difficult to understand when your title character is a 50-foot-tall gorilla with a habit of killing people who get in his way), King Kong is actually an old-fashioned adventure story on the grand scale, complete with fearless hunters in search of uncharted islands, angry natives appeasing their god, damsels in distress, and a dashing hero on hand to save said damsel. Much of this story probably seemed a bit cliché even when King Kong was first released in 1933, but directors Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack tell their tale with two-fisted gusto, leavened with a genuine sense of wonder, and the result captures the imagination from the start and never lets go. It also helps that they had a cast capable of handling the heroics in grand form while knowing how to play the abundant comic relief in appropriate style; Robert Armstrong's Carl Denham is ham at its tastiest, Bruce Cabot's Jack Driscoll is a hero with his feet planted solidly on the ground (and his tongue just entering his cheek), and has any screen heroine ever screamed more eloquently than Fay Wray? Willis H. O'Brien's stop-motion effects animation was legendary in its day, and it retains its magic today; while technology has progressed considerably since King Kong, O'Brien was able to give his great ape a personality, and Kong's moments of fear, curiosity, pain, and occasional goofiness gave him a sympathetic, ultimately tragic dimension that adds immeasurably to the picture's effectiveness. And Max Steiner's bombastic score is always there to cheer the picture along when its energy starts to flag. While the 1976 remake already seems hopelessly dated, the original King Kong remains rousing entertainment with brains, brawn, and a heart. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
 

American Film Institute, 100 Greatest American Movies (winner) Library of Congress, U.S. National Film Registry (winner)

General Specifications: Language Options: English Subtitle Options: English, French, Spanish Sound Processing: DD1: Dolby Digital Mono Additional Features: cc Commentary by visual effects veterans Ray Harryhausen and Ken Ralston, with interpolated interview excerpts of Merian C. Cooper and Fay Wray Merian C. Cooper movies and Fay Wray Subtitles: English, Français & Español I'm King Kong! The Exploits of Merian C. Cooper New 7-part documentary RKO Production 601: The Making of Kong, Eighth Wonder of the World Original Creation test footage with Ray Harryhausen commentary DVD Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1: Pre-1954 Standard MPAA Rating: NR DVD Discs Included: 2 DVD Sides: 2 DVD DVD Region Code: 1 Content Length: 104 min   DVD Chapters: Disc #1 -- King Kong 1. Overture [4:14] 2. Credits and Foreward [1:51] 3. Girl Needed [4:39] 4. Ann Darrow [3:33] 5. Women Can't Help It [5:26] 6. Island With a Wall [2:40] 7. Scream for Your Life [2:27] 8. Denham's Island [3:48] 9. What a Show [3:00] 10. Bride of Kong [4:15] 11. Feelings for Each Other [2:09] 12. Kidnapped [3:54] 13. Tied to Two Towers [4:02] 14. Kong [2:04] 15. In His Footsteps [2:32] 16. Stegosaurus [2:29] 17. Watery Menace [4:57] 18. Log Bridge [2:24] 19. T-Rex Battle [4:54] 20. On Kong's Trail [3:11] 21. Cave Serpent [3:02] 22. Looking the Lady Over [2:20] 23. Pterodactyl and Rescue [3:05] 24. Gate Crasher [3:32] 25. Village Rampage [2:22] 26. Subdued by Gas [1:06] 27. Up in Lights [3:11] 28. On Stage [2:34] 29. Flashy Escape [2:35] 30. In Kong's Hands Again [2:38] 31. Train Takedown [2:17] 32. Atop the Empire State [2:40] 33. A Mighty Fall [2:58] 34. Beauty Killed the Beast [:41] 35. Cast List [:30] 1. King Kong (1933) [1:32] 2. Son of Kong (1933) [1:45] 3. Flying Down to Rio (1933) [1:29] 4. Fort Apache (1948) [1:44] 5. 3 Godfathers (1948) [3:21] 6. Mighty Joe Young (1949) [1:39] 7. She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) [2:30] 8. The Searchers (1956) [2:45] Disc #2 -- King Kong - Bonus Features 1. All True [2:27] 2. Compensating Physically [2:43] 3. To War [7:44] 4. Adventureer; Ra-Mu [2:12] 5. Grass [3:59] 6. Chang [3:17] 7. King Kong [11:07] 8. Running RKO [2:30] 9. Technicolor, World War II [5:01] 10. John Ford Films [4:12] 11. Mighty Joe Young [2:27] 12. This is Cinerama [8:19] 13. End Credits [:56]