King Kong (1933)
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A filmmaker's quest to capture a legendary beast leads to a perilous journey to a mysterious island where a giant gorilla protects a woman from the clutches of civilization.
The story
Filmmaker Carl Denham, seeking a unique spectacle, charters a ship to an uncharted island featuring a mountain shaped like a skull. He recruits a struggling actress, Ann Darrow, for the expedition. Upon reaching the island, the crew encounters a native village and a mysterious, legendary entity known as Kong. When the natives attempt to offer Ann as a sacrifice to the beast, the group is forced into a desperate struggle for survival against the island's prehistoric dangers and the massive, powerful gorilla.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
Carl Denham takes actress Ann Darrow to a mysterious island where they encounter a tribe and a giant gorilla named Kong. After the natives attempt to sacrifice Ann to the beast, the crew is attacked by dinosaurs and Kong. Denham and Jack Driscoll manage to rescue Ann from Kong's lair, but the beast eventually breaks into the village. Denham captures Kong and brings him to New York City to be displayed as a spectacle. During a public exhibition, the flash photography causes Kong to break free. He kidnaps Ann and carries her across the city, eventually climbing the Empire State Building. In a final confrontation, Kong is besieged by biplanes and falls to his death. Denham laments that it was not the planes, but the loss of the 'beauty' that killed the 'beast'.
- First release year
- 1933
- Runtime (minutes)
- 100
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Merian C. Cooper; Ernest B. Schoedsack
- Writers
- James Creelman · screenplay; Ruth Rose · screenplay; Edgar Wallace · story; Merian C. Cooper · story
- Cast and characters
- Fay Wray · Ann Darrow; Robert Armstrong · Captain Englehorn; Bruce Cabot · Jack Driscoll
- Genres
- adventure; horror; monster
- Themes
- struggle between nature and civilization; beauty and the beast; humanity vs. the wild
- Tone and mood
- adventure; horror; tense
- Setting
- New York City and a mysterious, uncharted island with a skull-shaped mountain.
- Premise and plot tags
- monster; adventure; exploration; survival
- Source material / true-story basis
- novelization
- Franchise connections
- King Kong
- Reception
- The film received generally positive reviews upon its release, praised for its groundbreaking special effects and musical score. It has been recognized as a culturally and historically significant work, and was even ranked as the greatest horror film of all time by Rotten Tomatoes in 2010.
- Awards and nominations
- National Film Registry · preservation · selected
- Production trivia
- The film's roar was created by mixing the recorded vocals of lions and tigers and playing them backward.; The film was once ranked as the greatest horror film of all time by Rotten Tomatoes.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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