Space & Environment: Cinematic Spaces

Space Oddities Film Review

King Kong (1933)

Directed by Ernest B. Schoedsack and Merian C. Cooper

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The original black and white King Kong was a great film in the way of special effects but lacked so much in the acting and especially when it came to the stereotyped characters. You had your typical fair-haired woman (Ann); she ends up falling in love with one of the men on the ship (Jack); who then by surprise needs rescuing. The ship is heading to Skull Island to shoot a film, but little do they know that a tribe habits the island Modern viewers will shift uneasily in their seats during the stereotyping of the islanders (Ebert, 2002); barefooted, straw skirt wearing Africans with bone piercings. (Fig 2) You could say this film did no justice to racism or feminists, but at the time that was how things where. You find out this tribe has been trying to keep out an unwanted beast and various creatures. The biggest and baddest is King Kong. He may be tough, but he's also lonely. When Kong falls for the diminutive Ann (she fits so nicely in the palm of his hand), everything accelerates. (Smith, 1991) Moving away from the acting, stopmotion played an important part in this movie by far, which was amazing but at times made you cringe. The way Schoedsack and Cooper mixed around the foreground/back-ground sets; linking in with live footage video clips,
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with clips taken from the miniatures in stop-motion really worked well together. 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 (Deming, 2013) From start to finish this film is action, even if it is a screaming woman running away in horror or if its a massive ape being attacked by a dinosaur, you shall not be bored. You could say thats how full filled action films like Guillermo del Toros (2013) Pacific Rim was inspired by; or from Kongs destruction in city Matt Reeves (2008) disaster film Cloverfield was born.

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Bibliography:
Text:
Deming, Mark. Available at: http://movies.msn.com/movies/movie-criticreviews/king-kong.2/ (accessed online on 10th October 2013) Ebert, Roger. Available at: http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movieking-kong-1933 (accessed online on 10th October 2013) Smith, Mark Chalon. Available at: http://articles.latimes.com/1991-1024/news/ol-253_1_king-kong (accessed online on 10th October 2013)

Pictures:
Fig 1. King Kong (1933) Directed by Ernest B. Schoedsack and Merian C. Cooper [Film poster] American http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1011615king_kong/ Fig 2. King Kong (1933) From: King Kong. Directed by Ernest B. Schoedsack and Merian C. Cooper [Film still] American http://www.moviemail.com/film/dvd/King-Kong-1933/ Fig 3. King Kong (1933) From: King Kong. Directed by Ernest B. Schoedsack and Merian C. Cooper [Film still] American http://kingkong.wikia.com/wiki/King_Kong_(1933_film) Fig 4. King Kong (1933) From: King Kong. Directed by Ernest B. Schoedsack and Merian C. Cooper [Film still] American http://cinefantastiqueonline.com/2009/06/sense-of-wonder-cinemas-greatestdinosaurs/