King Kong follows the story of film director- Carl Denham (Robert Armstrong), his new lead actress-

Ann Darrow (Fay Wray), and his crews journey to Skull Island where they are hoping to do location
shoots for his new film. They meet an indigenous tribe, who kidnap Ann from the boat and force her
beyond the safety of the gates. This is when Kong appears and takes Ann as their sacrifice. The crew,
including Anns love interest John Driscoll (Bruce Cabot), set off in search of Ann, ultimately ending
with most of them dead, John saving Ann and Kong being captured. Carl insists that they bring Kong
to Broadway, but trouble ensues when he breaks free and causes destruction across New York City,
but is finally shot down by planes once on top of the Empire State Building.

Figure 1

King Kong Movie Poster

King Kong had revolutionary special effects for its time as discussed by Ray Harryhausen in a BFI
interview, we didnt know anything about stop motion the magazines had guesses of how the film
was made at that time, but now there are books on such subjects (Harryhausen, 2010), at the time
people had no knowledge or idea of how such a film was made, as previously stop frame animation
was only a thing done with drawn characters. Harryhausen also talks of an idea of how the film could
have been made that was published in a magazine down in the corner [of the magazine] is a little
picture of a little man playing an organ and thats how King Kong was made to move (Harryhausen,
2010), we now find this concept amusing because we know how the animation was done, but in
1933 it was a perfectly reasonable concept. It wasnt until years later that all was revealed as told by
Harryhausen many years later in Look Magazine they showed a picture of Fay Wray shaking hands
with King Kong who was only 18 inches high, so the whole thing was revealed in that particular
magazine (Harryhausen, 2010).
 Figure 2

(Unfortunately, I could not find the published

images mentioned by Harryhausen.)

This is the model of King Kong.

The way the set was made was also new for the time because as Obalil mentions One of the more
important technical advances was the development of a safe (cellulose-acetate) rear-projection
screen by Sidney Saunders the cellulose-acetate screen allowed King Kong to be the first film to
use large-scale rear projection. (Obalil, unknown). The set paintings onto the cellulose-acetate
allowed Skull Island to be created and the actors to walk through it. The use of this technique along
with the special effects made King Kong one of the most technical and forward-thinking films
created in its time.

Figure 3
Matt Painting on cellulose acetate screen to
create the Skull Island set

People of today will find parts of King Kong uncomfortable to watch due to the portrayal of the
indigenous people of Skull Island. The film is regarded as highly racist, as mentioned by Ebert
Modern viewers will shift uneasily in their seats during the stereotyping of the islanders in a scene
where a bride is to be sacrificed to Kong. (Ebert, 2002). The portrayal of black men and women was
correct for its time but nowadays it is not acceptable, due to the idea that is portrayed in the film of
the islanders being some sort of mythical creatures or lesser beings, compared to the likes of Ann
and Carl etc.

Figure 4

Islanders
Illustration List

Figure 1: King Kong Movie Poster (1933) [poster] At:

http://www.impawards.com/1933/king_kong_ver2.html (Accessed on 07 October 2017)

Figure 2 Quick Flick (2015) [YouTube video] At: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjafElSJO-Y

(Accessed on 07 October 2017)

Figure 3 Matt Painting King Kong (1933) [film still] At: http://www.toolbox-studio.com/blog/king-
kong-what-does-it-take-to-make-a-movie-of-that-magnitude/ (Accessed on 07 October 2017)

Figure 4 Islanders (1933) [film still] At:

https://i.pinimg.com/736x/7f/14/7d/7f147d9eab84fbe2b65e081f1e80923d--king-kong--skull-
island.jpg (Accessed on 07 October 2017)

Bibliography

Ray Harryhausen on King Kong (2013) [YouTube video] Creat. BFIEvents. June 2010 At:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjPLiMioKKE (Accessed on 07 October 2017)
[Original Interview recorded at BFI Southbank London, June 2010)

Obalil, LJ (unknown) King Kong Film (Movie) Plot and Review In: Film Reference [online] At:
http://www.filmreference.com/Films-Jo-Ko/King-Kong.html (Accessed on 07 October 2017)

Ebert, R (2002) Great Movie King Kong 1933 In: Roger Ebert [online] At:
http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-king-kong-1933 (Accessed on 07 October 2017)