Happy birthday, ya big ape!

March 3rd, 2008 at 12:02pm Will Pfeifer

KING KONG (the original, not Peter Jackson’s 2005 version or that godawful seventies remake) premiered 75 years ago yesterday in New York. (I realize I’m a day late with these birthday greetings, but he’s a gorilla — is he really going to mind?) It was a huge hit in every sense of the world, blowing the minds of Depression-era audiences, single-handedly rescuing RKO Studios from Depression-era woes and changing the art of special effects — and cinema in general — for ever.

If you have Turner Classic Movies, you can catch if April 7. Or, if you have a DVD player (and I’m guessing you do), you can watch the excellent Warner Bros. disc that came out a few years ago. Remastered and restored, it comes paired with all sorts of behind-the-scenes material that reveals just how hard it was turning an 18-inch model into a giant rampaging gorilla — and a gorilla with personality, too.

If you’ve never seen it, I highly recommend giving it a look. The beginning drags a bit, but once the islanders kidnap Fay Wray, it’s nothing but dinosaurs, giant apes, World War II biplanes and just-finished skyscapers ’til the famous final line, “It was beauty killed the beast.”

Entry Filed under: Classic movies