Happy Birthday King Kong



I cannot let this day go by without reminding everyone that on this date, March 2, in 1933 KING KONG opened at Radio City Music Hall and the RKO Roxy Theatre in New York City, selling out both houses with a combined seating capacity of 10,000.

KONG was a blockbuster and opened in Hollywood on March 24 and went into general release on April 10.



KONG may look like an antique today, but back in the depression it was a sensation. Pioneering filmmaker Merian C. Cooper conceived KING KONG "to thrill myself. I wanted to produce something that I could view with pride and say, 'There is the ultimate in adventure.'"

KING KONG is unique in motion picture history. Not only has it stood the test of time, but it has influenced several generations of writers and filmmakers, including Ray Harryhausen, Ray Bradbury, Steven Spielburg, George Lucas and Peter Jackson.

Bosley Crowther, long the dean of American film critics, wrote that it has "implications more profound than had ever before been generated in a mere monster or science fiction film." KING KONG is a fantasy adventure romance of spectacular proportions, a twentieth-century version of the Beauty and the Beast legend and an allegory on the destructive powers of both love and civilization.

KING KONG is not only the great granddaddy of all giant monster on the loose movies, but also the great granddaddy of all films with a full symphonic score. Max Steiner's score to KING KONG was the first one done with a full orchestra and the first one to truly enhance the impact of the visual images.

And now old KING KONG has been around for seventy years. We should have gotten a special edition DVD of it this year, but Warners, which owns the film now, is said to be doing a meticulous video restoration. I hope it's worth the wait.

Happy Birthday KONG!





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