1933 - KING KONG, accept no substitute

 One of the most important adventure films ever made.  King Kong came out of the imagination of two remarkable filmmakers, Merian C. Cooper and Ernest Schoedsack.  These two men had made their reputations filming what can only  be called sort of documentary films.  Grass: A Nation's Battle for Life, was about an amazing caravan of nomads in search of pastures in what was then known as Persia for their cattle.  The film had some extraordinary scenes of the hardships that these nomads endured during their migration, Chang: A Drama of the Wilderness, was filmed in Thailand and featured a family trying to make a living in the jungle.  This film ended with an impressive elephant stamped.

Cooper and Schoedsack eventually ended up working for RKO, where Cooper pushed the studio to make a film about a giant gorilla.  Cooper was lucky enough to find Willis O'Brian, a stop motion animation effects technician to implement his idea and with a green light from RKO studio chief David O Selznick, King Kong was born.  The rest is they say is history. A few pieces of trivia about this film

The giant gate and wall that the natives of Skull Island use to keep Kong out of their village was eventually repurposed for the escape from Atlanta sequence in Gone With The Wind the wall was burned down as Clark Gable and Vivian Leigh made their escape.

It's well know that the character of Carl Denham the movie producer looking to shoot a film about Kong was modeled after Merian Cooper.  Jack Driscoll the sailor who rescues Ann Darrow from Kong was modeled after Ernest B. Schoedsack.   Although they never really acknowledged it Ann Darrow might have been based on Marguerite Harrison who had partially financed the making of Grass, and accompanied Cooper and Schoedsack on their expedition in Persia much to their annoyance.  Marguerite Harrison was a rather remarkable woman, she had been a spy for the allies during World War I and later went on to found the Children's Hospital School in Baltimore.

RKO's special effects team pushed the limit with what they could be done with camera trickery.  For a early 1930's film, a lot of the special effects hold up very well.  King Kong has frequently been criticized  for the amount of racism in the film particularly in the scenes with the natives of Skull Island.  The film has also been cited as a metaphor for racial tensions as the film is about the destruction of the black gorilla by white men.

It’s also well known that during the climatic fight between Kong and the Air Force, the pilot and co-pilot of one of the planes are Cooper and Schoedsack blasting away at Kong.  The director Peter Jackson in his 2005 remake and special effects and makeup expert Rick Baker are the pilot and co-pilot in that version.

King Kong was written by Edgar Wallace, James Creelman and Ruth Rose.  The running time is 100 minutes. 

1935 - THE LAST DAYS OF POMPEII - entertaining 1930's epic

This tale of the ancient Roman Empire has it all, volcanoes erupting, gladiators, Christians being led to the slaughter and the typical epic cast of thousands.  It also has special appearances by Pontius Pilate and Jesus himself although he is never actually called that.

 The story concerns a blacksmith in Pompeii played by Preston Foster.  Foster's wife and child are injured by a runaway chariot of course.  Unable to pay for a doctor they die.  The grieving Foster decides to become a gladiator to gain as much wealth as possible.  Along the way he adopts an orphan boy who he raises as his son. How does Jesus fit into all of this?  Well Foster and his son travel to Judea to see the most important man in the world.  Thinking the man is Pontius Pilate, played by a curly haired Basil Rathbone (the best performance in the film). They encounter Jesus who performs a miracle on Foster's adopted son who has been injured and almost dies.

It's back to Pompeii where Foster is arranging one of those big gladiator showdowns in the local amphitheater.  A Christian sect has been captured and is about to become fodder for a bunch of blood thirsty gladiators.  Foster's adopted son has secretly become a Christian and he ends up in the amphitheater as well.  Just as things are about to get really bad, Mount Vesuvius erupts and brings the film to a rousing climax of death and destruction. It's a lot of story to be told in 90 minutes.

 

The filmmakers are Merian C. Cooper and Ernest Schoedsack, the men behind the original King Kong.  Cooper and Schoedsack had been explorers in the 1920's and got into show biz where their films were what would be called high adventure.  Besides King Kong, they filmed She, Mighty Joe Young and The Most Dangerous Game.  No drawing room comedies for these guys.

 

The special effects were by stop motion animator Willis O'Brien and Vernon Walker and expert at creating optical effects. In the case Walker expertly blending actors with O'Brien's stop motion effects. 

This is a very entertaining 1930's film. Between the story and the big action finale you really can't go wrong.  Cooper and Schoedsack were always about putting on a good show.

The screenplay was by Ruth Rose, the running time is 96 minutes.

1949 - MIGHTY JOE YOUNG, or King Kong redux.

A high water mark for special effects in the late 1940's.  In charge of effects for Mighty Joe Young was Willis O'Brien who was responsible for King Kong.  Doing much of the actual stop motion animation of the gorilla was Ray Harryhausen.  These stop motion effects were carefully integrated with optical composting from Linwood Dunn.  

Linwood Dunn was one of the greatest special effects artists in Hollywood.  Dunn contributed special effects to films included, King Kong, Citizen Kane, My Fair Lady, Airport, It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World and the original Star Trek series, an amazing career.

Merian C Cooper and his partner Ernest B Schoedsack were the producer and director and in this film, John Ford of all people shows up listed in the credits.  Ford always insisted he had nothing to do with this film, but members of his stock company, which included Ben Johnson and Jack Pennick show up in the film.  

Leaving all the business of the optical and animation effects aside Mighty Joe Young is a very entertaining film.  It's amazing how much personality they got into the gorilla puppet.

 94 minutes, written by Ruth Rose.