Happy 80th Birthday, Kong!

Today, my favorite movie of all time turns 80 years old.  Seems hard to believe that it has been eight decades since King Kong made his fateful climb up the side of the Empire State Building with the beautiful Ann Darrow in his hand, only to meet his demise at the hands of a squadron of biplanes.  What is not hard to believe is that the movie has endured, finding new audiences with each successive generation.  It is an incredible film, both in story and in production, and despite the limitations of the era in which it was made, it remains far superior in every way to the attempts to remake it in 1976 and 2005.

King Kong was released on March 2, 1933, in the thick of the Great Depression, and still made over $1.8 million in its initial release (adjusted for inflation, that would be the equivalent of over $300 million today).  In 1938, King Kong became the first movie in history to be re-released; it earned another half million the second time around.

Although often lumped in with the monster movies of its day (Frankenstein and Dracula were only two years old at the time of Kong's release), this is no horror movie.  More than anything, Kong is a story of unrequited love; it just happens that the rejected suitor here is a 24-foot tall gorilla.  If Kong is a monster, it is only because he was forced to be one when kidnapped from his home to be put on display in a world he neither knew nor was capable of understanding.  Had Carl Denham and his crew not been constantly in search of the almighty dollar, Kong would have lived out his days in that prehistoric world hidden behind a giant fence on Skull Island without bothering a soul save the occasional triceratops or an unfortunately wandering native.

The acting is most definitely of the style of the era: stage-heavy, but not stilted. Keep in mind, movies had been silent just six years before; subtlety in delivering lines was not yet well developed among the acting community.  Yet Robert Armstrong nearly steals the movie in the role of Carl Denham.  Yes, he is the heavy who steals Kong away from his paradise, but he is also father figure to Fay Wray's Ann Darrow and narrator for the viewing audience.  Armstrong gives the Denham character a depth that makes him hard to truly dislike.  While he is certainly a money-hungry promoter, he truly cares about his crew, about the young actress he pulled into this adventure, and even about the beast he has inadvertently unleashed in New York City.

It would be easy to dismiss Fay Wray's performance as Ann Darrow as a one-dimensional damsel in distress, but she is a surprisingly strong character when she isn't enfolded in a giant ape's paw.  Yes, she is well-known for her screams throughout the picture (many of which were recorded and added in post-production), but watch the subtleties in her reaction shots, and pay attention to her interaction with the crew of Denham's ship, and especially with her less tall suitor, Jack Driscoll, played by Bruce Cabot.

Driscoll, it turns out, is the one-dimensional character here: he is the stereotypical 1930's guy-who-gets-the-girl. He's got the football team captain looks and spouts the right lines at the right times, but possesses not an ounce of either personality or insight.  Whether it was Cabot's intent to play Driscoll that way or inability to do better, the flatness of our wanna-be hero's presence actually works far better in the film than a charismatic, engaging presence would have.  Nothing should (nor, in truth, could) distract from the true star here.

So much has been written about Willis O'Brien's absolutely astounding special effects given the era in which the film was made that space need not be wasted parroting all of that well-deserved praise here.  All one needs to do is compare the 1933 Kong with the robotic 1976 version and the CGI'd 2005 version to see that a tiny miniature and a stop-motion camera many moons before brought more life and emotion out of Kong than more modern and supposedly more sophisticated technologies did decades later.  Through his facial expressions and body language, you know what Kong is thinking and feeling at every moment.  And if you do not find yourself shedding a tear for Kong at the end, when Denham delivers the film's classic closing line, "It wasn't the planes. It was Beauty killed the beast," you may want to check to see if you actually have a soul.  Of all the characters, it is the wild giant ape who is the most human.

If you have never seen the original King Kong, it is simply a glaring omission from your life experience list that you must correct.  If you can, find the 2005 DVD issue which presents the most complete version of the film available, at a running time of 104 minutes.

Happy 80th birthday, Kong!

Recommended Reading: Look Back in Anger

One of my favorite early '80s New Wave acts was the duo of Pal Shazar and Andrew Chinich, Slow Children. Their two albums have remained in mid-to-heavy rotation on the turntable around these parts since my high school years, and when I first began the New Wave for the New Week series over a year ago, Slow Children were among the bands that inspired the concept. They were the 9th entry in the NW4NW series.

While researching links for that blog post, I found Pal Shazar's current website, and through it I was introduced to the wonderousness of Shazar's post-Slow Children creative world. I had not heard her solo music before; now I wanted to find every release (still searching on some!) In addition to music, she has found expression through the written word (Penthouse Magazine published excerpts from her novel, Janitor) and through her paintings and illustrations. On top of it all, I discovered Pal has her own blog, Look Back in Anger. It has become a regular read for me.

Look Back in Anger focuses on the imagery surrounding great films, and is as much, if not more, a visual blog as a written one. In each post, which often come in spurts of three or four in a day, Pal shares a photograph or maybe two or three and a brief comment. Each presentation pulls you right in and puts you in the picture, in the movie, or in the era. The level of feeling she is able to evoke with a few images and often a relatively stark economy of words is astounding. Shazar's blog is nostalgic without being maudlin. She does not mourn the loss of classic cinema and its icons; rather, she celebrates the fact that the medium in which they shared their talents with the world is one which allows us to continue to enjoy them today, and will afford future generations the same pleasure. She is both curator of history and siren calling you to step through a portal to another time and place, where the greats of the silver screen never age, never fade out, and never fail to entertain.

To say that I was happily surprised and honored when Pal Shazar responded to my request to be a part of this series would be putting it mildly. That is, I suppose, one of the more surreal aspects of the Internet: here is someone whose work I have admired and whose records I bought and loved for years, and here we are communicating not as fan and musician, but as fellow bloggers. Allow me to share Pal's responses to the Five Questions I've asked each blogger (please note that, as seen in her blog, her preferred writing style is reminiscent of e.e. cummings - no capital letters. I have kept that style in presenting her words here):

What or who inspired you to begin blogging?
PS: a friend who has a boutique (kaight shop nyc) told me that she lamented having to rely on others to update her website. she was unable to do it herself but she found that having a blog was much simpler. so, she created one on blogger and showed me how to do it. the very next day i created my film blog. i knew that my passion for films would be a lovely gift for others as interested as myself. plus, i am very visually oriented and there are just countless beautiful stills to share.

some of my least favorites experiences involved standing in a film rental place and looking at all the titles with my head swimming. if my knowledge of great cinema can spare one individual those moments of anxiety i will have made a useful offering.

as i like to write as well as paint, having a blog is a really fun way to be creative without investing that time with any ambitious thoughts! it is simply a gift for anyone who may stumble upon it. believe it or not, there are some people who have yet to see 'camille' or 'love with the proper stranger.'

Is there a story or meaning behind your blog or its name?
PS: the greatest (favorite) performance i have seen on film is richard burton's role as 'jimmy' in 'look back in anger.' what the british term 'kitchen sink drama' is exactly the style of film i adore. these films were made in the 1960's depicting individuals with great passion living in fairly grim circumstances. some of the terrific actors associated with these movies are: alan bates (a kind of loving) richard burton (look back in anger) and tom courtenay (the loneliness of the long distance runner). john schlesinger, joseph losey, and tony richardson are some of the directors who brought these tales to life in their exceptional black and white films.

Which post would you choose from your archives if you had to provide only one that best represents what your blog is all about?
PS: rain/tears: powerful concoction, my blog's namesake

When you first log on to your computer each day, what is the first site you go to? Why?
PS: i like to check into one or two culturally driven information sites and see what's up with the world.i also love to peek in on fashion.

What one other blog would YOU recommend that you read regularly, and why?
PS: there is a guy named tom sutpen who has a blog called 'if charlie parker was a gunslinger, there'd be a whole lot of dead copycats.' if you google his name you can easily find it. he is a culture lover and always posts great images. it is very inspiring to see faces and places that are gone but not forgotten. i am regularly amazed by how many people in their twenties are so passionate about early cinema. of course we all love james dean, but so many people are praising the talent and personality of people such as carole lombard. indeed she was one of the most incredible comedians. it was a blogger in her twenties who brought to my attention the great actor lon chaney.

I hope you will take the time to visit Look Back in Anger and spend some time there. Seldom in today's jaded world do we get the chance to be swept away such as those classic movies could offer. Escape a bit into that world, and you just may find yourself going back to visit again and again.

My most sincere thanks to Pal Shazar for her willingness to be a part of this series and for taking the time to share her thoughts with us!