Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: King Kong/Centennial Celebration

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Posted by Rick Stowell (Member # 1624) on 02-27-2003, 06:09 PM:

My town is having a Centennial Celebration in July 2004. Been planning for 2-3 years already. The theater's role will be dedicating one screen for 4 days to play "Iron Will" (filmed here), and Jessica Lange movies (she's from here). "Blue Sky" and "Tootsie" for sure, but I'd love to get my hands on a print of "King Kong" (her first film). Any ideas how to locate a print? And any other ideas for a Centennial Celebration? Thanks! Great site!

Posted by Bill Gabel (Member # 1105) on 02-27-2003, 06:51 PM:

Have your booker try Paramount Pictures for that version.
They may have a 35mm print still available.

I know we ran a 4 track print around the mid 90's, when I was
at the Paramount Studios, Hollywood.

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 02-27-2003, 11:08 PM:

I watched Paramount's "KING KONG" on DVD recently and seeing the World Trade Centre in the film made me kind of sad but I was happy to see images of that beautiful building used in the
movie. The original 1933 film is still the best but the 1976 remake was not bad at all.

-Claude

Posted by Rick Stowell (Member # 1624) on 03-02-2003, 11:22 AM:

Thanks for the lead. I'll keep you posted if it turns up at Paramount.

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 03-06-2003, 07:30 AM:

King Kong has to be one of the most politically incorrect, downright racist and sexist films ever committed to celluloid - but great fun, though! [evil]

I remember showing an original nitrate print of the UK release at the NFT and howling with laughter when the captain calls 'Hey, you, Dago!' to the native chief after having gate-crashed his ceremony. This being the UK version, the scene in New York when KK throws a woman out of the skyscraper had been cut, as had close-ups of him eating natives during his rampage through the village.

I wish someone would restore Chang with the Magnascope sequences...

Posted by Hillary Charles (Member # 769) on 03-07-2003, 04:07 PM:

Each version is entertaining in its own way. Max Steiner's score for the original was groundbreaking, but the John Barry music in the remake is certainly very good (some of it sounding similar to his Bond music). And while Rick Baker did is best in the monkey suit, much of the bluescreen work was dreadful. Willis O'Brien wins in the SPX department.

I spliced those censored scenes back into my 16mm print. Constantly referring to the laserdisc for accuracy, it worked out well. When I ran it, my avid Kong fan friend applauded at every "restored" scene.

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 03-10-2003, 02:27 AM:

The idea of exploiting the late '20s craze for exploration and travelogue documentaries (e.g. the work of Flaherty, the Johnsons, Frank 'Bring 'em Back Alive' Buck and of course Cooper/Schoedsack themselves) as the 1933 scenario and oil exploration as the 1976 scenario identify both films very much as products of their time, I think. You can't really understand what either film is getting at without knowing some of the background.

Posted by Hillary Charles (Member # 769) on 03-10-2003, 05:47 AM:

I agree totally. People seeing the 1933 film were well aware of their expectations from a Cooper-Schoedsack movie. Kong was like a fantastic version of their earlier work. And it's apparent that Carl Denham is a composite of both of them.

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 03-10-2003, 05:58 AM:

Suggested reading: Tracking King Kong by Cynthia Erb. She doesn't cover the '76 film in much depth (i.e. one chapter on post-33 spinoffs), but the book offers excellent coverage of the cultural, historical and film industry issues behind the original Kong.

I'm not totally convinced by her suggestion that the Fay Wray character was based on Margurite Harrison (the on-screen explorer in Grass), though - the latter was hardly pulled off the street!

Posted by Hillary Charles (Member # 769) on 03-11-2003, 11:04 AM:

Leo, that book looks like an interesting read. "The Making of King Kong" by Orville Goldner and George E. Turner contains a wealth of info on the film itself. Does "Tracking King Kong" detail Cooper's and Schoedsack's adventures before they became filmmakers? From what little I know of those stories, they would make an amazing movie.

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 03-12-2003, 07:06 AM:

I haven't properly read it for around a year... will have a look this evening. My vague memory is that there is some discussion of C & S' career in the Air Force during WWI, but not a huge amount.