KING KONG!!

as well, can we discuss what peter jackson will do with his remake, and what was wrong with the remake in the mid70s with jessica lange.

Above = my brain's word substitutions for the opening piece on Momus' 'Ping Pong'.

The man said, "He is a brilliant
special effect, given the budget
and the film technology of the thirties,
but the story is hopelessly contrived,
even allowing for the strong mythic
element." The woman said, "No,
he looks too much like a stuffed toy,
a huge piece of period kitsch,
ludicrous when he tries for tragedy."
The man shook his hair and made smoke,
insisting, "Verisimilitude is irrelevant,
as in any Gothic melodrama."
I marvelled at these mammoth words
unfolding from such little brains. I ate
the man first, then the woman, both stringy,
but then what’s not these days.

William Trowbridge

can i wrap you in my clumsy fist.
like kong and fay wray
w/o the sexual tension.

-jack handey

Haha! Sean I kiss you. Dino is truly a master of English.

King Kong the movie is, from start to finish, built around cinema - it’s designed to look good as a film; it’s conceived around the technology of film. And revels in it - the stop motion animation, the elaborate mattes and models and process shots. It's set up to look right on screen. They aren't trying to hide these things - they are presenting us with an amazing spectacle, and expect us to marvel in it, all of it. The planning, the formal properties of the film, are made more explicit by being prepared by Denham's talk. His attempts to film on the island, his attempts to stage-manage the villagers or the fights with Kong, etc., set up the formal structure of the rest of the film - the parallel imagery on the island and in NY (the wall on the island serving as stage and curtain, that recurs in the second half; the parallels in how Ann and Kong are staked out for display; the parallel battles on Kong's mountain and the empire state building, complete with dangerous birds. Even details like the several scenes in both parts of the film of Kong fishing around caves/apartments for people.) The depiction of the act of making a film sets you up to wonder at the artistry of the story proper when it gets going.

It's reminiscent of one of the other outstanding figures of cinema of the period - Warner Brothers' musicals, especially Busby Berkeley's parts. Berkeley’s numbers are almost parables for the shift from stage to screen. Their placement in the films (in 42nd Street, at least), and their overall structure, almost always enacts the shift from stage to screen. The numbers usually follow that pattern - starting on something like a real stage, then opening up toward film. First (usually) by shooting them from impossible places (the flies, through the floor), but eventually abandoning all sense of the spatial unity and integrity of the stage. The space in “42nd Street” (the song) or “By a Waterfall” or “Shanghai Lil” is pure cinematic space - much of it designed explicitly for the camera (and for editing), certainly constructing the three dimensional space of film. Interestingly, while this abandons the "real" space of the theater, it moves toward a "real" space of films - itself referring to the "real" space of, um - reality.

http://listeningear.blogspot.com/2008/08/seventh-art-and-eighth-wonder-of-world.html

King Kong is one of my favorite movies. I'm all Will Gainesed out on this level.

willis o'brien 4-ever

Except in Jaws 4 which has a lot of pathos if you watch it from the shark's point of view.

i would love to know what the hell i was talking about here!

Although I've seen bits of it over the years, I finally watched the OG version last night. Given the era, the obvious effort involved is pretty impressive. Kong was the best actor in the thing. I've been watching a lot of '30s genre pictures lately but this one held my attention the most and felt the least like people clumsily trying to get a handle on a fledgling medium/genre.

Any thoughts on Son of Kong? I've heard that it isn't bad.

the 70s version is classic for J. Lange alone ! the latest version was boring/bad. the original is classic, I suppose but I don't think I'll ever want to watch it again.

The Broadway musical opened last night! The NY Times had two critics review it ("soul-crushing").