Around Central Florida - King Kong celebrates 75 years

King Kong turns 75

Emery Jeffreys

aroundcentralflorida.com

Click writer's name to email Emery Jeffreys.

Posted: 4/15/2008 2:41:31 PM

Hollywood's tallest, darkest leading man, King Kong, turns 75 this year.

Kong has aged well and continues to earn millions of dollars.

King Kong is the story of Carl Denham, a maverick filmmaker determined to capture images that have never been seen by civilization. He and his crew hire a boat and head to remote Skull Island, where they encounter natives worshipping a mysterious god. After the locals capture Ann Darrow, Denham's leading lady, and offer her as a sacrifice, the reality of their god becomes apparent: it is a giant gorilla they call Kong.

Kong, who is struck by Ann's beauty, takes her back to his lair, fighting off prehistoric beasts who would like to make a meal of her. Denham and set out to get her back alive and capture Kong. Once in New York City, Kong breaks free, finds Ann and climbs to the top of the Empire State Building, where he faces machine guns from fighter planes buzzing overhead.

He tumbles off the building to his death on the streets below. As a crowd gathers, Denham provides newspaper reporters with their perfect headline: "'Twas beauty killed the beast."

RKO released King Kong in New York in 1933. Audiences and critics were amazed, and King Kong went on to earn more than $1.7 million at the height of the Depression.

The original may be the ultimate movie for New Yorkers, according to jaunted.com. Think about it for a second. When you remember the film, do you see an image of Kong on the Empire State Building, or do you see Skull Island?

In 1976, producer Dino De Laurentiis created a new version of King Kong. The film was dismissed by critics, but managed to earn an Oscar for its visual effects.

Heckler Spray, a music and movie fan website, says the 1976 version is seventh on its list of the seven least scary movies.

Nearly three decades later, Peter Jackson, hot off making The Lord of the Rings trilogy, decided to try for his own remake. Jackson didn't want to just remake the 1933 classic; he wanted to pay homage to it.

Jackson's film was released in 2005 to enormous critical praise. Like the 1933 original, Jackson's film took special effects to a new level. The results were three Oscars and a domestic gross of more than $200 million.

Click to hear the slide show and hear August Rogane, author of Eiji Tsuburaya: Master of Monsters" explain why King Kong is important to the science fiction, horror and fantasy film genres.

By Emery Jeffreys

King Kong has aged gracefully. Few movie characters can claim deranging hundreds of millions of dollars.

During an auction of modernists posters in New York City set for May 12, Nicholas Lowry of Swann Auction Galleries in New York City, expects to sell a rare movie poster.

Peron's King Kong There are a couple of exceptional movie posters in the sale, Rene Peron’s King Kong, for the French release of the film, 1933 ($15,000 to $20,000); and an extremely rare Czech variant of a poster advertising Leni Riefenstahl’s 1936 movie Olympia, about the Berlin Olympic games, by an anonymous artist ($10,000 to $15,000).

"This is not that common a piece," Lowry said. "For a real Kong fan, it will be hard to find anything like it. It is a beautiful poster. This was modern design in 1933."

A King Poster much larger than Lowry's poster recently sold for $350,000.

The poster by Peron may sell from $15,000 to $20,000, Lowry estimated.

Lowry said the poster is for the French release in March 1933. The poster that sold for $350,000 is six times larger than the poster at right.

The posters will be on public exhibition at Swann Galleries Thursday, May 8 and Friday, May 9, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturday, May 10, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; and Monday, May 12, from 10 a.m. to noon. The auction will begin at 1:30 p.m. on Monday, May 12.

Photo: Swann Galleries

King Kong turns 75

Own a piece of King Kong