King Kong

In watching this movie, and I'm talking about actually scrutinizing it intently, I was shocked at the amount and the extremity of the violence that was in the picture. Natives were being bitten, swallowed and purposely stepped upon by Kong. The sailors were chased, trampled and eaten by the dinosaurs and then we have all the New York City violence on top of it all where Kong tosses a woman to her death and bites on a bystander. Also, for it being an 85+ year old movie, the special effects STILL stand up rather well and STILL look convincingly realistic. In fact, I believe these FX are of a better quality than the 1976 remake and even comes close to the 2005 CGI version. If you've never seen this classic, mostly because "who would want to watch that old-style claymation" or you can't watch anything not "in Living Color," you really need to give this one a try. For those of you that have seen it, let me urge you to rewatch it, possibly with some newly-opened eyes.

Shown recently by the BBC and wow, how fantastically this has stood the test of time. I can see why there have been so many remakes of this iconic tale of ambition, power and true love but none that shine a candle to this - even after over 80 years. Robert Armstrong and Fay Wray do their bit as the producer and the starlet, but the true stars are lighting, photography and special effects which are masterful as we visit this ancient island divided by a great wall (how on earth did the natives ever manage to build it?) that keeps the prehistoric monsters at bay. This is adventure cinema at it's absolute best; and even the writing is reasonable. If you don't feel sympathy for Kong at the end then where is your heart?