FILM 1826: KING KONG
TRIVIA: Grossed ninety thousand dollars its opening weekend, the biggest opening ever at the time.
The success of this film is often credited for saving R.K.O. Pictures from bankruptcy.
Merian C. Cooper's first vision for the film, was of a giant ape on top of the world's tallest building, fighting airplanes. He worked backward from there, to develop the rest of the story.
King Kong's roar was a lion's roar and a tiger's roar combined and run backwards, but slowly.
At around eighty minutes into the film, a man (LeRoy Mason) standing in line to see Kong complains to his lady companion, "These tickets cost me twenty bucks." At presumably ten dollars per ticket, this would have been a tremendous cost in Depression-wracked 1933. By contrast, a ticket to see the 1933 New York Yankees, which featured Babe Ruthand Lou Gehrig, or to this movie itself, would have been about 35 cents.
The one flaw that remains in the animation is the way Kong's fur seems to be moving constantly, showing where the animators had to grab the figure to move it. Though the animators would brush the fur constantly to hide their work, it still shows up in the finished film. Many other filmmakers who have used the same technique actually admire this flaw, because it shows that the work was done by skilled artists using their hands.
Executive Producer David O. Selznick left R.K.O. midway through production of this film. Selznick's last act of business at R.K.O., and probably his biggest contribution to the film, was to write a memo changing the name of the production from "Kong" to "King Kong".
The "Old Arabian Proverb" opening the film, was actually written by Merian C. Cooper.
Although many film historians insist that a spider pit scene was never shot, much less previewed, at least three production stills do exist showing the miniature ravine complete, with at least one spider and a crab creature, both of which are menacing miniature sailors. There was one person who claimed to have seen the first preview screening who said that the spider pit scene was in it, and the audience laughed at large bug-eyes on a spider model. He felt that this unintended laugh was the reason the scene stopped the film, and was cut.
Included among the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", edited by Steven Schneider.
