King Kong 1933

"Oh no, it wasn't the airplanes. It was beauty killed the beast."

This universally known quote is instantly recognisable and is synonymous with the world's biggest movie star, the terrifying yet compassionate fifty foot ape, Kong.

When it was announced that we would be watching 'King Kong' as our Friday screening, I was really pleased - I had seen the Peter Jackson remake and had enjoyed it - and having watched the majority of the bonus features, I knew that the original version, made in 1933 was Jackson's inspiration for his film. He had always loved the story and claimed that he did not wish to replace the original, but rather he wished to allow a modern audience to witness 'the 8th wonder of the world' in all its glory.

I as not disappointed - I thought it was a well constructed, well written and well acted piece and, although they look dated now, the use of stop-motion animation was ground-breaking for the time the film was released. I foudn myself totally distancing myself from what was evidently a two foot platasine monkey and getting totally emersed in the plot and the action on screen - I was even siginificantly repulsed as Kong, in a successful attempt to save Ann Darrow (played by Fay Wray), ripped open the jaw of a dinosaur and played with its carcus jsut ot make sure it was dead. I was not at all aware of how long the film was, perhaps because in comparison to Jackson's 201 minute epic it was a mere short, but I found myself at the end of the film, having not noticed the time pass. this is probably one of the first times this has happened in a while when watching a film for the first time - it was good, heart-stopping yet touching drama.

As an audience, we are given the opportunity to make up our own mind about Kong, his intentions and awareness - I cannot say how I would feel towards the character had I not been predisposed to the idea that Kong falls in love with Ann (through the 2005 version) - it is definitely up for discussion. This, I suppose is more realistic - whether we read into Kong's emotions or not - he is not going to come straight out and tell us!

I feel, it was most definitely, a worthwhile watch - a landmark film - as Andy said - "1933's Avatar".