Caution: Huge Ape!

Journal #3:
(Photo Courtesy of Google Images)

King Kong, the 1933 version, Is a black and white film directed by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack. The film is about a huge prehistoric gorilla named Kong, set during the great depression. The film opens with us being introduced to one of the main characters Carl Denham, a film director who is known for hims 'animal pictures' in remote and exotic locations. Denham is unable to find an actress to star in his next exotic film so he takes a chance with a poor girl named Ann Darrow. The movie then is set off by Denham's believing there is an exotic beast on the local island. Denham and his crew find this island, and find Kong, which is when Denham attempts to shoot his movie, and exploit this prehistoric beast to get rich. While all this is happening, and the crew is attempting to shoot the movie, Kong takes a liking to the blonde movie star (Ann Darrow) causing one more conflict in the movie. After viewing this intense movie I was left wondering about the script writing. Questions such as who came up with this script, and where did the main idea for this film come from?

After viewing the film and doing some research I discovered that the original screenplay was written by James Ashmore Creelman and Ruth Rose. The movie released in 1933 was not actually the first Kong to come out. A novelization of the screenplay actually appeared before the film, in 1932, (adapted by Delos W. Lovelace) However, the novel contains descriptions of scenes not in the movie. The original screenplay was titled The Eighth Wonder, and the gorilla was knows as "Kong" not "King Kong."

The actual writing of the screenplay had many different influences. One influence came from literature. Two main literature influences were from the "Lost World" literary genre as well Edgar Rice Burroughs' The Land That Time Forgot. I have not read any of the "Lost World" genre, or The Land That Time Forgot, therefore I will not attempt to draw similarities, however, according to Wikipedia "both depicted remote and isolated jungles teeming with dinosaur life", which is identical to how the island in Kong is depicted. Another factor that influenced the creation of this film was the time period. This film was released in 1933, a time when movies were young and audiences were being introduced to many new genres and ideas. This meant that audiences were open to new ideas, also, during this time few zoos had monkey exhibits so there was a popular demand for seeing monkeys in movies. These two factors put together helped spark the idea of Kong.

These influences were pivotal in Creelman's screenplay, however, another important factor that led to the actual creation of the screenplay was an unfinished film Creation. It wasn't until after Cooper screened this footage that he believed that with the help of cinematographer and extraordinary special effects Willis O'brien that this screenplay could actually become a reality.

This screenplay idea which can be linked to literature, early 20th century fascination with animals (monkeys), and an unfinished film led to the creation of many different "giant beast" science fiction movies. Kong was so successful, that not only did people try to create similar movies, but Peter Jackson actually shot a re-make of the film in 2005, just proving the brilliance of Creelman and Rose's original screen play.

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