King Kong was a groundbreaking achievement in special effects using stop motion and animatronics and it captured audiences’ attention around the world for its unique filmmaking techniques and thus held records for selling out for four days in a row. For the time King Kong was piquing peoples’ interests, but in a world where we have a truck turn into a robot and dinosaurs roam our streets; how well does a film which based a lot of its appeal on its special effects hold up? 

Film

When you think of a monster movie made in the 30’s, you tend to get this idea in your head… rubber suits… terrible miniatures… hilarious. However when dealing with the most iconic American monster, King Kong, you have to wonder what all the fuss was about. Heck, even Peter Jackson, who was on top of the world after the Lord of the Rings movies decided to take a huge risk and recreate King Kong into a three hour epic saga. What is it about this giant gorilla that we love?

The film follows Ann Darrow, an actress who agrees to join a crew to film a movie on a mysterious island in the Indian Ocean. Upon reaching the island the crew is attacked by a group of natives who kidnap Ann. The rest of the survivors form a pack to rescue Ann and during their quest they are attacked by an onslaught of the island’s denizen. Without giving much away, we do end up back in New York City with Kong onboard the ship and the iconic Empire States building scene takes place and thus film history is made.

The Library of Congress deemed the film “culturally, historically and aesthetically significant” in 1991 and the American Film Institute named it one of the 50 best American films. The film is one of the best early adventure films and it transports us to a faraway world that seems almost as close by as it does alien. Although it’s hard to get past the very dated effects the story of Kong holds up very well and it gave me a better appreciation of Peter Jackson’s film as well.

It’s not often we get transported to new worlds in cinema nowadays and it’s nice to go back to the pre-golden years of moviemaking and see how the forefathers did it.

Video

King Kong is displayed using the VC-1 codec in its original aspect ratio of 1.37:1. Although King Kong was infamously known for its poor video quality in its early home media releases; the Blu-ray release looks stunning considering the film is 77 years old.

The film is very clear and doesn’t have many scratches or dirt, the print that they used was in great condition and I’ve read that the restoration process was very meticulous. There were a few hiccups here and there but once again for a film that is three quarters of a century old, we’re getting a great looking disc. The contrast is a bit light at times so we do lose details in the brights while turning those blacks into dark grays, so that’s one issue, however the image is very crisp and sharp nonetheless.

Audio

King Kong’s audio comes at us using the DTS-HD Master Audio codec. And although the sound is based off of a mono mix we still get a decent amount of dynamic range. The score is front heavy as expected, but surprisingly the surrounds aren’t sleeping on the job… We get a bit of bleed which helps the mix attain some depth.

The dialogue is a bit flat when it comes through and the sound effects unfortunately don’t blend well enough to not be noticed, but as my aforementioned statements; all of this is to be expected for the era.

The loud bangs and thumps give some low frequency ammo for your subwoofer but don’t expect you hair to be blown back while you watch.

Special Features

The special features on King Kong are fairly well done. With a audio commentary that consists of interviews from Merian C. Cooper and actress Fay Wray to a documentary about Cooper narrated by Alec Baldwin; we’re given a sundry group of extras that really make this a valuable Blu-ray for your collection.

The prized extra in my mind is the recreation of the lost Spider Pit sequence. Which was a scene ostensibly cut from the original film after initial test audiences found it to be too disturbing and the footage was subsequently destroyed as it was common to do so at the time. Rumor has it the footage was actually cut as a choice by the studio for it slowed the pace of the film and many believe it is still intact somewhere! The recreation was done by Peter Jackson and his team using the script and storyboards found. I was blown away by how authentic the footage looked, I just assumed it was the real sequence from watching it. It’s definitely worthwhile and with the other extras added in we’re given a great selection of goodies to chew on.

Final Thoughts 

The film may not be on your “must-watch” list and even if you’re not a fan of older movies, King Kong is an important film and deserves to be seen at least once. With the best audio and video presentation to date this release of King Kong is the best chance of recreating what the original audiences saw over seventy years ago. Along with a slew of great and in depth special features, this disc is definitely worth a purchase.