King Kong [Blu-ray Book]

It was a good exciting adventures. I love this original King Kong 1933 Black & White Old Version Type Of Movie. It's the best one out there in this world since the 1933. Wow, that's going way way back in time, That's just 10 year's away from being 1 century old. This movie 🎥 is in the making of becoming one of the spectacular greatest movies of all-time in the life's historic movie entertainment book.

Got this as a present for my son, he loves it.

The Commentary Track is on the 2006 1-disc DVD issue of the original 1933 "King Kong". The commentary was recorded while Peter Jackson's 2005 remake was in production, and the remake is mentioned a couple of times. Commentators are Ken Ralston and Ray Harryhausen. Ralston was one of the founders of Industrial Light & Magic and has won 5 Academy Awards for Best Visual Effects. Ray Harryhausen is the father of stop motion animation. He calls Willis O'Brien, the "Chief Technician" of "King Kong", the grandfather of stop motion.The two introduce themselves at the beginning of the commentary, with Harryhausen saying "We're both in love with the same picture, 'King Kong'!" Ray, born in 1920, saw "King Kong" in 1933 at the fabled Grauman's Chinese Theater. O'Brien (O.B. as he and Ken call him) was his mentor. There are also a few places in the commentary track with inserts from archival interviews with Merian C. Cooper, director and co-producer, and Fay Wray, who, of course, played Ann Darrow, the beauty to Kong's beast.At one point, Merian says that the last line in the film was one he'd had in mind for many years: "It was beauty killed the beast". And, in case you're wondering, he made up the "Old Arabian Proverb" at the beginning of the movie.Both Ken and Ray are very complimentary to Max Steiner's great score. Harry: "I can't stress [enough] how important music was to this film." Ken: "I remember hearing this, and it may be wrong, but technically, they had less ability to do a lot of levels of sound effects, and ... nuances like that. So for Steiner, he was adding a lot more musically to this. [Music] that took the place of what would now be the sound effects realm basically burying the music. This is like an opera piece, where you've got great music and visuals going through the whole piece." Harry: "And each character has their own leit motif ... It's just marvelous."I couldn't agree more. For example, it is a masterwork how Steiner's music builds the tension as the kidnapped Ann is kneeling in front of the giant gate, and then it opens and she is dragged through to the columns where she is tied. Then the music STOPS. The gong is struck. Then the music starts low, again, as you hear growling, then trees crashing, and then....But it's not just the music. I love the expert scene composition. When Kong beats his way through the giant gates, you see him from below, the torches lighting him up with his eyes blazing, while silhouettes of terrified villagers run towards you on your level. Great stuff!Ken reminds us: "When this was released, this was their 'Jurassic Park'. When this came out, Kong blew everyone out of the theater, totally took them by surprise .... It raised the bar on visual effects." Merien adds: "Willis O'Brien was a technical genius. In this picture, we had to invent 11 new processes [for visual effects]. This was the first time that rear projection was really ever used. There had been 2 or 3 [prior] tries at it."Then there was Ruth Rose's dialogue. As Ray says, "You notice the dialogue is so tight. There's no superfluous inferences.... [The script] takes you by the hand from the depression era to the most outrageous fantasy." This brings up the TV versions of "King Kong". You must view the fully restored movie if all you've seen is the TV version. It wasn't just the censorship of scenes like Kong or the lagoon dinosaur chomping on the crew. They cut out huge swaths of the beginning of the movie, where the stage is set, where the characters are filled out, where the mystery starts to build, of, just what the heck is Carl Denham up to?I could go on and on about favorite comments in the commentary, but you get the idea. I loved this original "King Kong" before, but watching it through the eyes of Ray Harryhausen and Ken Ralston added to my enjoyment immensely.If you're interested, you can get many CD's of Max Steiner's film work. Probably his most famous soundtrack is for 1939 "Gone With the Wind". Here's the CD of the 1933 "King Kong" King Kong: The Complete 1933 Film Score I love Peter Jackson's "King Kong" - Jack Black and Naomi Watts took iconic characters and made them their own - but I will always have a place in my heart for the original "King Kong".Happy Reader

The movie itself is an unmitigated masterpiece: a spectacular story conceived by a man Kong-sized in spirit, one incredible real-life hero and adventurer Merian C. Cooper, with impeccable, flawlessly paced direction by Cooper and his also astounding associate Ernest Shoedsack, with a hand-in-glove masterful Max Steiner music score, a Gustave Dore-inspired jungle unlike any other jungle ever filmed, graced by a true Beauty in Fay Wray as Ann Darrow and a Beast that gives one of the Top 10 greatest screen performances ever - and does so despite being an 18" rabbit fur-covered, metal ball-and-socket puppet! The man behind the movement, though, was Willis O'Brien, an authentic American genius unfortunately not given enough opportunities to gift us with his wares. He is somewhat like Welles. Both artists reached the tops of their own Empire State Buildings under the auspices of RKO. Welles, of course with CITIZEN KANE and O'Bie with KING KONG: both films ironically two word titles, both are names preceded by adjectives, both with the hard 'K'. And both men, Welles and O'Brien, toppling from the heights due to the vagaries of popular taste and monied interests and personal demons.Anyway, speaking of monied interests, I was surprised to see the blatant, huckster's lie in the advert for the Blu-ray Book version of KONG. The list of Special Features says: THE LOST SPIDER PIT SEQUENCE IN ITS ENTIRETY.But this is an outright lie. What is on the disc is NOT the actual and seemingly truly lost spider pit sequence. What it really is is Peter Jackson's imaginative recreation of the actual and lost sequence. This recreation is a segment of the multi-part documentary "RKO Production 601: The Making of Kong." Yet in the pitch it is made to seem like a separate special feature and NOT merely a part of the long documentary already listed as being on disc two. I know many folks may be fooled by this false advertising, therefore this review.Despite the lie, white or otherwise, the movie is magnificent magic, all the way. The second disc extras are all to be found on the DVD release. The Making of documentary is wonderful, even with a bit too much of Peter Jackson's input. The other documentary is a rich and rewarding one on the incredible Merian C. Cooper who was the real-life model for Carl Denham, searcher for Skull Island and captor of Kong. Ten lives or more lived in one! I have the 2005 release in the tin box special edition. Not sure if it is available anymore, but it is a beauty.Anyway,I never tire of watching this Monster Masterpiece because it is so rich and dense in detail that something new may be found in it with each viewing. One example: I was always aware of the boat - The Venture - way in the background in the scene where Bruce Cabot and Fay Wray are escaping from Kong via a vine hanging down the face of Skull Mountain. But only recently did I also spot the actual giant wall just visible in the dense jungle foliage. It is a wonderful detail in a wonderfully detailed film. It gives one a visual sense of just how deep into the jungle Kong's mountain lair actually is - and how far Jack Driscoll has come to rescue Ann Darrow.KING KONG was a Thanksgiving TV tradition for many, many years here in the NY area. With those nostalgic memories in mind I will settle down into my armchair this Thursday and book passage on The Venture and get lost in the wilds of Skull Island yet again, looking to spot yet another jewel in that fearsome and fantastic jungle.

Great movie. Don’t think it was remastered , but still better than the DVD

At last a superb classic film has been given the Hi-Def treatment it deserves. This blu-ray of the original Great Ape movie delivers terrific picture quality alongside much improved sound plus 5 hours of incredibly worthwhile extras. This all comes in a book format package which includes some history, stills and poster repros. etc. If you already own the Warner U.S. DVD then this blu-ray's content is identical and you should carefully consider if the upgrade is essential - for me it certainly is even though the quality of the DVD version is very good. I waited until this blu-ray (which is region free. so plays on all machines) hit a low-ish price on Amazon Marketplace and then snapped it up. The Warner versions of King Kong are far superior to the U.K. releases (so far) and it's shameful that (again, so far) there is no hint of an English blu-ray release. I should mention that among the extras is a Peter Jackson re-creation of the lost 'Spider Pit' sequence, created using the animation techniques used in the original. If you are a Kongophile then don't hesitate, add to basket, there ain't gonna be a better version of this movie for a long, long time.P.S. The other King is that lad from Memphis of course.

This is the original, and by far the best, version of the tale of King Kong. Released in 1933 it is a both a stunning technical achievement and a thrilling film.Film maker Denham hires a ship to take him to a mysterious island, where he hopes to film wonders previously unseen by man. There they find the mighty Kong and a whole island full of giant prehistoric creatures. Denham's lead actress, Anne Darrow (Faye Wray with her famous scream) is kidnapped by islanders and offered as sacrifice to Kong, who promptly falls in love with her. What follows is a thrilling adventure as Kong takes her to his home in the jungle, fending off several dinosaurs in the process. The ship's crew follow them, with spectacular adventures of their own. Finally Kong is subdued and taken to New York, leading to the final iconic climax on the Empire States Building.As well as the thrilling adventure, this film is a supreme technical achievement from special effects master Willis O'Brien. Kong is superbly realised, and the fights between him and the dinosaurs are just breathtaking. I'm a bit old fashioned and think that animations like this have a lot more depth and life to them than CGIs. Compare this film with the recent Peter Jackson remake and you will see what I mean.This isa great edition of the film, with previously lost scenes edited back in. The print has a few scratches and spots on it, but is in general OK. There is an interesting documentary looking at the making of the film.A really great film with a decent presentation. Highly recommended to all movie lovers!

I was a little reticent at buying this, due to insufficient or ambiguous info as regards regional coding - but I shouldn'd have worried - this disc is REGION FREE. Picture is better than the digitally remastered dvd but there is noticable grain, ( more so on a large screen tv ) which seems to get better further into the feature ( reel changes and film-stock quality? ). Sound and dialogue is clear and if you have a cinema zoom menu on your tv, ( LG ) you can take out the black side bars. Overall improvement. This is the digi-book version. An inclusion of a colourised version would've been a nice extra. Documentary extras are good - I found Peter jackson's film crew's recreation of the original film's giant spider segments most fascinating. Hope this helps with any future contemplative purchase.

I can't add much to that what's already known: King Kong is still one of the best adventure/fantasy/monster movies in the history of filmmaking. It is simply amazing that a movie of almost eighty years old is still a true joy to watch and to watch again. Now the gem is finally on bluray and it is something for the real filmlover and collector to own. Its packed in a great hardcover book with the story behind the film, the film itself is restored to its maximum and the disk is also packed with fantastic documentaries...Like I said, this is what a bluray version of a classic should look like. Highly recommended. Oh by the way. It's an American import, but it's region free so it can be played without any trouble on region 2 players.

What can you say about the greatest fantasy film ever now even better on blueray love this film and looked forward to the Peter Jackson remake what a waste could have and should have been so much better I will stick with the original no contest.Do yourself a favour buy the original and if possible watch it on largest screen you can