The Son of Kong (1933)

In this sequel to "King Kong" Kong's exhibitor takes off on a cruise ends up back on Kong's island and make friends with the adorable Little Kong.Running Time: 70 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE/THRILLERS UPC: 053939676129 Product Description

BELIEVE IT OR NOT THERE'S A LITTLE KONG.....HOW LITTLE?

This sequel was rushed and it is a shame,because there are some very good parts it this sequel to one of the greatest movies ever! I like that we find Carl Denham down and out with Lawyers and Bill Collectors out to get him! The buried treasure/murder sub plot isn't bad either(hey it gets them back to Skull Island). The stop motion is top notch again and little Kong is just a little too cute! Great fight sequences and an ending that is so sad, it always got me as a kid! I'd love to see Jackson turn this film into a winner! LOL! Great Transfer for this film,buy the King Kong box set for a excellent deal. March 25, 2007

Laughs! Thrills! Pathos!

PLOT: The film begins a month after the events of King Kong. Carl Denham (Robert Armstrong) is hiding out in his New York City apartment. He is being sued for all of the death, damage, and mayhem that resulted from Kong's rampage. Denham feels guilty about what happened to Kong and wishes that he left him back on Skull Island. Denham is later visited by Charlie (Victor Wong), the cook from the SS Venture, who says that Captain Englehorn (Frank Reicher) wants to see him. Once on the Venture, Englehorn announces to Denham that he too is being sued for the same reasons. The two decide to hire a skeleton crew and journey to the East Indies, where they can make a living carrying freight. Several months later, the Venture arrives at the port of Dakang in the Dutch East Indies. While waiting for some business, Denham and Englehorn attend a circus act run by Peterson (Clarence Wilson). Peterson presents a pathetic act in which monkeys dress up in costume and play musical instruments. The following act is Peterson's daughter Helene (Helen Mack), who sings and plays the guitar. Although she doesn't have much of a voice, Denham thinks she has show business potential. That night, Peterson has some drinks with a man named Helstrom (John Marston). The two eventually get into an argument and Helstrom hits Peterson over the head with a bottle. Peterson falls onto an oil lamp which causes the circus tent to catch on fire. Helstrom runs for his life. Helene comes back and is able to save the monkeys and her unconscious father before the tent really starts blazing. Unfortunately, Peterson dies in Helene's arms. She is certain that Helstrom had something to do with this. Helstrom later runs into Denham and Englehorn. It turns out that Helstrom is the Norwegian captain who sold Denham the map of Skull Island. Afraid of being arrested for Peterson's death, Helstrom makes up a story about a treasure that exists on Skull Island. Denham becomes excited and decides to make Helstrom his partner in finding the treasure. Before they leave, Denham gives Helene some money for her troubles and wishes her farewell. Helene asks if she could go along, but Denham says that their voyage is no place for a woman. Later on, Charlie discovers that Helene stowed away below deck on the Venture. In an attempt to keep Helene quiet, Helstrom informs the crew of Denham's last voyage to Skull Island in which most of the crew was killed. The crew then starts a mutiny and orders Denham, Englehorn, Charlie, and Helene off of the ship into a rowboat. Helstrom then proclaims himself captain of the Venture, but the crew laughs at him and dunks him overboard. He is rescued by the other four people in the rowboat. The castaways eventually reach the peninsula of Skull Island, but are forced off by the natives who are still upset about all of the damage that was caused by Kong. The group later find another entrance on another part of the island. Denham and Helene get out to explore and find a set of steps carved into a cliffside. At the top, Denham and Helene discover a twelve-foot-tall albino gorilla stuck in a quicksand pit. Denham immediately assumes that the gorilla must be the son of Kong. Feeling bad for what he did to Kong, he feels he owes it to the baby Kong to help him out of the quicksand. Denham knocks over a tree and the little Kong is able to pull himself out. Could this baby be just as ferocious and powerful as his father?

COMMENTS: After the immense success of King Kong, RKO Pictures immediately decided to release a sequel before a rival studio could produce a rip-off. The film was released before the year was over and it seems kind of rushed. The original film was nearly two hours in length, while this one is only a little bit longer than one hour. The film was once again made by most of the crew who worked on the first film. Willis O'Brien also returned to provide the film with its stop-motion animation. The filmmakers wanted to make this film a little bit more comedic and child-oriented. Unfortunately it just comes off as extremely cheesy. The son of Kong actually had a name, Kiko, but the name was only used during production and never made it into the film. Kiko's movemets and mannerisms are very cartoonish and a far cry for the behavior of a real gorilla. It is very strange that the filmmakers decided to make Kiko an albino gorilla, which was unheard of at the time. Nobody would see a real albino gorilla until the discovery of the gorilla "Snowflake" in the early 1960s. O'Brien recycled most of the dinosaurs from the first film and even added a few new creatures including a giant, prehistoric cave-bear, a dragon, and a sea serpent. While the film was financially successful, it was nowhere near as successful as King Kong. This film is ultimately more of a child-oriented film; there aren't really any horror film elements that were seen in the first film. This DVD presents the film in it's original fullscreen format. The only extra on the disc is the theatrical trailer.
March 22, 2007

Corny but likable

This 1933 rush-job sequel to the classic "King Kong" (released the same year), is no cinematic masterpiece, but it
is a kind of warm-&-fuzzy, yet ultimately bittersweet tribute to its "parent" film (in every sense of the word). It also has a goodly share of thrills and action and, when all is said and done, is a pretty fair little popcorn flick. I'd only give it three stars normally. but I think it rates a fourth on the strength of some solid acting performances (notably those of Helen Mack...extremely engaging as the female lead...and Robert Armstrong as a Carl Denham who seems to have acquired a bit of a conscience after his recent New York City fiasco).

The producers (Cooper & Shoedsack)evidently decided to try and make some more fiscal mileage out of the success of "Kong" and knew putting a sequel together at that time would not be a difficult thing to do. They opted to shoot the story as a return to Skull Island as that was the only place where they could come up with dinosaurs and a mini-Kong. Placing the bulk of the story there also elimnated having to do any more costly (especially where paying multitudes of extras was concerned)
"big city" shooting. They still had standing Kong sets available at RKO , and costumes and props from the first film.
They also had Willis O'Brien , Marcel Delgado, and company there to handle the effects work and animation. The miniature sets and glass-painting "set enhancements" from Kong-I were still good-to-go,as were all the stop-motion dinosaur puppets. A new puppet, a cave bear, was engineered to ad to the mix, and
one of the old Kong puppets was stripped down to its metal armature ("skeleton"), and then rebuilt into "Kong Junior".

The new story sends Carl Denham fleeing from New York to escape lawyers, lawsuits, creditors, and arrest on the heels of the late Papa Kong's destructive rampage. Denham "cuts country" on board the Venture and heads off to the South Pacific. A "treasure map" quest sends him back to Skull Island and there, along with Capt. Englehorn . Helen Mack, and a double dealing villain name Hellstrom , the action starts popping.

A "lost civilazation" element, with crumbling Atlantean-style ruins is introduced, as well as Kong Jr. The "lost civilization" motif is incorporated as a "lift" from the movie Willis O'Brien was making just before "King Kong" came along..."Creation", which was to play itself out amid ancient
American Indian ruins in South America. The story line also was geared to appeal to a public which had become interested in the "Lost Continent of MU" books by "Col." James Churchward , and the theoretical connection of Mu to the vanished Easter Island culture, as well as that of the Pacific island of Nan Madol, where mysterious ruins still exist.

In the new film, treasure, dinosaurs, traitors, an awakening romance, megalithic ruins,a scaled-down white "Kong", and a rumbling, grumbling volcano are all stirred together in a potboiler stew. And it all works pretty well, too.

It is interesting to note how MUCH of THIS film was "lifted"/"borrowed" by Peter Jackson for his 2005 version of "King Kong". In the original movie (1933) Carl Denham is powerful. popular, "connected", and can get any studio to pony up capital for anything he wants to do. In the 2005 version he is a perceived washed-up has-been who is fleeing lawyers,process servers, writs, creditors, etc. In short, he is the Carl Denham of "SON of Kong", rather than the 1933 original. He is a man on the run now.

In 2005 also, something that was not present in the 1933 "King Kong" is ALSO on display...all these crumbling ruins of a past
high culture...these are to be found everywhere. And where do THEY come from? Why "SON of Kong", of course. If one starts to
compare and contrast story lines, it becomes apparent that there has been some significant "borrowing" from "Son".

So you see, there is more of an influence from this modest little sequel movie in Jackson's new blockbuster than you might have considered. And yet, in all the "making of" promotional material on the Jackson film, "Son of Kong" rarely (and barely)
rates a mention.

Even though...spolier! spoiler!....Little Kong fares no better than his dad in the end (and where the heck is "Mama Kong"? Or "Queen Kong"?), the success of two animated "big gorilla" movies opened the way for the third, and best animated of them all, the magnificent "Mighty Joe Young". May 13, 2006

The Real 'Beast' Seeks Redemption

Once you get over the ridiculous coincidences, this hasty post-script to one of the greatest films of all time is fun and worthwhile. Essentially, it's about the redemption of Carl Denham. He's understood and reflected on the consequences of his greed and has rejoined the human race. But that doesn't mean he shaken-off the lure of adventure and money. His return to Skull Island allows him to redeem himself with Baby Kong who, in saving him, shows that Denham has finally been forgiven. Yet there's a suggestion that it's Denham's obsession with Skull Island's treasure which ultimately causes the angry god's destruction of the island. Willis O'Brian's model work is consummate and witty. I just wish there was more of it.

The DVD transfer is superb, but beyond trailers there are no extras, and it's only a short film at 69 min. It's a bit expensive to buy on its own, but certainly worth having as part of the magnificent King Kong Box Set.
April 9, 2006

oooohhh I've got those runaway blues...

WOW!!! This is an exelelnt film. It sums up the whole art deco era perfectly. My personal favorite scene in the movie was Helen Mack strumming her ukulele and singing Runaway Blues. The entire film has a exotic atmosphere, and it is exciting and fun everytime I watch it. I might not have discovered this film if it weren't for L.A. based singer Janet Klein(who has several exellent cd's available at Amazon) who sings forgotten songs from 30's films accompanied by her own ukulele! She sang "Runaway Blues" and even did a dialogue from the film, and gave Son of Kong a good plug, which is why I went out and bought it. All I can say is WOW!!! to Helen Macks' enchanting rendition of Runaway Blues. Also for the roamnce between Robert Armstrong & Mack, there isn't even one kissing scene, it's very unique and fascinating. GREAT film buy it, and pick up a couple of Janet's albums if you like the style of Mack doing Runaway Blues. March 16, 2006

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