I often go on about movies where I have no idea how the hell they made it, while with this movie I feel the opposite. I know exactly how this movie was made regardless of context from documentaries, because all the techniques are apparent when watching if you know what to look for. Yet it still blows my mind. I know exactly how this was made, and it is utter insanity. That's a special feeling.
Shocked revisiting this all these years later in terms of its pacing. Yes of course the first act before Kong shows up is slow, it's laying down a lot of groundwork and character-work that is ultimately necessarily. But by the time Kong is introduced, you have less than hour left, and that last hour is RELENTLESS in its pacing. Just one memorable set piece after another with the most insane effects, not just in the stop motion but in the layering of the different elements. By the time you get to the third act New York section there's only twenty minutes left in the movie, and the last five minutes is just most spectacular finale of this entire era.
The exotic and stereotypical depiction of the natives is definitely a point against this and certainly the aspect that has aged the worst, but at the end of the day this is a pulpy adventure film from the 1930s and that shit just kinda a given. The casual misogyny is another eye-rolling aspect, but Jack's misogyny turned affection towards Ann is so deeply absurd and hysterical that I doubt anyone can take it seriously and just ending up laughing at it. Both of these aspects are definitely negative marks on the film, but I can attest from other movies I've seen from this era that it could all be so much worse.
I often go on about movies where I have no idea how the hell they made it, while with this movie I feel the opposite. I know exactly how this movie was made regardless of context from documentaries, because all the techniques are apparent when watching if you know what to look for. Yet it still blows my mind. I know exactly how this was made, and it is utter insanity. That's a special feeling.
Shocked revisiting this all these years later in terms of its pacing. Yes of course the first act before Kong shows up is slow, it's laying down a lot of groundwork and character-work that is ultimately necessarily. But by the time Kong is introduced, you have less than hour left, and that last hour is RELENTLESS in its pacing. Just one memorable set piece after another with the most insane effects, not just in the stop motion but in the layering of the different elements. By the time you get to the third act New York section there's only twenty minutes left in the movie, and the last five minutes is just most spectacular finale of this entire era.
The exotic and stereotypical depiction of the natives is definitely a point against this and certainly the aspect that has aged the worst, but at the end of the day this is a pulpy adventure film from the 1930s and that shit just kinda a given. The casual misogyny is another eye-rolling aspect, but Jack's misogyny turned affection towards Ann is so deeply absurd and hysterical that I doubt anyone can take it seriously and just ending up laughing at it. Both of these aspects are definitely negative marks on the film, but I can attest from other movies I've seen from this era that it could all be so much worse.
