The Son of Kong (1933)

User Rating:

5.7/10   

Director:

Ernest B. Schoedsack

Writer:

Ruth Rose (story)

Release Date:

22 December 1933 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Action | Adventure | Comedy

Tagline:

SEE! The cannibals! The earthquake! The sea serpent! The fighting monsters of ages past!

Plot:

After the disastrous results of his last expedition, Carl Denham leaves New York aboard a ship to escape all the trouble...

Plot Keywords:

Mutiny | King Kong | Island | East Indies | Sea Rescues

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Robert Armstrong	...	Carl Denham
Helen Mack	...	Helene Peterson
Frank Reicher	...	Captain Englehorn
John Marston	...	Captain Nils Helstrom
Victor Wong	...	Charlie, the Chinese Cook
Ed Brady	...	Bo'sun Red

Also Known As:

Son of Kong (USA) (trailer title)

Runtime:

70 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Victor System)

Certification:

Canada:PG (Ontario) | Iceland:L | Finland:K-16 | USA:Approved (PCA #1339)

Filming Locations:

Santa Catalina Island, Channel Islands, California, USA

Company:

RKO Radio Pictures

Trivia:

Recordings of Fay Wray's screams from King Kong (1933) were used in this movie.

Goofs:

Factual errors: In real life, the pair of recessive chromosomes needed to produce an albino gorilla are so rare that only one albino gorilla has been found. In fact, that gorilla's offspring were normal dark-haired gorillas because the chance of finding a female gorilla with the recessive chromosome needed to produce an albino gorilla is very remote - albinism is very rare in the great apes.

Quotes:

Carl Denham: Stick with me and you'll be wearing diamonds.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Hollywood Stuntmakers: King Kong und andere Kuscheltiere" (1999)

A nice, quick snack

No one ought to expect lightning to strike twice. No one ought to expect a sequel to King Kong, easily one of the greatest films of all times, to be that great, especially one cranked out in only 8 months, as this one was. Plus, the budget of this one was less than 1/3 the budget of the original. This is why the special effects are so few (and so much less than those of the original). Still, Son of Kong is some fun RKO entertainment. Robert Armstrong is back as Carl Denham, and he is good, although a little weary after his adventures in the first one (it has been a month since Kong died). Fay Wray does not return, and they have replaced her character with a stowaway girl played by Helen Mack. No, she's no Fay Wray, but she's cute and likable. Charlie, the Chinese cook, is back with a bigger part. Although he seems nothing more than a racial stereotype now, for the time his role was probably seen in a better light. He may speak pigeon-English, but he's seen as a human being by the other characters.

The son of Kong is unfortunately more humanized than Kong was (they tried to make him seem more like a curious animal, which I think was the right decision), but he's a chip off the old block, at least when it comes to monster fighting. The animation is cruder, but it is passable. It's a decent flick that runs at only 70 minutes. Don't expect too much more. 7/10