Customer Reviews

Son of Kong

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In this yet another of my retro-reviews,I turn my attention to the immediate sequel to the 1933 smash hit King Kong,the Son Of Kong.
King Kong was released in April of 1933 while this one was rushed for release to capitilize on the first just a scant eight months later...and it shows.
Robert Armstrong as Carl Denham,Frank Reicher as the ship Captain Englehorn and Victor Wong as the cook,return to reprise their former roles.The story here involves Denham just three months after the disastrous end of King Kong in New York,hiding away in a small apartment house.He's flat broke and everyone and their mothers uncle is after him with damage suits and process servers hound him night and day.Englehorn sends Wong to find and locate Denham who surprises him with an offer to go in as partners and to get out of New York as soon as possible.Denham gratefully agress and off they sail for the south western Pacific.
While in a far away port they run across a small time performing group consisting of an ex circus performer(with trained animals) and his singing daughter.That night his daughter is forced to rescue her father from a fire which destroys all their belongings but proves fatal to him.It was started as a result of an argument that broke out between her father and a down and out Capt.Helstrom.The daughter Helene(Helen Mack)accuses Helstrom of his death and vows revenge when a magistrate is set to come by in a few days.Before that can happen however Helstrom bumps into Denham and we learn it was Helstrom who gave Denham the original map to Skull Island in the first place.In order to get away Helstrom then makes up a story about a treasure still on the island and before you know it it's "skull island here we come",again.Helene stows away on the ship but is eventually discovered and is forced to follow the fleet,as it were.They arrive at the island to a hostile reception from the native chief and are forced to flee and land elsewhere in a remoter section.Climbing their way Denham and Helene eventually come upon the 12 foot lighter-furred son of King Kong,seemingly in a bit of a spot in a pool of quick sand.With Denhams' help he gets free.When a giant bear(!)attacks,little Kong uses the tree Denham gave to free him of the quicksand, to fend off the raging rug.In the process little K gets a cut which Denham bandages up.It seems they have made a friend and the "little" guy sticks around from then on.In the meantime Denham discovers there is actually a real treasure on the island in a hidden cave.Inside Denham is able to purloin a bejewelled necklace off an ancient idol just as a giant lizard enters the cave.The inevitable fight breaks out between the lizard and little K with the lovable furball winning with a TKO.At this time the island starts to shake and all but Denham head back to the boat.By the time they reach it the island is coming apart and literally sinking into the sea.Denham and little K climb out of the cave and onto its roof as it is all that is left of the island.Little K gets his foot caught in the rocks and cannot get free as the water laps around him.With just his hand sticking out of the water with Denham in it,little K holds him up until the boat arrives,then lets go.The party drifts in the ocean for days until they are rescued and Denham and Helene settle down for a happily ever after.
Up to the point of the discovery of the treasure,the movie had been reasonably well paced but suddenly it is as if someone at RKO said"Hey,we're running out film let's get this thing finished",and within about five minutes they go from:the cave,the island tearing apart and the related storm,little K's death,their drifting,their rescue,a return to New York and the end of the picture....phew!!The effect,in point of fact, severely erodes that which came before and you get the feeling you were robbed.You had expected the picture to continue on for much longer but when the "whirlwind" starts you are left shaking your head and wondering "why?".
The saving grace of this picture however is of course Willis O'Briens' groundbreaking stop-action animation.It is here in all its' glory(as in King Kong) and it really holds up well.Along with little K with whom he imbues with plenty of emotion and even a child like whimsy,there are other beasts like the aforementioned giant bear and lizard,such as an underwater monster and a triceratops.And don't forget to watch little K's fur and see the constant matting of his hair,which was O'Briens' finger marks as he moved him into his various positions!
As a piece of trivia this film has a Harold Lloyd connection.Amongst the ships crew is the actor who portrayed Lloyd's nemesis from the travelling medicine show in The Kid Brother(they have a showdown on board an old boat).Also Helen Mack would go on to star as Lloyd's sister in The Milky Way,about three years later.
Technically this print does have quite a few grainy areas in it but all in all(especially considering its' age)it is not a bad transfer and is generally quite clear.
All in all Son of Kong is a disappointment.So much more could have been done with this film to make it a more credible successor and up to about five minutes before its' end it looked like it would be,but its' whirlwind ending leaves one with a palpable sour taste.However O'Briens'wonderful stop motion animatronics are the highlights of this film,as they were in the original,and they are always worth viewing in spite of RKOs less than stellar story and editing decisions.

This film is only 70 minutes long and is shot mostly in some Hollywood Studio. We don't even get back to Skull Island until 40 minutes of this slapstick melodrama has elapsed.
Even when the crew arrive at Skull Island, it lacks the realism of the original Kong movie made earlier the same year of 1933.
Son of Kong is only 12 feet high (King Kong is 50 ft), and is more cute, than a terror. Some of the other creatures on the island (a giant bear) do not seem pre-historic. So it's a rush job, probably one of the earlier Hollywood film seqeuls.
It's difficult to watch, I begin at chapter 12, the arrival to Skull Island. Even then, the action does not compare to the original Skull island scenery.
One Star. For Kong Freaks only.

Well Son of Kong was made on a lower budget and as a result the film tended to be more light hearted in it's story. But it's a still a good movie. Robert Armstrong returns as Carl Denham, this time looking for redemption after his capture of Kong resulted in thousands of dollars in damage and the deaths of innocent people. However he finds a new life and new love in the form of Helda (played by Helen Mack), and a return to Skull island where they find more dinosaurs and the Son of Kong.
It is actually a very touching film in many places. The romance between Denham and Helda is an honnest one and never goes over the top. Wills O'Brien's effects work is still good and Max Steiner again scored good music for the movie. All in all, a worthy sequal to King Kong, and better then all the cheap ape monster movies that followed.

"Son of Kong" was a hurried sequel to "King Kong" made the same year. While it cannot dramatically compete with "Kong" it certainly has alot to like about it. Star Robert Armstrong once said he liked playing Denham in "Son" because his character was more dimensional with "swell love scenes", as he put it. Helen Mack is no Fay Wray, and her brunette bob contrasts nicely with Little Kong's white fur. The animation is actually better in places than in "Kong", specifically with the elimination of the unwanted movements of the ape's fur due to the animator's fingerprints left on the models. Despite these achievements, animator Willis O'Brien never liked to talk about the sequel in his later years and resented the tongue in cheek approach to the material.

The Son of Kong is no King Kong. But it tries to be just as good. The film does not feature as many dinosaurs. But, except for the brontosaurus, none of them were seen in King Kong. The only sad thing is that they don't come until the last quarter. For an hour we are treated to a subplot involving love, murder and mutiny. But once the action begins, it never lets up.

If the film's producers had just had some more money, they could have made a sequel to rival the original (Though that would have been impossible).But it is still worth watching for fans of the original. It is also, in my opinion, better than most of the Kong remakes and rip offs, from King Kong V.S Godzilla to King Kong 1976.

Well, the first hour is completely meaningless subplot followed by 20 minutes of almost nonstop stop motion action. I guarantee you will only re-play 20 minutes of this movie after the first viewing. Can't believe this is the best story they could come up with. Good stop motion without a good story is a very boring thing. They finally arrive on Skull Island 25 minutes before the end of the movie. I wouldn't pay full price for this one and PLEASE make sure you already have Harryhausen's stop motion classics The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, 20 Million Miles to Earth, and Mighty Joe Young before you even think of adding this to your collection. If you're a Willis O'Brien fan I would recommend The Giant Behemoth and The Black Scorpion over this poor excuse for a sequel. Catch it on AMC, they play it all the time....

Maybe we've forgotten that sequels were originally designed, not only to capitalize on a movie's success, but also to continue storylines and tie up loose ends in a plausible fashion. This movie is a deceptively simple heart-tugger of a sequel that, instead of topping the first movie as we often expect today, goes in another direction in terms of tone to provide further story resolution - and succeeds at that pretty well. Not only do we learn what became of Carl Denham and the other KING KONG main characters but we learn what happens to the man who sold him the map to the island, as well as what becomes of the island, the dinosaurs, and Kong's lineage.

Wrapped up in all of this is a very cute story about, believe it or not, how some people treat animals and are rewarded for it. Anybody who loves a dog or cat can probably understand the dynamics of the Son of Kong storyline and why its ending is so doggoned effective in proportion to its scope -- this is a movie mostly about characters that winds up setting us up and knocking us down without loading on more special effects, though the effects that are here are judiciously used and effective. The little Kong is even more anthropomorphic than his dad, and there are some cartoon beats in it, but this is a cleverly handled scaled-back sequel that leaves the viewer feeling somehow more complete in terms of the Kong saga, though we long for that island to survive the storm and little Kong with his bandaged hand to -- well, you'll see.

Technically, this is the release to own, by the way, if you are buying VHS. The hi-fi processed sound is far superior to earlier editions of this movie and the picture quality is nice throughout. So if you own the old color box version, upgrading to this release is worth it, in my opinion.

Haven't these people ever heard of "No plot, no script, no service (box office service, that is)." But still has a very touching ending.

Perhaps I was spoiled by "King Kong" -- but then, who wasn't? The greatest monster movie ever made, with the most elaborate stop-motion animation of its day, "King Kong" also created some of the archetypes of the twentieth century in the screaming Faye Wray, the scheming Carl Denham, and the immense sadness of the powerful Kong. "Son of Kong" was a quickie followup, with little time for elaborate stop-motion animation throughout. Essentially a story of redemption, Carl Denham returns to the island, this time with a girl of his own; stiflingly corny before they arrive at the island, the movie picks up with the albino Son of Kong. But he is played largely for laughs, with brief fight scenes that don't play well when meshed against the comic relief. The scene at the end where Son dies to save Denham doesn't sit well with me, since the whole point of the movie was to have Denham find redemption and make up for causing the death of Kong. But it's worth watching once or twice, especially if you love the old horror and monster movies of the thirties as I do.

The sequel to KING KONG, while is by no means a fantastic film like its predecessor, is still mainly a kid's movie. Many people compare it to the legendary KING KONG, but it was never meant to be compared to it, nothing can be compared to KONG. I must admit, the film is a bit too short and rushed. The plot should have been given more time to develop, but is okay. Denham, sued by half of New York for Kong's damage flees civilization with the skipper and thugs for a crew. Later, they meet Hellstrom, the man who gave Denham the map of Skull Island, and Hilda, who's father was murdered by Hellstrom (Hilda loves Denham). Hellstrom tells Denham of the treasure of Skull Island. Hoping to restore his lost fortune. Hilda and Denham find a 12 foot albino gorilla, dubbed Kong's son, trapped in quicksand. Once the humans rescue Little Kong, he becomes their friend. Kong shows them the treasure, fights off monsters( which are shrunken down from the predecessor,but animated quite well! )but the volcanoes of the island erupt and the island slowly sinks. I won't spoil the ending- it's pretty touching. Slow in the beginning and rushed in the end, SON OF KONG is still a cute entertaining movie, which you should see if you get the chance.