Son of Kong (1933) review

Hey, everyone! Well, I hope you’ve been enjoying me branching out and reviewing different genres of films over the last year, but this is the main event, so to speak. For the 11th year, 31 reviews of horror movies in 31 days, all throughout the month of October!

For those of you who don’t know, I’ve had a lot going on over the last few months; I’ve finally moved into my own place at the infantile age of 32—trust me, if your home situation is good, stay with your folks as long as you can, you’ll thank me later—and am therefore facing real-life horrors of bills, expenses, and mortgages—oh, my! So I’ve really had to knuckle down to get all of these reviews done in time. Going forward, if I want to review other films throughout the year, I may need to permanently cut back on how full I want this marathon to be; I’ve been doing this for a long time, and at some point you have to make some concessions.

But that’s down the road, and there’s no guarantee of any scenario; for now, let’s get to the show. It’s another Sequel-a-thon! I’ve reviewed some of the greatest movies with the biggest names in horror; some have waned in popularity, but some are more successful than ever. Let’s take a month and acknowledge all the twists and turns they’ve taken over the years; we begin with a beast!

1. Son of Kong (1933)

Directed by: Ernest B. Schoedsack

Produced by: Ernest B. Schoedsack

Screenplay by: Ruth Rose

Starring: Robert Armstrong, Helen Mack, Frank Reicher, John Marston, Victor Wong, Edward Brady

It’s fair to say that King Kong is one of the most recognized characters in film history; the original 1933 movie about a giant ape that runs loose in New York City is an undisputed classic. Over the years, it’s been remade multiple times, and Kong himself has been paired with his own robotic double, a female companion, and even Godzilla. But did you know that the original had a sequel that came out the same year? It’s called “Son of Kong,” one of the first sequels to any monster movie; reportedly, executive producer Merian C. Cooper, who co-directed the original, wanted this one to be bigger and better. But RKO Pictures gave him less than half the budget and a nine-month production schedule, intending to cash in on the Christmas holiday season. And let me tell you, the cheap, rushed quality is on the screen; it’s still a relatively fun movie with decent character development, but lacking the visual scale and wonder that helped make the original a cinematic landmark.

The story takes place only a month after the first movie ended; filmmaker Carl Denham (Robert Armstrong) has been left nearly bankrupt, a result of being sued by everybody in the five boroughs after Kong’s escape and destruction. Mainly to avoid indictment by a grand jury, he and Captain Englehorn (Frank Reicher) sail away from the city, hoping to earn money shipping cargo. Eventually, they end up in a Dutch port, where they encounter Norwegian skipper Helstrom (John Marston), the man who originally sold Denham the map to Skull Island. He tells them there’s also a hidden treasure on the island, even though he’s basically using it as an excuse to flee port, having recently killed a circus owner in a drunken brawl. Desperate for money, Denham and Englehorn agree to return to the island where they encountered Kong; but stowed away is the circus owner’s daughter Hilda (Helen Mack), who shares a mutual attraction with Denham, and is convinced of Helstrom’s deception.

From the first scene, the tone of the film is made clear through its sound editing, as we watch Denham dodging lawsuits to a comedic track; this is less about an epic adventure and more about a series of events. Some dialogue gags are funny, but the humor overall is pretty awkward; screenwriter Ruth Rose admitted that she couldn’t write a serious film that surpassed the original, so decided, “If you can’t make it bigger, make it funnier.” Only the last third in this rather short run time takes place on Skull Island, which is where the majority of the highlights are. They eventually come across Kong’s much smaller son, who’s still roughly 12 feet tall, and the best way to describe his antics is cute, like if you’re watching a film about a cute oversized puppy. He’s got big eyes and gets more into what you’d call mischief than danger; I like that Denham harbors guilt over Kong’s death, which comes out in a pretty fascinating dynamic between him and the son. You’ll probably find this either charming or annoyingly pandering, and you’d be right either way.

Denham himself feels really evolved as a character; he’s still curious and even reckless about the power of entertainment, but much more weary and subdued after past experiences. It really gives Robert Armstrong a chance to show some versatility as an actor. His relationship with Hilda works well in theory, but it’s still kind of weird how they interact at times, the way he calls her “kid” and is somewhat chauvinistic. But much like the first film, you can chalk it up to being a product of its time; however, it doesn’t help that Helen Mack really looks like she’s under-acting in this, almost never changing her facial expressions. There should’ve been much more animosity and build-up between her and Helstrom; she’s certain he killed her father, yet remains weirdly calm the whole time. Nevertheless, I do like the baggage that each of these characters come with; they’re all sort of trying to get away from something, with Helstrom being the main catalyst. He’s really good as a character you enjoy hating; this is a case of the humor working well because of how foolish and sniveling the dialogue make him.

The stop motion effects—supervised again by Willis O’Brien—are still very impressive, but not to such a grand degree because of RKO’s limitations. The script featured a climactic dinosaur stampede amid chaotic destruction, but it was never filmed. Thankfully, we still get some really cool battles between Little Kong and various creatures; by the way, the model of the Styracosaurus used in the film now belongs to Peter Jackson, who of course went on to direct the 2005 “King Kong” remake. But despite the effort, it still has the look of a film made without as much joy or passion. Unlike the first film, where Cooper and director Ernest B. Schoedsack let O’Brien work alone, they became much more involved as a result of the rushed schedule, which angered him and caused him to delegate to his assistant Buzz Gibson. Sadly, O’Brien also suffered a deeply personal tragedy during production, when his ex-wife Hazel shot and killed their two sons before failing her own suicide attempt. He was completely despondent from the event, and refused to discuss the film for the remainder of his life.

It seems like “Son of Kong” could’ve become an underrated classic in its own right if given a chance to develop organically; there are enough interesting characters and storylines set up that it could’ve worked as a revenge/adventure/redemption film. But circumstances really hold it back, and now I’d only recommend it as a solid, awkwardly paced curiosity piece. The poor reception, coupled with RKO’s own financial difficulties, caused them to back off giant ape movies until 16 years later with “Mighty Joe Young,” which reunited the Schoedsack/Rose/Cooper team for the last time. O’Brien returned to supervise the stop motion, although much of the animation was done by his new protégé Ray Harryhausen, who went on to become the new master of the craft. That filmed earned an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects; as was customary at the time, Cooper accepted the award, but in acknowledgement of his work, he presented it to O’Brien. With how much media presence Kong has maintained over the years, this film has sort of been forgotten about; but there’s still enough creativity, thrills and nuance that make it worth a viewing or two.

My rating: 7/10