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About the Movie
Showman Carl Denham (Robert Armstrong) hires a ship, a desperate young actress named Ann Darrow (Fay Wray), and sails to an uncharted island walled off from the world — because he has heard there is something there worth filming. There is. Beyond the great wall lives Kong, a gigantic ape worshipped and feared by the islanders, who takes a shine to Ann. Denham’s solution to wonder is the showman’s solution to everything: capture it, ship it to New York, and sell tickets.
What follows — Kong loose in Manhattan, climbing the Empire State Building with Ann in his hand while biplanes circle — is so famous it barely needs describing. Peter Jackson’s fine 2005 remake is also on YouTube Movies (rent or buy), but the 1933 original, directed by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, is the one featured here.
Why This Movie Matters to Sci-Fi
This is ground zero for the giant-monster movie and a landmark of special effects: Willis O’Brien’s stop-motion animation gave Kong a personality — curiosity, rage, tenderness — that made audiences mourn a monster built from fur and wire. Max Steiner’s score helped invent how movies sound. Godzilla, a thousand creature features, and half of blockbuster cinema walk in Kong’s footprints. It was not beauty that killed the beast; it was this film that taught cinema how to dream big.
Where to Watch
Watch on YouTube (rent or buy) — the 1933 original on YouTube Movies & TV. Peter Jackson’s 2005 remake is there too, to rent or buy.
