King Kong (1933)

Presenting: the grandfather of all monster movies. I recently watched this one for my film music class to do a report on Max Steiner's score. Safe to say, the score is very impressive and pretty much makes up half of the movie's quality. My opinion may be daunted by the fact that I was born fifty years after the original King Kong was released, so with that being said, I may not have been thoroughly entertained, but have developed a great appreciation for this classic.

I have yet to see the remake, but given the era this film came out in, you can just tell how groundbreaking it was for American cinema. King Kong takes potentially mysterious ideas that the average 1930's person would find at least slightly disturbing, and creates Skull Island, a fictional place inhabited by all that which would frighten a typical 1930's audience. The natives and the creatures, including Kong, are all presented dynamically and our group of main characters sort of "Scooby-Doo" their way through the island, battling it out with Ray Harryhousen's stop-motion effects.

The message of this one is quite clear. Mankind has brought a beast out of its natural habitat, and by doing so and showcasing it for money, we have become the monsters. It's amazing how many genres of film this movie glides across, Action, Adventure, Romance, Suspense, etc. I found myself realizing King Kong wasn't known for just delivering realistic thrills, but as one of the first films to cram so much into such a short and simple film. Definitely a good one to watch, if you're willing to travel that far down the root.