Adventurous filmmaker Carl Denham sets out to produce a motion picture unlike anything the world has seen before. Alongside his leading lady Ann Darrow and his first mate Jack Driscoll, they arrive on an island and discover a legendary creature said to be neither beast nor man. Denham captures the monster to be displayed on Broadway as King Kong, the eighth wonder of the world.
Practical Effects
Willis O'Brien's Kong still breathes more soul than most CGI titans.
Direction
Cooper and Schoedsack: adventurers filming adventurers, meta before meta.
Score
Max Steiner's thunderous orchestral bombast invented the monster movie sound.
Director
Merian C. Cooper
Robert Armstrong
Carl Denham
Fay Wray
Ann Darrow
Bruce Cabot
Jack Driscoll
Frank Reicher
Captain Englehorn
Victor Wong
Ship's Cook Charlie
James Flavin
Mate Briggs
Sam Hardy
Charles Weston
Noble Johnson
Skull Island Native Chief
Steve Clemente
Skull Island Witch Doctor
Roscoe Ates
Press Photographer (uncredited)
Merian C. Cooper
Pilot of Plane that Kills Kong (uncredited)
Paul Porcasi
Apple Vendor (uncredited)
Ernest B. Schoedsack
Machine-Gunner on Plane that Kills Kong (uncredited)
Harry Strang
Policeman at Headquarters (uncredited)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The iconic Empire State Building finale was added late; the real building had only finished construction two years prior.
Kong's rampage through Manhattan terrified 1933 audiences who recognized the real Depression desperation beneath the fantasy.
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