News for Nov. 11, 2004

Cooper, Schoedsack, O'Brien and The Origins of Kong

11/11/04, 6:33 pm EST - Xoanon

The first giant gorilla movie, King Kong (1933), is one of the greatest giant creature movie ever made. Derived from an idea by crime writer Edgar Wallace and producer Merian C. Cooper, King Kong is essentially a re-telling of “Beauty & the Beast”. The superior, groundbreaking special effects developed by Willis O’Brien, who updated stop motion animation, remained the industry standard until the 1980's with the emergence of computer-generated effects. Thanks to O’Brien’s camera work, a good script, and a stirring soundtrack, King Kong revolutionized film making and established the ape as a major player. The 1950's re-release of King Kong inspired another popular monster, Godzilla, and launched that decade’s giant monster movie craze. [More]