Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #33187 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-12-05
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Formats: Black & White, PAL, Special Edition
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 100 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
"Now you see it. You're amazed. You can't believe it. Your eyes open wider. It's horrible, but you can't look away. There's no chance for you. No escape. You're helpless, helpless. There's just one chance, if you can scream. Throw your arms across your eyes and scream, scream for your life!" And scream Fay Wray does most famously in this monster classic, one of the greatest adventure films of all time, which even in an era of computer-generated wizardry remains a marvel of stop-motion animation. Robert Armstrong stars as famed adventurer Carl Denham, who is leading a "crazy voyage" to a mysterious, uncharted island to photograph "something monstrous ... neither beast nor man." Also aboard is waif Ann Darrow (Fay Wray) and Bruce Cabot as big lug John Driscoll, the ship's first mate. King Kong's first half-hour is steady going, with engagingly corny dialogue ("Some big, hard-boiled egg gets a look at a pretty face and bang, he cracks up and goes sappy") and ominous portent that sets the stage for the horror to come. Once our heroes reach Skull Island, the movie comes to roaring, chest-thumping, T. rex-slamming, snake-throttling, pterodactyl-tearing, native-stomping life. King Kong was ranked by the American Film Institute as among the 50 best films of the 20th century. Kong making his last stand atop the Empire State Building is one of the movies' most indelible and iconic images. --Donald Liebenson

DVD Description
The Original Black and White Classic starring Fay Wray

Special Features
Digitally remastered edition Theatrical Trailer of Peter Jackson's King Kong

Customer Reviews

Classic Film
I've just read the previous reviewers comments that this film is outdated. That may be because its SEVENTY TWO YEARS OLD! This film would have been terrifying at the time, the stop action animation was state of the art and the audience would have bought it. The story is an absolute classic and still stands up today although film structures have changed and it may seem rushed. I would recommend anyone to see it before the Peter Jackson film just to get an idea of how some elements of films have changed but the important ones have stayed the same.

Still Towers Above The Competition
As a budding movie historian and lover of all films, King Kong was unmissable. I collect all kinds of classic films but this is one that I think all movie fans should enjoy. The picture is in itself an historical landmark in the history of celluloid, featuring groundbreaking special effects, a star performance that would become a household name and one of the iconic images of American popular culture and the definitive 'damsel in distress'. This film gave a deafening roar that echoes today. But as a work of art, it is not to be missed. Being that we have all been reared in the post-Kong days of cinema, the idea of a giant ape stalking his prey is hardly shocking, we say 'oh that's just King Kong', but the first shot of the beast is still utterly gripping. Political correctness and liberalism tell us to look at Fay Wraye's performance as a symbol of the dark days when women were treated as dolls and weak creatures, but she portrays a classic role to perfection, and political incorrectness was never this good. Kong and his prehistoric pals are brought to life by stop-motion animation, some of the movements are rather jerky and the effects themselves are primitive by today's standards, but the effect that they generate has never been lost. Kong was in reality a metal skeleton with sponge-rubber muscles covered in rabbit fur, but 30s audiences and the 30s cast found it realistic, and that movement provides one with a feeling it would take more than a computer to beat this. The famous wall and door, behind which Kong resides was first used in Cecil B. De Mille's King of Kings, and was later used as a burning backdrop in the doomed city of Atlanta in Gone With The Wind. This film is packed to bursting point with breathtaking action and wonderful work all round, as a landmark and as a film, this one is truly special.

How to insult a classic
Apparently this is a special edition? Rubbish. How dare they re-release this classic legendary movie with absolutley no extras to compliment it. Of course if you have a region one player then you can buy the region one 2 disc version which IS a special edition, with numerous documentaries on how this great movie was made. Once again the region two buyers are shafted as always.