1933 King Kong in November (1 Viewer)

[John Hodson]

Digitally Obsessed is first off the mark with a review of the Collection here. Cut to the chase:

The image (for King Kong) looks quite fine, considering the checkered history of the RKO archives. Heavily printed through numerous re-releases, the source materials for King Kong were not what they could have been, but through scouring of other archives and restoration the film looks quite nice indeed. There's a certain amount of softness, but that helps with the verisimilitude of the animation too. There's very little damage or speckling visible on the print, which looks excellent for its age. A certain amount of flicker is inherent in the film, and can't really be helped. The rear projection sequences, which have looked rather dodgy in other prints I've seen, blend much more nicely here. It's a huge improvement over the contrasty version that previously appeared on DVD in the UK Region 2. The image is thoughtfully windowboxed to minimize the cropping due to overscan.

Son of Kong for the most part looks just as good as the original, if not even better in places. Just before the finale there's a patch that is in extremely rough condition, however. The opening and ending credits only are windowboxed. Mighty Joe Young looks great throughout, which makes sense because it's quite a lot newer than the other two films. On the commentary, Harryhausen complains that the fire sequence is now just tinted orange, instead of using the original two-color Technicolor. I've never seen the version that he describes, and I wonder whether it still even exists. At any rate, it isn't here.

 

[Jim Smith]

Id never expect a 70 plus year old movie to look great on a modern level but I am glad it seems to look as good as it can look.

 

[DaViD Boulet]

Great. Though I'm not keen on the windowboxing...this is becoming more unecessary as more and more viewers upgrade to more modern digitally-oriented displays (like Plasmas and DLP/LCD designs) which allow for minimal (or no) overscanning unlike older legacy CRT designs which relied on overscanning to create a clean-edge border. Windowboxing reduces the ultimate image resolution, and so should be avoided IMO.

Regardless, this will be one heck of a movie-party DVD!

 

[John Hodson]

...and another review of 'Kong' at DVD Town here.

 

[Jeffrey Nelson]

DVD Town's review calls the acting in KONG wooden, but I don't see how that word can be ascribed to either Fay Wray or Robert Armstrong. Cabot is a bit stiff, to be sure, but I found it appropriate for his role. Thoughts?

 

[Mark Lucas]

Where's the screenshots of this monumental dvd release? We need pictures of this monster!

 

[Jeff_HR]

IMO "King Kong" is not about the acting talents of the actors, it is about Kong! Having Oscar level acting would have been nice, but the most important person associated with Kong was Willis O'Brien!!!!!!!

Perhaps the actors in Jackson's version will be Oscar nominated. Then DVD Town can trumpet the acting in that film.

 

[Daniel P]

Hell yeah... that's what I'm hanging out for... gotta wait another 6 weeks to see my copy.

 

[Kevin M]

If there is one thing I would have wished for from this set it would be a small doc on the sometimes tragic life of Willis O'Brien, nothing huge, say 24 min.
His life and works deserve at least that, a few months ago I posted a link to one tragic episode in his life that took place during the making of Son Of Kong that is worth reading, HERE IT IS for those who didn't catch it the first time.
I'm sure the Kong doc will cover much about this groundbreaking man's life but I would have liked to have seen him at least get a little something all to himself on the Extras, he deserves it.


It should be noted that a documentary is in the works about Mr. O'Brien but I have no idea when or if it will ever be released (there is a link to the doc makers site in the "Kong Is King" link I gave above).

 

[Laura Nicholson]

This is probably old news, but DVDBeaver has screen shot comparisons for the new release posted. They look good to me.

DVDBeaver

 

[Paul McElligott]

That looks so sweet. Me want now.

 

[Kevin M]

Well....I think you were right Crawdaddy, I won't say what the complaint that I see coming is but...it's coming, trust me. I don't think it will be as heated as the complaints over Hur & Oz though.

 

[Nils Luehrmann]

Wow... no one has complained and there are already people complaining about the complainers?

Seriously though, it does amaze me that a niche group of knowledgeable and experienced film and video enthusiasts like the many that participate on HTF who strive to shed light on technical issues that when properly identified and discussed, help encourage the studios to produce better products, are often times belittled for their efforts.

If it were not for these ‘watch-dogs’ and the influence they have had, perhaps there is no telling the kind of junk that would be passed on as "Ultimate Editions" to the masses that will believe anything they are told from the wide influence of studio marketing.

Instead, they are accused of lowering the quality of HTF discussions with their "negative posting"; even when they bring these issues out in a non aggressive manor, and clearly with no agenda other than to simply open the door for discussion.

In my opinion, that is the real travesty.

Fortunately, from what I can tell, those doing the belittling represent an extremely small percentage of HTF members, but it makes their actions no less unreasonable.

Perhaps the problem is that for some, they see any form of complaint as an outcry to condemn a release. Personally, I don't see it that way at all. Using both the recent releases of Ben-Hur and Wizard of Oz as an example, despite how one might feel about certain elements in the transfers, there was more than enough about these new releases that made them head and shoulders better than any other edition previously released.

Therefore, I suspect even those that were disappointed by their flaws bought these editions as well. It's just that they also want to remind the studios and fellow consumers that there is still plenty of room for improvement.

If that's considered by the HTF 'powers that be' as negative thought and detrimental to the quality of discussions on HTF..., well then something just isn't right, and perhaps it is time to revisit the HTF mission statement.


As for this new release of King Kong, I have not yet seen it, but as mentioned before, considering the age of the film, the quality of previous video releases, and the amazing amount of attention from a wide range of extremely talented individuals who played a roll in this DVD release - I'm sure it will look better than any previous release.

Will it be flawless? Of course not.

Will there be flaws that could have been avoided? Perhaps, and if so I hope those that wish to discuss it, are free to do so without being made out as detriments to the quality of HTF discussions.

*SIGH*

 

[John Hodson]

Wow...people complaining about the people who complain about the complainers before a complaint has been made.

I'm going to comlain about...something. Let me have a think.

 

[Kevin M]

...and now I've gone cross eyed.

Ok, Ok, the "complaint" that hasn't officially been made yet but I personally see coming, as I have seen a few rumblings around HTF & the web, is the windowboxing of the image.
Someone here even threw about the phrase "compromise the image" and I saw a red warning light go off in my head as to what possible complaint someone could have against this fine looking set. It hasn't been widely seen as yet so no one could officially make the complaint but I agree with Crawdaddy that someone will find something to bitch about no matter what, even though his reasons for suggesting this might be coming from a different area.

Anyway, I'll bet that is where it will come from for Kong.

 

[Ed St. Clair]

Let me take back a complaint:
I truly felt the R1 DVD release of the KONG's was poorly thought out.
1. KK SE
2. KK CT
3. KK BS
4. SoK
5. MJY
I will not repeat my idea on how this release should have been handled. Lucky for you! However I will say the #6. KK BB (3 film set), is the 'right' way to go. I do not care for exclusive offerings in a free enterprise system, yet I will support the BB set of the Tin with the other two Kong releases.
I like the one box BB set deal.
Complaint retracked!

 

[Richard Matich]

Thanks for those DVD Beaver Screens. Wow it looks amazing! I'm getting at Christmas.

 

[Jeff Krispow]

Hello folks,

This is a follow-up to a posting I made in this thread nearly a year ago...

I have finally posted several fantastic photos of the original stop motion spider miniature featured in the long-lost, deleted spider-pit sequence from the 1933 KING KONG — including a couple very detailed close-up shots.

Simply click here to be instantly transported over to the correct thread with the photos and accompanying information.

Enjoy!

 

[JackKay]

Jeff Krispow, Wow! Very Cool!!

You may want to ship those over to kongisking.net I'm sure they would post them and PJ will probably see them too.

Thanks, jack

 

[oscar_merkx]

Awesome photos