The Son of Kong

I suspect it may have been started before KONG went into release, as even less than a year seems a short time between script and premiere.

Hounded by lawsuits after the destruction caused by Kong, Carl Denham (Robert Armstrong) sets sail with his old captain in search of trade. Stopping off at a small island they drop in to watch a rather feeble show which presents the talents of Helen Mack. Following her father's killing in a drunken scrap, and the burning down of their show tent, she stows away on board the ship. Of course, the father's killer has been taken on also as he is the fellow who supplied the original chart for Skull Island and persuades the others of a fantastic treasure.

All this may sound like utter tripe, and to a certain extent it is. However, it is still quite an entertaining hour or so, with rather more comedy than before. There is the odd cheap-looking set and one or two rather bad spots of back-projection, but there is compensation in the trick work and a generous helping of monsters. Helen Mack, too was a decent, lively choice for the heroine, her good looks being unusual rather than conventionally attractive. Frank Reicher and Victor Wong repeat their roles in KONG, and Clarence Wilson has an effective few minutes as Mack's father.

It's one month after the King Kong fiasco and Carl Denham can't get a break from the relentless stream of reporters and lawsuits hounding him. Kong might have caused a lot of damage and killed a few people, but don't you think that Denham is awfully sorry about it all? And was it really his fault that the chains weren't strong enough? Well, actually it was, and with a grand jury about to rule against him, Denham decides it's time for a long ocean voyage.

Poor Denham must've done something to insult Poseidon, though, because no matter how much he wants to avoid it, he gets blown right back to Skull Island. This time he's looking for a treasure, but when the ungrateful natives force him to land on a remote part of the island, he immediately stumbles upon the orphaned Son of Kong. He knows this because of the obvious family resemblance. We never do find out what happened to Mrs. Kong.

The original was the greatest special effects film ever made, and for reasons more than just the outstanding effects. Any attempt to duplicate this, particularly in a quickly made sequel, could not possibly have come close and would have been nothing more than a shameless attempt to make some quick cash. In other words, a typical Hollywood sequel. The creators of Son wisely do not make this attempt. Instead, using the original's subtle satire of the film industry as its starting point, "Son of Kong" becomes a broad parody of Hollywood movies in general and of the original "King Kong" itself.

At one hour and 10 minutes, this movie is exactly the right length of time. No gag or idea is drawn out for even a moment longer than it is capable of sustaining. The special effects are still excellent, but are now secondary to the antics of the characters, including the comic mugging of Kong Jr. himself. Make no doubt about it, this film is no "King Kong" - but it's not a typical Hollywood sequel either.

After the huge success of King Kong, RKO produced a quick cash in that was so quickly made it was released the same year as the original! With this speed in mind it's perhaps not too surprising to learn that Son of Kong is nowhere close to the standard of its predecessor. In it, the adventuring entrepreneur Carl Denham flees New York after the King Kong debacle that he was responsible for and ends up back at Skull Island. Needless to say he soon encounters the son of Kong.

It's quite strange for a sequel to even acknowledge the financial lawsuits that follow the mayhem caused by the monster in the previous film. But oddly and charmingly, this one not only does but even goes as far as to make it a narrative springboard for the subsequent adventure. Unfortunately the film-makers decided to replace the horror aspects of the first film with comedy. So the tone of the movie is more playful than threatening, which is to its detriment ultimately. It seems pretty obvious that this film must have been squarely aimed primarily at kids. Unlike his dad, the giant ape in this one seems to really like humans which kind of takes away some of the plot dynamics; although in truth once we meet Kong the action doesn't really move far from the one location. This probably ties in with the quickness of the production; once we finally get to Skull Island we find Kong easily and don't move once we do. It's a shame as it dilutes the adventure aspect somewhat. Nevertheless, Kong does get to fight a dinosaur and a giant bear and the stop-motion animation from Willis O'Brien is still more than decent. It ends on a big scale but kind of stupid climax.

Son of Kong can best be described as a charming movie. It's got a fair few shortfalls, particularly in its very basic screenplay. But it is very short so plot weaknesses aren't too painful to bear and it never gets boring. It's certainly no classic but its good fun overall.

If I hazarded a guess, I would say that Son Of Kong came about because David O. Selznick had a lot of leftover footage from the first film and that footage from King Kong did not go to waste when King Kong became the enormous hit it was. This was a sequel that almost demanded to be made.

Labor Day back in New York during my childhood could have been nicknamed Ape Day because inevitably WOR television which was the RKO station ran King Kong, Son Of Kong and Mighty Joe Young. The King, his offspring and Terry Moore's pet entertained a whole new generation of kids for years on that day.

After all the damage that King Kong wreaked upon New York and with everybody and his mother suing Robert Armstrong all the poor guy wants to do is get away from everything, especially process servers. He boards a tramp steamer back to the South Seas from whence he got King Kong. Along with him is Helen Mack who also has reasons to skip out of civilization.

They come upon Frank Reicher the captain who took them to King Kong's island along with John Marston. Interestingly enough the best part of the film is the mutiny led by Ed Brady and John Marston who understandably don't want any part of that island any more. Why this became such an issue for a proletarian uprising is beyond me, still I always get a great sense of satisfaction when the proletariat seaman decide they don't want a captain whether its Reicher or Marston and cast him adrift with the rest of the stranded castaways. It's one of the best examples of defending anarchism I've ever seen on the screen.

Of course on the island Armstrong, Mack and the rest meet up with a discontented native population who say things have gone to pot since their deity King Kong was taken away. Armstrong meets up with a 12 foot offspring of the 50 foot father and he bonds with the baby Kong. I've often wondered where Mama Kong was in all of this.

Anyway RKO made sure there would be no future Kong sequels, but for those who have never seen this film I'm not saying how. Even after over 70 years, King Kong and The Son Of Kong still have the power to entertain. These films will never date.

No one ought to expect lightning to strike twice. No one ought to expect a sequel to King Kong, easily one of the greatest films of all times, to be that great, especially one cranked out in only 8 months, as this one was. Plus, the budget of this one was less than 1/3 the budget of the original. This is why the special effects are so few (and so much less than those of the original). Still, Son of Kong is some fun RKO entertainment. Robert Armstrong is back as Carl Denham, and he is good, although a little weary after his adventures in the first one (it has been a month since Kong died). Fay Wray does not return, and they have replaced her character with a stowaway girl played by Helen Mack. No, she's no Fay Wray, but she's cute and likable. Charlie, the Chinese cook, is back with a bigger part. Although he seems nothing more than a racial stereotype now, for the time his role was probably seen in a better light. He may speak pigeon-English, but he's seen as a human being by the other characters.

The son of Kong is unfortunately more humanized than Kong was (they tried to make him seem more like a curious animal, which I think was the right decision), but he's a chip off the old block, at least when it comes to monster fighting. The animation is cruder, but it is passable. It's a decent flick that runs at only 70 minutes. Don't expect too much more. 7/10