Creation

After doing the clay/stop-motion dinosaur sequences in The Lost World, Willis O'Brien then wanted to do a film called Creation which once again involved those prehistoric creatures, this time discovered by a crew on a ship. The cost-especially during these Depression times-was too expensive though so it was dropped. But not before O'Brien managed to shoot some footage of a Triceratops and her two kids playing around on the island before one of those kids wanders around to the sight of the movie's villain who shoots the poor boy in the eye and when the mother hears her son's cries, she rushes to the villain who fails to make a quick retreat before she gores him! All but that last part, I managed to see on YouTube which was part of a short sequence of which the narrator told the whole story while drawings of what was supposed to happen were shown as well as that only photographed sequence I just described. I read in the comments on YT that it was part of a documentary of the 1933 version of King Kong on that movie's DVD extras section. Anyway, while this movie was cancelled, producer Merian C. Cooper wanted O'Brien to help do some similar sequences for his own movie. And what was that movie, why it was King Kong, of course!

This is a 1931 dinosuar movie that takes place in an island off South America. The special effects for this film were done by Willis O'Brien, who had already done the special effects for "The Lost World" and would also do them a few years later for "King Kong". His work in "Creation" is probably his best animation prior to "King Kong". The humans and dinosaurs seem to interact in a more vivid and personal way than they do in "The Lost World". O'Brien's stop motion animation in general was without a doubt the greatest of his time and can still be impressive even today. The best part is the scene where a triceratops chases a man, with the action viewed from on top of the dinosaur's back, a neat effect. This film was hampered by Depression area budget troubles and I don't believe it was ever fully released.

An adult triceratops and two younger, smaller triceratops enjoy themselves in the jungle. Then a man appears. He is armed with a rifle. He shoots and kills one of the smaller dinosaurs; it is larger than he. Then he has to flee and the larger triceratops gives chase.

What is this six-minute short? Depending on the source you consult, it may be part of a longer movie that was abandoned, or a test that satisfied the powers at RKO that O'Brien was up to animating the ape in King Kong. It looks like some of his work from THE LOST WORLD, but a bit more polished.

Whatever it actually is, it's entertaining on its own.

We have always had a great curiosity about this film that has finally been satisfied by the release of KING KONG (1933) on DVD. Peter Jackson has recreated by narration, story boards and the surviving footage a coherent representation of the film. Enough for us to at least give some sort of realistic rating. The film was short circuited and canceled for three (3) reasons. Economic pressure on RKO due to the Great Depression, the expense of the film (several times that of the completed KING KONG) and that Merian C. Cooper did not like it. For details of the plot review the DVD, it is extensive.

Though not a viable feature film, we think it could be made into a nice made for T.V. movie for the Sci-Fi Channel and would certainly be better then a lot of their other efforts (they are not all as good as BATTLESTAR GALACTICA) and would fit into their Saturday programing. Like Peter Jackson's KING KONG (2005) it would be best to keep it in it's original 1930's time-line. If successful the THE WAR EAGLES could be looked to next. You might even coax Ray Harryhausen as a technical director. If anybody knows anything about these films he does.

ADDENDUM; Understand that Ray Harryhausen is a producer of a version of THE WAR EAGLES as of this date 05/01/08.

This 8.5 minute extract of a movie was available in the Super 8mm film format and then of course DVD. According to the books, A Pictorial History of Horror Movies(1973); and Movie Magic(1974), a date of 1929 would be more accurate then the speculated 1931 date for the creation of Creation. This film also would have made obvious to the makers of King Kong that more live action animals is not a good thing! The birds however fit in so well that they were kept. The print viewed had only fair picture quality and at the height of 8mm film collecting was not a title easily acquired.