King Kong

"Beauty conquered the beast!"

1933 1h 40m EN

🙌

7.6

BANGER

🔥

97%

CERTIFIED FRESH

💯

METACRITIC

⭐

7.9

IMDB

★7.6TMDB · 1,673🍅97%Rotten Tomatoes●92Metacritic★7.9IMDB · 95,138

AdventureFantasyHorror

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Adventurous filmmaker Carl Denham sets out to produce a motion picture unlike anything the world has seen before. Alongside his leading lady Ann Darrow and his first mate Jack Driscoll, they arrive on an island and discover a legendary creature said to be neither beast nor man. Denham captures the monster to be displayed on Broadway as King Kong, the eighth wonder of the world.

“Beauty conquered the beast!”

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Cast

Robert Armstrong
Carl Denham
Fay Wray
Ann Darrow
Bruce Cabot
Jack Driscoll
Frank Reicher
Captain Englehorn
Victor Wong
Ship's Cook Charlie
James Flavin
Mate Briggs
Sam Hardy
Charles Weston
Noble Johnson
Skull Island Native Chief

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Merian C. Cooper
Writers: Ruth Rose, James Ashmore Creelman
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $0.7M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Grossed $10M — a 14.9× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

93 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "King Kong (1933) Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Merian C. Cooper, shot by Vernon L. Walker. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Max Steiner. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Ted Cheesman shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Robert Armstrong and Fay Wray and Bruce Cabot carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Merian C. Cooper directs. Vernon L. Walker behind the camera. Max Steiner scores. Ted Cheesman cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $0.7M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
2Grossed $10M — a 14.9× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.
393 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
4Part of the "King Kong (1933) Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
5Directed by Merian C. Cooper, shot by Vernon L. Walker. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Max Steiner. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Ted Cheesman shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Robert Armstrong and Fay Wray and Bruce Cabot carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "Beauty conquered the beast!".
10IMDB entry: tt0024216 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Classified under 24 themes, including "new york city", "ship", "exotic island", "island".
12Released under 11 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Vernon L. Walker
Original score: Max Steiner
Editing: Ted Cheesman
Runtime: 100 min · 1h 40m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $672,000
Box office: $10,001,781
Return: 1488% of budget
Original language: EN
IMDB: King Kong (1933)
Rotten Tomatoes: 97% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 92/100
IMDB rating: 7.9/10 · 95,138 votes
MPAA: Approved

Awards

4 wins & 8 nominations total

Part of

King Kong (1933) Collection

A giant monster adventure film series about a gigantic island-dwelling ape creature called Kong and it's sequel about Kong's son.

Also by

Merian C. Cooper

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

tmdb272194542019-08-02
★ 10/10
In watching this movie, and I'm talking about actually scrutinizing it intently, I was shocked at the amount and the extremity of the violence that was in the picture. Natives were being bitten, swallowed and purposely stepped upon by Kong. The sailors were chased, trampled and eaten by the dinosaurs and then we have all the New York City violence on top of it all where Kong tosses a woman to her death and bites on a bystander. Also, for it being an 85+ year old movie, the special effects STILL stand up rather well and STILL look convincingly realistic. In fact, I believe these FX are of a better quality than the 1976 remake and even comes close to the 2005 CGI version. If you've never seen this classic, mostly because "who would want to watch that old-style claymation" or you can't watch anything not "in Living Color," you really need to give this one a try. For those of you that have seen it, let me urge you to rewatch it, possibly with some newly-opened eyes.
CinemaSerf2022-06-13
★ 8/10
Shown recently by the BBC and wow, how fantastically this has stood the test of time. I can see why there have been so many remakes of this iconic tale of ambition, power and true love but none that shine a candle to this - even after over 80 years. Robert Armstrong and Fay Wray do their bit as the producer and the starlet, but the true stars are lighting, photography and special effects which are masterful as we visit this ancient island divided by a great wall (how on earth did the natives ever manage to build it?) that keeps the prehistoric monsters at bay. This is adventure cinema at it's absolute best; and even the writing is reasonable. If you don't feel sympathy for Kong at the end then where is your heart?
GenerationofSwine2023-01-10
★ 10/10
So this is the bar, and this is the reason that people don't like any of the remakes... except the 2005 remake, people don't like that because it stinks. But this shot for the moon. It promised the audience a giant ape, it gave the audience a giant ape... and a sort of love story that was really cute and relatable that brought it all together. It reached for the stars visually, it grabbed one, and it told an amazing story along with it. It was a win on every front. So, now, when people watch King Kong remakes, they look at them and they don't live up to the effort that this movie put into itself. They all look better, but they don't feel as well crafted as the original, because they aren't. They are all a little lazy in comparison because it's easier to do it now. In 11 years its going to be 100 years old and people are still going to marvel at the work put into it.