The Son of Kong

"SEE! The cannibals! The earthquake! The sea serpent! The fighting monsters of ages past!"

1933 1h 10m EN

😐

5.4

MID

🥫

42%

ROTTEN

😬

METACRITIC

⭐

5.6

IMDB

★5.4TMDB · 142🥫42%Rotten Tomatoes●50Metacritic★5.6IMDB · 5,475

AdventureActionHorrorFamilyScience FictionThriller

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Beleaguered adventurer Carl Denham returns to the island where he found King Kong.

“SEE! The cannibals! The earthquake! The sea serpent! The fighting monsters of ages past!”

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Cast

Robert Armstrong
Carl Denham
Helen Mack
Hilda Peterson
Frank Reicher
Captain Englehorn
John Marston
Captain Nils Helstrom
Victor Wong
Charlie the Cook
Ed Brady
Bo'sun Red
Steve Clemente
Native Witch King (uncredited)
Noble Johnson
Native Chief (uncredited)

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Ernest B. Schoedsack
Writers: Ruth Rose, Ruth Rose
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

RUNTIME

Did you know

Tight 70-minute runtime — shorter than most television pilots.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $0.3M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

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 Ernest B. Schoedsack, shot by J.O. Taylor. 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 Helen Mack and Frank Reicher carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Ernest B. Schoedsack directs. J.O. Taylor behind the camera. Max Steiner scores. Ted Cheesman cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Tight 70-minute runtime — shorter than most television pilots.
2Shot for just $0.3M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
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 Ernest B. Schoedsack, shot by J.O. Taylor. 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 Helen Mack and Frank Reicher carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "SEE! The cannibals! The earthquake! The sea serpent! The fighting monsters of ages past!".
10IMDB entry: tt0024593 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Classified under 14 themes, including "mutiny", "island", "stowaway", "earthquake".

The technical file

Cinematography: J.O. Taylor
Original score: Max Steiner
Editing: Ted Cheesman
Costume design: Walter Plunkett
Makeup / hair: Mel Berns
Runtime: 70 min · 1h 10m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $250,000
Box office: $616,000
Return: 246% of budget
Original language: EN
IMDB: The Son of Kong (1933)
Rotten Tomatoes: 42% 🥫 Rotten
Metacritic: 50/100
IMDB rating: 5.6/10 · 5,475 votes
MPAA: Passed

Awards

3 nominations

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

Ernest B. Schoedsack

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

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Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2014-03-17
★ 7/10
Albino Baby Kong. The Son of Kong is directed by Ernest B. Schoedsack and written by Ruth Rose. It stars Robert Armstrong, Helen Mack, Frank Reicher, John Marston, Victor Wong and Edward Brady. Music is by Max Steiner and cinematography by Edward Linden. The makers wisely realised that to try and emulate King Kong would be folly, especially as this sequel was hurried out within the same year. Instead a more fun approach was taken, and as a result it’s not half bad entertainment as it happens. After the devastation caused to New York by King Kong, lawsuits are abound for Carl Denham (Armstrong). So when he gets the chance to go out on the ocean again with Captain Englehorn (Reicher), he grabs the chance. There’s no plans to go near Skull Island again, but a sequence of events will see them pitch up there, to be met by a myriad of creatures and The Son of Kong. Little Kong is actually friendly, well to the humans he is because he is grateful to their help when he was stuck in quicksand. However, to other beasts of the island he is not so forgiving. For the first 33 minutes it’s all about setting up the action carnage later in the play, characters are introduced, their reasons for being out at sea and etc. Then we get to the island and off we go. Kong scraps with dinosaurs, a bear, lizards and mother nature! The castaways are in the mix as well of course, and naturally they are thrust into a perilous life and death situation. And that’s it, barely 70 minutes have passed by and it’s nigh on impossible not to be smiling come the close. 7/10

Production companies