King Kong: The History of a Movie Icon
by Ray Morton
Gigantic thanks to Bloomsbury Academic and NetGalley for allowing
me to preview an advanced copy of Ray Morton’s comprehensive and ginormous
detailed history of King Kong titled King Kong: The History of a
Movie Icon. This is actually a revised and update edition of the book he
initially published 20 years ago as the 3rd version of King Kong,
Peter Jackson’s adaptation, was released. This book includes additional
research and information about the three main versions of King Kong from
1933, 1976, and 2005, as well as other offshoots including Son of Kong,
the official sequel, and the Toho iterations where Kong battles Godzilla. In
addition, Morton provides detailed information about the recent Mosterverse
that includes Kong: Skull Island (2017), Godzilla vs. Kong (2021),
and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024). He ends the book with some
other appearances of Kong in comics, books, television, cartoons, and movies,
including proposed films that never made it to the big screen. As someone who
loves monster movies, especially the grand spectacle of giant monsters, this
book was a great read. Furthermore, as someone who has grown to love the King
Kong story, studying the film in college for some of the possible subtextual
readings that its creator rejected, I also found that this book was a
fascinating read, and I appreciated Morton’s detailed and loving research into
the creation of the main Kong films from inception, to production, to the box
office. It’s not only fascinating to learn that the story of a giant ape has
been appealing to audiences for nearly 100 years, but also to see how these
films have helped to drive innovative practices in film and special effects.
Morton spends the most time detailing the three Kong movies,
and these chapters delve into all aspects of the film. It was fascinating to
learn about how the first film script changed over time. I wasn’t aware that so
many writers were involved in crafting the script, and that there was also a
novelization that came out before the film, but also ended up out of copyright
and in the public domain, allowing others to develop stories based on the novel
rather than the movie. Nevertheless, Morton provides two storylines to allow readers
to see how the script changed after subsequent drafts. He also provides a
detailed chronology of the film’s production, with a focus on how the special
effects were implemented for this film. Although it wasn’t the first film to
use stop motion animation, expertly done by Willis O’Brien and Marcel Delgado
among others, the film implemented it to such a degree that it changed special
effects. I also loved reading about the challenges with filming the 1976
version of King Kong, which attempted to create a giant robotic Kong,
but ultimately used this version more for promotion than actually in the
screen. I also learned that Rick Baker played Kong in most of the scenes and
reportedly had a difficult time working with the other special effects artist
Carlo Rambaldi, who had previously worked on other Dino De Laurentiis films. Ever
since seeing American Werewolf in London, I’ve been a huge Rick Baker
fan, so it was surprising to learn more about his role and lack of credits in
this film.
The book contains a lot of information about various Kong
related projects, including a 1986 film, King Kong Lives, that I kind of
remember. I’m sure that I saw it at some point, but as Morton details, the film
was planned during the De Laurentiis Studio’s decline and string of failed
films, so the budget kept getting slashed, which ultimately had an impact on
the story and effects. It’s ultimately a forgotten film, but this chapter does
detail how the studio system works along with the challenges that producers and
effects artists experience when trying to make the unreal appear in films. The
chapter about Peter Jackson’s version was incredibly fascinating since it provides
background in Jackson’s career along with his development of the Kong project,
which started before Lord of the Rings, but ultimately was made after LOTR
(and probably would not have been made without the success of that franchise). I
learned so much from this chapter, but I was most enthralled with the various
technology and effects that Jackson and his team employed to create this
version of Kong along with a realistic recreation of 1930s NYC. Morton does a
great job explaining the process of how digital effects work. Like the other
versions of King Kong presented in the book, Morton also details the various scenes
and technology employed to make the effects appear realistic, which was also
fascinating to read, although it is more of a reference and explanation than
anything else. Nevertheless, I feel like I have a better understanding of the
various uses of green and blue screen technology, among other technologies that
have developed from 1976 to the 2005 version of Kong.
I also enjoyed reading about the Monsterverse films, and
while Morton doesn’t hold them in as high regard as the other Kong films, I
generally like them. As he notes, these are mostly fun films without much
serious plot, and in many ways, Morton explores how Kong has developed an
alternative backstory to his life on Skull Island, becoming an orphan as other
creatures attacked and killed his parents, and eventually discovering a land in
the hollow earth where other giant apes (and other creatures) live and battle.
Furthermore, Morton traces the challenges that the production teams have in accessing
the rights to these monsters, creating story lines where they meet, collaborate
or battle, and exploring how technology was used to create their environments
and likenesses. I really enjoyed learning more about how the directors and designers
looked to other films, including the various versions of King Kong, for
inspiration. It’s really cool to see how these more recent films both honor the
legacy of Kong, yet also want to try something different or find inspiration
from other films and styles.
This book is truly a great reference and resource for anyone
who is deeply interested in Kong movies or monster movies in general. My favorite
parts of the book were learning more about Rick Baker’s background in special
effects and seeing how his work on films like The Exorcist, It’s
Alive, and with John Landis eventually led him to work on the 1976 version
of Kong. Furthermore, even though King Kong Lives was a failure, the
film came out around the time that Evil Dead II, Manhunter, and Blue Velvet were
also produced by the De Laurentiis Group (I think that Dune was also
around this time too). It shows that De Laurentiis did have an important role
in producing some important films, even if the film industry relies on
intellectual property and sequels. In fact, this is a point that Morton raises
when discussing Legendary Pictures and how financing shifted from studios to corporations
and investment firms. Again, Morton helps to highlight much about the film
industry and how Kong both represented and drove trends and changes in genres
and styles. I was also surprised to learn that Peter Jackson apparently created
a film idea for the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise in the late 80s, which
I can only imagine what that might have been. I also loved learning about where
the newer Kong movies were filmed. I recently travelled to Kualoa Ranch, where some
of Skull Island was filmed. I didn’t realize it at the time since most
of the focus was on Jurassic Park, but I could see some of the distinct
spots after reading through Morton’s indications of the filming locations.
Although the book has so much detail and information about all of the Kong
movies, it does feel repetitive at times, especially early on when the chapters
detail the plotlines and then detail the filming process, and then also details
the special effects. I loved reading about how these effects happened, and I
think the process was especially fascinating or all 3 of the Kong
movies, but I found myself less interested in some of the lesser Kong movies
like Son of Kong and King Kong Lives. If anything, including all
of these examples helps to highlight the vast differences in quality and innovation
among the different productions. Overall, though, this was a really
entertaining and enlightening book, and I’m so glad that Morton has not only
shared his love of Kong with the world, but has also populated the book with so
many images and photos from his own Kong collection, sharing some of the unique
merchandise that was used to promote the majesty and regality of Kong. Highly
recommended book!
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