Movie Trailers

• Directors: Merian C Cooper, Ernest B Schoedsack
• Producers: Merian C Cooper, Ernest B Schoedsack, David O Selznick
• Writers: Story, Merian C Cooper, Edgar Wallace, Screenplay, James Ashmore Creelman, Ruth Rose
• Genres: Action, Adventure, Horror, Thriller
• Actors: Fay Wray, Robert Armstrong, Bruce Cabot

The film starts when Carl Denham, a film director who is famous for shooting animal pictures in remote and exotic locations, is unable to hire an actress to star in his newest project and so wanders the streets searching for a suitable girl. He chances upon unemployed Ann Darrow, as she is caught trying to steal an apple. Denham pays off the grocer then buys Ann a meal and offers her the lead role in his latest installment. Although Ann is apprehensive, she has nothing to lose and eagerly agrees.

They set sail aboard the Venture, an old tramp steamer that travels for weeks in the direction of Indonesia, where Denham claims they will be shooting. Despite his ongoing declarations that women have no place on board ships, the ship’s first mate Jack Driscoll is obviously becoming attracted to Ann. Denham takes note of the situation and informs Driscoll he has enough trouble without the complications of a seagoing love affair. Driscoll sneers at the suggestion, reminding Denham of his toughness in past adventures. Denham’s reply outlines the theme of both the movie he is making and the one in which he is a character: “The Beast was a tough guy too. He could lick the world, but when he saw Beauty, she got him. He went soft. He forgot his wisdom and the little fellas licked him.”

…

Kong finds Ann and carries her to the top of the Empire State Building. The military dispatches four Curtiss Helldiver biplanes to destroy Kong. The ape gently sets Ann down on the building’s observation deck and climbs atop the dirigible mooring mast, trying to fend off the attackers. He manages to swat one plane down, but in the end he is mortally wounded by machine-gun fire and plummets to his death in the street below. Denham picks his way to the front of the crowd, where a cop remarks “Well Denham, the airplanes got him.” Denham replies, “It wasn’t the airplanes. It was beauty killed the beast.”