Camera Operator 2005 Spring/Summer

Page 54

King Kong 1933 Ann Darrow ............... Fay Wray Carl Denham ...... Robert Armstrong Jack Driscoll ...... . .. . .. Bruce Cabot Other cast members: . .. Frank Reicher, Sam Hardy, Noble John on, teve Clemente, Jame Flavin Director . . ........ Merian C Cooper, Erne t B choed ack Relea e Date ........... April 10, 1933 tudio .. . ... . . . .. RKO Radio Pictures "And lo, the beast looked upon the face of beauty. And it stayed its hand from killing. And from that day, it was a one dead." -Merian C Cooper, 1933 The tory: On an i land near the Malay peninsula Lived dinosaur that hould have been extinct and Kong, a even-million-yearold giant ape not even Tyranno aurus could defeat. ative built a ma ive wall to eparate the villages from Kong, pLitting the i land in two. Kong wa feared and wor hipped Like a god, and regular sacrifices were made to him to appea e hi wrath. In 1933 a team of Hollywood moviemaker arrived on the i land to shoot a new picture. Carl Denham wa a fearless filmmaker, famou for hi daring jungle adventure . Capturing Kong on film was hi ultimate challenge. Hi leading lady Ann Darrow was kidnapped by the natives for her tunning beauty and offered to Kong as a sacrifice. When the mighty bea t saw Ann, his heart melted. He had never een such beauty. Kong took Ann into his domain. Eventually he wa rescued by crew member John Dri coll, but Kong pur ued hi prize relentle ly. Denham knocked Kong unconscious with poi onou ga and hipped him to New York as "The 8th Wonder of the World." Kong escaped and went on a de tructive rampage t11roughout the city in earch of Ann. He eventually took her to t11e top of the Empire tare Building, where a squadron of fighter plane finally brought him down. Before falling to hi death, Kong et Ann free. A final bur t of machine gun fire sent him tumbling to t11e street below. BASED ON VARIOUS INTERNET SOURCES.

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OPERATING CAMERAMAN: KING KONG

Ann (Foy Wray and Jock Driscoll (Bruce Cabot) ore reunited ofter King Kong 's demise.

original film except for visual and sound effects. However, it originated procedure and techniques that would be used until upplanted only a decade ago by the digital technology that will be central to the execution ofJackson's 2151 Century ver ion. Relea ed four and a half yea r after the introduction of sound, Kong can actually be seen as representing the industry's ulti mate triumph over the new technology. It was a perfect merging of the vi ual art that silent film had become, e pecially in its last four years, with the aesthetic possibilitie of the aural. The film begins with a eries of dialog cene taged and shot in a style reminiscent of the earliest talking pictures. As it moves away from New York, dialog decrea e and the visuals are accentuated, especially after the introductio n of the mu ical core in Reel 2B, culminating in an entire central reel (4B) carried olely by the vi uals, ound effects, and music. The original King Kong was made by RKO Radio Pictures, the first major com pany fo rmed specifically fo r the maki ng of sound films. This wa the re ult of RCA's David Sarnoff's de ire to get in on the new phenomenon. In 1928 RCA purchased the

FBO tudio at Melro e and Gower in Hollywood, and Later the Pathe lot in Culver City. This is where the jungle scene for Kong and concurrently filmed The Most Dangerous Game would be hot. According to an International Photographer article published in the Fall of 1929, RKO' editing room were et up with the

Kong originated procedures and techniques that would be used until supplanted only a decade ago by the digital technology. basic equipment t11at would become tandard in t11e indu try for the next 65 yea r , i.e., editing machine , ync blocks, pLicer , and coding maclllnes. Though Kevin Brownlow' interviews fo r The Parade's Gone By revealed that while few editor of silent film used viewing device , ound required them and RKO had Moviolas with head fo r reading optical tracks a well a eparate optical track reader fo r t11e assistant(s). The editorial staff con isted of the


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