Son of Kong

It had been years since I last set eyes on Son of Kong, and I had forgotten just how lame a film it actually is. It does go to show us that quick cash grab sequels are as old as the film industry itself. Released a mere eight months after the blockbuster King Kong, it’s sequel pales in comparison on practically every level. RKO decided on two key factors that would insure it made a ton of money, first cut the budget in half (cause that always results in bigger profits), and make it more “kid friendly” as the youth market is were the money is (during the depression I’m not sure what disposable income kids had), but I’m not a big movie exec so what do I know.

The film starts our promising enough with Carl Denham (Robert Armstrong) hiding out in a boarding house from process servers, because everyone and his aunt is suing him for the carnage caused by the escaped Kong. Eventually he hooks up again with Captain Englehorn (Frank Reicher) and Charlie the ships cook (Victor Wong) as the only other returning cast members from the original. They set sail just ahead of a Grand Jury indictment, and try to make ends meet by shipping cargo in the Dutch Indies. It’s in the port of Darkang that we meet our other two key players; Hilda (Helen Mack) daughter of a drunken ex-circus ringmaster, who helps her father make a living by singing badly while playing the guitar, and Helstrom (John Marston) who in a drunken brawl kills Hilda’s father, and burns down the tent. Now Helstrom has a connection with the original film as he is the man who provided Denham with the map to Kong’s Island, and now that he really needs to get out of Darkang (Hilda threatens him with going to the magistrate and accusing him of the murder) he convinces the incredibly gullible Denham and Englehorn that there is treasure on Skull Island. Hilda, who also wants out of Darkang, stows away aboard the Venture, not knowing that her father’s murderer is now one of the crew. A coward at heart Helstrom has no intention of setting foot on the dangerous Skull Island, so he fills the unruly crew with stories of how the previous crew under Denham met their fate, and in all fairness he really doesn’t lie about this. There is a quick mutiny that finds Denham, Englehorn, Charlie, and Hilda dumped in a lifeboat. The crew has some sense and they toss the traitorous Helstrom overboard, and he ends up joining the group to Skull Island.

Now here is one of the film’s major problems, it is now about 40 minutes into a 69-minute movie, and we’ve just now gotten to Kong’s island! This is obviously caused by the reduced budget, and the fact that the events on the island itself seem really rushed doesn’t help.

After getting a rude welcome from the natives (they aren’t all that happy with how Denham and company lead a rampaging Kong through their village), the group make their way to the far side of the island, and that is where they meet the son of Kong. While Englehorn, Helstrom, and Charlie march off to look for provision, Denham and Hilda stumble on a small version of Kong trapped in quicksand. Feeling a bit guilty over getting this guys dad killed, Denham knocks over a tree (I’m assuming the tree’s roots were really rotted) and helps young Kong escape. Denham’s line, “He’s not a patch after his old man.” pretty much sums up the whole film. The 12-foot, white haired ape is played completely for laughs, and not particularly effective laughs either. They have given him the cooing sounds of a baby chimp, and the slapstick antics of Max Sennet silent comedy star, none of which makes him a very effective character. When Denham and Hilda are threatened by a giant cave bear (looking more like a guy in a bear suit than a table-top model) young Kong charges to the rescue, and we are treated to a fight that reminded me more of two five year olds fighting over a favorite toy, than it did of titanic struggle of mighty giants. Meanwhile Englehorn, Helstrom, and Charlie have been chased into a rocky nook by a styracosaur (interesting bit of trivia the styracosaur was a left over dinosaur that was cut from the original, it was the dinosaur that chased the sailors onto the log bridge), the dinosaur eats their gun, but fails on it's attempts to kill them, and that it’s for that exciting moment. After stumbling upon some ancient ruins Denham is sure he will find the treasure behind a rock wall, and with little Kong’s help they break into an old temple. Inside the temple they find a huge altar, and hanging from a nasty looking idol is a necklace containing a huge diamond, but of course as you know a dragon must guard all treasure, and a fight ensues. The fight between young Kong and this refugee from a fantasy film is less slapstick in comparison to the cave bear fight, but is in no way in the same league as the Kong/T-Rex fight in the original. When Englehorn, Helstrom and Charlie return (the styracosaur, I assume as bored as the viewer, had wondered away), they are shocked to see this large ape. Helstrom’s reaction to seeing a 12 foot ape is a bit much, after all compared to the dinosaur that chased them the night before little Kong isn't very threatening, but he flees like the coward he is. Then the island sinks. Yep, it’s that out of the blue. One minute Denham is holding his treasure, and the next the whole island is racked by earthquakes, and set upon by hurricane like winds. Why did this happen? Was the temple cursed? Did removing the necklace anger the gods of the island? Your guess is as good as mine. Helstrom, being the evil sniveling murderous coward he is, meets his end in the jaws of a sea serpent. While Englehorn, Hilda, and Charlie are able to make it to the boat, and get free of the cataclysmic events. Meanwhile Denham and young Kong flee for higher ground as the island sinks beneath them, and the heroic son of Kong holds Denham above the turbulent waters long enough for him to be rescued by his friends. Then his hand slips beneath the waves. Our heroes float around the pacific for a while before being rescued by a passing ship, and it’s on board where Hilda basically asks Denham to marry her. The End.

More than the rushed production and reduced budget it’s the tonal shift that makes this film really an unworthy successor to King Kong. The Skull Island we saw in the original was a place fraught with danger at every turn, from the moment Ann Darrow was plucked from the altar by Kong the pace never let up, and yet in Son of Kong you never really get the sense of urgency or danger that was so prevalent in King Kong. Of course the slapstick antics of young Kong certainly didn’t help, between his rolling his eyes, shrugs at the camera, and other goofy antics, he really was more of a cartoon character than anything the viewer could become emotional involved in. I seriously doubt we are going to get a Peter Jackson remake of this one.