Son of Kong

• Directed by Ernest Schoedsack
• December 22, 1933 (US)

Fleeing lawsuits and pending criminal charges, Carl Denham leaves New York City and finds himself once again on Skull Island where he meets Kong’s son.

I give them points for creating a relatively realistic scenario for the start of Son of Kong. Carl Denham (Robert Armstrong) is in hiding from creditors and lawyers, but strangely no police (yet) after all the death and destruction caused by King Kong. There is the possibility of criminal charges on the way. Given the times one would not expect THAT level of thought put into the sequel.

The film opens with the assorted significant characters and their names. You might notice Victor Wong is listed in the credits, but his character name is only listed as ‘Chinese Cook.’ Really? Advanced for the times but really bad for today. Having said that there are elements that for the modern era are clearly racist but not so much so for the times in which Son of Kong was made. If you can’t view a film within the era in which it was made then you might have trouble enjoying any movie a few years after first seeing it.

While Son of Kong opens in NYC, it takes place largely on Skull Island though with noticeably fewer effects. Not that what we do get is bad but the focus is definitely on people over effects. This is due largely to the compressed production time-nine months from its predecessor-and a smaller budget.

As effects go what we get is pretty advanced for the time though they might be a little cheesy today. For some reason Son of Kong looks more family-friendly than dear old dad did. That was intentionial with an aim for comedy over the thrills of King Kong. Kong Junior is about 12 feet high and even as a kid I had trouble understanding how you got a multi-story creature as an adult from that.

With a shortened runtime the character of Kong Junior doesn’t feel like he’s in it very much. I would say it’s over halfway into the film before we even see him. And Junior is not nearly the jungle king that his dad was. He’s more than capable of dealing with the handful of monsters that they encounter but has issues with quicksand.

This film is only 69 minutes or so long. In today’s standards that’s not really a movie. At least not something that gets released theatrically. The unofficial rule of thumb seems to be about 90 minutes. Then again this was in the days before televisions were common and streaming was even a concept.

Denham becomes a misunderstood character and the ultimate hero of the film. He even gets the girl in the end. The story this time revolves around a previously unmentioned treasure on the island and Denham figures it’s the key to solving all of his problems. Everybody is after him for something. Even the tribal leaders are looking for a piece of his hide once he gets to the island.

We meet the man that sold Denham the map. Nils Helstrom (John Marston) is your basic scumbag who apparently assumed Denham would figure on a treasure was on the island rather than Denham falling back on what he already knew. Helstrom is more a minor problem than a threat though he does commit murder starting with the father Denham’s love interest Hilda (Helen Mack) whom he always refers to as ‘kid.’

This comes off much more aimed at children or families in general than its predecessor did. Either that or they were just lazy with what they did. What I’m getting at is it doesn’t feel as substantive as the original King Kong. It’s certainly a technical achievement and a fun adventure that can trace its roots back to the jungle adventure films that inspired the original King Kong.

My major beef though is the end. We get a rather climactic sequence that kills off Junior in a way that feels casual. He goes out as a hero but not a big hero. The son making up for the sins of the father?

The dialogue is that rapid pattern delivery and the characters are largely two dimensional. The main reason to watch this is as a fun adventure. It’s just entertainment for the sake of entertainment. Most people I think are not aware that this movie even exists. With the passage of time and other iterations of the idea it has been largely lost in history. While not a bad sequel it certainly doesn’t live up to the original.

Son of Kong is not nearly as good as the original but it’s still a fun film. It doesn’t pack the emotion but it’s not a bad time. If you have seen the first one, you should check this one out.