The Lost World (1925)

The Lost World was the pre-cursor to King Kong and the grandfather of the modern day blockbuster; many of today’s special effects extravaganzas follow its template, a slim framework to hang its special effects on.  The special effects in The Lost World are dated, but they are charming in their crudity, and are certainly the best parts in the film. The non effects scenes are rather unremarkable, but passable. The Lost World suffers from two major flaws:

1)      The Love Triangle. The character of Paula White (the appealing Bessie Love) was not in Arthur Conan Doyle’s novel and was created specifically to provide the character of Edward Malone (Lloyd Hughes) with a love interest.  This in itself isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it takes an awkward turn for the worst with the introduction of famed hunter Sir John Roxton (Lewis Stone), who also vies for Paula’s affection.  The problem is that this love triangle is a complete mismatch in Edward’s favor, Paula doesn’t return Roxton’s affections, she just shrugs them off. Often, the relationship between Paula and Sir John comes off as being more father/daughter than potential lovers, because it’s so tame. If one were to edit out the title cards in The Lost World, Sir John would come across as a concerned father wanting the best for daughter. It doesn’t help that Lewis Stone was old enough to be Bessie Love’s father. The Love Triangle, for all its build up, is much ado about nothing; Sir John takes Paula’s rejection of him in relatively good humor and remains friends with Edward.  There is never any moment where it threatens to tear apart the expedition, instead everyone remains agreeable throughout. It might have helped had there been a least once scene in which Sir John contemplates letting Edward get mauled by a dinosaur, or setting his gun sights on Edward, instead of the Ape Man that is tormenting him throughout the movie.  Instead, it’s a rather dull subplot that could have easily been discarded.

 

2)      Harry O. Hoyt’s pedestrian direction.  A common occurrence throughout the film is how Hoyt will constantly undercut the tension in a by cutting back and forth between two different locations. Early in the film, the expedition party has downed a tree to get across a chasm. When the tree falls, the films cuts to a Brontosaur (or to be correct, an Apatosaurus) grazing in the jungle. It is startled by the sound of the tree falling. Cut back to the expedition walking across the tree on a time. Cut back to the Brontosaur. Cut back to the party. Whatever tension Hoyt was trying to get out of the party crossing the chasm is completely deflated by the comical Brontosaur munching away on the greens. It is an extremely odd directorial decision that only baffles the viewers; a few cut a ways last for merely a split second.
The reveal of the dinosaurs is rather unremarkable as well. Professor Challenger and company finally come upon the plateau, the sight of Challenger’s previous expedition and the disappearance of Maple White (Paula’s father), when the film abruptly cuts to a long shot of a Pterodactyl gliding into frame.  There is no build up to its appearance, it just randomly appears. It takes Challenger and friends a couple of seconds to notice its existence and when they finally see it, they are absolutely amazed.  In King Kong, the film heightens its suspense by slowly revealing Kong to the audience; first all we hear is a roar, then a couple of footsteps, then the sound of trees being knocked over, and finally, after nearly a minute of screen time has passed, Kong emerges into frame, and we in the audience can’t believe what we are seeing. The Pterodactyl scene doesn’t have quite the effect, because there is nothing to clue us in to its appearance. I’m sure in 1925, audiences must have been blown away by what they were seeing, but to the modern viewer it’s just as an awkward moment, “Oh, look! A Pterodactyl! MEH!” When we first saw Kong, we immediately feared for Ann Darrow’s (Fay Wray safety), but the Pterodactyl is never a threat to our protagonists; it munches on an animal in its talons and then promptly flies away, never to be seen again.

For many years the only available copy of The Lost World was a heavily mutilated print that ran a little over an hour, consequently giving the film a very disjointed feel about it. In 1998, a 93 minute print was located and it helped fill in a few narrative gaps, though even this print is missing important scenes (the original print ran 108 minutes).  One of the crucial scenes the 1998 print added back in was Edward’s relationship with his fickle girlfriend, Gladys. Edward desperately wants to marry her, but she rebukes his proposal saying she will “only marry a man of great deeds and strange experiences – a man who can look death in the face without flinching!” This is Edward’s main motivation for going on the expedition in the first place (as it is in the novel), yet this scene was surprisingly deleted from most prints, making you wonder why Edward would willingly risk life and limb for an expedition he doesn’t really believe in; he, at first, thinks Challenger’s claims of dinosaurs in the Amazon are complete nonsense.  It also essentially deletes Edward’s character arc, he goes from thinking the world of Gladys to finding true love in the arms of Paula. At the end of the film Edward bumps into Paula again, only to find that she has married a nebbish clerk named Percy Potts, and he couldn’t be more delighted. He has a few laughs with Gladys and her husband, wishes them luck, and then goes running into the arms of the awaiting Paula. It’s great to see these two scenes restored, because it gives the character of Edward some depth, instead of just being a handsome face that stumbles through the scenery. I personally would love to see Percy Potts get his own spin off; his story of how he landed a complete babe like Gladys would be an inspiration to geeks everywhere, especially me.  He has never left London his entire life and is afraid of his own shadow, yet he somehow manages to win the hand of the lovely Gladys ----truly inspirational!

 

However, the best thing about The Lost World, other than its special effects, is Wallace Beery’s portrayal of Professor Challenger, which is spot on from the book. Challenger has the mind of Einstein, but the body of a Neanderthal, and often gives into his more primitive instincts; it is revealed that he has attacked three reporters that tried to interview him. When Edward reveals that he is a reporter, Challenger lunges at him, but Edward is able to hide amongst the crowd. Later on, Edward sneaks into Challenger’s house and tries to plead his case, but Challenger won’t hear any of it, and the two of them tumble and tussle out the front door. It’s only after that Edward reveals he is a friend of Sir John Roxton that Challenger backs down and is willing to listen.  Challenger has all the intelligence in the world, but distances people with his boorish behavior. It takes the intervention of Edward to get the expedition funded; he is able to sell it to his newspaper as a rescue mission to save Maple White (which makes for a great human interest story).  It is a great performance from Beery, sadly, he gets lost in the shuffle once the special effects and the love triangle take front and center.  Professor Challenger has little to do in the second half, except antagonize fellow scientist, Professor Summerlee (Arthur Hoyt).

There is also a misguided attempt by the filmmakers to turn Sir John Roxton into a tragic figure; for all of his world renown, he is a lonely man. This might have worked if Sir John was a compelling figure, but he’s a complete bore.  It also doesn’t help that Edward is the audience surrogate; we see the world through his eyes, so naturally he’s the character we empathize with most.  He desperately seeks the love of Gladys, something that most of us can relate to and foolish jumps into dangerous because he wrongly thinks it will impress her. He’s a fallible character, hence relatable. Sir John is a rather distant character and his interest in Paula is a foolish pipe dream.  When the movie ends with him standing alone on the streets of London, we are totally indifferent to his plight. Lewis Stone is a fine enough actor, but he’s given very little to work with here. He played a very similar role in the camp classic The Mask of Fu Manchu and is much more effective, largely because he is a perfect foil for Karloff’s depraved madman. Plus, he’s so single minded in his goal to stop Fu Manchu that he doesn’t have time to pursue much younger women. PHEW!

 

Bessie Love has a great appeal as Paula White, largely due to her very expressive face. Indeed, Love’s likability is able to gloss over the fact that Paula is kind of a flake.  She could easily avoid the awkward moments with Sir John, if she just stated that she wasn’t interested in him, instead she laughs off his advances. She could easily throw out the word that most men dread to hear, “FRIENDS,” but she doesn’t even do that.  She avoids confrontation; because she doesn’t want to hurt Sir John’s feelings. However, inevitably the truth comes out and Sir John is heartbroken. It is even more infuriating that it is Edward that tells Sir John that Paula and him are going to get married. It is the ultimate cock punch!  Sir John is able to muster a smile, despite having his heart stomped on. When it looks like the expedition will make it back to civilization, after all, Paula calls off the engagement with Edward, because of his obligation to Gladys (which is kind of moot point, given that Gladys doesn’t love Edward and never agreed to marry him).  Once it is revealed that Gladys is married to the awesome Percy Potts, Paula, once again, kicks Sir John to the curb and embraces Edward. UGH!   Love would later go onto to star in The Broadway Melody, which was the first sound feature to win the Oscar for Best Picture. Alas, it has not aged particularly well, but she manages to liven up the proceedings with her likable personality.  This time around, her character is on the fuzzy end of a love triangle; her bland boring boyfriend falls in love with her younger sister.

When The Lost World is mentioned, no one ever thinks of the cast and the director, but rather the stop motion special effects by Willis O’ Brien. As mentioned in the introduction, the special effects are extremely dated and fairly jerky at times, but there are some genuinely effective moments.  The most famous scene is the Brontosaur rampaging through London at the film’s climax, but to me, the most nightmarish sequence is the Allosaur attack on the expedition party. It’s a rare moment where the filmmakers are able to build up some tension; the Allosaur is first seen in the shadows, obscured by a couple of trees. The only thing visible is its eyes, which come across as two glowing orbs floating in the night sky. It finally emerges from the trees and attacks the party. They are able to repel it by throwing a torch in its mouth. It’s a brief scene, but highly effective.  It’s one of the few scenes in the movie where the actors actually interact with a dinosaur; usually the effects scenes are fairly unrelated to the actual storyline. It is common to have a scene with the cast doing a bit of business, then the film will cut to two dinosaurs duking it out, then cut back to the cast, who are completely oblivious to the prehistoric wrestling match that just occurred.  The Lost World is relevant, because in many ways, it proved to be a test run for the much superior King Kong, which still inspires filmmakers to this very day.  Also, it gave us the memorable character of Percy Potts…a truly original creation. Hopefully, a young filmmaker will realize the potential of this awesome character and give him his own movie. It is long overdue!

Credits:

Cast:  Wallace Beery (Professor Challenger), Bessie Love (Paula White), Lloyd Hughes (Edward Malone), Lewis Stone (Sir John Roxton), Alma Bennett (Gladys Hungerford), Arthur Hoyt (Professor Summerlee), Bull Montana (Ape Man), Margaret McWade (Mrs. Challenger), Finch Smiles (Austin), Jules Cowles (Zambo).

Screenplay: Marion Fairfax.
Based on the novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Director: Harry O. Hoyt
Running Time: 93 min.

The Son of Kong (1933)

King Kong is one of my all time favorite movies and is, probably, the best monster movie ever made. It's just as exciting to watch now as it was when I was a twelve year-old kid. However, it's also one of the most written about movies in cinema history, meaning there's really nothing more I can say that hasn't been said already. The Son of Kong, however, has been fairly neglected by more film historians; if it is mentioned, it's usually in passing, and very rarely do they have anything positive to say about it. In his book "Movie Magic," John Brosnan has this to say about The Son of Kong:

Unfortunately the film had none of the grandeur of it's predecessor, and the script, by Ruth Rose was abysmal. Robert Armstrong, who played the hero in King Kong, returns to the island looking for a comparable attraction, apparently not having learned anything from his previous experience, and discovers 'Little Kong.' This baby Kong would have made his illustrious father roll over in his presumably giant grave - a mere twenty feet tall, he has the instincts of amiable puppy. The effects were impressive, but the overall result was disappointing. 

There's no doubt that The Son of Kong is an inferior film to it's famous predecessor, but Brosnan's summary makes me wonder if he's actually ever seen it. For instance, Carl Denham (Armstrong) doesn't return to Skull Island looking for a "comparable attraction," but rather goes there hoping to find an ancient treasure that Helstrom, a down on his luck Norwegian skipper and the film's main antagonist, has told him about. .  Kong Junior is, indeed, a much more friendlier creature than his chest pounding, bad tempered old man, but if the filmmakers would have made him a ferocious beast, then the film would merely be a rehash of the first film. Finally, Junior isn't twenty feet tall, but twelve feet. In his movie guide book, Leonard Maltin gives the film two and a half stars, which is about right. It's not a remarkable movie, but it is entertaining.

As for the script being "abysmal," I'd say that given the circumstances, Ruth Rose churned out a fairly adequate screenplay. After the success of King Kong, the sequel was rushed into production and made for less than half the budget of the first film. These budgetary lapses are fairly noticeable; Junior doesn't appear until the 42 minute mark (it's a 69 minute movie), and the Skull Island scenes are isolated to a small section of the island.  In King Kong, we were treated to many exciting scenes of Denham and company trekking through the dense jungle and bumping into all sorts of prehistoric life. In The Son of Kong, the prehistoric life has a knack for wandering into Junior's territory. The Son of Kong is a mini-adventure, completely lacking the epic scope of the first film.

However, there are two things are I find extremely interesting about The Son of Kong that most film historians tend to overlook:

1) Carl Denham's character arc.

The Son of Kong takes place a month after the events in the first film and Carl Denham is up to his neck in lawsuits. This experience has made him a more humbler person. In the first film, he was an extremely reckless filmmaker, who often regarded Ann Darrow as prop, rather than an actual human being. He didn't have a single, compassionate bone in his body; all he could think about was how swell everything would look on film. He's so single minded in his obsession to bring entertainment to the masses that he doesn't even harbor any sort of romantic feelings towards Ann Darrow (despite her being an attractive blonde) and is fairly indifferent when she and Jack Driscoll fall in love. In The Son of Kong, Denham has learned from his mistakes and when he finds Hilda alone in Bakang, mourning the death of her father, he does everything he can to cheer her up.  When he finds Junior trapped in quicksand, his initial reaction is not one of fear, but of saving the clumsy gorilla from certain death.  He knocks over a tree and Junior uses it to pull himself out. After Junior has injured his finger battling a giant bear, Denham (at Hilda's urging) bandages up the finger, such an act of kindness would have been foreign to the old Carl Denham.

2) Helen Mack.

I'm going to say it, The Son of Kong has a better leading lady than it's predecessor. I understand that Fay Wray's performance as Ann Darrow (or rather her screaming) is fairly iconic, but Helen Mack is much better actress. In the first film, Ann Darrow's character development essentially ends at the midway point, she falls in love with Jack and that's about it. It can be argued that Ann Darrow is more of a plot device than an actual character, as she's the reason Kong rampages through New York at the end. Ann's role in the second half of the film is that of a nonstop screamer (which is understandable given that the she is being carried around by a giaint ape), while Hilda remains brave throughout, often urging Denham to help Kong Junior.
 Hilda is a much more interesting heroine; she's first introduced as the star attraction of a rundown circus managed by her alcoholic father. She plays a guitar and sings a song called the "Runaway Blues," which is greeted with complete indifference by the small audience. Helen Mack specialized in playing feisty females (she's absolutely wonderful as Harold Lloyd's tough as nails sister in The Milky Way) and The Son of Kong is no exception. When Denham and Englehorn leave Dakang, Hilda stows away on board, partly because she has "nowhere else to go," but mainly to be around Denham. Robert Armstrong is old enough to be Helen Mack's father, but the romance in The Son of Kong is fairly believable; Denham is quite possibly the first person to offer any words of kindness (and encouragement) to Hilda in a long, long time, therefore it makes sense that she would take a liking to him. They are kindred spirits,  both of them have essentially lost everything; Denham is in complete debt at the beginning of the film and is facing being indicted by the grand jury, Hilda loses her father and the rundown circus she's called home for many years (it goes up in a fire). Yet, despite these obstacles both characters keep fighting on, never looking back. Though, the romance itself is fairly chaste, they don't even share an onscreen kiss. Then again, romance (and women) aren't exactly Denham's forte, he slowly learns the ropes as the movie progresses.

Because it was decided to make Kong Junior a good guy, the film is fairly lacking in the villain department; the closest thing we get is Captain Helstrom and he's fairly inept. It is revealed that Helstrom is the Norwegian skipper that sold Denham the map to Kong's island and since then his life has taken a turn for the absolute worse; he has lost his ship, is penniless, and is stranded in the Dutch Port in Bakang. He accidentally kills Hilda's father in a drunken brawl, which in the process burns down the circus tent (and Hilda's home).  Hilda threatens to report him to the Dutch magistrate, which only fuels his desire to get away. He stumbles upon Denham and Englehorn at a bar, and then makes up a story of a lost treasure (unaware that there really is a treasure on Skull Island) as a way to get off the island. However, Helstrom has no desire to go to Skull Island, once aboard Englehorn's ship (The Venture), he starts talking to the crew and leads them in a mutiny against Englehorn. Denham, Hilda, Englehorn, and Charlie are set adrift in a lifeboat, while Helstrom and the crew look on. However, Helstrom's reign as captain is short lived, after the crew refuses to  obey his orders, he pulls a gun on them, but is overpowered and thrown overboard. Denham and company pick him up, albeit reluctantly, and row their way to Skull Island. Once on Skull Island, Helstrom really is given nothing to do. He also has a fairly anti-climatic death; the sight of Junior frightens him and he runs towards the lifeboat, however, as he is ready to shove off, a giant serpent emerges from the water and devours him.

What The Son of Kong lacks, and what it's predecessor did so well, is the grand build up. The original King Kong effectively builds up to Kong's first appearance; he's first brought up in a conversation between Denham and Captain Englehorn. We first get a hint at his physicality, when we view the great wall for the first time. Why is the wall so big? What is it shielding the natives' from? The natives are holding a ceremony, where they sacrifice one of their virginal girls to be Kong's "bride." Then there's Kong's first appearance; we first sense his presence when we hear footsteps on the soundtrack, then the sound of trees being pushed over, and, finally, a load roar. After all this build up, Kong finally emerges from behind the trees and we (along with poor Ann Darrow) overwhelmed by the sheer size of this gorilla. There's a practically no build up in The Son of Kong, the closest thing we have is when Charlie, the Chinese cook, says to Denham early in the film, "I guess next time you leave big monkey alone, huh." Junior's introduction is fairly unremarkable; Denham and Hilda literally stumble upon him as he struggles to get out of a quicksand. Going by Denham's reaction, he doesn't seem a bit surprised that there is miniature Kong running amuk. It's also extremely odd how the filmmaker choose to introduce Junior from a stylistic stand point; there is a long shot of Denham and Hilda as they climb up an ancient stairwell, then the film cuts to a three way shot of Helstrom, Charlie, and Englehorn as they converse with each other. Helstrom tries to apologizes for leading a mutiny against Englehorn, but Englehorn will have none of it. Then it cuts back to a long shot of the top of the stairwell, with Junior's heading bobbing up and down in the background, the rest of his body obscured by the stairwell.  Denham and Hilda walk into frame and after a few seconds, they finally notice Junior. It's curious how very little build up there is to Denham's discovery of Kong Junior. A more effective way would have had the camera follow Denham and Hilda up the stairs and then have Junior's head pop into frame once they reached the top of the staircase (it's what Ishiro Honda did twenty years later in Godzilla).

The specials effects by Willis O' Brien are, just the like the first film, dated, but incredibly fun and often effective. Practically all of the movie's action is crammed into the film's last half hour; Junior fights not one, but two monsters, a giant bear and a dinosaur-like creature. The interaction between Junior and the actors is extremely well done, and often seamless, in it's execution. When Junior  is battling the giant bear, Denham and Hilda look on from the background. The eye line of the actors perfectly matches the action that is unfolding in the foreground. Of course, the audience is not paying attention to either of the actors in this scene, their eyes are entirely focused on the fight, but it does show that at least the filmmakers put an actual effort into making the film, as opposed to being lazy and coasting on the goodwill of  the predecessor.
While Hilda and Denham have front row tickets to one of the greatest wrestling matches of all time, Englehorn and company get trapped in a cave fissure by a nasty Styracosaurus. Helstrom is extremely cowardly in this scene, trembling in absolute fear while hiding behind Charlie.

The ending is rather abrupt, Denham finds the treasure, Helstrom gets devoured, and all of a sudden an earthquake happens, sinking Skull Island in the process. Englehorn, Charlie, and Hilda row away to safety in a lifeboat, but Denham gets caught, along with Kong, inside a cave. They both scale a cliff to a higher height as the island slowly sinks beneath them. Finally, they have reached the highest peak. Hilda and company spot  Denham and row in his direction. Junior grabs Denham and holds him above the ocean, while he slowly sinks underneath. The row boat arrives just in the nick of time to save Denham, but it's too late for Junior. This scene is almost the inverse of the Empire State Building scene in Kong Kong, in that film Kong sense his death, picks up Ann for one last look and then puts her down, resigning himself to his grizzly fate; he loses his footing and falls to his death. In Son of Kong, grabs Denham and holds him above the ocean until the rowboat comes to his rescue. One death is tragic, the other  is heroic. All of the action I mentioned takes place over the course of FIVE MINUTES! There's nothing earlier  in the film that foreshadows the earthquake, it just unexpectedly happens.

Monster fans tend to whine about the decision to make Junior a friendly ape and are aghast at his comedy routines. It's never bothered me one bit, largely because I went into Son of Kong with relatively low expectations; the only reviews I ever read were negative, so when I saw for the first time in 1993 (age 14) I was pleasantly surprised. Is it a vastly inferior film to it's predecessor? Most definitely! Is it a bad movie? Most definitely NOT! If you catch it in the right frame of mind, it's rather enjoyable (and rather sweet) 70 minutes. Of course, I'm biased as I believe that Helen Mack is one of the most underrated actresses of all time and tend to enjoy practically everything I have seen her in. Not to mention, the sight of Kong Jr. beating the crap out of a giant bear still manages to bring out the child in me.

Credits

Cast: Robert Armstrong (Carl Denham), Helen Mack (Hilda Peterson), Frank Reicher (Captain Englehorn), John Marston (Captain Helstrom), Victor Wong (Charlie), Ed Brady (Bo'sun Red), Lee Kohlmar (Mickey), Noble Johnson (Native Chief), Gertrude Short (Reporter), Kathrin Clare Ward (Mrs. Hudson).

Director: Ernest B. Schoedsack
Screenplay: Ruth Rose
Running Time: 69 min.