AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Zandra The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

O2D I want to start by saying that this movie came to my attention because of Ray Harryhausen, not because of the 90s remake.I didn't even know about the remake until after I discovered this. Anyway, I had to try three times before I could make it past the first scene.It's so unrealistic and filled with bad acting that I kept rewinding and couldn't make it any further.For some reason a little white girl lives in the African jungle and her father leaves her alone all day, already off to a bad start.Of course the girl doesn't have a mother, children in old movies never do.Two savages walk past the house carrying a small basket on a large stick.The basket contains a monkey but that doesn't even matter.Why would it take two of them to carry the basket?It could have easily been carried in one hand.And why do they wear diapers?So the girl runs out to stop them and see what they have and here's where any sign of reality goes out the window.She wants to buy the monkey and runs back in the house to get jewels. Even though they don't speak English, they seem to understand everything she says.They turn down the deal of jewels for the monkey and turnaround, heading back in the direction they came from.WHAT??!?!?Then she adds a flashlight to the deal and they immediately agree!WHAT??!?!I guess they know where to get batteries in the 1940s jungle.But the real shocker is that the savages don't rape, murder or kidnap the little girl.Which is mind blowing.I don't see how anyone could ever watch this movie.

Mark M The director of this film was the same who directed king kong (1933), and it kinda shows. there are no dinosaurs but there is an unrealistically large gorilla. It's not a giant but ya know it's...a gorilla. OK it not that great. its basically the whole let wild things be wild, theme. the big ape is forced to perform on stage and suffers for it. human greed comes at the price of natural innocent things. for those who want to see some destruction(like me ) there is a scene later on where joe goes bananas. since it only there to progress the story to the climax, and they could have simply had the ape pick up a child and get the same result, mindless destruction seems to be the best route.

Jackson Booth-Millard I had already seen the 1998 Disney remake with Charlize Theron and Bill Paxton, so I had a rough idea what to expect with this black and white original version, directed by Ernest B. Schoedsack (King Kong). Basically in 1937 Tanganyika Territory, Africa, eight-year- old Jill Young (Lora Lee Michel) lives with her father John Young (Regis Toomey) on his ranch, she and two Africans come across an orphaned baby gorilla, Jill really wants a pet, her father allows her to care for for the gorilla. Twelve years later, talkative and persuasive promoter Max O'Hara (Robert Armstrong) with his sidekick, Oklahoma cowboy Gregg (Ben Johnson), are on a trip to Africa looking for new animal attractions to headline O'Hara's new Hollywood nightclub. They capture several lions and prepare to leave, but then out of the blue they see a huge 12 foot gorilla, they try to capture the creature, but are stopped when now teenage Jill Young (Terry Moore) rescues them from the beast harming them. Jill explains about her connection with the gorilla, named Joseph "Joe" Young , Gregg is smitten with ill, while Max seduces her with the thought of a fancy life, fame and fortune if she signs a contract for her and Joe to come with them and become the star attraction of his nightclub. A short time later, back in Hollywood, the nightclub opens and Joe makes his stage debut, with Jill by his side to keep him calm, the audience reaction is staggering and Joe's popularity grows, but the high life is not quite what Jill pictured. Jill realises that Joe is unhappy and asks Max to arrange her return to Africa, he does persuade to stay a little longer in show business, but three alcoholic customers give booze to Joe, causing him to rage and break out of his holding cage in a violent temper. Joe is sentenced by the justice to be destroyed, Jill, Max and Gregg do everything possible to find him before the authorities, it comes to a point when Joe reaches an orphanage that gets set on fire, he rescues some of the children and appears to be harmed, but in the end he is safe and sound, and returns to Africa with Jane, and Gregg joins them, they send a goodbye message to Max. Also starring Frank McHugh as Windy, Douglas Fowley as Jones, Denis Green as Crawford, Paul Guilfoyle as Smith and Nestor Paiva as Brown. The story is a obviously a variation on the King Kong tale, made much more schmaltzy, but it does have the fantastic work of stop- motion animation genius Ray Harryhausen to create the giant gorilla and his movements, all in all I prefer the remake, but this classic original is an alright fantasy adventure. It won the Oscar for Best Effects, Special Effects. Worth watching!

Spikeopath Unfairly chastised in some quarters for being a kiddie friendly King Kong, Mighty Joe Young is as charming as an Autumnal day. Many of the team from King Kong reteam to make this film, and undoubtedly it's pretty much the same plotting only with a different resolution.However, the effects work is still magical, harking back to a time when geniuses like Willis O'Brien and Ray Harryhausen sweated buckets to make the magic move on the screen. Mighty Joe, the huge Gorilla of the title, is beautifully realised, full of expressions and emotions, he even has time for some sense of humour traits.Action is never far away, with models and sets destroyed with brute force, while plenty of beings get flung about to emphasise the madness of it all. Narratively like Kong there's still themes of greed and ignorance, the tampering with Mother Nature a big mistake, which all leads to a thrilling finale that in turn leads to something to savour.Kiddie Kong? Who cares! A wonderful film of skill and guile, of charm and brains. Go Joe Go! 8/10