King Kong, the Original

I could talk about Shadow of a Doubt for a while, but the DVD was screwy and I didn't get to finish. But it looked good from what I got to see. Big fan of Joseph Cotten. Teresa Wright is great on screen as well. So on to the original Great Ape, whose tale comes in at 43 on the AFI list.

Fay Wray is the damsel in distress, and what a great name: Fay Wray. Besides being about 90 minutes shorter, there are some other differences between the original and most recent, many of them related to special effects. In the original the love interest Jack Driscoll is a member of the ship's crew, not the writer of the script. No additional actor to co-star with Ann Darrow. The newer one adds a lot more beasties and uglies. More dinosaurs. More creepy-crawlies. More slimy, slithering nightmares. And good for Peter Jackson. You've got the technology, this is what you do. Go for it. There's no mentor-pupil duo between crew members in the original, either.

There's a truckload of action and violence in the new one, but I was actually surprised at how much there was in the original. Kong fights a T-Rexish dinosaur, a giant snake, a pterosaur-like flying thing, and chews up villagers, crew members, and New Yorkers. They spent a good deal of time on this sort of thing. It all looks like stop-motion/claymation stuff to me, but I could be wrong. But for 1933, it seems like it must've been really incredible. (1933 also gave us A Farewell to Arms, Litte Women, and The Private Life of Henry VIII. None of which I've seen. But I did read Farewell to Arms and Little Women) I can't think of a particular reason to watch it, unless you're just curious.

Maria Sharapova is playing Justine Henin-Hardenne right now. A banger versus a crafter. JHH's skill and technique versus MS's grunting power. And JHH can bring it when she has to from a power standpoint, as well. What a fantastic-looking backhand she's got. Will her quickness and technique prevail over Sharapova's hammer style? Stay tuned.