Has a running commentary on the film by ronald haver is included on the second audio track and can be listened to seperately while watching the film. This is why certain older videodisc players, which predate the digital audio standard, are only able to play back analogue tracks with audio commentary. I dont have many laserdiscs with audio commentaries which was a nice feature to me many laserdisc moonsago. Im going to take you on a lecture tour of king kong as you watch the film. In terms of the cohesive, crisp storyline, and vivid descriptions, king kong is better than the land time forgot. Nov 02, 2018 and the original 1933 king kong laserdisc features the first ever film commentary, which was called an audio essay at the time. One cannot help but be frightened by kongs uncontrollable fury, be saddened over the giants capture, mistreatment, and exploitation by venal showmen, or sympathize with the beasts illfated affection for the downonherluck starlet ann darrow. Disney and james bond and whoever else can try to pretend that a movie didnt feature outrageously large mermaid breasts or outright misogyny, but the laserdisc is a witness. Andy serkis, who provided the body movements for gollum in peter jacksons lord of the rings pictures, performed similar duties on king kong, studying gorillas so he could mimic their actions, which were then used as the basis for the specialeffects crews digital animation of the great ape. Sep 16, 2017 in 1985, image entertainment released king kong 1933 on the laserdisc format, with an audio commentary provided by film historian and soundtrack producer paul mandell.
Cooper trailer gallery play all king kong 1933 son of kong 1933 flying down to rio 1933 fort apache 1948 3 godfathers 1948 mighty joe young 1949 she wore a yellow ribbon 1949. It was the first film to be released in both of new york citys largest theaters and sell out four days straight, the first film to ever see a rerelease and the first to ever have a commentary track on laserdisc. Sep 18, 1992 the even weirder kong box features something that turner home entertainment is calling an innovative commemorative embedment featuring three sequential 35 mm frames from king kong. Gerard genettes model of the paratext the printed codex or book. Godzilla so that hed be large enough to properly battle the 164 foot godzilla, and he was reduced to about 66 feet for king kong escapes, but neither of these films take place within the same continuity as each other or the original.
I think the film even has a message, and it isnt that beauty killed the beast. Laserdiscs are dyingheres why that matters electric. An exploration king kong is on many lists of the top 100 films of alltime, including time, rotten tomatoes, american film institute and others. King kong is captured on a remote island and taken to new york, where he escapes and climbs the empire state building.
The criterion collection release of the film includes commentary. King kong of skull island contains the long awaited expansion of joe devitos original creation, skull island. King kong in theaters tcm primetime host ben mankiewicz will offer insight and commentary on one of this influential film starring fay wray, robert armstrong, and bruce cabot, as well as the. I did once hear havers singin in the rain commentary on the alternate audio channel during a tcm broadcast instead of the audio descriptive track they now use. Laserdisc s support for multiple audio tracks allowed for vast supplemental materials to be included on disc and made it the first available format for special edition releases. The release of the 1984 criterion collection laserdisc edition of king kong, however. A new godzilla box set includes alternate versions of the american version of the original movie, godzilla, king of the monsters or two different versions of king kong vs. This information is for the laserdisc release, not a dvd release. Hello ladies and gentlemen, im ronald haver, and i m.
It is obvious the people who contributed to this set truly love this seminal offering, and this sentiment clearly flows throughout both discs. King kong is about a group of people and filmmakers traveling to an infamous place called skull island. It is far superior for a film buff than the commentary presently on that commercial bluray release, so i suspect the same is true of his king kong commentary. King kong s reputation in some circles as a racist and sexist commentary abound today. Lovelace in 1932 at the request of his friend merian c. Infinity 1996 laserdisc audio commentary with directorstar matthew broderick and writer patricia broderick. King kong was also, somewhat controversially, colorized in the late 1980s for television. Mar 06, 2017 and well start with the movie that gave us our first glimpse at the eighth wonder of the world. Dec 11, 2005 the myths and men behind king kong merian cooper and ernest schoedsack were anthropologists who followed ancient cultures with their cameras.
King kong by christopher golden and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at. Laserdisc database view topic laserdisc commentaries. Unemployed manhattanite ann darrow says yes to a guy with a great line no funny. The unbearable sadness of the audio commentary track. King kong is a work of geniusactually three geniuses. Ronald haver january 14, 1939 may 18, 1993 was a film historian, preservationist and. Ann darrow represents a white womans rape fantasies of being taken by a superior, wellmuscled. Although its a novelization, this book is an accomplishment unto itself. The audio commentaries on laserdiscs were typically encoded on secondary analog tracks.
According to jeff rovins 19931994 edition of the laserdisc film guide, the criterion edition of king kong was made from a source cobbled together from various prints to get the best overall image available at the time but there isnt a shot in these editions that can touch the turner disc, which was made from a recently discovered 35mm. Jul 03, 2017 on 1st december 1984, the criterion collection released king kong 1933 on the laserdisc format, with the worlds first audio commentary then called a lecture track provided by film historian. King kong 60th anniversary boxed set so what do these lavish boxes get you. King kong 1933 criterion commentary original trilogy.
Well, okay, two wonderful movies that really do deserve the classic label. Kong s size in later movies is also not consistent. Okay, ill look into it, although according to this site, the commentary does not involve keith david as kurt russell and john carpenter are only given credit for it. King kong 1932 novelization wikizilla, the kaiju encyclopedia. King kong 1933 with criterion commentary by ronald haver. The movie itself does not say when as on the commentary track of the lion king laserdisc and dvd releases, the filmmakers stated that they. The wall, all cowritten by joe devito and brad strickland.
Long live the king october 27, 2019 this wednesday, october 30th, join us for a very special screening of the original classic 1931 king kong at the rooftop cinema club in hollywood. Cooper and several of the other principles and has a lot of great stories about the film. Nov 22, 2005 warners twodisc special edition of king kong is worth the buildup, as the picture looks better than ever before and the second disc contains upwards of three hours of quality extras including a genuine surprise from new zealand. Feb, 2017 king kong had firsts both in front of, and behind, the camera. A novelization of the screenplay actually appeared in 1932, a year before the film, adapted by newspaper reporter and writer delos w. King kong 1933 image laserdisc audio commentary with film historian paul mandell. Beneath king kongs cultural significance, however, is a tense and surprisingly tender story. Dec 12, 2005 the result is a surprisingly involving and rather beautiful movie one that will appeal strongly to the primary action audience, and also cross over to people who have no plans to see king kong but will change their minds the more they hear. Their dramatic experiences as documentary filmmakers.
As a fan of the original 1933 film version of king kong, i bought this edition of the book because i liked the cover. The laserdisc technology offers us this opportunity and we feel its rather. Schoedsack, fay wray, robert armstrong, bruce cabot, willis h. It has the distinction of being the first commentary ever published with a home video, opening with the lines, hello ladies and gentlemen, im ronald haver, and im here to do something that we feel is rather unique. Laserdisc king kong 1933 version the criterion collection with fay wray, robert armstrong, bruce cabot, frank reicher, sam hardy, a david o. King kong 1933 film ultimate pop culture wiki fandom. When searching for laserdisc movies for sale, check the full listing or the picture of the laserdisc sleeve to see what type of special features come with the movie. Cooper, king kong of skull island opens with the denham diaries, followed by a novel in two parts. An audio commentary is an additional audio track, usually digital, consisting of a lecture or. What other famous commentary tracks didnt make it dvd. King kong by christopher golden goodreads share book. Since today is the 83rd anniversary of the original king kongs. The glue used to bind laserdiscs is breaking down, but they cant disappear. For king kongs 1985 release on laserdisc via the criterion collection, film historian ronald haver recorded whats considered the firstever commentary track for a home video release.
The kong one talks about son of kong, mighty joe young. Willis obrien, who created and supervised the films unsurpassed special effects. Obrien, murray spivack, max steiner my own commentary track to the original 1933 classic king kong. The criterion laserdisc preservation thread original trilogy. This is a laserdisc audio capture of ronald havers commentary for merian c. Ronald haver king kong commentary home theater forum. Some people believe a rumor going around that a 25 ft ape roams the island. The commentary is slow and literary in a way that film commentary never is anymore, and its never been rereleased. Even the episodic the lost world was dramatically flat, but kong adds a weird romance angle that makes everything work. King kong is the exact opposite of the drearilyplotted proposed film creation detailed on one of the lengthy featurettes on this new disc. It was a whole monsters series by thorne where he summarized the film, talked about how it was made, talked about its legacy. His novel, nothing too original, is available now for kindle and. Cooper based on coopers thenupcoming film king kong to serve as part of the films advertising. The long oop dvd said it had the commentary, but it totally didnt.
King kong 1933 with paul mandells commentary youtube. Exclusively endorsed by the estate of the creator of king kong, merian c. King kong by peter jackson naomi watts, jack black, adrien. King kong 1933 film wikimili, the best wikipedia reader. Haver was also involved with second audio commentary tracks for many criterion collection laserdisc releases such as the original king kong and the wizard of oz. Generally thought of as a monster movie not difficult to understand when your title character is a 50foottall gorilla with a habit of killing people who get in his way, king kong is actually an oldfashioned adventure story on the grand scale, complete with fearless hunters in search of uncharted islands, angry natives appeasing their god, damsels in distress, and a dashing hero on hand to save said damsel. See king kong in theaters for the first time in nearly 65. Miss ann darrow, the beautiful young lady that kong captures, bears more than a passing resemblance to marilyn monroe, and the book perfectly captures the time period. The first ever commentary track was recorded on laserdisc, for the 1984 release of king kong cinematically released in 1933. On 1st december 1984, the criterion collection released king kong 1933 on the laserdisc format, with the worlds first audio commentary then called a lecture track provided by film historian. With its only significant shortfall being a noticeably weaker commentary track compared to earlier versions on laserdisc, this king kong is an easy choice to make for fans of special effects and fantasy. In 1984, king kong was one of the first films to be released on laserdisc by the criterion collection, and was the very first movie to have an audio commentary track included. The 1933 original had a ton of writers as is pretty typical in hollywood but the last writer to work on it, the one who defined it, the one who wrote the words we ultimately hear, was a woman named ruth rose because of course she would have a cool comic book name. Dvd talk ld commentary tracks not ported over to dvd.
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