King Kong / It's A Wonderful Life

It's clear from watching "King Kong" and researching the production, Peter Jackson loves making movies. Yes, he was paid $200 million to direct it (oh yeah, that's a record), but I get the feeling he'd be pretty happy with $670,000 and an 18 inch model of Kong, like they had in the original 1933 version. One of the reasons I get that feeling is because as director, co-producer, and co-screenwriter, he takes a lot of time to toss in film-geek references to the original. When the shady film director Carl Denham (played by Jack Black) proposes a foolhardy shoot at the notorious Skull Island, he runs through a list of possible lead actresses. He mentions the greats of the day, Clara Bow, Mae West, and when his assistant mentions Fay Wray (the actress from the RKO-produced 1933 version), he says, "Nah, she's doin' a picture for RKO."

Another sneaky plug occurs when there is a car chase through Times Square. Watch for the billboard ad with the old Universal logo, the company who produced the new version. As well, those of us who resolutely sit through all the credits will have noticed that one of the gunners for the bi-planes in the climatic final scene was Peter Jackson himself- the 1933 film's co-directors also manned one of the planes in their version. According to folklore, director Merian C. Cooper said "we should kill the sonofabitch ourselves".

And look out for the scene with the valley of spiders and other creeping horrors- it was too frightening for the audiences of seventy years ago, so it was cut out- Jackson restores it and uses all his SFX powers to give us the shivers. And by the way, since everyone will ask, the special effects were fantastic. If you feel you can't survive another day without seeing what it would be like to run alongside stampeding brontosauruses or watch a 25 foot ape battle three Tyrannosaurus Rexes while falling off a cliff, look no further. I was more impressed by the look of Times Square in the thirties in a blizzard, and the view from the Empire State building at sunrise-but that's a personal preference.

The most major deviation from the original story is the fleshing out of the screenwriter's character, played by Adrien Brody. He emerges as the heroic leading man when everyone else is either looking to save themselves or, in the case of the director, to make a buck. I loved the scene that illuminates the plight of the hard-working Hollywood writer- when the ship that is sailing to their location runs out of bunks, the writer is forced to work in a cage usually reserved for monkeys. But, as he says, he writes out of love of the art. He also risks his life to save Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts) several times; although she was so ditzy I sometimes wondered why he bothered. (I'm probably just jealous because I think Adrien Brody's the greatest thing since sliced bread).

Another film that shows the importance of placing personal relationships over financial success is that timeless classic, "It's a Wonderful Life". Why that film bombed so badly in 1946, I may never know. But it still brings a tear to my eye to watch George Baileys' struggle to do the right thing, even at great personal cost. Is there a better line than when Harry Bailey says, "A toast to my big brother George: The richest man in town!"? I don't think so. I'm pretty sure that even if Peter Jackson lost all of his money today, he'd still feel like the richest man in town after getting to re-make this film.
Selina frequents movie theatres and video stores so often that she is often misateken for an employee. She actually works at the Epcor Centre and also organizes a monthly performance event. For details, go to http://spaces.msn.com/members/redmilerevenge/. Please send questions, comments and offers of fame and fortune to sechebib@gmail.com.