From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Son of Kong
Directed by	Ernest B. Schoedsack
Produced by	Ernest B. Schoedsack
Written by	Ruth Rose
Starring	Robert Armstrong Helen Mack Frank Reicher John Marston Victor Wong Edward Brady
Music by	Max Steiner
Distributed by	RKO Radio Pictures, Inc.
Release date(s)	December 22, 1933
Running time	69 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Preceded by	King Kong
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Son of Kong is the sequel to the successful film King Kong.

The story picks up about a month after the dramatic finale of the previous film and follows the further adventures of filmmaker Carl Denham (again played by Robert Armstrong), now implicated in numerous lawsuits following the destruction wrought by Kong. Denham leaves New York with the captain of the "Venture", Captain Englehorn, who is certain it is just a matter of time before he is similarly served. Their efforts to make money shipping cargo around the Orient are less than successful. In the Dutch port of Da Kang, they run into the former skipper who sold Denham the map to Skull Island (Nils Helstrom), who tells them there is a treasure on the island. Blinded by their financial situation, they believe him. In fact, he is lying so they will take him to another jurisdiction, as he has just caused a man's death. Along with a beautiful stow-away girl (Helen Mack), named Hilda (but only in the film's opening credits), who had been part of a traveling show run by her recently deceased father, Helstrom's victim, they return to Skull Island where they meet, befriend, and are ultimately saved by Kong's easygoing albino son Kiko (a name used in production but never spoken in the film). The son of Kong is portrayed as considerably smaller than his famous father, but is still twice the size of a man. The stop motion animation in the film (done by Willis O'Brien who also did the effects in King Kong) is not as extensive as in the original, but is notable for a sequence where a styracosaurus chases the explorers through the jungle. Ultimately, Kiko dies saving Carl Denham, as does every other creature on Skull Island, when an earthquake strikes the island and it sinks into the ocean.

The film was produced and released in 1933, immediately following the success of King Kong, and was a modest success. Script writer Ruth Rose intentionally made no attempt to make a serious film on the logic that it could not surpass the first. She stated "If you can't make it bigger, make it funnier." For his part, Denham's actor, Robert Armstrong, preferred the second film, saying that the sequel offered more character development for Carl Denham.

The script/screenplay featured scenes of tribal warfare and a climatic Dinosaur stampede during the massive Cyclone/Earthquake that sinks Skull Island at the film's end. The stampede was going to utilize the models that had been built for Creation (most being used in the earlier King Kong). However these sequences were never filmed due to the films tight budget and shooting schedule.

At the time of the film's release, albino gorillas were unknown; the first documented albino gorilla was Copito de Nieve, captured in Equatorial Guinea in 1966. Also during the filming of the 2005 King Kong, director Peter Jackson said that he would make his own Son of Kong with the young ape growing up to fight the Nazis. It proved to be an elaborate April Fool's Day joke.

Son of Kong was released on VHS by Nostalgia Merchant in the 1980s and again in 1991 by Turner Home Entertainment.

In 2005, it received a DVD release and was available both by itself and as part of a collector's set alongside King Kong and Mighty Joe Young.

Carl Denham (left), as portrayed by Robert Armstrong with Hilda (Helen Mack) in Son of Kong.

• Robert Armstrong as Carl Denham
• Helen Mack as Hilda
• Frank Reicher as Captain Englehorn
• John Marston as Nils Helstrom
• Victor Wong as Charlie
• Edward Brady as Red
• Noble Johnson as Native Chief (uncredited)
• Steve Clemente as Witch Doctor (uncredited)
• Clarence Wilson as Hilda's father (uncredited)
• Kathrin Clare Ward as Mrs. Hudson (uncredited)

• Kong's son was given the name Kiko by the promotional agencies. This name is never used in the film and he is referred to only as Little Kong.
• The sea beast that appears at the end of the film to devour Nils Helstrom was the same brontosaurus model used for the raft scene in King Kong, only remodeled to look like an underwater carnivor.
• Little Kong used the "long face" Kong armature used in King Kong for the log bridge and tyrannosaur fight sequences. It is the only known model of King Kong still in existence and is currently owned by collector Bob Burns.
• Director Peter Jackson, who remade King Kong in 2005, owns the styracosaurus model from Son of Kong.

• List of stop-motion films

• Official site
• The Son of Kong at the Internet Movie Database