The Son of Kong

John Chard

Albino Baby Kong. The Son of Kong is directed by Ernest B. Schoedsack and written by Ruth Rose. It stars Robert Armstrong, Helen Mack, Frank Reicher, John Marston, Victor Wong and Edward Brady. Music is by Max Steiner and cinematography by Edward Linden. The makers wisely realised that to try and emulate King Kong would be folly, especially as this sequel was hurried out within the same year. Instead a more fun approach was taken, and as a result it’s not half bad entertainment as it happens. After the devastation caused to New York by King Kong, lawsuits are abound for Carl Denham (Armstrong). So when he gets the chance to go out on the ocean again with Captain Englehorn (Reicher), he grabs the chance. There’s no plans to go near Skull Island again, but a sequence of events will see them pitch up there, to be met by a myriad of creatures and The Son of Kong. Little Kong is actually friendly, well to the humans he is because he is grateful to their help when he was stuck in quicksand. However, to other beasts of the island he is not so forgiving. For the first 33 minutes it’s all about setting up the action carnage later in the play, characters are introduced, their reasons for being out at sea and etc. Then we get to the island and off we go. Kong scraps with dinosaurs, a bear, lizards and mother nature! The castaways are in the mix as well of course, and naturally they are thrust into a perilous life and death situation. And that’s it, barely 70 minutes have passed by and it’s nigh on impossible not to be smiling come the close. 7/10