Blu-Ray News #401: King Kong (1933).

Directed by Merian C. Cooper & Ernest B. Schoedsack
Starring Fay Wray, Robert Armstrong, Bruce Cabot

I’ve seen King Kong (1933) countless times, and it never ceases to knock me out. If there’s any single film that demonstrated to the world what the movies were capable of, it has to be this one. We can thank Mr. Willis O’Brien for that.
Warner Archive is bringing this incredible film back to Blu-Ray. This is the way you need to see it — unless it hits your local theater in 35mm (don’t hold your breath). Essential.

My movie-geek advice: watch this one and The Most Dangerous Game (1932) as a double feature. Same sets, much of the same cast, both terrific!

DVD News #211: The Giant Behemoth (1957).

Directed by Eugène Lourié & Douglas Hickox
Starring Gene Evans, André Morell, John Turner, Leigh Madison, Jack MacGowran

Lately, Warner Archive has really become Monsterville USA, turning old horror and sci-fi pictures into their main industry. An industry we should all support to the best of our financial ability.

Their latest announcement for Blu-Ray is The Giant Behemoth, an UK-USA tag team monster movie from 1959. It’s a complete ripoff of The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms (1953), done by some of the same people. The actors were shot in England, and the stop-motion dinosaur stuff was overseen in LA by none other than the great Willis O’Brien. O’Brien was a technical genius, of course, but he was evidently a terrible negotiator — for his later films, the arrangements he worked under were ridiculous. For The Giant Behemoth, there was little money to work with, and some of the effects works was contracted out, limiting O’Brien’s actual influence on the finished product.

But for lovers of these old things, that hardly matters. It’s got a stop-motion monster tearing things up — presented in high definition B&W widescreen. Highly recommended.