Legends and Monsters
Fay Wray has died at 96. From the NY Times obit:
Over the years, Miss Wray said, she came to feel that Kong had "become a spiritual thing to many people, including me."I've already referenced my previous experience as a child today and I don't want to make it a habit. But if you were a kid in the 60's before VCR's, you kept your eye out for a King Kong listing in TV Guide. For me it was that, and for some reason, The Giant Behomoth. The IMDB entry for that movie:
"Although he had tremendous strength and power to destroy, some kind of instinct made him appreciate what he saw as beautiful," she said in a 1993 interview. "Just before he dies, he reaches toward me, but can't quite reach. The movie affects males of all ages. Recently, a 6-year-old boy said to me, `I've been waiting to meet you for half my life.'"
Director Eugene Lorie (along with co-director Douglas Hickox) attempted to repeat the succes of Lourie's earlier hit, `Beast from 20,000 Fathoms'. To a small degree they succeeded with this English-made sci-fi thriller about a four footed, amphibious dinosaur on the loose in London.Heh. And I don't remember "Beast from 20,000 Fathoms" at all. Shows you what I know.
The basic similatities between `Beast from 20,000 Fathoms' and `The Giant Behemoth' are by no means coincidental, since Eugene Lourie not only directed but wrote the screen play for `Behemoth'.
The animation is the best non-Harryhausen work done during the 1950s (with the exception of `The Black Scorpion'). The model is detailed and well designed (unlike those in `The Lost Continent' and `Dinosaurus').
Willis O'Brien (King Kong's creator) did much of the animation, although reports say he was rushed to get it finished. The results, however, are still enjoyable for fans of stop motion. Admittedly the monster looks pretty silly when it swims underwater -- but the minisub they send down after the monster is even sillier, so forget about taking THAT part too seriously.
Oh -- and I forgot Mighty Joe Young, which was right up there too.