King Kong: Collector's Edition - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

King Kong: Collector's Edition



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras: :
Final Score:


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Movie
Back before Kong was a giant titan swinging a Godzilla radiation infused axe, he was once a tragic figure. A symbol of man’s hubris in believing that they could take something so awe inspiring and powerful as animal nature, and bend EVERYTHING to our will. It was a sad tale of a gigantic ape with some of the characteristics of humans being ripped from his jungle throne, paraded across the nation for human greed, then when humankind reaps the whirlwind of what they have sewn, they end up destroying it in order to cover up their mistakes.

1976’s King Kong was supposed to be a massive hit. Producer Dino De Laurentis desired to make a film that would be THE film of 1976, going so far as to introduce a publicity campaign a year before the theatrical release and kept said publicity campaign going all year. It was hyped up beyond the levels of what a new Star Wars movie would be today, only for the end result to be a film that, while good, just couldn’t live up to the hype machine. The movie remade the original 1933 classic with updated villains and heroes, with even more gigantic spectacles to enjoy (well, for the 1970s, as today the animatronics and man in a suit doesn’t feel as epic, nor as awe inspiring), and for the most part is a rather faithful reproduction of the 1933 film.

Fred (Charles Grodin, who will always be the dad in the Beethoven movies to me) is an executive for Petrox oil, desperate for a giant oil discovery that will make him and Petrox millions of dollars in profit, and he thinks he’s found it. After bribing and stealing information from hidden government sources, he has found the location of a hidden island out in the ocean. An island that has a permanent fog barrier around it that he believes is the off gassing of a giant oil field found on said island. With all the resources that Petrox has to offer, Fred is going out there to make his proverbial fortune before Exxon and the rest of the oil companies find out what he’s got. Along for the ride is a paleontologist named Jack (a 27 year old Jeff Bridges) who has differing views on what is causing the fog blanket, and before they know it, a rescued survivor of a downed cruise ship by the name of Dwan (Jessica Lange in her first role) is along for the ride as well.

When they reach the island Fred, Dwan and Jack soon find out that the island isn’t uninhabited like they thought. They run into a MASSIVE ancient wall meant to keep something VERY large out, and protect the indigenous tribe inside safe. After getting abducted by the curious natives, Dwan soon finds out just what exactly the natives were keeping out when she’s given as a sacrifice to the being. Yup, you guessed it. A gigantic 50 foot gorilla they have dubbed Kong. It turns out that Gentlemen are not the only thing that prefers blondes, as Kong takes his “sacrifice” back to his cave and becomes “infatuated” with the blonde haired beauty. However, mankind has more plans for the gigantic ape, especially when Fred comes to find out that there is no viable oil source on the island. Furious and desperate to scavenge his reputation, Fred and the crew of the Icarus capture Kong himself, intent on bringing the giant ape back to the U.S.A. where they can exploit him for profit.

The 1976 film is a bit of an odd film, and one that has a rather strange style to it due to the directorial choice of John Guillermin. Most notably because he’s not the director most would have chosen. However, Guillermin does wonders with scale and costumes to recreate the mythos of Kong. Being that he was the man behind The Towering Inferno, the director manages to create a sense of dread and massive scale to the giant ape. Most of the time we see Kong as a man in a suit (played by Rick Baker), but they also made use of a mechanical ape arm set, as well as animatronics with an actual mechanical ape (seen only once near the end).

Villains are a bit conflicted and shaky, with some making perfect sense (Fred, who is a megalomaniac intent on wealth) while others are more awkward. Take for example Jack. He’s a naturalist who wants to get between Fred’s lust for power and Kong, but soon falls prey to greed and corporatism for about 1/3rd of the movie. A move which just seems awkward and unnatural. Probably the stand out performance is Jessica Lange (in her first roll) as she gains a sort of camaraderie and sense of love for the gigantic ape throughout the film. Their “romance” (as one would have it) has always been the central focus of the tale, and this one does a great job of bringing it to life.




Rating:

Rated PG by the MPAA




Video:

Scream Factory supposedly used a new 2K master for the film, but since I haven’t seen the 1976 King Kong anywhere but on a 4x3 TV YEARS ago, I have no idea how good it looks compared to the DVD. Whatever the comparison, the 2.39:1 framed film looks good enough on Blu-ray, with a heavily grainy picture that tends to play “oh it’s sharp” and then “ooooo, it’s rather over soft” the next with its clarity. The colors lean towards the ruddy red/orange end of the spectrum for skin tones, and colors themselves can be a bit muted when on Skull Island. Facial hair is usually great in terms of fine detailing, but sometimes the optical effects used for Kong (such as the green screen cutouts) look a bit overly obvious. Source is in good condition for the most part, with only a few vertical lines to really hamper it.

The extras make it known that the extended broadcast TV cut needed to be spliced in with some older sources, and that the opening of the 4x3 framing meant for TV (for the added content) sometimes has unintended people and items in the frame (since those scenes weren’t framed for the theatrical release), and have varying degrees of quality. However, most of the scenes are about the same quality as the theatrical release, with a few looking better, and a few worse, making the extended cut a wash in the end when it comes to visuals.






Audio:

The 5.1 DTS-HD MA track for the main mix is a better result than the video, giving us a robust and energetic mix with a powerful score. The action itself, as well as the dialog stay heavily up in the front of the room, but the orchestral score for the film really opens up the soundstage. The same can be said for the end battle atop the giant skyscraper, as the helicopters and minigun fire adds some dimensionality to the mix. Dialog is crisp and clear for the most part (although there’s a few muffled conversations), and sound effects are distinct and noticeable in their directionality. LFE is a solid, but never great, and we also have the pleasure of a newly remastered 2.0 stereo track (not just a downmix of the 5.1). I noticed that when comparing it to the 5.1 mix it seems to have a more spacious and wider sound stage up front, just without the surround usage and LFE support that the score provides in the 5.1 mix (personally, I actually liked the stereo mix a bit better, as it feels more balanced)






Extras:

DISC 1: Theatrical Cut

• NEW Audio Commentary with film historian Ray Morton (author of KING KONG – THE HISTORY OF A MOVIE ICON)
• NEW Audio interview with special makeup effects wizard Rick Baker
• NEW Something’s Haywire – an interview with actor Jack O’Halloran
• NEW On the Top of the World - an interview with assistant director David McGiffert and production manager Brian Frankish
• NEW Maybe in their Wildest Dreams – an interview with sculptor Jack Varner
• NEW There’s A Fog Bank Out There – an interview with second unit director William Kronick
• NEW From Space to Apes - an interview with photographic effects assistant Barry Nolan
• NEW When the Monkey Dies, Everybody Cries – an interview with production assistants Jeffrey Chernov and Scott Thaler
• Audio: DTS-HD 5.1 and NEW restored theatrical DTS-HD 2.0 stereo track
• Theatrical Trailer
• TV Spots
• Radio Spots
• Still Galleries – posters, lobby cards, behind-the-scenes photos

DISC 2: Extended TV Broadcast Cut

• NEW 2K scan of the additional TV footage from the internegative
• KING KONG panel discussion from the Aero Theater (2016)

Final Score: ​

King Kong 1976 is a solid film filled with good performances, but is not up their with top tier Kong movies in my opinion (although a VERY solid effort). But no matter if you love or hate the film, it’s obvious that Scream Factory went out of their way to make a stellar release. Not only do we get the theatrical film, but also the 3+ hour TV cut, a whole host of new extras, and some pretty snazzy cover art, bringing in the meaning of the word “collector’s Edition”. Solid Watch.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Jeff Bridges, Charles Grodin, Jessica Lange, John Randolph, Rene Auberjonois, Jack O'Halloran
Directed by: John Guillermin
Written by: James Ashmore Creelman (Based on the 1933 Screenplay), Ruth Rose (based on the 1933 screenplay), Lorenzo Semple Jr
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, English DTS-HD MA 2.0
Subtitles: English SDH
Studio: Scream Factory
Rated: PG
Runtime: 134 Minutes (Theatrical) / 192 minutes (Extended TV Cut)
Blu-ray Release Date: May 11th 2021

Recommendation: Solid Watch

 

[Sonnie Parker]

Always a big fan of Kong movies... although this one is a bit on the aged side.

Images did not show up via email on this review.

 

[Asere]

My favorite because it's nostalgic and does not have all the crazy special effects like most modern films. I used to watch it over and over on cable growing up.

 

[Michael Scott]

Always a big fan of Kong movies... although this one is a bit on the aged side.

Images did not show up via email on this review.

Yep I had to adjust the photos after I posted the original post. So the pictures probably wouldn't have gone with the emails since I edited them afterwards

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. I am also fan of King Kong so will check it out.