Son of Kong | |
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theatrical release poster
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Directed by | Ernest B. Schoedsack |
Produced by | Ernest B. Schoedsack |
Screenplay by | Ruth Rose |
Starring |
Robert Armstrong Helen Mack Frank Reicher John Marston Victor Wong Edward Brady |
Music by | Max Steiner |
Cinematography | Edward Linden |
Edited by | Ted Cheesman |
Production
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Distributed by | RKO Radio Pictures |
Release date
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Running time
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69 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $269,000 |
Box office | $616,000 |
Son of Kong is a 1933 American Pre-Code adventure monster film produced by RKO Pictures. Directed by Ernest Schoedsack and featuring special effects by Buzz Gibson and Willis O'Brien, the film starred Robert Armstrong, Helen Mack and Frank Reicher. This film is the lesser known sequel to King Kong, and was released just nine months after its predecessor.
The story picks up about a month after the dramatic finale of the previous film and follows the further adventures of filmmaker Carl Denham, now implicated in numerous lawsuits following the destruction wrought by Kong. Carl Denham leaves New York City 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 Dakang, Carl Denham is amused to see there's a "show" being presented, so he and Captain Englehorn attend. It turns out to be a series of performing monkeys, capped by a song ("Runaway Blues") sung by a young woman named Hilda Petersen.
That night, Hilda's father, who runs the show, stays up drinking with a Norwegian skipper named Nils Helstrom, who had lost his ship under questionable circumstances. The two men fight and Hilda's father is killed, their tent burns down and Hilda releases all the monkeys. Carl Denham and Englehorn run into Helstrom, who was the man that sold Carl Denham the map to Kong's Island, and he convinces the two that there was a treasure on the island. Carl Denham and Captain Englehorn agree to go back and try to retrieve it. Later, Denham meets Hilda while she is trying to recapture her monkeys and tries to cheer her up. Despite her pleas, Carl Denham refuses to take her with him when he leaves Dakang. Shortly after they put out to sea, however, Hilda is found stowing away on board.