Episode description

As with all episodes of this podcast there are spoilers ahead!

For full detailed shownotes (without character limits) you can choose the episode on the watch page here.

I would love for you to join in by watching the film King Kong here.

Description:
In early March 1933 the US welcomed Franklin D Roosevelt as their 32nd president. The longest lasting presidency in US history.

That same weekend the original King Kong opened in theatres in New York. The huge ape was a big success and continues to wow audiences almost a century later.

Although I have many dear friends and family members who adore this creature I have never been enraptured by him. I wanted to find two experts who really had love of this film as well as the knowledge and insight that would put the movie into context.

The Experts
Mark Bould is a professor of Film and Literature at the University of West England, Bristol. He has written/edited multiple books on science fiction and the 1933 King Kong is one of his favourite films.

Peter Conolly Smith is an Associate Professor of History at Queens College, CUNY. He specialises in American studies and also considers King Kong as one of his favourite films. 

Chapters

00:00 My reading plans, a big thank you intro
00:46 Introduction
02:00 Why Mark loves the film
03:40 Why Peter loves the film
06:57 The meaning and relevance of pre-code films
09:25 The great travelling filmmaking adventurers
13:06 The Depression Era as King Kong
19:28 Racism: inherent and the allegory
27:32 The Scottsboro Boys trial
30:28 Beauty and the Beast: the contamination of civilization
36:08 Boyish adventure!
39:04 Groundbreaking special effects
41:53 The humanisation of Kong
43:26 The legacy: Kong, Kaiju and Jurassic Park
50:39 Conclusions
51:10 Recommendations for listeners

NEXT EPISODE!
The next film we'll be speaking about it The Invisible Man. You can watch it here.