King Kong (Modern Library Classics)

I have never been impressed with King Kong on film, but I heard this story read aloud and was floored. So I got the book. The ending is greatly compressed from what we've seen in films, but the heart of this narrative focuses in great detail on what happened on Skull Island. Replete with dinosaur battles and giant man-eating critters from hell, this novelization ventures into brutal territory film-goers missed out on. While the text drags on occasion, there are wonderfully lyrical passages you might not expect, and many gripping action scenes.

What a treat it was to read this 1932 novelization of the classic 1933 film...a book I never even knew existed and, by far, one of my all-time favorite stories of which I enjoyed the both the 1933 and 2005 films choosing to forget the mid ‘70s movie. This novelization is written in the same adventurous storytelling style of Sir. Arthur Conan Doyle’s “The Lost World” and H. Rider Haggard’ Allan Quatermain series. Truly enjoyable and a quick read at less than 160 pages.

When I was a lad, I was told that the movie _King Kong_ (1932) was based upon a novel by Edgar Wallace, the thentime king of the pulp thriller writers. I would sometimes casually look for the novel in bibliographies of Wallace's novels, but I never found it listed. It was only many years later that I discovered the truth: There never was such a novel-- at least, not by Wallace.Wallace _did_ co-author an early screenplay of the movie with Merian C. Cooper, the original creator of _King Kong_. Shortly after turning in the first draft of this screenplay, Wallace died suddenly of pneumonia in 1932. A more complete screenplay was done by James A. Creelman and Ruth Rose. By this time, very little of the Wallace storyline and characters had survived. Delos W. Lovelace was then hired to write the novelization of the movie for the then-princely sum of $600.00. He used various versions of the movie scripts for his raw material, but it is doubtful that he relied very much on any material by Wallace. Unlike most movie novelizations today, the book was released a year _before_ the movie. It was considered to be good publicity.I rather expected to be disappointed when I read Lovelace's version of _King Kong_ (1932). I was pleasantly surprised. Lovelace tells his story in a brisk, no-nonsense style of writing. The action sequences are all well-handled, and the dialogue is snappy (if a touch old-fashioned). The characters are rounded just enough so that we can distinguish them from one another and identify with them. And then there is King Kong. He is one formidable beast:Kong came lumbering up the slope, and at sight of the men on the log roared out and beat his chest. Stopping at a lightning-riven tree he placed Ann's unconscious form in a notch as high up as his great arms could reach and then lunged forward to attack this new enemy so unexpectedly appearing to threaten possession of his bright-haired prize. Still angry from his earlier fight with the tricerotops, he was doubly enraged now by the men. And at the further sight of the three-horned beast charging toward the ravine his rage broke all bounds. (94)Loveless includes one scene in the novel that was cut from the movie on the grounds of being too strong for audience tastes. It is a scene in which Kong hurls hapless sailors to their deaths into a pit filled with giant spiders and lizards. Merian Cooper decided that this scene would be too much of a "show stopper" for audiences of the day after an initial preview. But it seems to work well enough in the book.The ending of the novel is perhaps a little bit _too_ brisk, a little bit _too_ rushed. But all the basic elements are there, including Kong's famous epitaph.I recommend the Modern Library Classics edition, which is handsomely bound and which contains excellent introductory material by Mark Cotta Vaz and Greg Bear. I can't quite bring myself to call the novel a real classic, but it is certainly no time-waster, either. Wallace couldn't have done better if he had written it himself.

Okay,This story is a classic no doubt. But, I was feeling like it was the classic up until the end. The pace is great from the moment the story begins to the most memorable moments on top of the Empire State Building! My only problem is that there was not more time being spent on keeping the excitement going during this gut-wrenching action when Kong is protecting Ann before the DRAMATIC FALL.Our fearless hero Driscoll is Awesome in a "Indiana Jones" way of saving Ann from the clutches of Kong. The somewhat possessive and obsessive Denham, really shows why he is the master of manipulation with everyone and everything during the whole story on his quest to have the ultimate prize to display for his movie company. But obviously he has compassion at times (which are few and far between) which makes him more realistic than your typical antagonist or cowardly bad man.The love and romance that takes place between Driscoll and Ann is warm and touching and quite fun in their attraction to eachother. It reminded me of the great movie "The African Queen". I really felt like I was there with them on this journey all the way through ti' ll we get to the famous and classic scene at the end. It just did not hold much water for me. I actually started to view in my mind the end in the 1976 movie version of the same scene and it was AWESOME and climactic on knowing that Kong was so in touch with his feelings for his blonde beauty that he sacrificed himself with dignity and respect. In the book I did not get enough of that. The surface was only touched when it should have been the jugular!All in all, it is worth reading and worth owning. But just be prepared for a lack-luster ending in my opinion.

I've been wanting to read this book for along time.It's good story,a little dated in the descriptions of the natives.

Good classic movie.

It was great to read this story, I love the movie

As a fan of the original 1933 film version of King Kong, I bought this edition of the book because I liked the cover. The story is very true to the movie. No spoilers here, but a lot of plot holes are filled in by the book. Surprisingly entertaining. Like always, if you liked the film, you will love the book!

Even better than expected - I had owned another copy of just the original story (bought new back in the 1960's) and always enjoyed the story and writing style.My reason for buying this edition was because I wanted it for the additional 'Preface' and 'Introduction'.It is well worth it for these extras alone!Being a long time fan of Edgar Wallace, and recently having the time to explore his work again, the new (to me anyway) information was of great interest.Highly recommended.

Great read

Excellent book. Great service.