Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Mighty Joe Young (1949)


Mighty Joe Young is an RKO Radio Pictures film made in 1949 by the same creative team responsible for King Kong.

Written by Merian C. Cooper (who provided the story) and Ruth Rose (screenplay), and directed by Ernest B. Schoedsack, it tells the story of a young woman, 'Jill Young', played by Terry Moore, living on her father's farm in Africa, who ends up bringing the title character — a giant ape — to Hollywood. The movie co-stars Ben Johnson, as 'Gregg', in his first major role.

Willis O'Brien, who created the animation for King Kong, was the supervisor of special effects on this film, although by some accounts the majority of the animation was performed by Ray Harryhausen. The models (constructed by Kong's builder Marcel Delgado) and animation are more sophisticated than Kong's, containing more subtle gestures and even some comedic elements, such as one chase scene where Joe is riding in the back of a speeding truck and he spits at his pursuers. Despite this increased technical sophistication, this film, like Kong, features some serious scale issues, with Joe noticeably changing size between many shots. (The title character is not supposed to be as large as Kong - perhaps 10-12 feet tall.) Harryhausen has attributed these lapses to producer Cooper, who insisted Joe appear larger in some scenes for dramatic effect.

The film has become a minor classic, and has an affectionate following. Special effects artists consider it highly influential, with the elaborate orphanage rescue sequence lauded as one of the great stop-motion sequences in film history. It was remade in 1998 with Charlize Theron playing 'Jill Young'. Another remake that takes place around 1949 is in talks.



Plot;

After being taken from his home in Africa, Joe is an instant hit in the Hollywood nightclub "The Golden Safari" (on opening night he wins a tug-of-war with ten real-life strong men, including ex-boxer Primo Carnera, whom he throws into the audience), but the novelty wears off and he is tired and homesick after seventeen weeks of performing. An ill-conceived skit with Jill as an organ-grinder leaves Joe (and Jill) storming off-stage, and, to make matters worse, three drunks sneak backstage and ply Joe with liquor. Intoxicated, he breaks out of his cage and into the club, his rampage turning lions loose and inflicting massive damage. A court orders him shot.

Jill, Gregg, and O'Hara cook up a plan to get Joe out of the country--but on the way to a ship, they stop to rescue children from a burning orphanage, and Joe redeems himself.


Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

No comments:

E-Mail Subscriptions

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

All Movie Categories

Dramas Comedies Romantic Movies Adventure Movies Family Movies Warner Brothers Metro Goldwyn Mayer Musicals Silverscreen War Movies Paramount Pictures United Artists Action Childrens' Movies Historical Movies Columbia Pictures Humphrey Bogart RKO Thrillers Crime Cary Grant Cult Movies Disney Westerns Fantasy Film Noir 1953 1955 Tony Curtis 1954 Animation Billy Wilder Christmas Specials Greta Garbo Jack Lemmon James Mason John Wayne Movie Wallpapers Peter Lorre Tarzan Movies 1946 1951 1956 1958 1959 1961 1967 20th Century Fox ABC Blake Edwards Gregory Peck Mickey Rooney Universal Pictures 1932 1937 1938 1939 1944 1949 Anthony Quinn Argosy Pictures Audrey Hepburn Ben Johnson Charles Bronson David Niven Dean Martin Delmer Daves Grace Kelly Intrigue James Stewart Romance Sad Movies William Holden 1936 1940 1941 1942 1948 1960 1963 1964 1977 1980 Angie Dickinson Burt Reynolds David O. Selznick Deborah Kerr Dennis O'Keefe Detective Movies Elvis Presley Ernst Lubitsch Henry Fonda Herbert Lom Ingrid Bergman Jack Nicholson James Cagney Jerry Lewis John Ford Johnny Weissmuller Judy Garland Katharine Hepburn Kirk Douglas Lauren Bacall Leslie Howard London Film Productions Marlene Dietrich Natalie Wood Peter Sellers Peter Ustinov Robert Strauss Romans Sally Field Science Fiction Stanley Kramer Steve McQueen Virginia Mayo Walter Matthau William Wyler 1915 1930 1931 1933 1934 1943 1945 1947 1957 1965 1966 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1975 1976 1978 1985 1986 1987 ATP Alan Parker Anjelica Huston Anne Rutherford Anthony Quayle Arthur Wontner Basil Rathbone Bela Lugosi Biblical Movies Cesar Romero Charles Laughton Charlotte Rampling Charlton Heston Christopher Lee Christopher Plummer Clark Gable Claude Rains Danny Kaye Darrel F.Zanuck David Bowie Dennis Hopper Dick Van Dyke Donald Pleasance Edmond O'Brien Elizabeth Taylor Elke Sommer First Artists Frank Sinatra Gary Cooper George Bancroft George Peppard George Raft Graham Cutts Greer Garson Horror Movies Howard Hawks Howard Hughes Howard Keel Ian Hunter Ida Lupino Jacques Tourneur James Coburn James Garner JamesMason Jim Henson John Gilbert John Travolta Josef von Sternberg Julie Christie Kathleen Turner Laurence Olivier Lee Marvin Lillian Gish Lionel Barrymore Lloyd Bridges Lon Chaney Jr. Margaret Landon Marilyn Monroe Mark Robson Maureen O'Sullivan Micheal redgrave Mickey Rourke Neil Simon Nigel Bruce Olivia de Havilland Peter Falk Peter Fonda Political Ralph Bakshi Ramon Novarro Raoul Walsh Raymond Massey Richard Attenborough Richard Burton Richard Harris Ricky Nelson Rita Moreno Robert DeNiro Robert Mitchum Robert Taylor Robert Wise Sammy Davis Jr. Shelley Winters Shirley MacClaine Shirley Temple Sidney Poitier Sony Pictures Sophia Loren Susan Hayward Trevor Howard Tri Star Pictures Vivien Leigh Walter Lang Warren Beatty Yul Brynner