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Glossary and Character Taxonomy  Breakdown by Country of Origin   Bibliography   Table of Contents    The Best of the Encyclopedia

King Kong (I). King Kong (I) was created by Merian Cooper and Edgar Wallace (Viola Beech, Brigand, Wireless Bryce, Felix Carfew, Dixon, Elegant Edward, Inspector Elk, Educated Evans, Four Square Jane, Dixon Hawke, Heine, Felix Jenks, Just Men, Larry Loman, Superintendent Minter, Policy Sleuth, Oliver Rater, John G. Reeder, The Ringer, Sanders, York Symon, Tam o’the Scoots, Inspector Wade, Kate Westhanger) and appeared in the film King Kong (1933).

King Kong (I) is a gigantic ape, ten times as tall as a man, who is discovered on the Island of the Mists (a.k.a. “Skull Island”) somewhere in the South Pacific, and is brought to New York City as a circus attraction by showman Carl Denham. Kong breaks free, climbs to the top of the Empire State Building, and is eventually gunned down by several biplanes.

* I'm including King Kong in the Best of the Encyclopedia category because it's a very well-made movie that was fun to watch (then and now) and that was historically important. King Kong was revolutionary at the time because of its special effects, and some of those sfx shots continue to be remarkable in the 2020s. The premise for the film's story is simple but brilliant, and every scene with Kong is a winner. King Kong was influential, to a greater or lesser degree, on every large monster movie which followed it, American and Japanese, and Willis O'Brien's stop-motion animation influenced countless filmmakers. Most of all, the film is just plain fun to watch; plunk a kid of the right age in front of the movie screen and show them Kong, and they'll be enraptured just like the adults around them are. 

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