As much as one likes to avoid clichés, this film invites -- almost demands -- one to remark that Kong Jr may be a chimp off the old block but he's not the man his father was. Churned out quickly in the aftermath of the success of KING KONG earlier the same year, SON OF KONG suffers from the obvious problems that afflict many sequels: the story feels like a contrived attempt to rehash what worked before. Perhaps sensing this, the filmmakers avoid aiming for the combination of adventure, horror, and tragedy that worked so well the first time around; instead, they take the low road to tongue-in-cheek comedy. (The film's posters even described it as a "serio-comic fantasy.")

This time around, Carl Denham (Robert Armstrong), the man responsible for bringing King Kong to New York, decides to split town before the process servers can catch up with him (it seems everyone in New York wants to sue him for the damages caused by Kong's rampage in the previous film). He and Captain Englehorn (Frank Richer) head out on the high seas, hopping from port to port and eventually picking up Hilda (Helen Mack) and Helstrom (John Marston), the man who (we are now told) sold Denham the map to Kong's home, Skull Island. Helstrom insists there is a hidden treasure on the island; he later foments a mutiny that ends with the crew of Englehorn's ship putting Denham, Hilda, Englehorn, Helstrom, and Charlie the Chinese cook (Victor Wong) onto a life raft. (This scene appears to be producer Merian C. Cooper's attack on communism -- a negative view of what happens when the workers rise up against their masters.) Of course, the group ends up on Skull Island, where they get an unfriendly greeting from the natives before meeting up with the title character, who turns out to be lighter, much smaller, and quite a bit friendlier than his father. Remorseful over his treatment of King Kong, and urged on by Hilda, Denham helps out the young ape, who repays the favor several times over. After several monster battles, an earthquake sinks the island. While the others board the lifeboat, baby Kong, his foot trapped in a crevice, holds Denham above the waves until his friends can rescue him.

Although decently entertaining (especially for kids), SON OF KONG feels like a knockoff. The opening scene of Denham in a shabby apartment, lamenting the events of the previous film, sets the stage nicely, but the subsequent sea voyage films aimless, as we wait for the script to come up with an excuse to get Denham back to a place he would never go. Helstrom is a rather obvious plot device to accomplish just this, and it's to no one's surprise that his tale of a treasure is just a lie he made up. (Of course, in this happy-go-lucky tale, the lie turns out to be true.)

The special effects scenes are fun to watch, but they lack the grandeur of KING KONG. They also feel a bit rushed, with stop-motion animation that is noticeably below par in several instances, giving the film a Gumby-like feel. This is hardly helped by the silly comedy. It's not enough that the new Kong is cute; he is also insufferably goofy, at one point even crossing his eyes after being bonked on the head, looking for all the world like a silly cartoon character.

By his very, the Son of Kong cannot compete with his famous sire. Fortunately, the film does give him a good exit, saving Denham's life even as the sinking island drags the ape down to a watery death. It's terribly hokey but also effective in a melodramatic kind of way.

In the end, SON OF KONG is simply more of the same. If you're a fan of the first film and just didn't get enough, here's a chance for a second trip to Skull Island. Just don't expect it to live up to KING KONG. 

TRIVIA

True to its time, SON OF KONG betrays a couple hints of racism:

·         The character of Charlie is not even identified by name in the opening credits; he is simply “The Chinese Cook.” His actual portrayal is reasonably sympathetic, although a bit stereotypical: he’s a good guy because he’s loyal to his white masters (i.e., he refuses to join the mutiny).

·         The film is indifferent to the death of the dark-skinned natives of Skull Island, which is acknowledged in only one brief shot of the panicked villagers running away as rocks crumble around their heads – far too little to register emotionally. In contrast, the life of Carl Denham is deemed so important that the previously comical Son of Kong is elevated to heroic stature by saving him from the same fate that befalls the villagers.

SON OF KONG, like KING KONG before it, used glass paintings, split-screen, back projection, miniatures, and stop-motion to create its special effects. In the stop-motion process, a small puppet, with a mechanical armature beneath its skin, is posed and photographed for a single frame, then reposed and photographed again -- over and over, until there is enough footage to create the illusion of movement when the film is played back at normal speed.

The armature puppets for Son of Kong were created by tearing apart the old King Kong puppets and recovering the armatures with white fur. Few if any survived, so one should be very skeptical of collectors who claim to own an original King Kong puppet. Generally speaking, these alleged Kong puppets are actually from Merian C. Cooper's 1948 movie MIGHTY JOE YOUNG, which also featured an over-sized ape with dark fur.

Peter Jackson's remake of KING KONG appears to owe an unacknowledged debt to this sequel. The Jackson film, like SON OF KONG, begins with Carl Denham leaving New York just one step ahead of some people who would like to get their hands on him. Also, the more anthropomorphized Kong in Jackson's film, who laughs and slides around on the iced-over lake in Central Park, occasionally descends into goofiness more appropriate to the albino simian Son of Kong.

DVD DETAILS

The SON OF KONG DVD released as part of the “King Kong Collection” box set presents a good print of the movie, with fine picture and audio quality, plus subtitles in English, French and Spanish. Unfortunately, the disc (unlike the other two in the box set) lacks any bonus features except for a theatrical trailer (which calls the title character “A Human, Lovable, Laughable Beast”). Curiously, the box art (with Denham, Hilda, and Kong Jr huddled together against an onslaught of arrows) suggests a rousing Tarzan-type adventure quite different from the light-hearted fantasy that the film actually is.