TALKBACK: Mighty Joe Young (1949)

[lhb412]

Yup, the other giant gorilla film made by the largely the same team that made Kong, sort of a 'getting the old band back together' of a film in that respect.

I'll try to watch it tomorrow.

[MouthForWar]

I love this movie!

We see Harryhausen getting his start as Obie's apprentice, we have a great cast and another great Robert Armstrong role.

Joe has so much character and is such an expressive creature. Its all in those eyes! One of the great stop motion monsters, IMO.

The best word to describe this movie is charming.

Its charming as hell. This movie has so much heart to it. To dislike this movie, you'd need to be a cold SOB.

Are we gonna be doing a talkback for the subpar remake as well?

[lhb412]

[The Real McCoy]

[king_ghidorah]

[The Real McCoy]

[eabaker]

[jellydonut25]

[MouthForWar]

[sentaison]

[Gwangi]

Along with Ray Harryhausen, I've also met Terry Moore, and both love to champion this film.

And I forgot which one of them it was, but they had an amusing story about the tug-of-war scene. It seems that John Ford kept interfering with Ernest Schoedsack's direction telling him how it should really be done. Schoedsack, in turn told him to get the HELL out of his set! (and no one would ever dare talk to Ford in that manner). Terry mentioned that Schoedsack was virtually blind by that time and MJY ended up being his last movie he directed.

Anyway, this was always a favorite of mine. First saw it on 8mm film however, which got me hooked.

[lhb412]

I think it's a bit unfair this film isn't as well known. I mean, it's not as good as Kong, but it's very good. I suppose because it's in the shadow of Kong people expect this epic adventure instead of... well, a smaller scale adventure. Joe is a wonderful achievement in stop motion animation. He's much more than a mini-Kong, he's his own fully realized character.

Two perfect scenes in this movie: one is the final bit of Joe rescuing the kid, which is a testament to the animation; the other is the introduction of Joe in the nightclub act, which is a testament to pretty much all aspects of filming (love that moment when everyone's gasping and 'Beautiful Dreamer' swells up).

[The Real McCoy]

[mr.negativity]

[tbeasley]

I've been watching all the Kong films plus Mighty Joe Young before Skull Island. It's been a while since I've seen this one, I don't remember liking it as much as King Kong because, well, no dinosaurs, but it is an unrelentingly charming movie. Robert Armstrong's performance is great as is Joe Young's... he's such a great stop motion character, he makes Kong and Son of Kong look ratty by comparison! This movie is like the Mothra to King Kong's Godzilla, a much more happy, upbeat film.

[mr.negativity]

[tbeasley]

I didn't see a talkback for the 1998 remake but I want to say how much of a smart reimagining it is of the original story. It does a great job updating the more outdated, sketchy elements of the 1949 film, and Rick Baker's Joe effects are impeccable. You can tell everything he wanted to do with Kong back in '76 he finally got to do here and it is marvelous. No one did apes and werewolves better than him.

It was also a little bittersweet watching a film starring the late, great Bill Paxton. He was a nice face to see in any movie.