ForgotPassword?
Sign Up
Search this Topic:
Forum Jump
Jul 6 12 1:10 AM
Tim Smyth wrote:I don't know the answer to this, but Willis O'Brien was at RKO for several years, so why take your work home, and they really weren't his to take. The Kong puppets were very well taken care of for decades at RKO, so they were thought of as something they might be able to use again, which they did in several movies as background props.
Jul 6 12 8:31 PM
Jul 7 12 2:43 PM
Jul 7 12 3:35 PM
Jul 7 12 7:35 PM
Jul 7 12 9:15 PM
Jul 7 12 11:16 PM
Jul 7 12 11:32 PM
Jul 8 12 12:13 AM
mitchell169 wrote:Apparently O'Brien did take the spider and the worm home at some point which again raises the question why just those two? How could he know in the 30s or 40s that he would need them in 1957 for Black Scorpion?
Jul 8 12 4:43 AM
Jul 8 12 7:05 PM
I hate to report this kind of information, but I also believe that the more information that is out there the better. It is always better to discuss this subject with reality supported information ( the better to sort out the bad information).This document supports those who believe the Spider pit sequence is gone: http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Original-1969-UA-TV-memo-destruction-King-Kong-outakes-Mclauglin-Belafonte-/310411474058?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4845f7348a#ht_2944wt_1397
This is the info supplied by the owner of the memo: I FOUND THIS LETTER VERY INTERESTING WHEN I BOUGHT IT BECAUSE OF THE FOLLOWING HISTORY THAT I HAD READ, I AM NOT A HISTORIAN OR AN EXPERT ON KING KONG. HOWEVER, I WOULD LOVE SOMEONE WHO WAS TO ENLIGHTEN ME IF THEY CAN PIECE MORE OF THIS STORY TOGETHER FOR MEAct IIThis film was successfully reissued worldwide numerous times; some claim it was the first ever re-released film. In the 1938 reissue, several scenes of excessive violence and sex were cut to comply with the Production Code enforced in 1934. Though many of the censored scenes were restored by Janus Films in 1971 (including the censored sequence in which Kong peels off Fay Wray's clothes), one deleted scene has never been found, shown publicly only once during a preview screening in San Bernardino, California in January 1933. It was a graphic scene following Kong shaking four sailors off the log bridge, causing them to fall into a ravine where they were eaten alive by giant spiders. At the preview screening, audience members screamed and either left the theatre or talked about the grisly sequence throughout the subsequent scenes, disrupting the film. Said the film's producer, Merian C. Cooper, "It stopped the picture cold, so the next day back at the studio, I took it out myself." Act IIIScenes cut over the years of release and re-release: Kong chewing on the natives of Skull Island; two scenes with Kong squashing one native each with his giant foot; the brontosaurus biting and throwing the men in the water; Kong putting a New Yorker in his mouth then throwing him down to the ground; a scene where Kong climbs a building, pulls out a sleeping woman with his giant hand, examines her, and when he finds it's not Ann Darrow, tosses her down to the sidewalk below; and, of course, Fay Wray's clothing being peeled off. The censor committee once stated that this was at least six minutes of editing. These scenes were all restored to the actual film in 1971. Of course, we still have yet to see the famous spider pit sequence, although in King Kong, we get an idea of what it was like.VERY FINE CONDITIONINTER-OFFICE MEMO FROM JACK MCLAUGHLIN TO DENNIS BELAFONTE WHO I THINK WAS THE AUTHOR ON A BOOK ABOUT TYRONE POWERI HAVE HAD A SIMILAR EXPERIENCE 25 YEARS AGO WHEN I ARRIVED 2 WEEKS AFTER SEVERAL MILLION DOLLARS IN POSTERS WERE BURNED BY A FILM DISTRIBUTION COMPANY, THEY WERE THE ITEMS STORED NEXT TO THE OFFICE, EVERYTHING FROM 1933 TO 1959 WAS TAKEN WHEN THE REGIONAL MANAGER RETIRED. I GOT THE REMAINING ITEMS UNDER THE STAGE FROM1960 TO 1986, WHICH WAS APPROXIMATELY 60,000 POSTERS. I ESTIMATE APPROXIMATELY 15,000-20,000 BURNED. ARRRRGGGGHHHHPost note from Bart: I am still investigating screenings of this sequence that took place after the 7/10/69 date listed in this memo that I find very credible.
Jul 8 12 7:22 PM
Jul 9 12 11:07 AM
Jul 9 12 3:51 PM
Has anyone ever asked Ray about this?
Was Battle of the Giants the Lizard v Alligator scene from One Million B.C. (1940)
Jul 9 12 6:56 PM
From the 1969 Broadcasting Yearbook, pg. D-31
Jack McLaughlin is listed as Vice President of Station Services. There is no listing of Dennis Belafonte (though there is a film historian/writer by that name).
http://www.americanradioh...YB-for-OCR-Page-0527.pdf
Jack McLaughlin is listed as Vice President of Station Services 8 lines down:
Jul 9 12 9:14 PM
BijouBob8mm wrote:Just curious, but at what point did knowledge of the "spider pit scene" start to become known outside of those who worked on the film? For some reason, when and how we've come to know about the sequence never crossed my mind until just now.
Jul 9 12 9:50 PM
Jul 9 12 11:33 PM
Jul 9 12 11:59 PM
A perfect Monster has no end...
Jul 10 12 12:19 AM
Share This