For the past few years the one film I most hoped to see on DVD was the original King Kong. The low-grade copy I taped off of the CBC over a decade ago just wasn’t cutting it anymore. The DVD finally came out last month, and I snapped it up on the first day of its release. Aside from the film itself, there is a commentary track by Ray Harryhausen and archival audio clips from cast and crew, as well as a huge documentary produced in part by Peter Jackson. Quite possibly the most pleasant surprise in the set is the documentary chapter on the lost Spider Pit sequence.
In the original King Kong, a group of sailors are shook off of a log by King Kong and plummet to their deaths in a pit below. In the original cut of the film, a few of the sailors survive the fall only to be devoured by hideous monsters that live in the pit’s caves. This sequence was filmed, animated and completed in full. In fact, it was King Kong animator Willis O’Brien’s favourite part of the film. When the film was screened before a test audience it was discovered that the Spider Pit sequence was actually too good. The audience was so overwhelmed by the horror of the sequence that they could think or talk about hardly anything else for the remainder of the movie. In order to maintain the film’s pacing, producer Merian C. Cooper excised the sequence from the final cut. In the past, Cooper was known for burning film that was not used in the finished product and it is assumed that he did the same with Kong.
Side note for Billy : Cooper, a forceful, cocky, reckless obsessive, was the inspiration for the character of Carl Denham in the original King Kong. Knowing this, it’s not such a stretch to imagine Jack Black being chosen for the same role in the remake.
The documentary chapter on the Spider Pit sequence details this same story in brief. However, the real meat of this special feature is in Peter Jackson’s decision to recreate the sequence, not for any real reason, but just for fun. The featurette details the meticulous and nerdy examination of the few Spider Pit fragments still in existence, the dissection of 1930’s methods of model making, computer animators rediscovering a passion for stop-motion animation, Peter Jackson shooting live-action shots over weekends and dozens of other delights that kept me riveted throughout. All this was made concurrently with the actual filming of the remake, and with no actual guarantee that the Spider Sequence reproduction would be seen by anyone else.
All in all, it’s a fun, informative look at the pure joy of filmmaking and the disturbing amount of love and respect fans have for the King.
I ,Joey E. Crouch,a 14 year old boy living in the midwest of America is forming a group of King Kong and other monster movie fans to find the lost Spider Pit Scene. I want to send this e-mail all over the world so people like me can join the culb and help me find it.
If you want to send a response letter here is my address.
311 N. Maple St.
New London, Iowa
Hello,
Discovered the sequence at this website. However you have to register first;
http://media.putfile.com/King-Kong-1933-Spider-Pit-Sequence
Peter, I’m afraid that the video clip you’ve linked to is actually Peter Jackson’s recreation of that sequence, and not the original, still-lost, Spider Pit scene.
I support Crouch’s idea of finding the lost spider pit sequence.
I thought it was long gone, but I heard Ray Harryhausen, and Ray Bradbury saw the sequence at the main premeire. Most importantly, I heard that Forrest Ackerman corresponded with a person in the Phillipines who saw kong with the sequence still intact.
I think that the sequence might be somewhere around that area.
Also, Willis O’Brien said he thought it was his best piece of animation. So maybe Cooper spared it from being burnt. I have discovered what I think might be a code to a vault or something on the painting of the spider pit taking place. take a look at it sometime, and you’ll see what I mean. Now, look at the man being pulled into the cavern by the octopus creature. If you look on his shirt, you can actually see a set of numbers. It is very hard to make out what they are, and in the picture above it is almost impossible to see. but there is a shortened version of this painting where the lighting is different, and the numbers are clearly visible “Photograph shown on the 2 disc special edition.”
I dont have it with me right now, but I think it said something like 32132.. and so on. I encourage anyone who wants to try to find it, and do anything that I can to help them. After all, this is a movie maker’s ultimate dream.
The number on the man’s shirt indicates that he was a convict, like the other men in the drawing. This sketch comes from the pre-production phase of Kong, when Edgar Wallace wrote the draft before dying suddenly. Sometime before the film went into production, the convicts became sailors as the script went through changes.
Cooper only burnt the extra footage on one of his earlier films… there is no evidence he did it for any of the Kong footage. It’s doubtful he would, because he owned and filmed the footage he burned earlier. Kong was an RKO production, and it was RKO’s footage to do with as they wanted… although they probably didn’t do anything with it but leave it on a shelf somewhere or throw it out.
Also, Bradbury says he saw the sequence in an Arizona theater in 1933, not at the LA premiere. Harryhausen has never said he saw it.
Peter Jackson’s team discovered that the scene was cut before the movie was scored with music, making it highly unlikely anybody ever saw it, since it didn’t have a soundtrack. Therefore the Phillipines rumor is either wrong, or they somehow saw an early print of the film that hadn’t been edited or scored with music. Ackerman did say that his penpal had mentioned the scene in 1933.