Booklist
This reader about the classic monster movie King Kong (1933) seems a bit rushed, trying to come out before Peter Jackson's new King Kong premieres in December. Five essays in it weren't ready for advance review. The 14 that were, however, range from informative to wiseass; all entertain. Bob Eggleton's "The Making of King Kong," on filmmakers Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack (see also Mark Cotta Vaz's Cooper biography, Living Dangerously, 2005), and James Gunn's "King Kong and 1930s Science Fiction" both inform, pretty soberly. Adam-Troy Castro's smarty-pants "Ann, Abandoned," exploring what might have been had Fay Wray's character been left with Kong on Skull Island, has its giddy "ewww!" moments (don't miss it). Intelligent nostalgia pervades two memoirs of New York TV channel WOR's many airings of the original film, while Robert Hood's "Divided Kingdom: King Kong versus Godzilla" rewards cultural ponderers, and Adam Roberts' "Why Does My Daughter Love King Kong So Much?" gratifies armchair psychologists. If not something for everyone, darn close. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
