Climbing the Empire State Building

Yes, I'm counting the days. I was anxious this spring to see how the Star Wars saga would rumble on into the station, but that was nothing compared to the anticipation for the opening of "King Kong." Here's a little background: When I was about eight years old, my mother came into my room and got me out of bed. She said she wanted to show me something on television. "I think you'll like this."
She was exactly right. Peter Jackson, director of this year's version, has said that seeing "King Kong" for the first time was "a black and white moment." There was all the time before he saw that film, and then all the time that he decided that he wanted to make movies himself. I have seen the 1933 version more times than I can count, but I still sit mesmerized each time. Is the dialogue corny? Is it possible for them to be any more explicit with their "Beauty and the Beast" allegory? The first time I saw "King Kong," a door opened in my world.
I have spent years studying various details and trivia about the creation of Kong. I have a stack of books and have let go of countless magazines with pictures and inside information. I got a little shiver when I read that the DVD release includes a restoration of the spider attack at the bottom of the cliff. I confess that the twenty minutes of exposition getting Carl Denham and crew to the island can seem a little lengthy, but all is forgiven and forgotten once they reach Skull Island.
As entrances go, there aren't many that compare with the first time we see Kong. I know he's only eighteen inches tall. I know that they had a full size mock-up of his head, one arm and one leg. Forty-three years later, Dino DeLaurentis thought that having a full-size mechanical Kong would be more impressive, but it only appears for about a minute in his version. The 1976 Kong was a really great gorilla suit created by great gorilla suit maker Rick Baker. Still, the 1933 version has all the pacing of a Steven Spielberg movie - it's a chase from the twenty minute mark straight on until the end. It is hard to imagine that pathos was generated by a wire armature covered with rabbit skins.
I stayed up past midnight with my mother so many years ago. I fell in love with the glorious beast that is King Kong. Now I sit and wait patiently for the gates on Skull Island to open again. In the words of that great showman, Carl Denham, "I'm going to show you the greatest thing your eyes have ever beheld. He was a king and a god in the world he knew, but now he comes to civilization merely a captive - a show to gratify your curiosity. Ladies and gentlemen, look at Kong, the Eighth Wonder of the World!"