Few movies have made an impact on the movie industry and pop culture that “King Kong” did when it was released back in 1933. The quintessential giant monster movie paved the way for countless others (including the “Godzilla” franchise) but none could match the magic of this true classic.

The original “King Kong” tells the simplistic but brilliant tale of a group of filmmakers that head to the mysterious Skull Island. Once there, they discover a land with dinosaurs and of course, King Kong, a giant ape worshipped by the local tribespeople. The filmmakers survive the ordeal of the jungle island and decide to take Kong back to New York City where the beast breaks free.

The characters in “King Kong” are not really very interesting. The film director Carl Denham (Robert Armstrong “The Most Dangerous Game”) is probably the most memorable but you came here for the monsters and that’s where the film delivers. There are many creatures including King Kong and they all look fantastic. For 1933, the special effects are truly amazing and still to this day, have a mesmerising quality, a quality missing from the vast majority of special effects in the movies. When the mighty King Kong climbs the Empire State Building, you realise just what an important and special picture this is.

The plot is simplistic and the characters aren’t the most interesting but “King Kong” creates a wonderful fantasy adventure with a vast jungle inhabited by an array of dinosaurs and of course, a giant ape. Despite the many versions of “King Kong”, people keep coming back to this one, in much the same way that people flock back to the Boris Karloff version of “Frankenstein”. The original “King Kong” has stood the test of time and even Peter Jackson couldn’t outdo it when he remade it in 2005.