Kong Unmade: The Lost Films of Skull Island

[mikelcho]

Has anyone read Kong Unmade: The Lost Films of Skull Island? It sounds interesting and I'd like to have some input from you guys and gals.

I'd especially like to know what it says about King Kong Meets Frankenstein.

[Pkmatrix]

Has anyone read Kong Unmade: The Lost Films of Skull Island? It sounds interesting and I'd like to have some input from you guys and gals.

I'd especially like to know what it says about King Kong Meets Frankenstein.

I have!

It was a fascinating book, lots of interesting info I hadn't heard before. On KKvF it talked a bit about the path it took to get from KKvF to KKvG. Basically, it started off with Willis O'Brien wanting to do the project and coming up with a script, which he took to RKO. RKO passed, but gave their blessing to O'Brien to pass it around Hollywood and put him in touch with John Beck. Beck was under the impression that Universal owned the name and character of "Frankenstein" (evidently not understanding the concept of "public domain") and had the script rewritten, first to KK v. the Gingko and then later KK v. Prometheus. Everyone in Hollywood passed, though, so Beck brought it back to RKO. RKO had just distributed The Mysterians in America for Toho and put Beck in touch with Toho reps. Toho was, coincidentally, in the development stages of "Frankenstein vs. Godzilla", which they intended to be Godzilla's third film, but when the opportunity to get Kong presented itself they snatched it, signing a 5-year contract with Beck and RKO for the rights, in the process O'Brien was cut out of the production. They tossed the script and began work on what would become KK v. Godzilla.

Merian C. Cooper only became aware of any of this when Beck and Toho signed the American distribution deal with Universal, as up until this point he was unaware that RKO had been going around claiming they owned King Kong (15 years of lawsuits later, it was ruled he was right and RKO forced to surrender it all back to Cooper) and immediately sued RKO, Beck, and Universal but lost initially because he'd lost the original contract he'd sign giving RKO permission only to make/distribute the '33 movie and Son of Kong.

The book also goes into some of what the actual story was, I can dig it up.

[mikelcho]

Has anyone read Kong Unmade: The Lost Films of Skull Island? It sounds interesting and I'd like to have some input from you guys and gals.

I'd especially like to know what it says about King Kong Meets Frankenstein.

I have!

It was a fascinating book, lots of interesting info I hadn't heard before. On KKvF it talked a bit about the path it took to get from KKvF to KKvG. Basically, it started off with Willis O'Brien wanting to do the project and coming up with a script, which he took to RKO. RKO passed, but gave their blessing to O'Brien to pass it around Hollywood and put him in touch with John Beck. Beck was under the impression that Universal owned the name and character of "Frankenstein" (evidently not understanding the concept of "public domain") and had the script rewritten, first to KK v. the Gingko and then later KK v. Prometheus. Everyone in Hollywood passed, though, so Beck brought it back to RKO. RKO had just distributed The Mysterians in America for Toho and put Beck in touch with Toho reps. Toho was, coincidentally, in the development stages of "Frankenstein vs. Godzilla", which they intended to be Godzilla's third film, but when the opportunity to get Kong presented itself they snatched it, signing a 5-year contract with Beck and RKO for the rights, in the process O'Brien was cut out of the production. They tossed the script and began work on what would become KK v. Godzilla.

Merian C. Cooper only became aware of any of this when Beck and Toho signed the American distribution deal with Universal, as up until this point he was unaware that RKO had been going around claiming they owned King Kong (15 years of lawsuits later, it was ruled he was right and RKO forced to surrender it all back to Cooper) and immediately sued RKO, Beck, and Universal but lost initially because he'd lost the original contract he'd sign giving RKO permission only to make/distribute the '33 movie and Son of Kong.

The book also goes into some of what the actual story was, I can dig it up.

Please do!

[Mac Daddy MM]

Has anyone read Kong Unmade: The Lost Films of Skull Island? It sounds interesting and I'd like to have some input from you guys and gals.

I'd especially like to know what it says about King Kong Meets Frankenstein.

I have!

It was a fascinating book, lots of interesting info I hadn't heard before. On KKvF it talked a bit about the path it took to get from KKvF to KKvG. Basically, it started off with Willis O'Brien wanting to do the project and coming up with a script, which he took to RKO. RKO passed, but gave their blessing to O'Brien to pass it around Hollywood and put him in touch with John Beck. Beck was under the impression that Universal owned the name and character of "Frankenstein" (evidently not understanding the concept of "public domain") and had the script rewritten, first to KK v. the Gingko and then later KK v. Prometheus. Everyone in Hollywood passed, though, so Beck brought it back to RKO. RKO had just distributed The Mysterians in America for Toho and put Beck in touch with Toho reps. Toho was, coincidentally, in the development stages of "Frankenstein vs. Godzilla", which they intended to be Godzilla's third film, but when the opportunity to get Kong presented itself they snatched it, signing a 5-year contract with Beck and RKO for the rights, in the process O'Brien was cut out of the production. They tossed the script and began work on what would become KK v. Godzilla.

Merian C. Cooper only became aware of any of this when Beck and Toho signed the American distribution deal with Universal, as up until this point he was unaware that RKO had been going around claiming they owned King Kong (15 years of lawsuits later, it was ruled he was right and RKO forced to surrender it all back to Cooper) and immediately sued RKO, Beck, and Universal but lost initially because he'd lost the original contract he'd sign giving RKO permission only to make/distribute the '33 movie and Son of Kong.

The book also goes into some of what the actual story was, I can dig it up.

Please do!

Edit: I am f'n stupid and blind, lmfao.

Yes, PLEASE do.

[mikelcho]

Pardon me, pal, I was just asking. No sarcasm is necessary here.

[Mac Daddy MM]

Pardon me, pal, I was just asking. No sarcasm is necessary here.

No man, you misunderstood lol. I did something EXTREMELY dumb in my post originally and editted it. I read your post date as "2010" without realizing it's actually 2020.

[mikelcho]

Okay, that explains that. Sorry about that on my part.

[Pkmatrix]

Please do!

Sorry for the long delay!

Here's what the book says on the various plots for the movie as it went through production!

From Page 103, the original plot from the first draft of King Kong vs. Frankenstein:

O'Brien's story would reveal that Kong didn't actually die when he fell from the Empire State Building. Instead, his comatose body was smuggled back to Skull Island by Carl Denham. [Footnote 55: As Skull Island sank beneath the waves in Son of Kong this is presumably a reboot/retcon of some sort.] Nearly 30 years late Denham, for some reason, returns to Skull Island and recaptures Kong. At the same time, Dr. Frankenstein's grandson stitches together a gigantic new lifeform from dead matter. Supposedly in this first draft, the giant body was made of human corpses rather than animals. Both giant creatures are put on display in San Francisco, escape, and do battle in the streets.

From Page 104, the premise for the next draft - King Kong vs. the Gingko:

The next draft was called King Kong vs. the Gingko (the name uses all the letters of King Kong but reshuffled). The fear was that Universal owned the rights to Frankenstein, when in fact they only trademarked the makeup from the film. This second draft fleshes out the first, and changes the Frankenstein monster into one created from various animal parts. Supposedly the monster would be comprised of animals such as rhinos and elephants. It is Denham who gets the idea to stage a prize fight between the two monsters in San Francisco (O'Brien had a vested interest in boxing) when the Frankenstein monster kills its creator and escapes from the lab in Africa. The monster is captured and brought to San Francisco for the match with Kong, brought from Skull Island. Actually, there is no boxing match, rather just a joint display of both beasts. Trouble occurs when Denham has a girl walking a tightrope over the Gingko, holding the rope in his outstretched arms. When the rope breaks and the Gingko catches her, Kong thinks he is attacking the girl and becomes enraged, breaking out of his cage. The battle through San Francisco until they both climb the Golden Gate Bridge. [Footnote 56: The climax is similar in a way to Toho's 1967 King Kong Escapes that ends with a battle atop Tokyo Tower.] The battle concludes with both monsters falling into the waves below.

From Page 105, the premise for King Kong vs. Prometheus - draft written by George Worthington Yates at the request of John Beck:

Fundamentally the script was the same, only here a new layer is added to the Frankenstein monster. In this version the doctor, Kurt, who creates Prometheus isn't revealed to be a descendant of Frankenstein until later in the script and is a surprise reveal. He also has the ability to remote control the monster - or so he thinks. The intelligent creature only pretends to follow the doctor's remote control commands in Candlestick Park in San Francisco. He kills Kurt, goes on a rampage, and King Kong (also on display at Candlestick Park) then plays the hero in defeating the monster with the same climax from draft #2. Other noteworthy changes included the deletion of the Carl Denham character, or so one source says. As for other details, Kurt Frankenstein has designs on creating a whole army of monster workers to do his bidding.

From Page 106, an additional detail provided by Darlyne O'Brien in an interview given in the 1970s:

This picture ended in San Francisco and [O'Brien] was gonna have King Kong riding a cable car, but he didn't get the illustration finished, and he had marvelous action in it. There were wonderful ideas for action...they were supposed to meet on this island, and have this big battle. People would come from all over the world to see this fight.

There's also another summary that's sourced from Cinefx, but is basically the same as the the previous ones.

It sounds like it would've been a really fun adventure movie!

[mikelcho]

Yes, it would indeed!

My only hope is that what I think I saw somewhere (but I don't know where and I can't seem to find it anywhere or any more) is right and that Peter Jackson makes this into a future film both as a sequel to the 2005 version of King Kong and as a tribute to O' Brien.

Thanks a lot for this information! I first found out all about this film in Donald F. Glut's book The Frankenstein Legend: A Tribute to Mary Shelly and Boris Karloff (1973), but this book has even more information than that book did!

I am so getting this book in hardcover!

(Btw, this is a little off track here, but Glut's book mentioned here and its sequel, The Dracula Book (1975), are both desperately in need of massive revising and updating.)

Added in 5 days 19 hours 37 minutes 47 seconds:
I just read the review of this book and it is so mine as soon as I get the chance and the money!

[mikelcho]

I just found out that John leMay has released a kinda-sorta book sequel to this book called Giant Apes of the Movies!

Hope to see a review on it here soon!

[mikelcho]

And yet another book by John: Dinosauruses of the Movies!

Hope a review on this one is coming, too!

[The Octopus]

I just found out that John leMay has released a kinda-sorta book sequel to this book called Giant Apes of the Movies!

Hope to see a review on it here soon!

Just picked up this book. Very meh, barebones, and rushed. I mean it's OK for a sub $10 book but I flipped through it in less than 10 minutes and forgot about it quickly. He also regurgitates alot of info from the Kong Unmade book.

[mikelcho]

Okay, thanks for the information. I'll keep that in mind.

Now, for Dinosauruses of the Movies...

[The Octopus]

One more thing. John Lemay wrote the book to be exactly like the Ian Thorne monster books for Crestwood. The way it's written gives you the impression that the book was published in 1983. So if you're a huge fan of those books you'll probably like it. Other then that I can't recommend it.

The Crestwood monster books.

[UltramanGoji]

The idea of a faux pre-Internet movie monster book just seems really weird to me. The charm of those old books comes from the fact that they were written before there was a way for authors to get accurate information on the movies they're writing about. Intentionally writing an inaccurate books just seems...I don't know, weird?

Anyway, one thing I don't like about John LeMay's work is that it seems like he intentionally makes better versions available later on. I bought the unmade kaiju films book a few years ago and now I feel gipped because there's the new "mutated edition" that's supposedly updated with more info.

[The Octopus]

The charm of those old books comes from the fact that they were written before there was a way for authors to get accurate information on the movies they're writing about.

WHAT?

So there wasn't 2 endings to King Kong vs Godzilla? Then that old book was wrong!!

[mikelcho]

One more thing. John Lemay wrote the book to be exactly like the Ian Thorne monster books for Crestwood. The way it's written gives you the impression that the book was published in 1983. So if you're a huge fan of those books you'll probably like it. Other then that I can't recommend it.

The Crestwood monster books.

Oh yes, I remember the Godzilla book from my middle school days. Oh, to be that young and innocent again!

Well, I've said it before and I'll say it again: if you'd told me all those years ago when I was watching kaiju movies hosted by Dr. Shock in PA that all this was going to happen in my lifetime, I'd have said you were crazy!

[tbeasley]

You can read the whole Ian Thorne Godzilla book here.

[gottatalktothefake]

I wanna see that OG insect pit scene damnit

[Jetty_Jags]

Did you watch the peter Jackson recreation? It’s probably the closest you’ll get.