KING KONG - The Annotated Novelization

 

KING KONG

The Annotated Novelization by Delos W. Lovelace

By Micah Swanson Harris

A Minor Profit Press

346 pgs

In the September of 1932, production of the film King Kong began at RKO Studios in Hollywood. Conceived by studio executive and producer, Merian C. Cooper and directed by Ernest B. Shoedsack, it would become one of the most successful films of all time. Prior to that first day’s shooting, the story had been bandied around between Cooper and British thriller writer, Edgar Wallace. Tragically, Wallace died of pneumonia after only having penned a rough outline of a script whose elements would be ultimately discarded as production continued. After Wallace, Cooper drafted James Creelman, a skilled action writer along with a few other scribes. Appreciating what Creelman had written, Cooper still felt the script needed more romance. To that end he recruited Shoedsack’s wife, Ruth Rose. Rose had been an actress back in New Jersey before signing on with several wildlife expeditions; which is how she met Shoedsack.  

Of course, the studio was eager to capitalize on any aspect of marketing they could offer the public and to that end, RKO Chief, David O’Selznic authorized a book novelization. A few big-name authors were suggested, but Cooper made it possible for his friend, New York based writer, Delos W. Lovelace to get the assignment. Working from a Rose script still being altered, Lovelace began writing the following month, October. He would finish in November and his book would be published in hardback in December by Grosset and Dunlap; a full two months before the film’s release on 2 March 1933 at the Radio City Music Hall.  

The movie’s final version and the book differ in quite a few scenes, characterization, prehistoric creatures and story structure. Now Kong enthusiast, Micah Harris, has taken it upon himself to detail those differences in this wonderful, comprehensive volume which no King Kong fan should be without. This reviewer, another Kong fanatic, had read Lovelace’s book ages ago and found it fascinating to see what the writer had added and how it either complimented the efforts of Creelman and Rose, or how departed from their narrations. It is easy to see, thanks to Harris, that Lovelace was focused on writing believable characters and excelled in the dialogue bits that fleshed them out. Whereas he was not a pulp writer and the big New York City rampage and finale atop the Empire State Building gets sadly short-changed.  

If you love movies in general, we think you’ll appreciate the work that went into this literary cinematic dissection. Nice going, Micah Harris, from one Kong fan to another.


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