One actress producer-director Merian C. Cooper tried to interest in the role of Ann Darrow was Dorothy Jordan. She didn't want to work opposite an animal, but something about her refusal must have appealed to him. They were married soon after.

The jungle on Skull Island was modeled on the work of engraver Gustave Dore.

The wall separating the native village from the prehistoric jungle had actually been built for Cecil B. DeMille's The King of Kings (1927), while the actual gate came from D.W. Griffith's Intolerance (1916). It would later be destroyed during the filming of the burning of Atlanta in Gone with the Wind (1939).

Drawing on past experience as wrestlers, Cooper and co-producer, co-director Ernest B. Schoedsack acted out the battle between King Kong and the tyrannosaurus for the animators.

The title "King Kong" was optically added to the theatre marquee where Carl Denham is exhibiting the giant ape after the film's title was changed to King Kong.

To play the flyers whose plane brings down Kong at the film's end, Cooper and Schoedsack cast themselves.

Sound engineer Murray Spivack recorded background jungle noises at a nearby zoo, then played them backwards to create a prehistoric feel.

Kong's roar was created by playing a lion's roar backwards and in slow motion. This was then over-dubbed with the animal's high and low notes, played simultaneously

During the climactic battle between Kong and the airplanes, the sun rises in the West.

Asian-American actor Keye Luke contributed some of the art used in the film's press book.

Kong was so convincing many critics insisted he must have been played by a man in a monkey suit. The rumors persisted for years, with several stuntmen claming to have played the role.

The Palace Theatre, in which Carl Denham exhibits Kong, would later house the stage version of Walt Disney's Beauty and the Beast.

For a 2005 DVD version of the original, Peter Jackson, director of the remake, worked with his special-effects team at Weta Workshop, to re-construct the scene. It's included as a DVD special.

One tagline for the film read, "They said it couldn't be filmed -- but it was! See it and ask -- what if such a thing could happen?"

King Kong opened March 2, 1933, at both of RKO's flagship theatres in New York -- the Radio City Music Hall and the Roxy. It was the first film to open at both theaters at once.

King Kong took in more than $100,000 during its first week, the biggest movie opening to that time.

Memorable Quotes From KING KONG

"And the Prophet said, 'And lo, the beast looked upon the face of beauty. And it stayed its hand from killing. And from that day, it was as one dead." -- "Ancient Arabian Proverb" created for the opening title card

"Is this the moving picture ship?" -- Sam Hardy, as theatrical agent Charles Weston, speaking the film's first line

"It's money and adventure and fame. It's the thrill of a lifetime and a long sea voyage that starts at six o'clock tomorrow morning." -- Robert Armstrong, as Carl Denham, selling Fay Wray, as Ann Darrow, on joining him

"Did you ever hear of...Kong?" -- Armstrong, as Carl Denham, trying to interest Frank Reicher, as Captain Englehorn, in a little side trip

"Cover your eyes and scream, Ann, scream for your life!" -- Armstrong as Denham, directing Wray, as Ann Darrow, in the character's screen test

"What does he think she's really going to see?" -- Bruce Cabot, as Jack Driscoll, commenting on the screen test

"Some big hard-boiled egg gets a look at a pretty face and bang -- he cracks up and goes sappy." Armstrong, on the romance between Cabot, as Jack Driscoll, and Wray, as Ann

"He's always been the king of his world, but we'll teach him to fear. Why, the whole world will pay to see this! In a few months it'll be up in lights: 'Kong, the Eighth Wonder of the World!'" -- Armstrong, persuading his crew to take Kong back to civilization

"Hey, what's this show about, anyway?"
"I don't know -- they say it's some big gorilla."
"Oh, geez -- ain't we got enough of them in New York?" -- Vera Lewis and LeRoy Mason, as theater patrons, waiting to see Kong

"And now, ladies and gentlemen, before I tell you any more, 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." -- Armstrong, introducing Kong to the theatre audience. "Don't be alarmed, ladies and gentlemen. Those chains are made of chrome steel." -- Armstrong, uttering some famous last words.

"It wasn't the airplanes. It was Beauty killed the Beast." -- Armstrong, speaking the film's final line.

by Frank Miller