When filmmaker Carl Denham, actress Ann Darrow, and crewmate Jack Driscoll traveled to Skull Island to shoot a film, Ann was kidnapped by natives and given as sacrifice to King Kong. Kong carried Ann into the forest, and Carl and Jack chased after them. They fought a stegosaurus and a brontosaurus, and King Kong killed a tyrannosaurus that attacked Ann. Jack helped Ann escape from Kong’s lair, and later knocked Kong out with a gas bomb. They all returned to America, with Jack taking King Kong to Broadway and displaying him, chained up, as “King Kong, the Eighth Wonder of the World”. King Kong was enraged by the flashes of cameras, and escaped from his chains. He kidnapped Ann again and climbed up the Empire State Building, where four airplanes shot at him. Kong knocked down one plane, but got shot by the others. He fell to the street, and Jack took an elevator to rescue Ann. Jack pushed through the crowd at the bottom of the building by Kong’s corpse. When a policeman remarked that the planes killed him, Denham told him, “No, it wasn’t the airplanes. It was Beauty killed the Beast.” Notes: The copyright for the novel was never renewed, thus placing the original story in the public domain.
Creators/Key Contributors Edgar Wallace, Merian C. Cooper
First Appearance King Kong (novel, 1932)
First Publisher Publishers HTML
Appearance List Film: King Kong (1933). Novelization: King Kong (1932), King Kong (1965 reprint).
Sample Read ○
Description When filmmaker Carl Denham, actress Ann Darrow, and crewmate Jack Driscoll traveled to Skull Island to shoot a film, Ann was kidnapped by natives and given as sacrifice to King Kong. Kong carried Ann into the forest, and Carl and Jack chased after them. They fought a stegosaurus and a brontosaurus, and King Kong killed a tyrannosaurus that attacked Ann. Jack helped Ann escape from Kong’s lair, and later knocked Kong out with a gas bomb. They all returned to America, with Jack taking King Kong to Broadway and displaying him, chained up, as “King Kong, the Eighth Wonder of the World”. King Kong was enraged by the flashes of cameras, and escaped from his chains. He kidnapped Ann again and climbed up the Empire State Building, where four airplanes shot at him. Kong knocked down one plane, but got shot by the others. He fell to the street, and Jack took an elevator to rescue Ann. Jack pushed through the crowd at the bottom of the building by Kong’s corpse. When a policeman remarked that the planes killed him, Denham told him, “No, it wasn’t the airplanes. It was Beauty killed the Beast.” Notes: The copyright for the novel was never renewed, thus placing the original story in the public domain.
