KING KONG

MAX STEINER

Rating: for the quality of the score itself; for the actual release

Golden Age Review by Tom Kiefner: Much has been written and said about this landmark score from the Merian C. Cooper’s 1933 film "King Kong" starring Fay Wray and Robert Armstrong. So moved was he by the film Peter Jackson called it a childhood dream to one day remake it - and remake it he did, at a cost of over 230 million dollars, compared to the mere $670,000 it cost RKO. Keep in mind that numbers can of course be misleading. 1933 was in the height of the depression, one of the lowest points in the history of the United States. 10 cents was a lot of money back then. Yet the mystique and fascination with the Hollywood gorilla got people to flock to the theatre, and in record numbers. It returned nearly 2 million dollars, and helped RKO pull itself out of the dire straits it was in at the time. The score was also a landmark. It was the first time that an original score of over 60 minutes in length had been written, and what a job the 45-year old Austrian composer Max Steiner did. Some will argue that this, one of his very first attempts, was his finest effort. It’s something which I can't argue with.

The Rhino soundtrack is broken down into two distinct sections. The first part is really an attempt to create a radio program, complete with a lot of dialogue and special effects. Yes, there is music, but it serves as part of the entire package. As explained in the liner notes, it is in reality like listening to a Lux Radio Theater broadcast. This part of the CD I can't recommend you at all. The second part of the CD is a King Kong Music Suite, 9 tracks of material, some of it previously unreleased, running 24 minutes in length. This is the section that I can highly recommend to you. Unfortunately, the sound quality is terrible – there’s really no other way to put it. Taken from 78's and alternate takes on nitrate film, I am amazed at how engineer Doug Schwartz extracted what he did. As explained in the liner notes, a suite was created because the 78 material was recorded and just ran out of room, leaving the listener with a puzzled look on their face, asking “what happened?” But the music that did survive and was somehow, through a miracle of technology, restored is absolutely incredible.

Steiner was a master at the leitmotif style of writing, and he created theme after theme for this picture. The "Main Title" combines the Kong theme, "Stolen Love", and "Sacrificial Dance" which leads directly (no break at all) into "A Boat In The Fog", an ominous, eerie, harp driven theme, which leads into the distant drums pounding on the island. The harp is slightly reminiscent Herrmann and his work on "Beneath The Twelve Mile Reef." While Herrmann used nine of them, Steiner only used one to make his point about being on the water, but he made the single harp work very well. "Stolen Love/Humorous Ape" is a combination of the tragic love theme and a much lighter moment with Kong. The ending is tragic, written in the Wagnerian operatic style, an adagio but with a slight hint of hope. His music tells the story of what happens! You can listen to “The Fog”, “Jungle Dance”, “Bronte”, and “Finale” and pretty much figure out exactly what is going on. There are so many memorable themes. John Morgan’s reconstruction and release of the King Kong score (Marco Polo CD # 8.223763) is superb and to be commended, but the original soundtrack - at least what survived - is superior, even with the above mentioned flaws. But keep in mind your purchase is going to be based on the 24 minutes of remaining material. As a general rule, if given the choice between a reconstruction and the original material, the original will win almost all the time.

The overall packaging of the CD is, again, terrible. The copy that was evaluated for this review was already beginning to come apart! Adhesive is used to hold the booklet to the cardboard packaging material (no jewel case), and the sleeve where you store the CD is cardboard also and very difficult to get it in and out. If you are careful with your CD's (like I am) it is upsetting to have to put fingerprints on the CD in order to pull it out of the packaging. The booklet or liner notes are 38 pages and filled with pictures, photos of promo materials, and great notes from Rudy Behmer and Ray Faiola. All of this good and useful information about the making of the film, the promotional material, the film itself, and the music for the soundtrack. It is just the packaging that leaves a lot to be desired!

Now what do you do as someone who is interested in purchasing? There are a lot of negatives with this release and only one positive 24 minutes of unreleased music. The bottom line - BUY IT FOR THE REMAINING MUSIC! The original score has the perfect tempo, orchestra size, and is conducted by the Steiner himself which makes a big difference in how the material is presented. Listen past the hiss and the shortcomings that this recording has, and listen to it for what it is – a masterpiece of early film scoring, and one of the classic scores of all time.

This CD is available for purchase online from Screen Archives Entertainment.

Track Listing: Tracks 1-10 include dialogue and sound effects from the film

Running Time: 73 minutes 33 seconds

Rhino R2-75597 (1933/1999)

Music composed and conducted by Max Steiner. Orchestrations by Bernhard Kahn. Album edited and re-mastered by Doug Schwartz. Album produced by Ray Faiola.

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