I've read most of the reviews on this board about "Mighty Joe Young", and no one mentions 'Beautiful Dreamer', how come? I know it's not the kind of song you associate with a big ape, but the first thing I think of whenever I hear the melody today is this picture. It's also cool to read all the reviews from folks who were around during the glory days of WOR TV in New York back in the 1950's. It's where I got my start watching a lot of these classics as a kid, and whenever you came upon one you really liked, you got to watch it every day for a week! Boy, those were the good old days!
What you have here, mostly from the same folks who brought you "King Kong", is an entirely derivative story fashioned after the 1933 original, but as others have pointed out, a story with more heart. I can remember as a kid how bad I felt when the drunks at the Golden Safari got Joe tipsy to start the rampage, hoping against hope that Joe wouldn't be a goner when the cops arrived with their guns. Funny how you can recall those feelings from so long ago, and have the same reaction while watching some fifty plus years later.
My favorite scene still has to be the strong man lineup from Joe's first act at the Club. I recognized Henry Kulky as Otto Schmidlapp from "The Life of Riley", and my Dad would tell me about some of the other men on stage, pro wrestlers like The Swedish Angel and Man Mountain Dean. This was my first introduction as well to Primo Carnera, boxing champeen who also went on to a pro grappling career. I still get a kick out their introduction in the picture and the feats of strength done to the shout outs from the crowd.
The one actor I forgot about who made a mark in the picture was Ben Johnson, very cool to see him once again as the Oklahoma cowboy who has to get in on Max O'Hara's (Robert Armstrong) action in Africa. Watching the picture earlier today though, I couldn't figure out why he and his men thought it would be a good idea to try and lasso a wild gorilla. That didn't seem to make much sense, but then again, sense is not what the film makers were going after in the final product.
What they were going for were action, thrills, and adventure, mixed with some humor that would appeal to all members of the family. I think they did a pretty good job of it, considering I can remember most everything about the picture, even if I first saw it over fifty years ago.
What you have here, mostly from the same folks who brought you "King Kong", is an entirely derivative story fashioned after the 1933 original, but as others have pointed out, a story with more heart. I can remember as a kid how bad I felt when the drunks at the Golden Safari got Joe tipsy to start the rampage, hoping against hope that Joe wouldn't be a goner when the cops arrived with their guns. Funny how you can recall those feelings from so long ago, and have the same reaction while watching some fifty plus years later.
My favorite scene still has to be the strong man lineup from Joe's first act at the Club. I recognized Henry Kulky as Otto Schmidlapp from "The Life of Riley", and my Dad would tell me about some of the other men on stage, pro wrestlers like The Swedish Angel and Man Mountain Dean. This was my first introduction as well to Primo Carnera, boxing champeen who also went on to a pro grappling career. I still get a kick out their introduction in the picture and the feats of strength done to the shout outs from the crowd.
The one actor I forgot about who made a mark in the picture was Ben Johnson, very cool to see him once again as the Oklahoma cowboy who has to get in on Max O'Hara's (Robert Armstrong) action in Africa. Watching the picture earlier today though, I couldn't figure out why he and his men thought it would be a good idea to try and lasso a wild gorilla. That didn't seem to make much sense, but then again, sense is not what the film makers were going after in the final product.
What they were going for were action, thrills, and adventure, mixed with some humor that would appeal to all members of the family. I think they did a pretty good job of it, considering I can remember most everything about the picture, even if I first saw it over fifty years ago.