Directed by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack. Written by James Ashmore Creelman and Ruth Rose, based on a story by Merian C. Cooper and Edgar Wallace.

Carl Denham

• 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.

• You won't find that island on any chart. That was made by the skipper of a Norwegian barque...A canoe full of natives from this island was blown out to sea. When the barque picked them up, there was only one alive. He died before they reached port, but not before the skipper had pieced together a description of the island and got a fairly good idea of where it lies.

• I'd have got a swell picture of a charging rhino but the cameraman got scared. The darned fool, I was right there with a rifle. Seems he didn't trust me to get the rhino before it got him. I haven't fooled with cameramen since, I do it myself.

• Ladies and gentlemen, I'm here tonight to tell you a very strange story - a story so strange that no one will believe it - but, ladies and gentlemen, seeing is believing. And we - my partners and I - have brought back the living proof of our adventure, an adventure in which twelve of our party met horrible death. 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.

• The bravest girl I have ever known...There the Beast. And here the Beauty. She has lived through an experience no other woman ever dreamed of. And she was saved from the very grasp of Kong by her future husband. I want you to meet a very brave gentleman, Mr. Jack Driscoll.

• Don't be alarmed, ladies and gentlemen. Those chains are made of chrome steel.

• [to the photographers, taking Ann's pictures] Wait a minute! Hold on! He thinks you're attacking the girl!

• Oh, no, it wasn't the airplanes. It was Beauty that killed the beast!
  • Note: ranked #84 in the American Film Institute's list of the top 100 movie quotations in American cinema.

Others

• 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.
  • Old Arabian Proverb in the opening scenes of the film.

• Dock night watchman: ...that crazy fella that's a runnin' it....They say he ain't scared of nothing. If he wants a picture of a lion, he just goes up to him and tells him to look pleasant.

• Jack Driscoll: [to Ann] I think Denham's off his nut taking you ashore today...Denham's such a fool for risks, there's no telling what he might ask you to do for this picture....He's crazy enough to try anything. When I think what might have happened today. If anything had happened to you...I'm scared for you. I'm sort of, well I'm scared of you too. Ann, uh, I, uh, uh, say, I guess I love you...Say, Ann, I don't suppose, uh, I mean, well you don't feel anything like that about me, do you?

• Charlie: [after finding a native bracelet on the deck of the ship] All hands on deck! Everybody on deck! Everybody on deck! All hands on deck! Everybody on deck! Everybody on deck!

• Captain Englehorn: Serve out the rifles! Man the boats!

Dialogue

Weston: I can't send a young pretty girl such as you ask on a job like this without telling her what to expect...To go off on a trip for no one knows how long, to some spot you don't even hint at, the only woman on the ship with the toughest mugs I ever looked at.

Denham: Listen, there are dozens of girls in this town tonight that are in more danger than they'll ever see with me.

Driscoll: Yeah, but they know that kind of danger.

Denham: Holy Mackerel. Do you think I want to haul a woman around?...Because the Public, bless 'em, must have a pretty face to look at...Well, isn't there any romance or adventure in the world without having a flapper in it?...Makes me sore. I go out and sweat blood to make a swell picture and then the critics and the exhibitors all say, 'If this picture had love interest it would gross twice as much.' All right. The Public Wants a Girl, and this time, I'm gonna give 'em what they want. I'm gonna make the greatest picture in the world, something that nobody's ever seen or heard of. They'll have to think up a lot of new adjectives when I come back. Now I'm going to find a girl...even if I have to marry one.

Denham: Oh, you have gone soft on her, eh? I've got enough troubles without a love affair to complicate things. Better cut it out, Jack.

Driscoll: Love affair! You think I'm gonna fall for any dame?

Denham: I've never known it to fail: some big, hard-boiled egg gets a look at a pretty face and bang, he cracks up and goes sappy.

Driscoll: Now who's goin' sappy? Listen, I haven't run out on ya, have I?

Denham: No, you're a pretty tough guy, but if Beauty gets you, ya...Huh, I'm going right into a theme song here.

Driscoll: Say, what are you talkin' about?

Denham: It's the idea of my picture. The Beast was a tough guy too. He could lick the world. But when he saw Beauty, she got him. He went soft. He forgot his wisdom and the little fellas licked him. Think it over, Jack.

Denham: A wall...built so long ago that the people who live there have slipped back, forgotten the higher civilization that built it. That wall is as strong today as it was centuries ago. The natives keep that wall in repair. They need it.

Driscoll: Why?

Denham: There's something on the other side of it, something they fear.

Captain: A hostile tribe.

Denham: Did you ever hear of...Kong?

Captain: Why, yes. Some native superstition isn't it? A god or a spirit or something?

Denham: Well anyway, neither Beast nor man. Something monstrous. All powerful. Still living. Still holding that island in a grip of deadly fear. Well, every legend has a basis of truth. I tell you, there's something on that island that no white man has ever seen.

Captain: And you expect to photograph it?

Denham: If it's there, you bet I'll photograph it.

Driscoll: Suppose it doesn't like having its picture taken?

Denham: Well, now you know why I brought along those cases of gas bombs.

Denham: Now Ann, in this one, you're looking down. When I start to crank, you look up slowly. You're quite calm. You don't expect to see a thing. Then you just follow my directions. All right? Camera. [Denham starts cranking.] Look up slowly, Ann. That's it. You don't see anything. Now look higher. Still higher. Now you see it. You're amazed. You can't believe it. Your eyes open wider. It's horrible, Ann, but you can't look away. There's no chance for you, Ann. No escape. You're helpless, Ann, helpless. There's just one chance, if you can scream. But your throat's paralyzed. Try to scream, Ann. Try. Perhaps if you didn't see it, you could scream. Throw your arms across your eyes and scream Ann, scream for your life!!!

[Ann lets loose a blood-curdling, ear-piercing shrieking scream into the wind.]

Driscoll: What's he think she's really gonna see?

Denham: Wait a minute. What about Kong?

Driscoll: Well, what about him?

Denham: We came here to get a moving picture, and we've found something worth more than all the movies in the world.

Captain: What?!

Denham: We've got those gas bombs. If we can capture him alive.

Driscoll: Why, you're crazy! Besides that, he's on a cliff where a whole army couldn't get at him.

Denham: Yeah, if he stays there. But we've got something he wants [looking at Ann].

Driscoll: Yep, something he won't get again.

Denham: Well, the whole world will pay to see this.

Captain: No chains will ever hold that.

Denham: We'll give him more than chains. He's always been King of his world. But we'll teach him fear! We're millionaires, boys, I'll share it with all of you. Why, in a few months, it'll be up in lights on Broadway: 'Kong - the Eighth Wonder of the World!'

Theatre Patron #1: Hey, what's this show about, anyway?

Theatre Patron #2: I don't know - they say it's some big gorilla.

Theatre Patron #1: Oh, geez - ain't we got enough of them in New York?

Denham: [after Kong climbs the Empire State Building] That licks us.

Driscoll: There's one thing we haven't thought of.

Police Officer: What?

Driscoll: Airplanes. If he should put Ann down, and they could fly close enough to pick him off without hitting her...

Police Officer: You're right, planes...

Denham: Let me through, officer, my name's Denham...Lieutenant, I'm Carl Denham.

passerby: Denham? He's the one that captured the monster!

Police Lieutenant: Well, Denham, the airplanes got him.

Denham: Oh no, it wasn't the airplanes.It was beauty killed the beast.

Taglines

• The Most Awesome Thriller Of All Time

• Out-leaping the maddest imaginings! Out-thrilling the wildest thrills!

• The strangest story ever conceived by man.

Cast

• Fay Wray - Ann Darrow
• Robert Armstrong - Carl Denham
• Bruce Cabot - John 'Jack' Driscoll
• Frank Reicher - Capt. Englehorn
• Sam Hardy - Charles Weston
• Noble Johnson - Skull Island nation leader