The King Kong Collection: King Kong (1933)/Son of Kong (1933)/Mighty Joe Young (1949) (REGION 1) (NTSC)

Customer Reviews:

Superbly Presented, Excellent Value, And Never Before Seen Footage........2006-11-28

These are the three films that sparked off the whole Kong industry:- King Kong, Son of Kong, and Mighty Joe Young, presented here in one of the finest box sets I have ever seen.
To begin with King Kong. You will see this film here as you have never seen it before.
The British video version, and, indeed the version that I have only ever seen in this country, runs for approximately 96 minutes, but this American dvd version runs for 104 minutes, and includes an overture that I didn't even know existed in films of this period. The remaining extra minutes consist of scenes of Kong stamping on people and biting off their heads that I can only assume were censored over here when the film was first released.
But not only do you get the original restored movie, you get it presented in a unique two-dvd embossed tin that includes ten glossy colour art cards, and a twenty-four page reproduction of the souvenir programme from the 1933 Premiere at Grauman's Chineses Theatre.
Son of Kong was of course not a patch on King Kong, and although I have only ever seen it once on TV, and that was many years ago, I will never forget the scene at the end of the movie where Kong is sinking, and drowning, in the ocean, whilst holding the heroine aloft to save her life.
Mighty Joe Young, the last in the trilogy, is a personal favourite of mine, and concerns a baby gorilla being adopted by a little girl, which grows up to be another Kong (the gorilla - not the girl). This one, however, has a happy ending, as Joe and the girl are returned to Africa to live happily ever after.
Son of Kong, and Mighty Joe Young are each in their own dvd case, and although the product details say that there are three dvds in this set, there are in fact four.
Any Kong fan has to have this set. To get so much for so little is truly remarkable (don't forget you will need a multi-region dvd player).

Customer Reviews:

It's all about Svetlana!.......2007-07-02

Third time lucky sums up my feelings. Roberto Bolle is a waste of time, as he contributes nothing. Finally, after her extremely disappointing Swan Lake and Giselle, she comes up with a performance to equal her Fille du Pharaon. Natasha's influence was visible from the start and is the principal reason for Svetlana's success. I am not complaining about the very dark video, as it effectively concealed most of the lacklustre dancing. One has to wonder, if this is the best cast La Scala can come up with for a video, just how dreadful must their regular evenings be? I've seen some pretty dire Solors and Gamzattis, but these rank as two of the worst. Svetlana earned those 4* all by herself.

Weak La Bayadère with starry leading couple.......2007-03-09

With "La Bayadère" Milan's La Scala completes its Svetlana Zakharova/Roberto Bolle classical trilogy. Even more as with the previous releases in this series ("Swan Lake" and "Giselle", both published by TDK) the main reason for acquiring this DVD will be the presence of the two stars.

Filmed live at La Scala in May 2006, the company can be seen in Natalia Makarova's well-known staging of Marius Petipa's "La Bayadère", among others danced by London's Royal Ballet (and also available on a TDK DVD, starring Altynai Asylmuratova, Irek Mukhamedov and Darcey Bussell). As in the Royal Ballet's version the traditional sets are by Pier Luigi Samaritani, the costumes by Yolanda Sonnabend.

The company of La Scala proves competent, if nothing more. The female corps de ballet does a commendable job in the Shades Act, but the absence of noteworthy demi-soloists constitutes a serious handicap, as does the generally fast conducting of David Coleman. Moreover, by casting corps member Isabelle Brusson in the crucial role of Gamzatti, the dramatic development is seriously unbalanced. Understudy Brusson obviously wasn't ready yet for so challenging an assignment.

Bolshoi Ballet guest star Svetlana Zakharova, in one of her signature roles, easily dominates the performance, dramatically as well as by the quality of her dancing. As a supreme adagio ballerina, her appearance in the Kingdom of the Shades act, serene and cool, reveals the choreography in all its glory. La Scala's own Roberto Bolle is her likeable if never too exciting Solor.

Directed by Tina Protasoni for video and TV the fast multi-camera editing and unnecessary close-ups of faces during or at the ending of a movement are ultimately annoying. Otherwise, image and sound quality are top-notch.

In short, all admirers of Svetlana Zakharova and/or Roberto Bolle will rush to purchase this DVD, others will look for their Bayadère elsewhere.

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