Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Adventure film 1: King Kong (1933)

An hour's discussion of the 1933 RKO classic, King Kong. Click the image below to listen to the podcast (21.8 MB, 1 hour).


Recorded Sunday 8 May 2011, edited by Murray Ewing.

Notes & Errata: Merian C. Cooper's direction and production partner was Ernest B. Schoedsack and Ernest's wife, the scriptwriter, was Ruth Rose. The name of the other Kong-descendant film I couldn't remember that involved Ray Harryhausen was Mighty Joe Young (another Cooper/O'Brien collaboration).

Purchase the DVD from Amazon UK: King Kong (1933)

Monday, May 30, 2011

Welcome to the Adventure Films Podcast

A few weeks ago on Facebook I listed some of my favourite adventure films with accompanying YouTube trailers. Here are the ten films I limited myself to - they're in no particular order of preference ...

King Kong (1933) : The Man Who Would Be King (1975)

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) : Hidden Fortress (1958)

Lawrence of Arabia (1962) : Time Bandits (1981)

Lost Horizon (1937) : Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

She (1935) : The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1974)

I have a very specific definition for what I term an 'adventure film', though I must say it's a definition that is rather fuzzy round the edges, and I find it difficult to pin down in words. It's got something to do with having to go on a journey, maybe a quest of some kind, and it's got something to do with starting out in the ordinary and being led off into the extraordinary. It may also have something to do with genre to some degree - The Lord of the Rings trilogy are definitely adventure films, but I don't quite categorise them as such due to the fact they take place in a fantasy world. Likewise, The Guns of Navarone or A Bridge Too Far are adventure films but, for me, the category of 'war film' trumps the category of 'adventure film'.

If you have any suggestions for good adventure films, please do let us know!