Creation

We have always had a great curiosity about this film that has finally been satisfied by the release of KING KONG (1933) on DVD. Peter Jackson has recreated by narration, story boards and the surviving footage a coherent representation of the film. Enough for us to at least give some sort of realistic rating. The film was short circuited and canceled for three (3) reasons. Economic pressure on RKO due to the Great Depression, the expense of the film (several times that of the completed KING KONG) and that Merian C. Cooper did not like it. For details of the plot review the DVD, it is extensive.

Though not a viable feature film, we think it could be made into a nice made for T.V. movie for the Sci-Fi Channel and would certainly be better then a lot of their other efforts (they are not all as good as BATTLESTAR GALACTICA) and would fit into their Saturday programing. Like Peter Jackson's KING KONG (2005) it would be best to keep it in it's original 1930's time-line. If successful the THE WAR EAGLES could be looked to next. You might even coax Ray Harryhausen as a technical director. If anybody knows anything about these films he does.

ADDENDUM; Understand that Ray Harryhausen is a producer of a version of THE WAR EAGLES as of this date 05/01/08.

There are a number of films in Hollywood history that went into preproduction, even actually shot test footage for a presentation reel, only to be shelved by the studio for various reasons. Usually such ventures are forgotten to all but a few film fans & scholars, let alone actually listed on the Internet Movie Database. So it was very surprising (but a pleasant surprise!) to find Willis O'Brien's CREATION actually given a full listing here, especially since less than a full reel of film still survives. When JURASSIC PARK came out, there were dozens of bargain bin tapes on dinosaur movies that popped up to cash in on the interest in dino-films of the past, many of which included the CREATION footage in their collection of clips. Perhaps, when the DVD of the original KING KONG finally gets its years-overdue release, the CREATION footage will be restored and included among the extras.

I heard about it. I read about it. The only thing that ever came out was the clip of the Triceratops family, the man hunting the baby triceratops leading him to be chased by the angry mother where he gets gored. You can find the footage exclusively at the second disc of the original KING KONG Two-Disc Special Edition. But, there was more to it than just test footage. I saw storyboards and photographs of the puppets (such as the prehistoric mammal Arsinoitherium). The story of the film can be seen on the second disc of the original KING KONG Two-Disc Special Edition. It features storyboards, and narration from the film's outline. It played out like a READING RAINBOW episode. It is fun to watch. In a nutshell, the plot is like SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON meets THE LOST WORLD. This was Harry O'Hoyt's idea and Willis O'Brien would do the animation effects along with the talents of Marcel Delgado and Mario Larrinaga. However, the plug was pulled when Merriam C. Cooper and Ernest B. Shoedstack saw the test footage and had O'Brien and his team do the special effects for KING KONG. The dinosaur puppets, Stegosaurus, Brontosaurus, Triceratops, Styracosaurus Pterodactyl and Tyrannosaurus Rex, all ended up in KING KONG. In that production, new models were made such as the serpentine Elasmosaurus and the Spider Pit inhabitants. Harry O Hoyt changed the film to THE LOST ATLANTIS in 1937 and had Fred Jackman, who did the special effects for THE LOST WORLD be in charge of it and have the stop-motion animation be done by Edward Nassour (who later do 1956's THE BEAST OF HOLLOW MOUNTAIN) and Walter Lantz (of Woody Woodpecker infamy). The puppets were made. He pitched it for Colombia Pictures in 1937 and again in 1940. If CREATION did get made, it would end up being a monster movie memory on the late-night show in the 1950's, 60's and 70's and would end up playing on cable in the 80's and 90's on channels like AMC and TNT, plus it would end up sitting on Turner Classic Movies. Then there would be no KING KONG and it would disturb the chain of events. If THE LOST ATLANTIS did get made, it would give Walter Lantz a change of heart and he would become the next Ray Harryhausen. Or when he realized that his Woody cartoons are getting bad, he would stop and go back to his stop-motion roots. If only. Not rated, but the kids and adults wouldn't mind that extra on the KING KONG DVD, especially when they grew on READING RAINBOW. Give it a watch, but you don't have to take my word for it. I'll see you next time.

After doing the clay/stop-motion dinosaur sequences in The Lost World, Willis O'Brien then wanted to do a film called Creation which once again involved those prehistoric creatures, this time discovered by a crew on a ship. The cost-especially during these Depression times-was too expensive though so it was dropped. But not before O'Brien managed to shoot some footage of a Triceratops and her two kids playing around on the island before one of those kids wanders around to the sight of the movie's villain who shoots the poor boy in the eye and when the mother hears her son's cries, she rushes to the villain who fails to make a quick retreat before she gores him! All but that last part, I managed to see on YouTube which was part of a short sequence of which the narrator told the whole story while drawings of what was supposed to happen were shown as well as that only photographed sequence I just described. I read in the comments on YT that it was part of a documentary of the 1933 version of King Kong on that movie's DVD extras section. Anyway, while this movie was cancelled, producer Merian C. Cooper wanted O'Brien to help do some similar sequences for his own movie. And what was that movie, why it was King Kong, of course!

An adult triceratops and two younger, smaller triceratops enjoy themselves in the jungle. Then a man appears. He is armed with a rifle. He shoots and kills one of the smaller dinosaurs; it is larger than he. Then he has to flee and the larger triceratops gives chase.

What is this six-minute short? Depending on the source you consult, it may be part of a longer movie that was abandoned, or a test that satisfied the powers at RKO that O'Brien was up to animating the ape in King Kong. It looks like some of his work from THE LOST WORLD, but a bit more polished.

Whatever it actually is, it's entertaining on its own.