10 King Kong Movies Ranked Worst To Best
2. Mighty Joe Young
“Mightier than King Kong!” claims the trailer, but even in 1949 Mighty Joe Young must’ve given audiences a sense of déjà vu: it reunites Kong’s director, screenwriter and star for more monkey business.
Once again, Robert Armstrong plays an explorer who gets more than he bargained for, but instead of discovering an ancient beast on an island inhabited by dinosaurs and savage natives, he finds Mighty Joe in Africa while searching for animals to display in America. Mighty Joe is the Kong it’s okay to love – instead of going on destructive rampages, he only fights back when attacked, and then only to protect his female owner.
Joe is so cute and lovable, in fact, that the movie wants the audience to feel a deep sympathy for him and never allows him to come to any real harm, something that may have contributed to the fail’s failure at the box office. It’s still worth seeking out for the effects by Willis O’Brien, who with this movie passed the torch on to his assistant Ray Harryhausen.