Mighty Joe Young Reviews

Though produced by the same people responsible for the classic KING KONG, MIGHTY JOE YOUNG is a pale imitation. Moore lives in the jungles of Africa and raises Mighty Joe, an extremely large gorilla. Up pops Broadway producer Armstrong (a star in KING KONG), who is looking for a "knock 'em dead" act for his new nightclub in Hollywood. Armstrong and his bunch bring Moore and Joe to the "City of Dreams" and build an act around the beast. As part of the act, Moore plays "Beautiful Dreamer" on a piano while the gorilla holds her above his head, and is pitted against 10 wrestlers in a game of tug o' war. Some drunk patrons give Joe some drinks, which spurs him to go on a rampage. The gorilla makes up for his folly, however, by rescuing children from a burning orphanage. He then goes back to live peacefully in Africa. While the nightclub sequence is great camp and the Oscar-winning special effects by Willis O'Brien (KING KONG) and Ray Harryhausen are top-notch, the film doesn't capture the magic of KING KONG. The orphanage fire had originally been tinted.