StudioCanal, out now

 

A primate palaeontologist and an aspiring actress join an oil-seeking expedition to a hidden island, unaware of the giant beast lurking in its jungles.

Producer Dino De Laurentiis’ large budget 1976 remake of King Kong, directed by John Guillermin, gets a 4K upgrade from StudioCanal, revealing previously hidden depth, but dialling up the saturation a little too much.

There’s no doubt that this transfer of the movie is the sharpest we’ve seen, the original 35mm negative scanned in 4K and colour graded by Paramount, followed by restoration and mastering under StudioCanal’s supervision. The result is some rich detail in the darker scenes, particularly when Kong first takes Jessica Lange’s Dwan.

Grain is also apparent, but it’s not distracting, unlike the grading of the picture, which skews too heavily towards red, particularly noticeable on skin tones. The sea and the sky are a very rich blue, and the greens of the jungle are striking, it’s just the flesh that jars.

The movie won a Special Achievement Oscar for visual effects, and while to modern eyes it’s apparent we’re looking at Rick Baker in a monkey suit and Lange in a giant animatronic hand, in scenes with occasionally clunky matte lines, the achievement cannot be knocked. It’s a decent, contemporary update of the story, New York’s Twin Towers replacing the Empire State Building for Kong’s final ascent.

English language audio options are 2.0 stereo PCM and a rich 5.1 DTS-HD mix, the lush John Barry score adding to the movie’s quality credentials. The disc contains both the 4K theatrical cut and an unrestored copy of the 180-minute cut, which has the distinction of adding very little but filler (the movie was shown in two two-hour slots over consecutive nights).

There are audio commentaries from film Historian Ray Morton and actor and makeup artist Rick Baker (lots of fascinating behind-the-scenes info). A Blu-ray disc contains deleted scenes and a bunch of interviews – photographic effects assistant Barry Nolan, second unit director Bill Kronick, messengers Scott Thaler and Jeffrey Chernov, assistant directors David McGiffert and Brian E. Frankish, actor Jack O’Halloran and gorilla sculptor Steve Varner.

Verdict: It’s a great 4K transfer, just a little heavy on the red. 8/10

Nick Joy