Vladimir Ilyich King Kong
Marcin Giżycki
kwartalnik.filmowy@ispan.plThe Polish-Japanese Academy of Information Technology in Warsaw (Poland)
Abstract
Merian C. Cooper, co-director and producer of King Kong from 1932, fought as a volunteer pilot in the Polish-Bolshevik War and was taken prisoner by the Russians. He spent nine months in Russia. A rumour recently made popular in foreign and Polish press has it that Cooper’s encounter with the Soviet aesthetics, especially with the project of the never completed Palace of the Soviets topped with a giant statue of Lenin, inspired the scene with the King Kong at the top of the Empire State Building. Unfortunately it is a myth that is not supported by the facts. Before the film was made, there were no sky scrapers built in the Soviet, Stalinist, socialist-realist style. The first draft of the Palace of the Soviets in the form of a high tower with a statue on top appeared only in 1934. This leads the author of the article to a different conclusion: perhaps it was Cooper’s movie that inspired later visions of the Palace of the Soviets.
Keywords:
Palace of the Soviets, Merian C. Cooper, King KongReferences
Kapuściński, Ryszard. 1993. Imperium. Warszawa.
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Authors
Marcin Giżyckikwartalnik.filmowy@ispan.pl
The Polish-Japanese Academy of Information Technology in Warsaw Poland
Krytyk i historyk sztuki; autor książek z dziedziny historii filmu i zjawisk kultury artystycznej. Wykładowca w Rhode Island School of Design w USA. Opublikował m.in. Nie tylko Disney - rzecz o kinie animowanym (2000), Koniec i co dalej? (2001), Słownik kierunków, ruchów i kluczowych pojęć sztuki drugiej połowy XX wieku (2002), Wenders do domu! Europejskie filmy o Ameryce i ich recepcja w Stanach Zjednoczonych (2006).
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