Director: Ernest B. Schoedsack
Genre(s): Action, Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, Kids & Family
Runtime: 94 minutes
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
A spiritual sequel to King Kong (1933) and The Son of Kong (1933), Mighty Joe Young is also about a stop-motion primate on the loose. Jill Young (Terry Moore) is a young woman living in Africa with a pet gorilla (Joe Young, of course) who is convinced to move to the United States and participate in a new nightclub project schemed up by showman Max O’Hara (Robert Armstrong). This one’s more kid-friendly than the other two monster monkey movies that I mentioned earlier, although it still has plenty of action, suspense, and life-threatening peril.
This spare-no-expense action-adventure film features an able cast that includes a young Ben Johnson (playing Gregg) as an Oklahoman cowboy who tries to wrangle Joe Young while in Africa. The numerous special effects here feel smoother than the ones in King Kong and The Son of Kong. The elaborate action scenes are probably some of the best of the 1940s. The decision to credit Joe as “Mr. Joseph Young” in the opening credits is a cute touch.
Mighty Joe Young sure knows how to successfully push an audience’s buttons, thanks to a winning combination of action and drama. Some scenes may be a bit too talky for children, and some of the animal fighting isn’t the easiest to watch (Joe beats up some lions during one of the big set pieces, but they’re mostly fake). Most viewers will find something to enjoy about this flick.
The original Mighty Joe Young forms an unofficial adventure movie trilogy along with the original King Kong and The Son of Kong. All three were directed (or co-directed) by Ernest B. Schoedsack and show off special effects that were groundbreaking at the time of release. If you’ve enjoyed the other two films, you have got to watch Mighty Joe Young.
My rating is 8 outta 10.
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