Mighty Joe Young
Directed by Ernest B. Schoedsack
Written by Ruth Rose from an original story by Merian C. Cooper
1949/USA
Argosy Pictures
First viewing/Netflix rental
[box] Crawford: [amidst animal growls] It can’t be; we’re a hundred miles from that country – but it is, I swear it is! Ali, get me my gun – *big* gun![/box]
Sometimes it is good just to sit there like a little kid and marvel at some awesome special effects. This is a particularly good movie to do that with.
Little Jill Young lives on a farm in Africa with her widowed father and needs a friend. So she buys a baby gorilla from some natives who are passing by. She names her friend Joe. Father disapproves but of course the beast stays on.
Segue to perhaps 10 years later and we meet flamboyant nightclub owner and publicity hound Max O’Hara (Robert Armstrong). He decides that the best thing for his club will be to hire rodeo champion Gregg (Ben Johnson) to come with him to Africa and lasso some wild animals. There they run into Joe who is now a giant of perhaps the size of King Kong (though his relative size seems to vary throughout the film). They antagonize poor Joe and all hell breaks loose. Fortunately Jill (Terry Moore) shows up. She is the only one Joe will listen to and manages to calm him down again.
Max sweet talks the lonely orphan into bringing Joe with her to the bright lights of Hollywood. Joe’s act is a smash hit but he is miserable after hours in his cage and this makes Jill miserable too. Then Max tries out a new act in which his patrons throw things at the ape for a prize and Joe absolutely freaks out. He is caged again but escapes and most satisfactorily takes his revenge on the crowd and the premises.
The mean police want to shoot Joe as a dangerous animal. But Max and Gregg have a scheme to get him out of the country first. It doesn’t quite work out the way they planned. The day is saved when Joe is put to work rescuing children from a burning orphanage. With Frank McHugh as Max’s manager.
Well this was more fun than a barrel of monkeys! I love Robert Armstrong’s almost campy performances as this type in the Kong films and here. Joe is given so much personality that you have to love and root for him. The now blind Schoedsack did a splendid job of keeping things moving along at a breakneck speed.
For me the highlight was the commentary featuring the reminiscences of Terry Moore and stop-animation genius Ray Harryhausen with interjections by an animation enthusiast. The commentary made the special effects even more awe-inspiring if possible. Just think that each frame was individually shot, requiring subtle changes to a mind-boggling amount of moving parts! Check out the fire scene below for a fabulous example. If you like this kind of thing at all, I would say it’s a must-see.
Mighty Joe Young won the Academy Award for Best Effects, Special Effects.
Clip – Joe at the burning orphanage
