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Mighty Joe Young (1949)
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 07, 2019 12:23 pm    Post subject: Mighty Joe Young (1949) Reply with quote




Today I was stunned to discover that All Sci-Fi has gone for twelve years without ever having a thread for Mighty Joe Young. Shocked

That grave omission is being fixed right now.
________________________________

I'll kick off the thread with a wonderful YouTube video I found of the 1950 Oscars, in which the Academy Award for Special Effects was presented by none other than Miss Patricia Neal.

Listen to the rather inaccurate description she reads about how the FX for Mighty Joe Young were created. She states that Mighty Joe Young was an 80-ft gorilla made out of lumber, tar paper, and "a pile of old toupees". Rolling Eyes

No wonder O'Brien's acceptance speech was only five quick words. "Thank you very, very much." And off he went, probably wondering what idiot wrote those notes for Patricia Neal!


__Willis O'Brien Wins Special Effects: 1950 Oscars


__________


I also found an 11-minute interview with Ray Harryhausen and two gentlemen as they discuss Might Joe Young. It's absolutely packed with fascinating info that I didn't know.

For example, Ray explains why Mighty Joe Young's fur doesn't move around constantly the way King Kong's did whenever O'Brien's figures disturbed it as he handled the model.

Ray also tells us why he had a pet name for the specific Mighty Joe Young model he liked best among the four that were built.

He called it "Jennifer"! Very Happy


_________ Ray Harryhausen & Mighty Joe Young


__________


He also answers a question I've had in mind for decades: how did Ray move those small eyes without accidentally moving the head?

You'll see lots of great clips, along with BTS shots as well. This is an extremely well done interview. I'm very impressed by it.
________________________________

This next video will knock your socks off. You'll wonder why the screen is dark for the first 33 seconds. Just be patient. Then you'll think the video is a just a clip from the night club scene before Joe appears under the piano.

Wait just a little longer.

And then . . . well . . . you'll see. Cool


__________Mighty Joe Young- Joe Comes to Life


__________


Finally, folks, enjoy this fine original trailer, narrated by the great Dick Tufeld!

____________ Mighty Joe Young Trailer, 1949


__________

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
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Last edited by Bud Brewster on Tue Sep 15, 2020 2:39 pm; edited 2 times in total
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Pow
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 14, 2019 12:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

One of my favorite Willis O'Brien, Ray Harryhausen films.

The stop~animation sequence that Ray said was his most fave to animate was Joe & the caged lion in Africa.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 14, 2019 2:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

That is one helluva dramatic entrance Mr. Joseph Young of Africa makes in this classic movie! Joe's "acting" is astounding. Cool
________________________________


_______________________ Joe vs The Lion


__________

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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Pow
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 15, 2019 3:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ray was also very pleased with his scene where Joe is in the nightclub and crashes through the bar canopy in front of the lions.

The burning orphanage showed up in at least a couple of Robert Conrad's steampunk western TV series The Wild, Wild West.
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Pow
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 17, 2019 3:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

"Joe Meets Tarzan' 'was a sequel planned for MJY. Lex Barker would have played Tarzan.

Due to disappointing box office results for MJY a sequel was never made.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 30, 2019 2:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

I have to admit, the idea of a Might Joe Young and Tarzan movie sounds like a promising concept — especially with somebody other than poor Mr. Weissmuller, who's never impressed me very much. Sad

Tarzan was never supposed to talk like Tonto. Lord Graystoke spoke several languages . . . Rolling Eyes

Joe, on the other hand, was smart enough to understand the things Terry Moore said to him, and Tarzan always "had a way" with all animals. So, it would be interesting to see the two of them teaming up for some noble purpose.

Here's an interesting thought. Monkeys are great at swinging through the trees, but gorillas are too heavy, so Joe would be WAY too heavy! With that in mind, imagine a scene in which Tarzan and Joe are rushing to the rescue someone!

Joe is racing along the ground, leaping over obstacles and crashing through the underbrush — while Tarzan keeps up with him overhead, swinging from the vines, running along the larger branches, and occasionally dropping down onto Joe's back to hitch a ride!

God, that would be so cool! Cool

Or picture a scene in which a group of white hunters and their native bearers are trying to capture Joe with nets a ropes. Joe fights valiantly, but the men manage to restrain him. Suddenly we hear Tarzan's yell, and the terrified natives begin to flee. Joe is about to break loose as the natives let go of the ropes and nets.

One of the hunters is about to shoot Joe to save his own cowardly white ass when . . . Tarzan drops down into their midst and fights shoulder-to-shoulder with his pal, Mr. Joseph Young of Africa!

After the battle is over, Tarzan deals personally with one of the Great White Hunters.






Here's another idea.

Tarzan is captured by a hostile tribe, and Joe comes to HIS rescue! Imagine Joe wading into this fight to save his partner!



__________


And then there's this idea.

The story involves a group of "killer gorillas" terrorizing peaceful native tribes. In that story, Tarzan is about to be overwhelmed by the savage simians . . . but again Joe comes to his rescue!






The alpha male of this group is an unusually large and savage animal, a beast that even Tarzan needs help with!





The exciting climax is when the brutal alpha male kidnaps Terry Moore. It's up to Tarzan and Joe to save her!





Man, I'd LOVE to write the story on which this imaginary sequel is based!

God A'mighty, come on, guys! Think like a Writer and post a few imaginative ideas of your own. Don't just "watch" movies and "read" books . . . create new ones all by yourself which never existed!

That's one of the main reasons All Sci-Fi was first created — to present all those UNMADE movies and those UNWRITTEN stories! I know damn well I'm not the only one around here smart enough to do this! Very Happy

Share your own ideas with us, guys! We NEED 'em!

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


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Pow
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 30, 2019 3:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Trivia for "Mighty Joe Young." } There were discarded scenes from the original script.

A plane carrying the humans, Joe, and other captured animals flying from Africa to the United States crashes onto a remote island.

Joe saves the day by battling lions who threaten the survivors.

This sequence was not filmed because it would have adversely affected the film's pacing.

The finale for the movie was to have been Joe in a fight with another gorilla on top of a cable car as it traveled from the San Francisco hills.

Willis O'Brien was very disappointed that this concept ended up being scrapped.

I feel that the better choice was the burning orphanage rescue scene. It was more powerful emotionally for me as Joe and the others halted their escape in order to save the children. A fight upon the cable car roof would have been exciting, but it wouldn't have the poignancy that the climax of the film had with the fire.

Plus, I would assume that Obie would have created another stop~motion gorilla to clash with Joe for the cable car scene.
Another gorilla would have taken away from Joe's uniqueness for me. And where the heck did this other giant ape arise from for the film? Perhaps Obie did have an explanation for the ''other gorilla'' but it kind of waters down Joe's prominence in the picture.

RKO's budget was $1,500,000.

The scene introducing Joe in Africa at the lion cages was Ray Harryhausen's favorite to animate for the film and the one he was most proud about.

Legendary movie director John Ford saw the daily footage with Joe & the caged lions. He congratulated Ray for creating such a superb scene. High praise indeed from "Pappy."

Ray was not at all enthused about the scene where Joe is dressed as an organ grinder street monkey with Jill operating the organ grinder. Ray found this scene overly sentimental (I found it sad and humiliating to Jill & Joe, which I believe was its intent for the audience).

As Ray animated the sequence he found that it took on a life and power of its own. Ray ended up enjoying the sequence because it took Joe from hurt, humiliation, shock, and anger. Ray was able to animate all those emotions & give rich characterization to Joe, as well as making a statement on ''civilized society.''

Original title; "Mr.Joseph Young Of Africa."

Released on July 30,1949 to generally favorable reviews.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 30, 2019 4:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Well, well . . . so there WERE plans to have Joe battle another gorilla! Interesting . . .

But I like my ideas better. Cool

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
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scotpens
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 30, 2019 10:21 pm    Post subject: Re: Mighty Joe Young (1949) Reply with quote

Bud Brewster wrote:

. . . For example, Ray explains why Mighty Joe Young's fur doesn't move around constantly the way King Kong's did whenever O'Brien's fingers disturbed it as he handled the model.

I don't recall the source, but I remember reading that Joe's fur (which was made of rabbit pelts) was smoothed down with mineral oil so it wouldn't show the animator's finger marks. It also gave Joe's coat a nice healthy sheen!
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 31, 2019 10:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

I saw King Kong several times on local TV stations in the early 1960s, and I didn't know what caused the areas of fur that "wiggled", but I loved the way it looked as if a breeze was ruffling Kong's coat! Very Happy

The closeups of Kong on the Empire State Building has a lot of wiggling fur, and the fact that the wind would be blowing up there actually makes the ruffled coat a positive element!


_ King Kong (1933) - Beauty Killed the Beast Scene


__________

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


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The Spike
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PostPosted: Sat Feb 29, 2020 4:47 am    Post subject: Go Joe Go! Reply with quote

Listen you guys, cut out the rough stuff or I'll feed you to the lions.

Unfairly chastised in some quarters for being a kiddie friendly King Kong, Mighty Joe Young is as charming as an Autumnal day. Many of the team from King Kong reteam to make this film, and undoubtedly it's pretty much the same plotting only with a different resolution.

However, the effects work is still magical, harking back to a time when geniuses like Willis O'Brien and Ray Harryhausen sweated buckets to make the magic move on the screen. Mighty Joe, the huge Gorilla of the title, is beautifully realised, full of expressions and emotions, he even has time for some sense of humour traits.

Action is never far away, with models and sets destroyed with brute force, while plenty of beings get flung about to emphasise the madness of it all. Narratively like Kong there's still themes of greed and ignorance, the tampering with Mother Nature a big mistake, which all leads to a thrilling finale that in turn leads to something to savour.

Kiddie Kong? Who cares! A wonderful film of skill and guile, of charm and brains. Go Joe Go! 8/10

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johnnybear
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PostPosted: Sat Feb 29, 2020 8:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I saw Phoenix (1998) last night and Ray Liotta had a few scenes where he slams the idea behind King Kong and he does have a point! The natives have built a wall to keep Kong out of their village and their side of the island but have built in two enormous doors in which he can enter if he wishes!!! Kong is also able to climb the Empire State Building (in the same year that the Daleks were inside it?) but he can't just climb their wall? Think about it...
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PostPosted: Sat Feb 29, 2020 3:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

I think it was my daughter, Ticket2theMoon, who suggested that the doors were built so that after the wall was complete, the last of the dinosaurs on the peninsula could be lured through them, after which they were closed!

Clever idea, eh? Cool

As for Kong climbing the wall . . . well . . . lemme think a second. Confused

Oh, got it! The natives kept it slathered with grease! Laughing

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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 15, 2020 3:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Pow wrote:
Trivia for "Mighty Joe Young." } The finale for the movie was to have been Joe in a fight with another gorilla on top of a cable car as it traveled from the San Francisco hills.

Willis O'Brien was very disappointed that this concept ended up being scrapped

This whole idea is riddled with flaws. How did Joe get from New York to San Francisco . . . or was the whole movie supposed to be set there?

As Pow said, where did this other oversized gorilla come from, and why was it on top of a cable car?

Would the rescue of a group of people in a cable car threatened by one giant gorilla really best accomplished putting another one of top of it? Somehow I doubt it.

Pow, I completely agree with your praise of the orphanage scene. And yet, the Disney remake of Joe Young had Joe rescue a kid from malfunctioning Ferris wheel, and I love that scene, too!


johnnybear wrote:
Kong is also able to climb the Empire State Building (in the same year that the Daleks were inside it?) but he can't just climb their wall? Think about it...

Johnny, I guess the two main differences between Kong climbing the Empire State Building and the native's wall was that the evenly-spaced window recessed in the Empire State Building were like the steps on a giant ladder for Kong! And they were much deeper and sharp-edged than the tightly-fitted stones of the Skull Island wall.

Let's be fair here, folks — the face of this wall doesn't exactly look like an over-sized Monkey Bars, does it? Confused






But perhaps more importantly, Kong never had a strong reason to climb the wall! The natives didn't require "pickup" . . . they always provided "delivery"! Laughing
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 25, 2020 1:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Just watched Joe last night on Svengoolie on MeTV.

I always love watching the stop~motion animation of course as I am a huge Willis O'Brien & Ray Harryhausen fan. And one of the reasons this is a legendary film is that Obie & Ray worked on it together.

However, as I've watched it over the years many times, I have to note the sensational scene that takes place towards the end of the movie at the burning Children's Home.

The staging is nothing short of superb as we watch the conflagration cause entire sections of the home to crumble.

It really is compelling to see the physical effects involved in bringing down the house. In this case, literally.

Trivia: "The Wild Wild West" TV series used stock footage of the demise of the Children's Home in one episode of that show; maybe more.
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