Originally posted by: Nanner Split
Oh, really? I did not know that! That's interesting... So, I guess the scene actually did have some point then. Still though, while viewing it without any knowledge of the "spider pit scene," it seemed useless. But I wonder how I'll feel about it the next time I see it, now that I know it's actually a reference to an old scene...
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So I did some research on the "spider pit scene" (by research I mean google'd it), and it turns out that the scene was originally cut because the director thought it messed with the pacing of the film (how ironic).
Popular legend says that Cooper cut the footage because it was "too shocking" when shown to a test audience, but as the screen capture of one of Cooper's notes from one of the special features in the new Kong DVD shows, "...so don't know about the spider sequences. After all I invented them, and personally cut them out of the rough studio print of "King Kong" They stopped the story". It was cut merely to tighten up the pacing and keep the focus of the terror on Kong.
Another scene that I really hated, was the scene with all the giant bugs at the bottom of that cliff area. There was NO reason to have that scene in the movie, other than "let's see how many giant monsters we can fit in this film!!!" and "let's have some more really cool death scenes!!!" Jackson just wanted that scene to show off his special effects. It did nothing to help the story. The Captain and the actor guy still could have come back and rescued them, simply by dropping a rope or vine down the edge for them to climb up. All important, plot progressing moments in that scene, easily could have been done without the bugs, and again, it would have made the pacing of the film much better. The army of giant bugs was just ridiculous.
This was an homage to the lost "spider pit" sequence from the original 1933 "Kong", which is sort of the Holy Grail of deleted scene to movie enthusiasts. There is evidence that it exists, such as pieces of the original script and old photographs, but the actual sequence has never been found. So PJ, for his remake, decided to put it back in. So, for us "Kong" nuts, that scene was quite a treat.
This was an homage to the lost "spider pit" sequence from the original 1933 "Kong", which is sort of the Holy Grail of deleted scene to movie enthusiasts. There is evidence that it exists, such as pieces of the original script and old photographs, but the actual sequence has never been found. So PJ, for his remake, decided to put it back in. So, for us "Kong" nuts, that scene was quite a treat.
Oh, really? I did not know that! That's interesting... So, I guess the scene actually did have some point then. Still though, while viewing it without any knowledge of the "spider pit scene," it seemed useless. But I wonder how I'll feel about it the next time I see it, now that I know it's actually a reference to an old scene...
-edit-
So I did some research on the "spider pit scene" (by research I mean google'd it), and it turns out that the scene was originally cut because the director thought it messed with the pacing of the film (how ironic).
Popular legend says that Cooper cut the footage because it was "too shocking" when shown to a test audience, but as the screen capture of one of Cooper's notes from one of the special features in the new Kong DVD shows, "...so don't know about the spider sequences. After all I invented them, and personally cut them out of the rough studio print of "King Kong" They stopped the story". It was cut merely to tighten up the pacing and keep the focus of the terror on Kong.
Source.
So, I can still respect the fact that Jackson put it in as a tribute, but maybe he should have taken a hint from Cooper and, at the very least, made the scene shorter, because it really does feel like it "stops the story" for the more casual Kong viewer, like myself.