Editing King Kong (1933 film) (section)

===Censorship and restorations===
The [[Motion Picture Production Code|Production Code]]'s stricter rules were put into effect in Hollywood after the film's 1933 premiere and it was progressively censored further, with several scenes being either trimmed or excised altogether for the 1938–1956 rereleases.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Miller |first=Frank |date=March 2, 2007 |title=Pop Culture 101: King Kong |url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/2690/king-kong/#articles-reviews?articleId=158012 |access-date=2025-01-10 |website=Turner Classic Movies |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Tatna |first=Meher |date=2020-11-09 |title=Out of the Vaults: 'King Kong', 1933 |url=https://goldenglobes.com/articles/out-vaults-king-kong-1933/#:~:text=For%20subsequent%20releases%20of%20the,in%20honor%20of%20Wray's%20passing |access-date=2025-01-10 |website=Golden Globes |language=en-US}}</ref> Censors removed the scene of the Brontosaurus mauling crewmen in the water, chasing one up a tree and killing him.{{Sfn|Morton|2005|p=84}} They also removed the scenes where Kong undresses Ann Darrow,<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=AFI{{!}}Catalog – King Kong (1933) |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/4005 |access-date=2025-01-09 |website=catalog.afi.com}}</ref>{{Sfn|Morton|2005|p=84}} bites and steps on people.<ref name=":0" /> The scene where Kong mistakes a sleeping woman for Ann and drops her to her death after realizing his mistake was also removed.<ref name=":0" />{{Sfn|Morton|2005|p=84}} An additional scene portraying giant insects, spiders, a [[reptile]]-like predator and a tentacled creature devouring the crew members shaken off the log by Kong onto the floor of the canyon below was deemed too gruesome by RKO even by pre-Code standards. Cooper thought it "stopped the story", and thus the scene was censored by the studio before the original release.{{sfn|Harryhausen|Dalton|2008|p=84}} Members of the preview audience also left the film early because they were concerned about the scene.{{sfn|Von Gunden|1989|p=119}} The footage is considered lost, except for only a few stills and pre-production drawings.{{sfn|Morton|2005|pp=75–76}}<ref>{{cite web |last1=Wednesday |first1=WTM • |title=The Lost Scene from 1933's King Kong – the Spider Pit |url=https://www.neatorama.com/2018/12/12/The-Lost-Scene-from-1933-s-King-Kong-the-Spider-Pit/ |website=Neatorama |date=December 12, 2018 |access-date=January 28, 2020 |language=en |archive-date=January 28, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200128131026/https://www.neatorama.com/2018/12/12/The-Lost-Scene-from-1933-s-King-Kong-the-Spider-Pit/ |url-status=live}}</ref> There are also claims that it was never filmed and was only in the script and novelization.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-04-02 |title=King Kong (non-existent cut content of Pre-code monster adventure film; 1933) – The Lost Media Wiki |url=https://lostmediawiki.com/King_Kong_(non-existent_cut_content_of_Pre-code_monster_adventure_film;_1933) |access-date=2024-04-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240402171457/https://lostmediawiki.com/King_Kong_(non-existent_cut_content_of_Pre-code_monster_adventure_film;_1933) |archive-date=April 2, 2024 }}</ref>

The film was initially banned in [[Nazi Germany]], with the censors describing it as an "attack against the nerves of the German people" and a "violation of German race feeling".<ref>{{Cite news |date=December 2, 2015 |title=Hitlers Kino: "Führer"-Faible für Garbo oder Dick und Doof |url=https://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/hitlers-kino-fuehrer-faible-fuer-garbo-oder-dick-und-doof-fotostrecke-132203.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190404161903/http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/hitlers-kino-fuehrer-faible-fuer-garbo-oder-dick-und-doof-fotostrecke-132203.html |archive-date=April 4, 2019 |access-date=August 27, 2019 |newspaper=Der Spiegel Online|location=Hamburg, Germany }}</ref> Shortly following its release the film was also banned in Finland for violence; the ban was released in 1939.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Flavorwire Staff |date=2012-02-03 |title=Movies Banned in Foreign Countries for Weird Reasons |url=https://www.flavorwire.com/254645/movies-banned-in-foreign-countries-for-weird-reasons |access-date=2025-03-04 |website=Flavorwire |language=en}}</ref> [[File:King Kong Re-release Trailer.webm|thumb|Trailer for the 1938 re-release of ''King Kong'' (1:32).]]RKO did not preserve copies of the film's negative or release prints with the excised footage, and the cut scenes were considered lost for many years. In 1969, a 16mm print, including the censored footage, was found in Philadelphia. The cut scenes were added to the film, restoring it to its original theatrical running time of 100 minutes. This version was re-released to [[art house]]s by [[Janus Films]] in 1970.{{sfn|Morton|2005|pp=75–76}} Over the next two decades, [[Universal Pictures|Universal Studios]] undertook further photochemical restoration of ''King Kong.'' This was based on a 1942 release print with missing censor cuts taken from a 1937 print, which "contained heavy vertical scratches from projection."<ref>[http://www.creativeplanetnetwork.com/dcp/news/king-kong/43148 Millimeter Magazine article, 1 January 2006] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130521015000/http://www.creativeplanetnetwork.com/dcp/news/king-kong/43148 |date=May 21, 2013}} Retrieved: March 15, 2012</ref> An original release print located in the UK in the 1980s was found to contain the cut scenes in better quality.<ref name=":1" /> After a 6-year worldwide search for the best surviving materials, a further, fully digital restoration utilizing [[4K resolution]] [[Image scanner|scanning]] was completed by [[Warner Bros.]] in 2005. This restoration also had a 4-minute [[overture]] added, bringing the overall running time to 104 minutes.<ref name="autogenerated1">[http://www.thedigitalbits.com/site_archive/articles/robertharris/harris102505.html "Robert A. Harris On King Kong"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140813142801/http://thedigitalbits.com/site_archive/articles/robertharris/harris102505.html|date=August 13, 2014}} Retrieved: March 15, 2012,</ref> The project was funded by [[The Film Foundation]] and the [[Hollywood Foreign Press Association]].<ref name=":2" /> Somewhat controversially, ''King Kong'' was [[film colorization|colorized]] for a 1989 [[Turner Home Entertainment]] video release.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1989-02-17-8903060204-story.html |title=Colorized ''King Kong'' May Bug Fans  |work=[[Chicago Tribune]] |first=Andy |last=Wickstrom |date=Feb 17, 1989 |access-date=Jul 26, 2022}}</ref><ref name="tcm notes" />