Son of Kong

Plot[edit]

A month after the destruction in New York City by Kong, filmmaker Carl Denham has been implicated in so many lawsuits that he is almost bankrupt. Denham leaves the city aboard the Venture with Captain Englehorn, who knows he too will be similarly prosecuted if he stays, but their efforts to make money shipping cargo around Asia are not successful. After arriving in the Dutch East Indies port of Dakang, Denham and Englehorn attend a show of performing monkeys, which ends with a song ("Runaway Blues"), sung by a young woman, Hilda Petersen, whom Denham is immediately attracted to.


That night, Mr Petersen, Hilda's father who runs the monkey show, stays up drinking with a Norwegian skipper, Nils Helstrom, who had lost his ship under questionable circumstances. The two men argue and fight, during which Petersen is killed and his tent burns down. Distraught, Hilda releases all the monkeys from their cages. Soon after, Denham and Englehorn meet Helstrom, who was the man who had sold to Denham the map to Kong's island. Helstrom convinces them that there is a treasure on the island and they agree to sail to find it. Later, Denham meets Hilda while she is trying to recapture her monkeys and tries to cheer her up. Despite pleas for her safety, Denham refuses to take her with him when he sets sail from Dakang. However, shortly after the ship leaves, Hilda is found having stowed away on board.


Helstrom talks Hilda into silence, then incites a mutiny on board the Venture, but the sailors want no more captains and force him along with Denham, Englehorn, Hilda, and Charlie the cook away in a lifeboat. The group land on Skull Island and discover that the natives now blame Denham for Kong's destruction in their village, forcing them to retreat into the interior of the island, where they split up into two groups. Denham and Hilda encounter a giant albino gorilla, smaller than Kong, but still over twice the height of a man. The giant ape is stuck in quicksand, so Denham helps him out and bandages the ape's injured finger, establishing trust with the ape. Denham tells Hilda that he believes the ape is Kong's son and names him "Little Kong". Later, Englehorn, Charlie and Helstrom are attacked by a Styracosaurus which chases them into a cave. Denham and Hilda are attacked by a giant cave bear, but "Little Kong" fights it and forces it away. Helstrom had actually made up his treasure-story to get a free ride away from Dakang, but with the ape's help, Denham and Hilda find a real treasure - a huge jewel on the head of a seemingly abandoned giant stone idol, which he takes. Little Kong, Denham, and Hilda are attacked by a Nothosaurus, but "Little Kong" fights and kills it. A storm ensues and Helstrom tries to escape in the lifeboat, but is killed by an Elasmosaurus. Englehorn, Hilda and Charlie quickly retrieve and board the lifeboat, but a violent earthquake and hurricane strikes the island and it begins to sink into the ocean. The water soon surrounds Denham and "Little Kong" atop a tall mound and as the ape's foot gets stuck in the cracking mound, he sacrifices himself to save Denham by holding him above the water. The group in the boat reach Denham just in time, as the ape's hand, with Denham's bandage still on his finger, sinks below. On the deck of a rescue ship, Denham and Hilda contemplate the tragic fate of Kong's son and of their future together, but Denham shows Hilda the jewel he salvaged, assuring her that it will provide financial security for all of them. It was Denham's intention to split the fortune four ways (Denham, Hilda, Englehorn and Charlie), but Hilda says that three ways is just fine, indicating that she is throwing her fortunes in with Denham for the long haul.