Kong: An Original Screenplay

Dust jacket illustration by Bob Eggleton

Edited by Stephen Jones. 

Published by PS Publishing.

PS Publishing recently published an absolutely gem, Kong: An Original Screenplay, edited by the estimable Stephen Jones. We were so impressed that we decided to pick up copies to offer to our customers.

About the Book:

Ninety years ago, the classic Hollywood monster movie King Kong was released. What most people do not realise is that much of the film was the brainchild of best-selling British mystery writer Edgar Wallace (1875–1932). Known as the “King of Thrillers”, Wallace was an incredibly prolific and influential writer who moved to California in the early 1930s, where he was employed at RKO Radio Pictures. He was working on the initial drafts of Kong when he died unexpectedly, at the age of fifty-six, just two months into pre-production.

For decades, Wallace’s contribution to the film has been consistently down-played. Now, with the publication of Kong: An Original Screenplay, we can finally see how Wallace’s substantial draft script prefigures much of the narrative structure and more important themes found in the final film. It also depicts many of the production’s key scenes, while also including several epic sequences that were never used.

With an historical Introduction by multiple award-winning editor Stephen Jones, Wallace’s personal copy of his original draft script with his own corrections and interpolations, a boys’ story-paper adaptation of the film, preliminary production stills and art-work, and a colour portfolio of King Kong posters from around the world, Kong: An Original Screenplay finally gives Edgar Wallace the credit he deserves as the “Man Who Created Kong”!

Table of Contents

• Acknowledgements
• Edgar Wallace: The Man Who Created Kongby Stephen Jones

I. Growing Up

II. Becoming an Author

III. The War Years

IV. King of Thrillers

V. America Beckons

VI. “Coop”

VII. “Obie”

VIII. Letters from Hollywood

IX. Legacy

X. Rewrites

XI. The Making of King Kong

XII. The Artists

XIII. Literary Adaptations

XIV. Reception

XV. Wallace’s Script

XVI. End Credits

• Kong: An Original Screenplayby Edgar Wallace
• King Kong: A Boys’ Magazine Story