Old black-and-whiter for this Sunday night’s entertainment: Son of Kong, the sequel to the all-time 1933 classic King Kong. Obviously made much more quickly and cheaply than its predecessor (Son was in theaters only nine months after the original!), the movie nevertheless surprised me with an unexpectedly realistic portrayal of the consequences of the events of King Kong. As Son begins, Carl Denham, the entrepreneur and adventurer who captured Kong and brought him to New York, is being sued every which way to Tuesday and is up on criminal charges related to the deaths and property damage caused by the giant ape’s rampage, so he splits the country with his friend and sidekick Captain Engelhorn aboard the SS Venture, the tramp freighter from the first film. After various misadventures (read: failures), the two find themselves drawn back to Skull Island in search of a treasure that might pay off their debts…

Of course, much of that thoughtfulness and grown-up sensibility goes out the window once they encounter “Little Kong,” who is played much more for laughs than his daddy was. And then the island spontaneously crumbles into the sea for no apparent reason. Even so, the ending still brought a tear to my eye. Overall, a satisfying little adventure movie that I’ve somehow never gotten around to catching. Fans of Indiana Jones and/or Tales of the Gold Monkey ought to give it a look; if nothing else, you’ll recognize the atmosphere…