CREDITS KING KONG , 1933 dir: Merian C Cooper; Ernest B Schoedsack Fay Wray Robert Armstrong Bruce Cabot

Even after seeing Peter Jackson's hi-tech remake, you'll still be knocked out by the 1933 original and marvel at the technical achievement.

The landing on ‘Skull Island’ was filmed at San Pedro, near to LA harbor, south LA near Long Beach – the mountains were painted on glass.

Several leftover sets were used by penny-pinching RKO Studios, including the native village (from King Vidor’s 1932 Bird of Paradise, and the giant wall from Cecil B DeMille’s 1927 King of Kings) on the lot at the Culver Studios, 9336 Washington Boulevard in Culver City.

In turn, the giant ‘Skull Island’ gates were reused for Gone With the Wind, where – bizarrely – you can clearly see them during the burning of Atlanta.

‘Skull Island’ itself was filmed in Hollywood’s own wilderness, the caves at Bronson Canyon, about a quarter of a mile from the end of Canyon Drive in Griffith Park.

The interior of the ‘New York’ theatre, where Kong is exhibited is LA’s Shrine Auditorium, 649 West Jefferson Boulevard, south of downtown LA.

The Shrine, a 6,700-seater Moorish fantasy built in 1926, can be seen in plenty of other movies, most famously in the 1954 George Cukor-Judy Garland version of A Star Is Born. It occasionally hosted the Oscars (before the move to the purpose-built Kodak Theatre in Hollywood), and it was the site of the disastrous awards show climaxing The Naked Gun 33 1/3. It was also here that, in 1998, James Cameron became King of the World.

The pic, taken the day before the ceremony in March 1998, shows the Shrine gussied up for the big bash.

And, of course, it’s atop the Empire State Building, 350 Fifth Avenue at 34th Street, New York, where Kong finally meets his end.

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