ABSTRACT
The “new technique in score and synchronization”2 that Max Steiner applied to King Kong was not quite the novelty the composer claimed it to be, for by the time of the film’s release in March 1933 Steiner-at the behest of producer David O. Selznick-had already provided comparable music for three earlier RKO films. And likely it is for this reason that, despite King Kong’s enduring reputation as the film that singularly launched the style of scoring that would prevail at least for the next twenty years, early reviews make no mention at all of the music.3
