the film: "Huston's make-up is one that has proved rather painful. Scars cover almost his entire face and his features are pulled out of shape so that he is almost unrecognizable." Mordaunt Hall, the respected critic for The New York Times, agreed with such negative comments about Huston's disturbing "exaggerated make-up". Hall in his review blames that excess on Director William Cowan, whom he characterizes as "obviously not a disciple of restraint". The review of Kongo in the December 1932 edition of Photoplay provides some additional insight into reactions by fan-based publications. Among the nation's oldest movie magazines, the Chicago monthly also found Kongo a misuse of its cast's abilities and an inferior remake of West of Zanzibar. The magazine in its review also advises adult theatergoers to keep their children away from the film: Many theater owners in 1932, known then as "exhibitors" in the film industry, cautioned fellow exhibitors about screening Kongo. Weeks after the release of the feature, Bert Silver, owner of Silver Family Theatre in Greenville, Michigan, complains in the trade weekly Motion Picture Herald, "Good acting but terrible story. Pleased no one." Edith Fordyce, owner of the Princess Theatre in Selma, Louisiana, warns her colleagues too in the same publication. "Don't play [Kongo] on Sunday", she reports, "I did so, to my sorrow". Fordyce then adds, "It did not draw and those who saw it complained." Several months later, other exhibitors continued to express regret for showing the film. In the March 25, 1933 issue of Motion Picture Herald, Robert Yancey of Cotter, Arkansas, describes the film as a box-office disaster at his Paradise Theatre: "Not the type of picture people will pay good money to see. No business at all." References and notes External links Kongo at IMDb.com Kongo; allmovie.com 1932 films 1932 drama films 1932 horror films 1930s horror drama films American black-and-white films American horror drama films American films about revenge American films based on plays Films about magic and magicians Films set in Belgian Congo Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films Sound film remakes of silent films Films directed by William J. Cowen 1930s American films