Continuity mistake: When Driscoll is hiding in the cliff cave with Kong above him, he moves from the front of the cave to the back two or three times without ever moving from the back of the cave to the front.
Continuity mistake: Just before Kong is gassed and captured, he picks up someone and bites his head. In a close up, he has them by the legs, then in the long shot he is biting their head. (01:14:30)
Continuity mistake: When Denham shows a second map to the captain, one can see it has a big map on the center part. In the close-up, it swaps to being a small drawing on a side.
Continuity mistake: When Kong is climbing the Empire State and peeps into the rooms, the window rail disappears in the outside shots and the close-ups.
Continuity mistake: When Kong is about to be captured and people jump on the boat, their positions differ between the front angles and the ones shot from behind.
Continuity mistake: When Kong fights against the dinosaur, Ann's tree starts to fall, and she cries while waving her right arm and holds onto it with her left. The shot changes, and now it's the opposite way: she is holding onto it with her right arm and waving her left hand.
Continuity mistake: After Kong kills the dinosaur, when he pounds his chest, watch a branch on the left. It's sometimes up or suddenly down. Most surely due to the animators moving it inadvertently while operating the models.
Continuity mistake: In New York, Kong fetches a woman in her sleep. In the close-ups she's wearing white pyjamas, but the mannequin she's replaced for when she falls has short hair and dark clothes.
Continuity mistake: While Kong kills the pterodactyl Jack arrives to save Ann. Shot changes and he's back in the cave making his entrance again.
Continuity mistake: The two villagers that are stomped by Kong's foot are bald but grow an afro in the close-ups.
Continuity mistake: A villager jumps off a hut and lands on the floor. A shot later he is 10 meters further ahead. (01:15:06)
Continuity mistake: Kong keeps changing styles throughout the movie at least 4 times: In the close-ups of its head it either has a round face with dirty teeth, fangs and small nostrils or white teeth with no fangs; as opposed to the full body models where it swaps between a cone-head forehead with small nostrils, and a rounder one with larger nostrils, both models with pearly white teeth.
Continuity mistake: The right cuff of Kong's shackles disappears from his wrist when he destroys the train, only to reappear later on.
Continuity mistake: When Ann watches Kong fight the dinosaur, her position is inconsistent between the wide shots and the close-ups.
Continuity mistake: When Kong brings Ann's bed towards him, the footboard changes between the wide outside shots and the inside shots.
Continuity mistake: The planes that attack Kong have two parallel wings, the lower wing being shorter. In the close-up of the planes next to Kong both wings are the same size.
Continuity mistake: Kong breaks the window and Ann starts to shout and extends her right leg. A shot later it's bent downwards.
Continuity mistake: Kong breaks the window and takes Ann from bed. In the wide shot (where she's replaced by a stop-motion doll) she faints backwards. In the immediate close-up she is conscious and upright.
Continuity mistake: After Kong escapes from the theater, a car crashes against a wall with no glass on the windshield. In the next shot, broken glass appears.
Continuity mistake: During King Kong's rampage on the island, he fights some of the natives on a scaffold platform. He picks up one of them and puts him in his mouth. In the wide shot, the native's feet are on the left side of Kong's mouth and his head is on the right. The close-up shows that his head is on the left while his feet are on the right.
Answer: It's never shown or explained, and the film uses a broad "suspension of disbelief" premise. The audience just accepts the characters were able to somehow transport a huge ape to New York City.
raywest ★