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. (01:22:00)
Visible crew/equipment: As the villagers are running away from Kong, when the mother rescues the young child, in the next shot look to the back right side of the screen. A member of this movie's production crew steps into the shot, stands there watching as the movie extras are running, and the shot cuts away. (01:17:29)
Continuity mistake: This happens in King Kong's death scene. After Kong puts Ann back down for the last time, when he's shot (in the neck area) in the wide shot, Kong's upper body and right arm lean over in front of the building's spire, with his (limp) right arm hanging over Ann. It cuts to a close-up, and now Kong's right arm is suddenly up behind the spire, with his right hand gripping that spire. (01:38:05)
Revealing mistake: In the last third of the film just after the announcement that Kong is coming, a native jumps out of his hut, loses his balance and falls by a chicken coop. His wig comes off and gets caught on the fence.
Revealing mistake: After King Kong destroys the train track of the oncoming train, in the POV shot directly behind the train operator while he watches Kong rise from the broken track, the small model's support control bar is visible at the right as it moves up and down. The next shot is a close-up of the shocked motorman, and after he attempts to stop the train, there's another shot facing Kong with the control bar visible for a moment. (01:31:50)
Audio problem: In the early stages of Kong's fight with the Tyrannosaur, Kong throws two (nonconsecutive) standing punches that don't hit but make noise anyway.
Revealing mistake: As the men walk past the downed stegosaurus, the camera moves faster than they do (judging from the background) but they stay at the center of the screen. Obviously the camera on the model of the stegosaurus moved faster than the camera on the men.
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.
Other mistake: While Ann Darrow is lying on the Empire State Building ledge beside the ladder, the backdrop shows the Chrysler Building, Queensboro Bridge, and Roosevelt Island, behind to the right. However, after Kong falls from the skyscraper, when Jack appears and says, "Ann, hang on, dear," this one shot is angled toward the left of the ESB, but the set's backdrop is positioned so it's the same background with the Chrysler Building, Queensboro Bridge, and Roosevelt Island, behind to the left. (01:38:20)
Factual error: There are just a couple of things wrong about the gas grenades used in the movie: gas grenades do not explode, they spray their contents; and second: if the gas really is that powerful, it should be used with more caution; a simple sudden downwind breeze into an uncontrollable gas cloud, and the users would become their own victims.
Revealing mistake: As one plane swoops at King Kong on the Empire State Building, another flies behind his head that is much larger than it should be relative to him.
Revealing mistake: The figures dropping from Kong's cliff into the river are obviously limp dummies.
Revealing mistake: When Kong crushes the scaffolding in the island village, it collapses not into a heap of splinters but in a neat panel of solidly bound wood.
Factual error: A creature of Kong's size would not be taken out that easily with the gas grenade as in the movie, for: 1) it explodes far too low for the gas to affect him; 2) even if the gas had reached his breathing organs, it would have taken more and prolonged exposure to knock him out.
Revealing mistake: When Kong breaks through the giant doors towards the islanders, part of the doors become transparent and you can see Kong's leg. This is a result of the matting special effects used.
Continuity mistake: When King Kong carries Ann Darrow to the top of the Empire State Building, he places her on the ledge near the fixed ladder mounted to the building. During the scene, in Ann's close-ups, the ladder vanishes from where it should be, and in the zoom-in shots (biplane POV), the ladder is mounted in a different area than in the long shots. (01:35:00)
Revealing mistake: While King Kong is atop the Empire State Building, the biplanes are strafing their large target. There are several static close-up shots facing a biplane's nose, and in these "aerial" shots, there's a girder beneath the set prop's fuselage. (01:36:10)
Revealing mistake: When Kong is rampaging through New York there are women shown in a window on the upper right. If you watch that was on a loop because they keep doing the same thing over and over.
Revealing mistake: When the sea creature appears and the raft overturns, the people falling are very obvious stiff dummies. One even falls downwards and its two feet stick up from the water.
Revealing mistake: When the men are running away from the Brontosaurus, it is quite obviously sped up. (00:56:40)
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 ★