I suspect it may have been started before KONG went into release, as even less than a year seems a short time between script and premiere.

Hounded by lawsuits after the destruction caused by Kong, Carl Denham (Robert Armstrong) sets sail with his old captain in search of trade. Stopping off at a small island they drop in to watch a rather feeble show which presents the talents of Helen Mack. Following her father's killing in a drunken scrap, and the burning down of their show tent, she stows away on board the ship. Of course, the father's killer has been taken on also as he is the fellow who supplied the original chart for Skull Island and persuades the others of a fantastic treasure.

All this may sound like utter tripe, and to a certain extent it is. However, it is still quite an entertaining hour or so, with rather more comedy than before. There is the odd cheap-looking set and one or two rather bad spots of back-projection, but there is compensation in the trick work and a generous helping of monsters. Helen Mack, too was a decent, lively choice for the heroine, her good looks being unusual rather than conventionally attractive. Frank Reicher and Victor Wong repeat their roles in KONG, and Clarence Wilson has an effective few minutes as Mack's father.

The problem with this movie is that it's not too bad save for the ending. And that's what stays with me.

(Spoilers ahead)

We've got a nice set-up with the kinder and gentler Kong making friends with the strange white people. The strangers stumble onto the forgotten treasure, and then... nonsense. An earthquake hits for no apparent reason, and is quickly accompanied by a hurricane. In a shot lasting no more than 10 seconds we see the island natives jump to their deaths off the seething land. The strangers flee as the island is gobbled up by the sea. Kong, Jr. sacrifices his life to save one of the strangers. The End.

It wouldn't have been so bad if they had taken more time to plot out this sequence, and to have it make more sense. For example, showing more of the natives trying to save themselves. And perhaps tying in the start of the earthquake with the toying with the treasure. Still, trying to picture the immense Skull Island as seen in the original King Kong being submerged under water in a matter of a minute or two is hard to believe.

But that's what happens when you have an impossible deadline to meet in making a film. You have to cut corners and do what you need to to get it all in the can on time. That's obviously what happened here.