Stop-Motion Rarities: "The Eighth Wonder of the World" (1976) by Tom Woodruff Jr.
Channel: Matthew B. Lamont
Date: 19/12/2020

Remember that episode of the 1990s series, MOVIE MAGIC on The Discovery Channel, where they talked about the making of ALIEN RESSURECTION?  Yeah, in that episode, there was a profile on Tom Woodruff Jr. and Alec Gillis.  We get a glimpse of their amateur films.  One of them was from an amateur film called THE EIGHTH WONDER OF THE WORLD by Tom Woodruff Jr.  This shot on Super-8 film not only had a stop-motion Kong, but a stop-motion Arsinoitherium and stop-motion Pteranodon!  This was reported on issue 8 of CINEMAGIC MAGIC in Autumn 1976.  
https://archive.org/details/CinemagicV1111978Jodyanimator/Cinemagic%20v1_08%20%281976%29%20jodyanimator/page/n19/mode/2up
This was blatantly inspired by the King Kong hype of 1976 with Dino Dellaurentiis remake from Paramount and Universal's faithful to the original remake, that didn't get made.  
Seeing that clip on TV inspired a young teenage me to do his own movie.  A short movie.  A remake of a Willis O'Brien film.  His first one. Not KING KONG, not THE LOST WORLD, neither THE GHOST OF SLUMBER MOUNTAIN.  It was THE DINOSAUR AND THE MISSING LINK (2005).   
Fact: During production of my senior thesis graduate movie, HAIL TO THE KING: A KING NAMED KONG (2014), I contacted Tom Woodruff Jr. and asked permission to have a clip of his film in my project.  He kindly refused and thanked me as well as congratulating me for "having the Kong bug bit you."  What a nice chap.  
Enjoy.
(For educational purposes only.) 
(All copyrights acknowledged.)
#StopMotionRarities #TheEighthWonderOfTheWorld #TomWoodruffJr