The Eighth Wonder of the World

Brother, can you spare me £150,000? You see, I'm not normally too fussed about film memorabilia – but this is different. It's the one of the original models of King Kong, its fur and flesh long since worn away, which Willis O'Brien conjured into life for the 1933 film. And it goes on sale at Christie's today.

More seriously, I hope that, whoever the eventual buyer is, this Kong ends up in a museum. He is an immortal part of film history and deserves a kinder public stage than the one he gets in the film itself. O'Brien's work, encapsulated now by these bits of hinged metal, has inspired countless animators and monster freaks for decades - and it still has the power to do so.

Failing that, I'd urge Cappuccino Cultists to grab a copy of the film on DVD – so you can appreciate Kong in action, so to speak. I've always found it strange that, despite its abiding pop cultural significance, so few people seem to have actually watched the original movie. They should make the time. The simple fairytale at its core is as charming as ever, its action as compulsive.

Maybe part of the problem is Kong's shoddy treatment on home video in the UK. If you want to track it down, I'd recommend the US DVD (which actually works on UK DVD players) – it features a stunning restoration and one of the best supplementary documentaries that I've ever come across.  Besides, it's a helluva lot cheaper than £150,000.