Calling it a “wild-eyed and occasionally cock-eyed spectacle,” The Post was less enthusiastic about the original “King Kong” than its modern remake.

Then, as now, there was a lot of buzz around “Kong.”

The original, which opened in New York on March 2, 1933, had taken two years to produce and used cutting-edge special effects for that era.

But critic Thornton Delehanty wrote that it was “not as effective as it should have been.”

“Its fantasy element has moments of humor, but its thrills are weakened by their evident effort to be thrilling,” he said.

Audiences didn’t agree. “Kong” opened to sold-out crowds at both Radio City Music Hall and the RKO New Roxy (Radio City’s sister theater, which has since been torn down), a rare simultaneous opening.

Ads touted it as “big enough to play the world’s two greatest theatres at the same time!” and promised “a gigantic monster, rampant raging . . . a city at his mercy!”

Tickets were 35 cents during the day, 75 cents at night, but you got your money’s worth – the film was proceeded by a “Jungle Rhythms” musical production with a full orchestra.

Ads for the film also state that “smoking is permitted.”

Although the ape may have failed to completely impress Delehanty, he did find one thing to cheer about – Fay Wray. Her performance, he wrote, “is, from beginning to end, a scream.”