THE BEAST OF BORNEO (1934)

We're told that orangutan (or orang as it is mostly referred to here) means "man of the jungle," an ape named by the Dyaak natives of Borneo for being the closest to a human being. We then see hunter Bob Ward, who captures animals for zoos, try to snag an adult orangutan but instead winds up with a baby whom he adopts and calls Joe. Next, we see Prof. Borodoff in London doing experiments trying to prove a new theory of evolution by getting a human reaction from an ape—the experiment involves some kind of liquid or serum and it's never clear exactly how it works. Borodoff needs an adult orangutan so he and his assistant Alma head to the island of Borneo where a man named Van Der Mark joins them and suggests they hire Bob as their hunter. At first Bob refuses as he is completely against the capture of apes for vivisection, but Borodoff lies to him and says he won't be doing that. Just in case, Alma pretties herself up and attempts to seduce Bob. We don't know how far she gets as there is a sudden cut to the whole gang preparing to enter the jungle. Darmo, a native guide, comes along with his wife Nahnda who attends to Alma. Right off the bat, Borodoff complains to Alma that Bob has an "almost womanish solicitude" toward animals and natives, calling him an "incurable sentimentalist." Alma, whose seduction must have met with a favorable response, replies that he is instead an incurable humanitarian. The group spends three weeks trekking through the jungle (or, green hell as they call it), hearing the native "telegrams," or loud drumming, spreading the news of the white incursion. Eventually they come across an orangutan up in a tree that they try to starve down. Borodoff tells Alma he's in love with her and is jealous of her attentions to Bob. They capture the ape by using gin-soaked fruit, but when Borodoff makes it clear that wants to cut open the ape's brain, Bob rebels, leading to an action-filled climax.

This cheapie is par for the course for a Poverty Row studio (DuWorld): a slack narrative, lapses in plot and character, amateurish acting, and stock footage (apparently film shot in Borneo for an earlier film, East of Borneo, was used here, not always logically). Yet for all that, it holds a certain appeal for fans of the genre. A lot happens in its one hour running time, even if it doesn’t always make sense, and the bad guy gets his due at the end. The real orangutan used in the film is passive and looks fake, and the fake one is shot from afar and through brush so it sort of seems more real than the real one. Some melodrama involving the native couple crops up to take up some time. The actors are not terrible though most did not go on to have long careers. Eugene Sigaloff is appropriately villainous as Borodoff, though a little more scenery chewing would have been welcome. John Preston (Bob, pictured above) and Mae Stuart (Alma) fulfill the leading romantic roles despite a lack of chemistry or charisma. Alexander Schoenberg shows promise as Van Der Mark, but he vanishes from the movie early on. I rather liked that the seduction remains offscreen as it allows us to use our naughty minds. The sound the orangutan makes is patently false and annoying; one online reviewer refers to it as the sound a large constipated man might make in the bathroom, and that's pretty close. Ultimately, I found enough moments so that I wasn't sorry I watched it. [YouTube]