Customer Reviews

Lost Jungle [VHS]

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Evidently I watched a different version. This was also released in the same year and under the same title as a 68-minute feature version of the serial by Mascot Pictures Corporation. It is incorporated in the 50 movie pack Sci-Fi collection.

Plenty of animal training scenes staring the Hogenbeck-Wallace Animals. Clyde the benevolent and gentle animal trainer is too naive about human nature to realize that one of his men Sharkey (Warner Richmond) tries to kill him every time he turns around, and too preoccupied to realize he must marry Ruth Robinson (Cecilia Parker) or lose her to a South Seas trip planned by her father.

While Clyde is busy playing with his felines, Ruth and her father Capt. Robinson (Edward LeSaint) are ship wrecked on an uncharted island of Kamor with lions, tigers, bears, and more unscrupulous beasts. Ruth gives Clyde the bird. I mean sends him a cable by carrier pigeon.

Clyde to the rescue on a new air ship. Lightning strikes in a storm and you guest it Dirigible Victory splits up. Sharkey bails like a rat leaving a sinking ship, with the only parachute. What are their chances of getting lost on the same island? What is worse Sharkey is lose somewhere and up to his nefarious plots.

Will Clyde become tiger chow and who will get the girl?

VCI Entertainment and Mascot Pictures present... "The Lost Jungle" (1934) (Dolby digitally remastered), with 12 Chapters of vintage serial episodes loaded with jungle action sequences with the Hagenbeck-Wallace Animals...story line has the "World's Greatest Animal Trainer" Clyde Beatty in search of animals for his new circus, in the process finds a young girl and her father searching for an uncharted island...is there a a buried city of Kamor in the Lost Jungle on the island, if so who will be the first to discover it's riches...will the jealous animal handler Sharkey plot once again to do in Beatty and take over as star animal tamer...can Beatty fulfill his dream of collecting Lions and Tigers with a mixed feline act that's never been done before...what fate lies before our hero with greedy gold hunters and the infested island of wild animals.....don't leave the theater until the final chapter is over and done with "Take Them Back Alive"....just remember double thrills, chills, mystery and suspense...hitting the bull's eye with excitement...don't miss a single spine thrilling episode..return next week to this local theater for another episode of action and adventure that will keep you thrilled until the next chapter.

Under director's David Howard and Armand Schaefer, producer Nat Levine, Original story by Sherman L. Lowe and Al Martin, screenplay by Barney Sarecky, David Howard, Armand Schaefer and Wyndham Gittens, musical score by Lee Zahler....the cast includes Clyde Beatty (Clyde Beatty), Cecilia Parker (Ruth Robinson), Syd Saylor (Larry Henderson), Warner P. Richmond (Sharkey), Edward LaSaint (Capt. Robinson), Wheeler Oakman (Kirby), Maston Williams (Thompson), Mickey Rooney (Mickey, lead boy at circus), George "Gabby" Hayes (Doctor-dirigible passenger), Lew Meehan (Flynn), Max Wagner (Slade)...with stunts performed by Yakima Canutt (King of the Stuntmen)......meanwhile back to our Mascot Serial which is always good till the last drop and this serial is no exception...there is a great deal of entertainment here for the cliffhanger fans out there...all courtesy of VCI Entertainment, who in my humble opinion is the best there is in restoring early serials and features.

CHAPTER TITLES:
1. Noah's Ark Island
2. Nature in the Row
3. The Hypnotic Eye
4. The Pit of Crocodiles
5. Gorilla Warfare
6. The Battle of beast
7. The Tigers Prey
8. The Lions Brood
9. Eyes of the Jungle
10.Human Hyenas
11.The Gorilla
12.Take them Back Alive

BIOS:
1. Clyde Beatty
Birth Date: 6/10/1903 - Bainbridge, Ross County, Ohio
Died: 7/19/1965 - Ventura, CA
2. Cecilia Parker
Birth Date: 4/26/1905 - Fort William, Ontario, Canada
Died: 7/25/1993 - Ventura, CA
3. Syd Taylor
Birth Date: 3/24/1895 - Chicago, Illinois
Died: 12/21/1962 - Hollywood, CA
4. Armand Schaefer (Director)
Birth Date: 8/05/1898 - Tavistock, Ontario, Canada
Died: 9/26/1967 - unavailable

If you're into vintage serials as I am, why not pick up a copy of the following titles from VCI Home Video:
VCI CLIFFHANGER TRAILERS:
1. Buck Rogers (Buster Crabbe)
2. Adventures of the Flying Cadets (Bobby Jordan)
3. Drums of Fu Manchu (Henry Brandon)
4. Jungle Girl (Frances Gifford)
5. The Phantom (Tom Tyler)
6. Zane Greys "King of the Royal Mounted" (Allan "Rocky" Lane)
7. Secret Agent X-9 (1945) (Lloyd Bridges & Keye Luke)
8. Adventures of Red Ryder (Don "Red" Barry)
9. Secret Agent X-9 (1937) (Scott Kolk & Henry Brandon)
10.Zorro's Cliffhanger Collection (Reed Hadley, John Carroll & Linda Stirling)
11.Dick Tracy's G-Men (Ralph Byrd)
12.Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (Buster Crabbe)
13.Jungle Jim (Grant Withers & Raymond Hatton)
14.Miracle Rider (Tom Mix & Tony Jr)

If you crave action, drama and plenty of adventure then this is the place for all of the above...check out another release from VCI Entertainment and Republic Pictures present Zane Grey's "King of the Royal Mounted" (1940) (digitally remastered), 12 Chapters of vintage serial loaded with action sequences...is there a discovered substance called "Compound X", which may cure infantile paralysis...has Tom Merritt stumbled on such a rare find...is there a war between Canada and sources known later as the "Father Land".....get out there as they're going fast, this is the one you've been waiting for.

Great job by VCI Entertainment for releasing "The Lost Jungle" (1934), the digital transfere with a clean, clear and crisp print...looking forward to more high quality releases from the vintage serial era of the '30s, '40s & '50s...order your copy now from Amazon or VCI Entertainment where there are plenty of copies available on VHS, stay tuned once again for top notch action mixed with deadly adventure from the "King of Serials" VCI...just the way we like 'em

Total Time: 240 mins on 2 VHS ~ VCI Entertainment 1737 ~ (11/01/2000)

Clyde Beaty of Darkest Africa/Batmen of Africa stars in this wonderful serial. He was known as the greatest animal trainer in the world. He does battle with plenty in this. As well you see what is a little disturbing, but as well interesting and that is the fighting of a tiger and a lion. I believe this to be quite the keeper among serials and is a defintite must have for any collector. I will watch this one over and over...

Clyde Beatty was the "world's greatest animal trainer" and this film makes that point clearly. These serials have been combined and divided into a dizzying array of presentations over the last seventy years, but the bottom line is the Clyde (and his annoying assistant Sharkey) trains animals and goes into the jungle to find animals while trying to keep a romance going with Cecilia Parker over her father's oft-voiced objections.

The shorts (or the film made from them) are comically overacted by people who were more used to the exaggerated physical gestures used in silent movies. Beatty is a particularly bad actor, but these are about the animals and adventure. My favorite feature is the subplot about the ship Captain taking his daughter away on a sailing ship because Beatty hadn't yet proposed to her, foundering on an island full of wild animals of widely disparate types, and Beatty and his rescue mission pursuing them in a dirigible (proving that Beatty isn't the only rigid gasbag onscreen, at least) which breaks in half but leaves Beatty's half floating along before crashing on the same island as his beloved and the Captain. How is that for convenient?

The animals are beautiful. I love big cats in particular, and there is an amazing assortment of them on display here. Some of the male lions are particularly impressive. Beatty is fearless, and there are many genuinely scary moments, as safety standards weren't quite what they are today. Some of these scenes are difficult to watch, as some of the animals appear to have been genuinely injured, and the fighting (both inter- and intra-species) is obviously real and is very fierce. This would never be made today; the methods are far too inhumane. That isn't a direct criticism of the filmmakers or stars, mind you, as these methods were considered quite acceptable in the 1930s.

People who like serials from the 1930s will like these shorts (or the composite films made from them), but other than the animal scenes, a little goes a long way. The acting is wooden and the plot is hackneyed, but this was considered quite pioneering and daring at the time, so it is interesting as a historical artifact.

I had never watched a movie quite like this one. The animal scenes were quite real and the animals appeared to have been injured in the process. I am a big fan of documentaries, but knowing that the scenes where predators were in close proximity to herbivores was staged offended even my usual open-minded sensibilities.

This movie was a serial, and you need both volume 1 and volume 2 to have the whole thing. The plot is simple. Animal trainer Clyde Beatty (playing himself) heads off after girl friend Ruth Robinson (Cecilia Parker) after she and her father disappear during an expedition. Clyde takes a dirigible across the ocean, but the dirigible encounters a storm, as can be seen by cheesy animated effects.

The dirigible lands on an island. It just so happens that Ruth and her father are on the same island. Sharkey (Warner Richmond) keeps trying to sabotage Beatty's efforts, and he lands on the island by parachute, unbeknownst to everyone else. Sharkey finds Ruth's father and the treasure, and is looking for the captain of the ship so that he can leave the island. Unfortunately for Sharkey, his character meets the stereotypical ironic ending.

In the end, the good guys get the critters, the jewels and the babe. Isn't everyone happy?

This movie is quite anachronistic. We know that no islands exist with the variety of animals shown in this movie. Also, the predator density was too high to be sustained. Lastly, this island had African lions and North American mountain lions, which is a good trick in any era. On the other hand, if you can suspend your common sense and knowledge of the world, and you can ignore the cruelty to the animals in the movie (though the cruelty shown was not considered cruel in that era), this movie is an interesting artifact of another era.

I couldnt get past the first twenty minutes. Unless you explicitly remember this as a childhood memory forget it.

I watched the DVD version included in the 50 sci-fi pack, too. The film quality was fine, considering, as was the sound.

But the cruelty to animals was astonishing! Staged fights between hyenas and antelope, lions and tigers, etc....amazing viewed with today's sensibilities. Five more years would pass before animals were even protected a little in the making of movies.

VCI Entertainment and Mascot Pictures present... "The Lost Jungle" (1934) (Dolby digitally remastered), with 12 Chapters of vintage serial episodes loaded with jungle action sequences with the Hagenbeck-Wallace Animals...story line has the "World's Greatest Animal Trainer" Clyde Beatty in search of animals for his new circus, in the process finds a young girl and her father searching for an uncharted island...is there a a buried city of Kamor in the Lost Jungle on the island, if so who will be the first to discover it's riches...will the jealous animal handler Sharkey plot once again to do in Beatty and take over as star animal tamer...can Beatty fulfill his dream of collecting Lions and Tigers with a mixed feline act that's never been done before...what fate lies before our hero with greedy gold hunters and the infested island of wild animals.....don't leave the theater until the final chapter is over and done with "Take Them Back Alive"....just remember double thrills, chills, mystery and suspense...hitting the bull's eye with excitement...don't miss a single spine thrilling episode..return next week to this local theater for another episode of action and adventure that will keep you thrilled until the next chapter.

Under director's David Howard and Armand Schaefer, producer Nat Levine, Original story by Sherman L. Lowe and Al Martin, screenplay by Barney Sarecky, David Howard, Armand Schaefer and Wyndham Gittens, musical score by Lee Zahler....the cast includes Clyde Beatty (Clyde Beatty), Cecilia Parker (Ruth Robinson), Syd Saylor (Larry Henderson), Warner P. Richmond (Sharkey), Edward LaSaint (Capt. Robinson), Wheeler Oakman (Kirby), Maston Williams (Thompson), Mickey Rooney (Mickey, lead boy at circus), George "Gabby" Hayes (Doctor-dirigible passenger), Lew Meehan (Flynn), Max Wagner (Slade)...with stunts performed by Yakima Canutt (King of the Stuntmen)......meanwhile back to our Mascot Serial which is always good till the last drop and this serial is no exception...there is a great deal of entertainment here for the cliffhanger fans out there...all courtesy of VCI Entertainment, who in my humble opinion is the best there is in restoring early serials and features.

CHAPTER TITLES:
1. Noah's Ark Island
2. Nature in the Row
3. The Hypnotic Eye
4. The Pit of Crocodiles
5. Gorilla Warfare
6. The Battle of beast
7. The Tigers Prey
8. The Lions Brood
9. Eyes of the Jungle
10.Human Hyenas
11.The Gorilla
12.Take them Back Alive

BIOS:
1. Clyde Beatty
Birth Date: 6/10/1903 - Bainbridge, Ross County, Ohio
Died: 7/19/1965 - Ventura, CA
2. Cecilia Parker
Birth Date: 4/26/1905 - Fort William, Ontario, Canada
Died: 7/25/1993 - Ventura, CA
3. Syd Taylor
Birth Date: 3/24/1895 - Chicago, Illinois
Died: 12/21/1962 - Hollywood, CA
4. Armand Schaefer (Director)
Birth Date: 8/05/1898 - Tavistock, Ontario, Canada
Died: 9/26/1967 - unavailable

If you're into vintage serials as I am, why not pick up a copy of the following titles from VCI Home Video:
VCI CLIFFHANGER TRAILERS:
1. Adventures of Red Ryder (Don "Red" Barry)
2. Adventures of the Flying Cadets (Bobby Jordan)
3. Buck Rogers (Buster Crabbe)
4. Captain Midnight (Dave O'Brien)
5. Captain Video: Master of the Stratosphere (Judd Holdren & I. Stanford Jolley)
6. Dick Tracy's G-Men (Ralph Byrd)
7. Don Winslow of the Navy (Don Terry)
8. Don Winslow of the Coast Guard (Don Terry)
9. Drums of Fu Manchu (Henry Brandon)
10.Fighting Kit Carson (Johnny Mack Brown)
11.Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (Buster Crabbe)
12.The Green Archer (Victory Jory)
13.Jungle Girl (Frances Gifford)
14.Jungle Jim (Grant Withers & Raymond Hatton)
15.Lost City of the Jungle (Russell Hayden & Keye Luke)
16.Mandrake the Magician (Warren Hull & Dick Curtis)
17.Miracle Rider (Tom Mix & Tony Jr)
18.The Painted Stallion (Ray "Crash" Corrigan)
19.The Phantom (Tom Tyler)
20.The Return of Chandu (Bela Lugosi)
21.Riders of Death Valley (Dick Foran, Leo Carrillo & Buck Jones)
22.Secret Agent X-9 (1937) (Scott Kolk & Henry Brandon)
23.Secret Agent X-9 (1945) (Lloyd Bridges & Keye Luke)
24.Sky Raiders (Donald Woods & Billy Halop)
25.Undersea Kingdom (Ray "Crash" Corrigan)
26.Winners of the West (Dick Foran, Harry Woods, Roy Barcroft & Charles Stevens)
27.Zane Greys "King of the Royal Mounted" (Allan "Rocky" Lane)
28.Zorro's Cliffhanger Collection (Reed Hadley, John Carroll & Linda Stirling)

Coming soon January 2006 from VCI Home Video on DVD..."FLAMING FRONTIERS" (1938), Universal Serial with 15 chapters, featuring Johnny Mack Brown, Eleanor Hansen, John Archer, James Blaine and Ralph Bowman..."OREGON TRAIL" (1939), another Universal Serial with 15 exciting chapters featuring Johnny Mack Brown, Fuzzy Knight, Roy Barcoft and Charles King..."THE TALL TEXAN" (1953), full length feature starring Lloyd Bridges, Lee J Cobb, Luther Adler and Marie Windsor...watch for more details on VCI Entertainment and Amazon your two favorite sites for serials and B-Westerns.

Great job by VCI Entertainment for releasing "The Lost Jungle" (1934), the digital transfere with a clean, clear and crisp print...looking forward to more high quality releases from the vintage serial era of the '30s, '40s & '50s...order your copy now from Amazon or VCI Entertainment where there are plenty of copies available on VHS, stay tuned once again for top notch action mixed with deadly adventure from the "King of Serials" VCI...just the way we like 'em

Total Time: 240 mins ~ VCI Entertainment 1737 ~ (11/01/2000)

This one stars celebrity lion tamer Clyde Beatty as, well, himself, on a mission to find his girlfriend who's been lost on the mythic island of "Kamar". Really, Clyde doesn't even play himself very well, but he's a circus performer not an actor. His duplicious assistant undercuts him at every turn, loosing a lion on him while some unexplainably present children gawk, and engaging in some unnecessary animal cruelty. Is any animal cruelty actually necessary? Clyde's aloofness with his gal is amusing, and the scene where he tames a cage full of dozens of animals (even bears) at once is certainly impressive. But as the tag says, you seen one jungle epic, you seen em all. Take it or leave it.