The Lost Jungle (1934)

Very best movie i ever watch

To me, this movie is perfection.

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

If you enjoy watching animals whipped, threatened, frightened and just abused in general, then this filth is for you! To make it even more wretched, they staged violent fights between animals (do YOU, dear viewer, also enjoy watching dog fights?), most notably between a tiger and a lion, two species who would never meet in the wild. This film is simply a horrifying excuse to profit from animal abuse. Stay AWAY!

The Lost Jungle is one of the more intriguing adventure films of the 30's. Not for its plot – it's extremely average with nothing of interest. No, what makes this one stand out are the animal scenes. Real life animal trainer Clyde Beatty plays himself and he gets in the cage with lions, tigers, leopards and bears and gets them to obey him. A seriously impressive feat when you see how damn scary and dangerous these creatures look. Beatty seems to have been an extraordinary talent and with balls of steel. All of the animal sequences in the film are great. Several don't involve Beatty at all, such as an attack by hyenas and a very aggressive fight between a lion and a tiger. The latter is just something you will never likely see again. I'm pretty sure most of the animal material in this movie would not be 100% legal these days and would breach animal cruelty legislation. But this is a time capsule movie and it is admittedly fascinating to see.The film fades somewhat once the adventure part of the story kicks in. It just cannot compete with Beatty and the wild animals. But for what it's worth it was edited down to feature length from a serial and it is about a legendary island called Kamor where lions and tigers naturally co-exist. A party including Beatty's girlfriend crash lands there and he organises a group to go and rescue them. This side of the film has a lot of the usual staples these old adventure flicks rely on but it's by-the-numbers stuff. The real draw of this one is the incredible animal footage.

"The Lost Jungle" is one of those typical 'back-and-forth captured items type' serials-- the bad guys capture something (or someone); then the good guys steal it back; then the bad guys steal it back again, etc., etc. How many of these can you name? 'Holt of the Secret Service,' 'The New Adventures of Tarzan,' 'The Perils of Pauline,' 'SOS Coast Guard,' 'The Phantom Creeps,' 'The Return of Chandu,' and countless others as well as this one-- in this case, stealing the missing jewels.Then there are those serials where the heroes go back and forth to a place-- 'The Lost City,' 'The Phantom Empire,' and the Flash Gordon serials. Except for the Flash Gordon serials and anything with Bela Lugosi, these are all the kinds of serials you watch while you're doing something else. You don't miss much except who's got the 'whatzit' or who's in the 'wherezit' in each episode.What if you cut out most of this endless back-and-forth business and edited it into a tight feature? They did it with this one! Usually feature versions cut out so much the film jumps too fast, skips too much, is hard to follow or doesn't make sense. Here, with the constant back and forth stealing of the jewels (how many times? 3? 4? 5?) cut down to just one time, the whole film flows right along with good continuity.In fact, for the 69 minutes of the movie, most of it is the entire, long first chapter that includes Clyde Beatty in the ring working with the animals (and with Mickey Rooney as a small boy), flying across the ocean in the dirigible (hail to those dirigible serials!) and crashing on the 'mysterious' island. Then bang! zoom! the hidden jewels are stolen and recovered and it's happy ending time! Glorious thirties shots of wild circus animals, especially with Clyde himself. They could have kept more animal sequences in, but why quibble.NOTE: My copy was part of the 'SciFi Classics 50 Movie Pack.' Unless you've got a lot of things to do around the house and need something to watch while doing them, go for the feature version first.

I'm surprised I missed this one as a kid growing up, since anything with wild animals, especially jungle cats I found to be thrilling; that's why Tarzan has always been a favorite. "The Lost Jungle" more than anything appears to be a showcase for the talents of circus animal trainer Clyde Beatty, who portrays himself in the film. Beatty is not particularly impressive in physical stature, which makes it all the more remarkable in the way he handles himself surrounded by all manner of wild beasts both in captivity and in the wild.The search for a legendary island city of Kamor in the South Pacific forms the backdrop for the film's adventure. However it's not Beatty who initiates the voyage, but a Professor Livingston (Crauford Kent) who theorizes that a place exists where animals native to both Africa and India live together. That leg of the journey takes place aboard a schooner directed by Captain Robinson (Edward LeSaint), who for good measure drags his daughter Ruth (Cecilia Parker) along. Ruth is technically Beatty's fiancée, but since he can't tear himself away from his lions and tigers, he quite literally misses the boat.Beatty forms his own expedition to Kamor to rescue the Robinson's when news of their disappearance arrives. Their trip aboard a dirigible also meets with disaster, but at least they make it to their destination. What I found amazing was that two different parties set out for a largely mythical land, somewhere in a vast ocean (maybe), and they both wind up in exactly the same place.As a romantic, Beatty's a good lion tamer. When he first encounters Ruth, she's about to become lunch for a savage island lion named Sammy. After saving her from a main course, Beatty once again mangles every opportunity to let Ruth know how much he missed her. Instead he's fixated on the incredible wildlife that the island has to offer - sheesh! Skulking around to make life tough for Beatty is the villain of the piece, a low life named Sharkey (Warner Richmond). Motivated by jealousy and greed, Sharkey does his best to do bodily harm to the boss. Beatty never suspects what a heel he is, but the viewer can only cheer when a savage lion evens the score with the bad guy.If you pay close attention, you might recognize a whiskerless George (Pre-Gabby) Hayes aboard the dirigible as one of Beatty's crew. However another future star also makes an early appearance in the movie. The young boy with the dog who's fascinated by Beatty's heroics is none other than Mickey Rooney! Perhaps the real stars of the movie though are the four footed entertainers themselves, second billed to Beatty as The Hagenbeck Wallace Animals. Truthfully, it's hard to imagine how those jungle scenes were created, especially the very realistic battle between a lion and tiger. I imagine some stock footage was used, but it's difficult at times to draw a line between the staged and real scenes.A couple of times in the movie, Clyde Beatty makes a reference to "bring them back alive" regarding the jungle cats of Kamor. I would be curious to know if there were any conflicts with Beatty contemporary Frank Buck over the phrase, as Buck was an adventurer who captured wild animals for zoos and circus use during the same era. In fact, Buck's film "Bring 'Em Back Alive" preceded this one by two years, and the line was one of his trademarks.In any event, "The Lost Jungle" is worth a viewing to see the real Clyde Beatty in person, using his skill and resources to tame wild beasts. If nothing else, you won't want to miss that famous stare down.