Bring 'Em Back Alive (1932 film)
| Bring 'Em Back Alive | |
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Theatrical poster
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| Directed by | Clyde E. Elliott |
| Produced by | Amedee J. Van Beuren |
| Written by |
Frank Buck, Edward Anthony |
| Starring | Frank Buck |
| Narrated by | Frank Buck |
| Music by | Gene Rodemich |
| Cinematography | Carl Berger, Nicholas Cavaliere |
| Distributed by | RKO Radio Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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60 or 70 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $100,000 |
| Box office | $1,044,000 |
Bring 'Em Back Alive is a 1932 American Pre-Code jungle adventure documentary filmed in Malaya starring Frank Buck. The film was promoted with an NBC radio series of the same title.
After unsuccessfully attempting to interest the main Hollywood motion picture companies to finance his trips to make a series of shorts, Buck approached Amedee Van Beuren whose studio only made cartoons and live action short subjects released through RKO Studios. Van Beuren agreed to Buck's conditions that he finance all expenses of Buck's expedition, pay Buck with a share of the profits and not view any of the footage sent back until Buck was present, as Buck was unsure of how the images would actually look on film. Van Beuren kept his word and when viewing the footage they both realised they had enough film of high quality to make a feature film.
In Bring ‘Em Back Alive, unlike in most other jungle pictures of the time, director Clyde E. Elliott kept the camera in the background. Neither the camera nor the cameramen are visible in any of the scenes. The result is an infinitely clearer conception of the clashes between tigers, pythons and crocodiles than had been achieved in previous films. The movie was a huge hit, Elliott's (and Frank Buck's) most successful and popular film.
Among the scenes in the film:
Scenes in the jungle were photographed from blinds erected whenever possible against the wind to prevent the human scent from blowing toward the animals. Elephants, Buck reported, are especially dangerous in that respect. Their sight is undeveloped, but their sense of smell is hypersensitive. Nick Cavaliere, one of the cameramen, had an encounter with the python who is one of the film's unwitting stars. The huge reptile was being photographed from a short distance when suddenly it shot forward, aiming at the film boxes, which lay under the camera tripod. The camera crew fled and the python began to encircle the boxes, probably suspecting them of producing the whirring noise which came from the electric motor of the camera. Cavaliere took a long stick and snapped off the motor, and the python lost interest, released its grip on the boxes and glided away.
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