Jungle Menace
| Jungle Menace | |
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_film_poster_01.jpg)
Original lobby card
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| Directed by |
Harry L. Fraser George Melford |
| Produced by |
Robert Mintz (executive) Louis Weiss |
| Written by |
George M. Merrick Sherman L. Lowe Harry Hoyt George Melford George Rosener Arthur Hoerl Dallas M. Fitzgerald Gordon Griffith |
| Starring |
Frank Buck Reginald Denny LeRoy Mason |
| Music by | Lee Zahler |
| Cinematography |
Edward Linden Herman Schopp |
| Edited by | Earl Turner |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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15 chapters (308 min) |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Jungle Menace (1937) is the first serial released by Columbia Pictures.
Based on the success of Republic Pictures's 1936 serial Darkest Africa, starring real-life animal trainer Clyde Beatty, Columbia made this exotic jungle serial starring real-life animal collector Frank "Bring 'Em Back Alive" Buck. Set in the fictional land of Seemang in Asia, Buck plays the role of Frank Hardy, a soldier of fortune who intervenes in and investigates attempts to run a rubber plantation owner and his daughter off their land.
It was directed by Harry L. Fraser and George Melford, and filmed in black and white in California, USA.
In 1946 material from this serial was re-edited into the 70-minute feature film Jungle Terror.
In the Asian province of Seemang where the Bay of Bengal meets the jungle, Chandler Elliott (John St. Polis) owns a large and prosperous rubber plantation. His attractive daughter, Dorothy (Charlotte Henry), is engaged to neighboring planter Tom Banning (William Bakewell) but troubles are brewing for both plantations. When a cargo-load of rubber is shipped on a riverboat to be taken to port, the boat is hi-jacked by river pirates, who the kill the crew and the shipment is stolen. Jim Murphy (LeRoy Mason), Elliott's plantation manager, is plotting with others to force Elliott to sell his plantation. Local explorer Frank Hardy (Frank Buck) determines to find out who is behind the plot.
In his autobiography, director Harry L. Fraser described filming the scene in Jungle Menace during which a boa constrictor attacks the heroine Dorothy (Charlotte Henry). The villain has tied Dorothy hand and foot and she thrashes wildly, terrified when she suddenly sees the huge snake:
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