Perdus dans la jungle

This is not a bad little serial. It has few of the standard serial cliches that bug me, especially not the cliffhanger endings that end up happening completely differently at the start of the next episode (watch the original Captain America serial to see a LOT of that).

Clyde Beatty is a nice enough guy, though obviously not an actor...but then few of the real-life celebrities that did movies and serials in the 30's & 40's were (Red Grange, Frank Hawks, Sammy Baugh...though Houdini pulled it off back in 1919). There are a lot of animal action shots, which is a pleasure to watch. Clyde has this stupid hypnotic eye power over the beasts at a couple of points in the story, but those moments are easily ignored.

All in all a nice little serial...fun, good locations, good guys, bad guys, wild animals, lost treasure...sounds good to me!

Plenty of animal action for the day, scary beasts, and a guy keeping them in check (long before the use of CGI or camera tricks). If a person couldn't get to the circus back in the day or were a big fan of the circus, this would definitely appeal to the wild side for younger folks. I couldn't see kids getting into it these days, but surely would've been a treat on the big screen then. Directing is alright, as there were a few points where the limits of special effects needed decent camera work and visual storytelling.

The scripting was pretty awful, very basic to the point of illogical/unemotional. Plot is extraordinarily thin and convenient. I think this is why it would target a young audience, probably more so the males. Between us, I think Ruth could've done much better. Here's a man (hero) obsessed with his work and 'oh by the way, I love you babe' should be a serious red flag. Characters are static, almost caricature like a Laurel & Hardy bit.

Take it or leave it with this film. If you've got time then there may be some interesting things to watch.

"The Lost Jungle" features world famous animal tamer, Clyde Beatty. While mostly forgotten today, he was quite possibly the greatest animal tamer of all time and he was the first to be the featured headline act in a circus and the first to own his own circus. Beatty only appeared in six movies...including this 12-part movie serial.

For the most part, I think this serial could be "Clyde Beatty and His Pal Deal with a Bunch of Jerks!". Why? Because instead of the usual villains that populate serials (such as spies, masked villains and the like), Beatty has to mostly deal with jerks who try to kill him. One is his assistant, Sharky, a know-it-all who is jealous of Clyde and tries several times to get him killed. Additionally, when the dirigible Beatty is on crashes, two more homicidal jerks (Krby & Flynn) try to kill Clyde because he knows they killed an explorer to take his treasure! In many cases, he escapes death by fighting with various wild animals, though he also engages in a few fights with his enemies. Along to help him is his sidekick (Syd Saylor) and 1001 animals from the circus where Beatty worked in real life.

So is it any good? Well, yes and no. Nearly all serials are a bit cheesy and you can't judge them by the standards of a typical movie. But despite a few silly portions of the film (the island they crash onto has animals from all over the world on it!), the action is pretty good and usually it's actually Beatty fighting off animals and doing stunts. Not great...but not bad either.

By the way, if you do watch, note Mickey Rooney as an extra in part 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 at 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 shipwrecked on an uncharted island of Kamor with lions, tigers, bears, and more unscrupulous beasts, oh my. Ruth gives Clyde the bird. I mean she sends him a cable by carrier pigeon.

Clyde to the rescue on a new airship. Lightning strikes in a storm and you guess 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 lurking somewhere and up to his nefarious plots.

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

For those of you who did not grow up in the days of old-time circus and traveling shows, you may not know the name Clyde Beatty. Beatty is hailed as one of the worlds most famous animal trainers. My father, who is ninety-six, and still in sound mind, saw Beatty in Raleigh, NC back in the thirties and both of us truly enjoyed this movie. The animal scenes were wonderful and reminiscent of the old circus. Supported by Syd Saylor, a noted and well educated actor and comic, added the light touch in just the right places. This film came as one of the offerings in a 50 pack DVD collection and is one of the few really classics in the bunch, but it was worth the cost of the collection to see and have this movie. Clyde did all the 'stunts' himself and his talent in animal training is relished. Enjoy this for what it is, a fun adventure featuring a true American talent.