East of Borneo

Rose Hobart (DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE) travels deep into the jungles of Borneo to find her missing doctor husband (Charles Bickford), now the drunken court physician to capricious potentate, Prince Hashin (Georges Revavent). Although her husband won't give her the time of day, the Prince decides this white woman will do to give him an heir to further his "Aryan" race. After a slow (but not uninteresting) start, EAST OF BORNEO picks up with a couple of dynamic adventure scenes - one showing the heroes racing across the backs of crocodiles, and the other showcasing a fantastic volcanic eruption achieved by a primitive but still wondrous combination of rear screen projection and miniature work. Leonard Maltin is all wrong about EAST OF BORNEO; although it's not quite as good as the later THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME, this forgotten film (made by the same team responsible for Universal's Spanish-language DRACULA) is definitely worth seeking out.

Once again, some genius decided to put the white credits over a white background, so we can only see about half the names during the opening. "East of Borneo" is one of the films from the Treeline/Reelmedia Action Classic collection, and the black and white edges are pretty washed out and blurred, since its from 1931. This was the fourth film for Rose Hobart (Linda Randolph) and the eighth part for Charles Bickford (Dr. Clark). Pity the filming locations are not listed, but it could have all been done on a Hollywood lot with rented animals. Linda goes trooping through the jungle to find her husband, although we're probably not really in the jungle, since she never closes the screen netting all the way to keep the flies out...lots of chanting, drumming, and someone gets et by a lion. Georges Renavent, who had been in the biz for 15 years by now, plays the ruthless and heartless Prince Hashim. Melford, the director, had been acting and directing since 1909, so while the story here is pretty simple, it does have a professional quality to it. Note that this was produced by Carl Laemmle Junior, the son of the founder of Universal Studios, so he probably got to make this exactly as he wanted it. Pretty good special effects towards the end. Gotta see for yourself....don't want to spoil any surprises for those who haven't seen it yet....

The best thing about East Of Borneo is the very clever way Universal was able to blend in real jungle footage into the plot of this movie. I'd love to know where Carl Laemmle got it. I can't believe he spent the money to actually go to the Dutch East Indies and shoot it for the studio. Universal was on its uppers at the time.

Saying that we have an interesting jungle melodrama. Rose Hobart has come looking for her estranged husband Charles Bickford who has truly gone native. When he's not shacking up with all the native women, he's court physician to the local maharajah Georges Renevent. When he makes it clear he's scorning Hobart, Renevent starts checking her out. She is the only white woman he's seen in some time.

The film has a really nicely filmed volcano sequence at the end. This might have been the inspiration for Crosby and Hope burlesquing such climax at the end of Road To Bali. Plot if you could call it that had some of the elements of East Of Borneo.

Seen today East Of Borneo is quite archaic and I doubt we'll see a remake. It holds up well in spots and worth a look.

So many years after he abandoned her, thinking her unfaithful, "Linda Randolph" (Rose Hobart) sets off to trace her long absent husband on an island in the East Indies. When she finds him, he is friends with, and working for, a dodgy local potentate who takes a bit of a shine to her. The unscrupulous prince seems bent on capturing her heart (or something like that..) so she and the ex-husband (Charles Bickford) have to come up with a plan to get the hell off the island. It takes about half of the film to build up anything like a head of steam; but once it does it actually moves long quite nicely and though the ending is never really in any doubt, we do have some fun getting there. It looks like the jungle is growing from pots on a back-lot somewhere in California, so don't go looking for authentic images of Krakatoa; but it's fine - if maybe a touch too long - for what it is.

In general, this action drama does a good job of establishing its atmosphere, but otherwise most of the movie doesn't really work very well. It has too many slow stretches, and it doesn't make use of many of the possibilities in its characters and setup.

Rose Hobart and Charles Bickford star as an estranged couple, with the wife traveling deep into the wilds to find her husband, creating a delicate and dangerous situation between them and the native ruler whom the husband now serves as a court physician. The situation had lots of potential, but much of the middle part of the movie simply uses up screen time rehashing the same ground. The loyal servant girl played by Lupita Tovar also offered some possibilities, but she is never used for anything more than fetching things.

The finale is full of action, but it would have worked much better if it had come after a more careful buildup. The movie does establish the jungle atmosphere quickly and believably, with a lot of wild animals and other details, and for a while the setting is interesting enough to keep your attention even when not a lot of significance happens. Eventually, though, the story just bogs down, and doesn't go much farther until just before the finale. Overall, "East of Borneo" is probably more significant as the source of material for Joseph Cornell's interesting experimental feature "Rose Hobart" than it is in its own right.