Four Frightened People (1934)

User Rating:

6.3/10   

Director:

Cecil B. DeMille

Writers:

Lenore J. Coffee (writer)
Bartlett Cormack (writer)

Release Date:

26 January 1934 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama

Plot:

Four passengers escape their bubonic plague-infested ship and land on the coast of a wild jungle. In order to reach safety they have to trek through the jungle, facing wild animals and attacks by primitive tribesmen. |

Plot Keywords:

Jungle | Ship | Plague | Beautiful Woman | Based On Novel

Cast

Claudette Colbert	...	Judy Jones
Herbert Marshall	...	Arnold Ainger
Mary Boland	...	Mrs. Mardick
William Gargan	...	Stewart Corder
Leo Carrillo	...	Montague
Nella Walker	...	Mrs. Ainger
Tetsu Komai	...	Native Chief
Chris-Pin Martin	...	Native boatman
Joe De La Cruz	...	Native
Minoru Nishida	...	Native
Teru Shimada	...	Native
E.R. Jinedas	...	Native
Delmar Costello	...	Sakais
Ethel Griffies	...	Mrs. Ainger's mother

Runtime:

95 min | USA:78 min (1935 re-release)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Filming Locations:

Hawaii, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

The DVD release chooses the 78 minute re-release version, not the 95 minute original version.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Thou Shalt Not: Sex, Sin and Censorship in Pre-Code Hollywood (2008) (TV)

Goofy, campy jungle adventure courtesy of Cecil B. DeMille

It is included in Universal's five-disc DeMille set and is the least well known of the films, mostly because it's not an epic, the genre to which DeMille usually contributed. Claudette Colbert stars, and is, as usual, wonderful. She plays a mousy, virginal school teacher who eventually transforms into a jungle princess. Mary Boland, Herbert Marshall and William Gargan round out the cast, along with Leo Carrillo as a native who claims he is accepted as a white man because of his necktie. The film is racist as hell (at one point the men shoot a native because they think he is a chimp who stole their rifle), but I tend to expect that with these kinds of movies. It's about the same as a Tarzan movie. There's some good comedy, and Colbert strips down pretty naked. The film was cut upon re-release because of its sexual content (the version available is missing 17 minutes, at least according to IMDb). Either the missing footage is lost or Universal was too lazy to find and restore it.