Bwana Devil (1952)

User Rating:

5.2/10   

Director:

Arch Oboler

Writer:

Arch Oboler (writer)

Release Date:

1953 (West Germany)

Genre:

Adventure

Tagline:

A lion in your lap! A lover in your arms!

Plot:

British railway workers in Kenya are becoming the favorite snack of two man-eating lions. Head engineer...

Plot Keywords:

Lion | 3 Dimensional | Jungle | Monkey | Attack

Cast

Robert Stack	...	Bob Hayward
Barbara Britton	...	Alice Hayward
Nigel Bruce	...	Dr. Angus McLean
Ramsay Hill	...	Major Parkhurst
Paul McVey	...	Commissioner
Hope Miller	...	Portuguese girl
John Dodsworth	...	Sir William Drayton
Patrick O'Moore	...	Ballinger
Patrick Aherne	...	Latham
Edward C. Short		(as Edward Short)
Bhogwan Singh	...	Indian Headman
Paul Thompson
Bhupesh Guha	...	The Dancer
Bal Seirgakar	...	Indian Hunter
Kalu K. Sonkur	...	Karparim

Also Known As:

The Lions of Gulu (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

79 min | Germany:85 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Anscocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-12

Filming Locations:

Democratic Republic Of Congo

Company:

Gulu Productions

Trivia:

Based on the 1898 Tsavo Lion attacks that were also told in The Ghost and the Darkness (1996).

Quotes:

Bob: Civilization, that's a noble word, but not enough to keep me rotting here.

Movie Connections:

Remade as The Ghost and the Darkness (1996)

The First 3-D Color Feature

I saw it the first day of its first run release at the Chicago Theater in Chicago in 1952. 'Bwana Devil' was the brainchild of radio director, Arch Oboler. - best known for the radio (and early live TV series) 'Lights Out'. Oboler's brother-in-law was Milton Gunzburg. Gunzburg was, I believe, the optician who connected the use of Polaroid lenses to the making of stereoscopic films.

In 1952, television was stomping out movies and movie theaters the way rogue elephants could destroy villages. Hollywood was searching for any gimmick it could use to bring people back to the theaters. Cinerama, a cumbersome early widescreen process had come on the scene. It produced an 3-D like effect. That opened the door for Gunzberg and his brother-in-law. They called their process Naturalvision, raised some money to demonstrate the process, and produced 'Bwana Devil'.

While the story and production values took a back seat to the illusion of depth, the picture was a hit. It was quickly followed by 'House of Wax' and others. Most producers opted to exploit the stereoscopic effects rather than make good movies. 'House of Wax' was one of the rare exceptions. After about a year, audiences tired of the shoddy productions, and Naturalvision eventually disappeared. Into the void Fox introduced CinemaScope, a flat wide-screen process, and helped stem the sinking theater system.

I imagine seeing 'Bwana Devil' in flat projection would be painful. But for those of us who saw it with pristine prints, and quality projection, it was something to behold. Lions leaping off the screen into our laps was something few of us would forget.

It has taken another fifty years for 3-D to return. Today's producers seem not to be making the same mistake as those in the early fifties. I hope so. After all, 3-D is so much more fun than flat.