Angkor (1935)

Directors:

L.C. Cook
George M. Merrick

Release Date:

1935 (UK)

Genre:

Adventure

Tagline:

Giant monsters enthroned as love gods!

Plot:

Basically a travelogue featuring footage of Angkor Wat (in Cambodia) shot by a couple of explorers in the WWI years...

Plot Keywords:

Jungle | Adventurer | Stock Footage | Exploitation

Cast

Wilfred Lucas	...	Wilfred Lucas, game hunter
J.S. Horne	...	J.S. Horne

Directed by
L.C. Cook
George M. Merrick

Produced by
Dwain Esper	....	producer

Original Music by
Dominic McBride

Film Editing by
Grace McKee

Special Effects by
Ray C. Smallwood	....	special effects

Other crew
Gladys McConnell	....	researcher

Production Companies

• Mapel Pictures

Distributors

• General Foreign Sales Corp. (1935) (USA) (theatrical)
• Wardour Films (1935) (UK) (theatrical)
• Roadshow Attractions (1937) (USA) (theatrical)
• Warner-Allender Roadshows Inc. (1938) (USA) (theatrical) (retitled re-release)
• Haussmann Films (1939) (France) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Les Films du Commodore (1947) (France) (theatrical) (re-release) (as "La Tregedie de la Jungle")
• Classic Pictures (1948) (USA) (theatrical)
• Something Weird Video (SWV) (2006) (USA) (DVD) (special edition)
• United Screen Associates (????) (USA) (theatrical) (retitled re-release)
• Something Weird Video (SWV) (????) (USA) (VHS)

Also Known As:

"Forbidden Adventure in Angkor" - USA (reissue title)
"The Gorilla Woman" - USA (reissue title)

Runtime:

81 min | UK:55 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

Angkor Wat, Siem Reap, Cambodia

Company:

Mapel Pictures

Trivia:

This film consists mostly of previously shot footage. To spice things up, the producers decided to shoot additional material that showed bare-breasted "natives" being menaced by a gorilla. Marshal Gordon went to Hollywood, hired 12 girls from a Selma Avenue brothel and paid each of them $10 in advance. When fog rolled in onto the location and temperatures dropped, the "actresses" demanded additional pay. The projected budget of $8,500 increased to $11,000 by the end of the day, when shooting of the scene finally wrapped.

Movie Connections:

Featured in American Grindhouse (2010)

Exploitation "Documentary" in the Mondo tradition

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

This exploitation film starts off with an introduction setting up the story. The story is told by a narrator who starts by giving an academic presentation at a conference. The film/documentary is supposed to be film shot in Angkor Cambodia right before or during World War 1. This black and white film is a combination of stock footage with exploitation inserts shown as a "documentary". The "documentary" is based on the sacred monkeys. This film is a pre cursor of the later "Mondo" films which were so popular in the 1960's. It follows the same basic script in which "explorers" are going into a sacred place in a mysterious land. One of the selling points is obviously the scenes of topless native women (these women apparently were hired out of LA brothels). This is not an accurate of well done film. It should be viewed only in a historical context of exploitation films shot in the 1930s. This film apparently was shown a lot during the 40's - 50's in exploitation theaters.