The Beast of Borneo

In the 1930s, 40s and 50s, there were an awful lot of jungle films. Most of these were pretty dreadful things--full of grainy stock footage which often showed animals from various continents tossed together. Just yesterday, I watched a Jungle Jim movie--with clips of Asian tigers and elephants mixed with African lions, elephants and rhinos! The films were mostly very sloppy and dumb. However, I was very pleasantly surprised when I watched "Beast of Borneo". I have no idea where it was filmed but it sure looked like Borneo. The natives looked like they could have been from there and the film used actual orangutans--and none of the extraneous footage of other animals. As for the story, it was pretty good. A rather unsavory Russian scientist wants to prove some theory and so he heads with his pretty American assistant to the jungle to find an adult orangutan. This nutty doctor tells his American guide that he has no desire to hurt the animal--but naturally, this is a lie. What's next? See the film for yourself.

I am not saying that "The Beast of Borneo" is a great film--just that it is great compared to the typical crappy jungle film. The film gets a lot of credit for the look of the wild and its use of stock footage. However, the story itself is surprisingly low in energy--even when the big climax occurs. An interesting but not terribly exciting film. Worth a look.