The Jungle Princess is a 1936 American adventure film directed by Wilhelm Thiele starring Dorothy Lamour and Ray Milland.
| The Jungle Princess | |
|---|---|
 Film poster | |
| Directed by | Wilhelm Thiele (as William Thiele) |
| Screenplay by | Cyril Hume Gerald Geraghty Gouverneur Morris |
| Story by | Max Marcin |
| Produced by | E. Lloyd Sheldon |
| Starring | Dorothy Lamour Ray Milland |
| Cinematography | Harry Fischbeck |
| Edited by | Ellsworth Hoagland |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 85 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $600,000 (estimate) |
Plot
editChristopher Powell is in Malaya with his fiancée and her father, capturing wild animals. While out hunting he is attacked by a tiger, and his native guides run away, leaving him for dead. But the tiger is the pet of Ulah, a beautiful young woman who grew up by herself in the jungle. She rescues Chris and takes him back to her cave, where she nurses him to health and falls in love with him. When he eventually returns to camp, she follows. His fiancée is jealous, and the natives do not like Ulah or her pet tiger either, all of which leads to a lot of trouble.
Cast
edit
- Dorothy Lamour as Ulah
- Ray Milland as Christopher Powell
- Akim Tamiroff as Karen Neg
- Lynne Overman as Frank
- Molly Lamont as Ava
- Ray Mala as Melan (as Mala)
- Hugh Buckler as Col. Neville Lane
Release
editThe film was initially banned in Nazi Germany, but Paramount requested the ban to be lifted in October 1937, and the censorship office lifted the ban in March 1938.[1]
Reception
editWriting for The Spectator in 1937, Graham Greene gave the film a mildly positive review. He critiqued the film's hackneyed use of exaggerated social consciousness as a trope, but noted that "the climax is magnificent" and ultimately characterized it as a "lively picture".[2]
The Jungle Princess was a major hit and launched Lamour's career as one of the leading stars of the era, often cast, sarong-clad, in similar jungle adventure romances, which led to her playing leading lady to Bing Crosby and Bob Hope in the Road to... musical comedy movie series beginning four years later.
The Indonesian film Terang Boelan (1937) was partially inspired by The Jungle Princess.[3][4]
References
edit- ^ Niven 2018, p. 37.
- ^ Greene, Graham (1 January 1937). "The Jungle Princess/Windbag the Sailor". The Spectator. (reprinted in: Taylor, John Russell, ed. (1980). The Pleasure Dome. Oxford University Press. pp. 126-127. ISBN 0192812866.)
- ^ van der Heide, William (2002). Malaysian Cinema, Asian Film: Border Crossings and National Cultures. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press. p. 128. ISBN 978-90-5356-580-3.
- ^ Biran, Misbach Yusa (2009). Sejarah Film 1900–1950: Bikin Film di Jawa [History of Film 1900–1950: Making Films in Java] (in Indonesian). Jakarta: Komunitas Bamboo working with the Jakarta Art Council. p. 169. ISBN 978-979-3731-58-2.
Works cited
edit- Niven, Bill (2018). Hitler and Film: The Führer's Hidden Passion. Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300200362.
External links
edit- The Jungle Princess at IMDb
- The Jungle Princess at AllMovie
- Jungle Princess film clip on YouTube
- "Kino Nostalgie Die Dschungel Prinzessin" [Cinema Nostalgia: The Jungle Princess]. Kinogucker [Cinema Movies]. Original german handbills from 1939 (in German). May 27, 2015. Archived from the original on May 27, 2015.
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