Bengal Tiger

Bengal Tigers (1936)

** (out of 4)

"B" movie from Warner has Barton MacLane playing Cliff Ballenger, a tough-as-nails animal trainer who in a drunken state ends up getting a man killed by a dangerous tiger known as Satan. Soon afterwards he tries to help the man's daughter (June Travis) who is in bad shape. The two are soon married but not long after that she falls in love with Cliff's best friend (Warren Hull).

BENGAL TIGERS is a decent low-budget quickie that is mildly entertaining as long as you don't go into it expecting any sort of masterpiece. There's no question that the movie should have and could have been much better. I say that because the first portion of the movie is rather entertaining because we get a behind-the-scenes look at the circus life. In these moments there are some great shots of animals and humans performing and there's even a nice sequence where the tiger escapes and Cliff must go into a basement to try and get him.

The film certainly needed more scenes like that but sadly the film very quickly turns into a rather boring melodrama once the love triangle kicks in. What makes the melodrama so bad is the fact that it's rather predictable and ends exactly as you'd expect it to. MacLane is good in the lead role and managed to bring some power to the film. Travis, Hull and Paul Graetz are good as well in their supporting parts. The stuff between MacLane and the tiger have very obvious doubles at times but they're still mildly entertaining.

BENGAL TIGER thankfully only clocks in at 62 minutes but even that at times seems long.

Cliff (Barton MacLane) is a heavy-drinking bit cat trainer with the circus. He's incredibly brave...and a bit foolhardy. After his partner, Carl, is killed and he is mauled by the circus' bad-boy tiger, Satan, Cliff decides to look up Carl's grown daughter to see if he can help her through father's death. He's surprised to find her (June Travis) in jail. Why she's there they never said but I think they were vaguely implying she was caught for prostitution. Regardless, he brings her home and soon marries her.

As for Laura, she isn't in love with Cliff but because he's been so nice to her and given her a home, she agrees to marry him. But Cliff is a tough man to love. He drinks too much, spends all his time with the big cats and isn't exactly a romantic. So, it's not surprising that she falls in love with Cliff's friend, Joe (Warren Hull)...but because she and Joe are decent, they refuse to give in to their passions. Can they continue this indefinitely? And, can they maintain this distance from each other when Cliff gets even more difficult?

This is a predictable B-movie from Warner Brothers. This means it has nice production values and acting...but because it's a B, it's also not a great script. Long before the film ended, I predicted exactly what would happen by the end...and it did. Worth seeing but also easy to skip.

Cliff Ballenger is the lion tamer and Joe Larson is the trapeze artist in a circus. The gang goes out drinking. Satan, the man-eating Bengal tiger, escapes. Cliff barely survives a mauling by Satan. Carl Homan dies while saving him. Cliff finds Carl's daughter Laura in dire straits.

There is some good real life lion taming. That's the most impressive aspect especially when the tiger is running around in an unfamiliar location. The stunt double is doing some old style big-cat work. The movie falls flat almost everywhere else. The story isn't that interesting. The old-style circus stuff is worthwhile and there is a big fire scene. This movie has some good stunt work.

When lion-tamer Barton MacLane loses a leg and his assistant to one of his big cats, he takes June Travis, the assistant's daughter, under his wing. She marries him out of gratitude, but all too soon she falls in love with Warren Hull. Everyone tries to do this decent thing, but....

Barton MacLane plays a role that would have gone to Lon Chaney at MGM or George Bancroft at Fox in their heydays. His big, burly, loud performance is just fine for the Bs, but despite some real acting chops, there was no place for him as a leading man, even in the Warner B movies. He retreated to supporting roles, like his turn in HIGH SIERRA and prospered for decades.

Although everyone gives their best, the obvious process shots and stunt doubles renders this a mediocre B picture. The big fire scene may hold some excitement, but by this point in the movie, all the obvious camera fakery had washed away any residuum of interest for me.