East of Borneo

In general, this action drama does a good job of establishing its atmosphere, but otherwise most of the movie doesn't really work very well. It has too many slow stretches, and it doesn't make use of many of the possibilities in its characters and setup.

Rose Hobart and Charles Bickford star as an estranged couple, with the wife traveling deep into the wilds to find her husband, creating a delicate and dangerous situation between them and the native ruler whom the husband now serves as a court physician. The situation had lots of potential, but much of the middle part of the movie simply uses up screen time rehashing the same ground. The loyal servant girl played by Lupita Tovar also offered some possibilities, but she is never used for anything more than fetching things.

The finale is full of action, but it would have worked much better if it had come after a more careful buildup. The movie does establish the jungle atmosphere quickly and believably, with a lot of wild animals and other details, and for a while the setting is interesting enough to keep your attention even when not a lot of significance happens. Eventually, though, the story just bogs down, and doesn't go much farther until just before the finale. Overall, "East of Borneo" is probably more significant as the source of material for Joseph Cornell's interesting experimental feature "Rose Hobart" than it is in its own right.

Hoping to reconcile with her estranged husband, beautiful Rose Hobart (as Linda) travels deep into the treacherous jungles of Borneo. She finds boozy Charles Bickford (as Allan "Clark" Allan Randolph) is the "court physician" for tribal leader George Renavent (as Hashim). There are snakes, crocodiles, leopards, tigers and other dangerous animals to frighten Ms. Hobart. She is rejected by her husband, sadly; but, as the only "white woman" in the area, desired sexually by natives. Being leader, Mr. Renavent thinks he deserves the pretty prize, but Mr. Bickford might reconsider. As if that wasn't enough, there is a volcano threatening everyone. The man-eating crocodiles and rousing ending must have been exciting for the time, and the film does have some atmosphere.

***** East of Borneo (8/1/31) George Melford ~ Rose Hobart, Charles Bickford, George Renavent, Lupita Tovar

This is a really good adventure film that's probably all but forgotten.

The plot is simple. A woman travels into the jungle to find her husband, now a drunken court doctor for a jungle prince. He had left her years before because he thought she was having an affair. What happens when she gets there is the reason to watch.

I won't lie, the first part of this film is slow. Its the trip to the prince's city and other than the chanting of rowers and the sounds of the jungle this is almost silent. Its not terrible since the scenes of jungle wild life and the odd danger is interesting.

But its worth hanging on to the second half, since once the wife arrives its men being men as the prince and the doctor begin a strange game of chess for her. Its here that we get to see the good stuff, which I won't spoil other than to say crocodiles, tons of them. And this was in the day when you didn't fake it, they are there in quantity.

This is jungle thrills of the real variety since you don't know if some one is really going to be dinner.Had these scenes been done today the digital effects would have reduced the tension because you'd know it wasn't real, this is...WOW.

My sole complaint about the last 45 minutes has to do with how some scenes are shot. Today, thanks to better equipment and computers the camera can move more freely, here there are a couple of times I wish the camera moved so we could see some of the spectacle that ends this film better.

Definitely put this on your to see list. Its not perfect and it is dated but its really a good film that deserves to be seen.

Just want to add my cheers for this film to the previous rater. Maltin is definitely wrong - he must have been in a bad mood when he saw it. The jungle animal perils are filmed with much more action and danger than seen in other picture, even the Weissmuller Tarzan flicks. Knowing that it was film by the crew who worked on Universal's Spanish version of Dracula (and the cast includes one of its actresses), I add that you can clearly see the Dracula set used for the jungle castle, draped with extra cobwebs and fineries. You can't miss those Gothic archways, though. This picture is great fun and can be had from the amazing Alpha Video for five bucks. Don't miss it!

The best thing about East Of Borneo is the very clever way Universal was able to blend in real jungle footage into the plot of this movie. I'd love to know where Carl Laemmle got it. I can't believe he spent the money to actually go to the Dutch East Indies and shoot it for the studio. Universal was on its uppers at the time.

Saying that we have an interesting jungle melodrama. Rose Hobart has come looking for her estranged husband Charles Bickford who has truly gone native. When he's not shacking up with all the native women, he's court physician to the local maharajah Georges Renevent. When he makes it clear he's scorning Hobart, Renevent starts checking her out. She is the only white woman he's seen in some time.

The film has a really nicely filmed volcano sequence at the end. This might have been the inspiration for Crosby and Hope burlesquing such climax at the end of Road To Bali. Plot if you could call it that had some of the elements of East Of Borneo.

Seen today East Of Borneo is quite archaic and I doubt we'll see a remake. It holds up well in spots and worth a look.