Le mystère de la jungle

During World War II, "Bring 'em Back Alive" hunter Frank Buck (as Frank Buck) battles Nazi and Japanese warriors, in the jungles of Asia; he also encounters native superstition. Several of Mr. Buck's wild animal friends are on caged display. Some of the wild animals aren't so friendly - in fact, they're downright deadly! Tigers, mainly. Duncan Renaldo (as Pete Jeremy) helps Buck out, as the Allies' rubber trade supply is threatened. Pretty June Duprez (as Linda MacCardle) adds femininity to the cast; she knows how to scream, when threatened. Rotund villain Dan Seymour (as Henry Gratz) shoots an elephant in his suspenders.

Ta-dumb...

Frank Buck stars as himself in this 1943 PRC classic. Frank is summoned to a remote area of India which is plagued by tiger attacks. Dozens of men have

been killed. Many workers fear the spirits of dead Japanese soldiers have

possessed the tigers and are continuing to fight. The immediate effect is to inhibit the movement of Allied war materiel through the region.

Frank teams with Peter Jeremy (Renaldo) to determine the cause of the unusual spate of attacks. They immediately suspect a human intelligence is responsible. It is soon evident that Nazi agents have infiltrated the area. They have a means of aggravating the tigers and then release them into areas they want to disrupt.

This is a mildly entertaining jungle adventure. Viewers who enjoy low budget 1940s films will probably not be disappointed.

Jungle films sometimes incorporate some noirish sequences, but as they were generally made for the matinée trade, the most often used plot element was mystery. Admittedly, in some movies like "Tiger Fangs" (1943), the mystery element was easily penetrated by a seven-year-old, even though it seemed to puzzle slow-of-brain Frank Buck and company. Admittedly, a bit of well-staged action helped to distract from the plot's shortcomings. However, aside from its copious use of ancient stock shots, this movie's most notable contribution to an audience's entertainment was the engaging performance by Dan Seymour as an overweight, short-sighted villain. The rest of the players were a waste of time. It was particularly sad to see super-lovely June Duprez (star of Korda's luxurious "Thief of Bagdad") forced to stand around in the shade of such pushy "B" regulars as Duncan Renaldo and J. Farrell MacDonald