The Bridge in the Jungle

Here's a cinematic obscurity I'd like to know more about. This gentle but disturbing tale of life in rural Mexico was produced, written and directed by Pancho Kohner---the first work, in fact, of the man who went on to bring us many a Charles Bronson epic, including The Evil That Men Do and Death Wish IV. One gets the feeling that the film may have been made as a favour to John Huston, who obviously had an interest in the works of B. Traven (e.g., Treasure of the Sierra Madre). Katy Jurado is here and is fine as usual, Charles 'Black Gestapo' Robinson is a bland hero, and the only other name I recognised is that of Mexican film star Chano Urueta, known to most Americans due to his work in films like The Brainiac and The Living Head. The story itself is typically Travenish but doesn't have much bite. I would love to see the West German film Das Totenschiff, based on his very odd novel Death Ship, so if anyone out there has a copy let me know!

Bridge in the Jungle, The (1971)

* (out of 4)

This obscure and forgotten film is based on the book by B. Tavern, a name most will put on THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE. In this film, a crocodile hunter (Charles Robinson) is going through Mexico when he's saved by an older man (John Huston) and taken to his village. Once at the village the hunter sees how this small Mexican village works daily and hopefully he'll learn a few lesson but while there a young child turns up missing. I'll admit that I really have no idea what THE BRIDGE IN THE JUNGLE is about nor do I really understand why it was made. Considering Huston won his father an Oscar for THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE, I can somewhat understand him wanting to appear in this Tavern film but at the same time it's a shame he didn't offer to direct this thing as I'm sure it would have at least been somewhat better. This is the type of film that you could watch ten-minutes of, pause the film and then not be able to tell another person what you just watched. The pacing is so incredibly bad that it's hard to really stay focused and the material is so bland that you'll be wishing you were somewhere else. It's hard to really keep up with everything going on because for the most part you just have characters walking around slowly, talking slowly and in fact they never seem to be getting too much done when it comes time to move the story forward. It seems as if you're constantly doing nothing and just sitting there waiting for anything to happen. The movie starts off like you're going on an adventure with the crocodile hunter but then it changes shape only to do so yet again when the child goes missing. At one point I thought the movie might have been an attempt to show the villagers in a good light but this didn't last very long either. Robinson is pretty bad in the lead as he doesn't bring an ounce of energy to the part and I do wonder if he perhaps had a few illegal substances in his system. Huston is the one saving grace as he at least seems interesting in giving a performance. Chano Urueta, director of THE BRAINIAC, appears towards the end of the film for you horror fans who want to see the madman who created that cult classic. Outside of that, there's really very little to recommend here as even the locations are photographed poorly. The director would only do one more feature before turning producer for several Charles Bronson flicks including THE EVIL THAT MEN DO, 10 TO MIDNIGHT and DEATH WISH 4 among others.

Basically a plot-less mood-piece, this obscure film was adapted from a novel by the mysterious B. Traven - best-known for THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE, which John Huston (the star of THE BRIDGE IN THE JUNGLE) had made back in 1948. While there's some pleasure to be had from observing the everyday details of the unhurried lifestyle in a small Mexican village (especially via the location photography and an evocative score), it's not enough to sustain feature-film length. Besides, though the first half seems to be setting up an eventual crocodile hunt - so that the film would turn into some form of an adventure, the proceedings are completely derailed by the endless search for a missing child! Still, the 'magical' way - through shaman Chano Urueta, the director of the notorious THE BRAINIAC (1961), here hired for his thespian skills - by which the body is ultimately discovered is a nice touch...but then, the sight of the boy's drunken father at the concluding funeral procession proves unintentionally comical. Charles Robinson is the bland young hunter looking for excitement in the village, a mannered Huston is an elderly American who has retired there (basically duplicating the role his father Walter had played in THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE!), while Katy Jurado has a dual role (one of them - under layers of make-up - a foul-mouthed old witch!) for no obvious reason.

I loved the book. It is a sensitive portrayal of human suffering and great commentary of Mexican Indigenous life in the early 1900's. I am looking for a copy of this film - cannot find it anywhere. Also looking for any of the films of Traven stories. Please email me if you know where I can get one.