Zoo in Budapest

It will take more than a little suspension of disbelief to buy the core fantasy: that fast talking Gene Raymond has lived his entire life inside the Budapest Zoo, ditto the idea that gorgeous Loretta Young is a poor orphan. But no matter, for the film is a marvelous and unusual piece of work, seldom seen and well worth finding. In fact, the sets alone make it a must see. As a side note, Raymond's character may be one of the sound era's first animal rights activists...I recall no previous studio film taking a stand against fur (though don't get your hopes up--the thrilling finale, featuring lions and elephants on the loose, surely traumatized the animals involved).

How I loved this film! I always seek the forgotten and obscure- what a perfect film. Gorgeous photography, and the cast is ever so appealing. Has Loretta Young ever looked more beautiful than here? And Gene Raymond was just delightful. A film treasure not to be missed.

This rare film is one of the best of the 1930's. The story is very original and the way the director did it is simply amazing! Beautiful and creative piece of work. It's absolutely very unique!

One of those rare, subversive films that skip through the Hollywood generic net. It has everything - a love story, filmed with all the delicate visual poetry of a silent melodrama; a bizarre social critique that compares a repressive social order (eerily foreshadowing life under capitalism) with the caged animals in the zoo. Climax one of the most extraordinary in all cinema - love story equated with social revolt; animals rebel in violent, Surreal chaos. Liberating and ravishing.

Gene Raymond (he was the lead in Flying Down to Rio, opposite another unearthly beauty, Dolores Del)is only just bearable, but the female lead is Loretta Young, as a fragile, dreamy orphan held captive by the wicked witches of an orphanage. Her delicacy and sensitivity find a parallel in the imprisoned animals of the zoo, and their rage at the injustice of their captivity is embodied in the rage of the tiger. The climax of the movie (filmed, I should think, before animal-protection laws were passed to regulate filming) had me terrified almost to the point of screaming when I saw it many years ago in a cinema, and, not long ago, I found it, even on television, almost as powerful.

An exotic pleasure of the film that can be experienced first hand is the actual Budapest Zoo, which is somewhat altered since the filming, but which still has the fabulous Art Nouveau elephant house!