East of Borneo

EAST OF BORNEO (Universal, 1931), produced and directed by George Melford, is a rarely seen and revived jungle-setting adventure starring Rose Hobart in a rare leading performance, with Charles Bickford, Georges Renavent, Lupita Tovar and Noble Johnson as the only other listed named actors appearing in the casting credits.

Taken from a story by Dale Van Every, which plays liken a weekly chaptered adventure serial, the narrative opens with Linda Randolph (Rose Hobart), a young woman on board ship, traveling 6,000 miles to Borneo where she has traced her husband, Alan Randolph, whom she's been searching for nearly three years. With the information given her by the commissioner, Hans Von Blune, she learns her husband is now known to all as Doctor Alan Clark, who can now be found in Marado, some 300 miles inland East of Borneo. After a long and treacherous journey accompanied by native guides through the dangerous jungles consisting of pythons, tigers and pumas, Linda finally finds Alan (Charles Bickford), now a court physician in the palace located near a volcano, and house guest of Prince Hashin (Georges Renavent), who earlier had saved the drunken derelict doctor's life. Now good friends, aside from his boozing up liquor from time to time, Alan entertains the Prince with a game of checkers. Things begin to change when Linda and Alan come face to face, with Linda, stunned by Alan's drunken presence. In spite of how she's being treated, she still loves him and wants nothing more than to have him return home with her. Through plot development, it is learned that through their one year of marriage, Alan's medical experiments have kept him away from Linda, and because of her involvement with another man )Harry), whom she never loved, Alan accuses her of infidelity and leaves her. Alan is then told by Linda she never got the divorce and they are still legally married. Though Alan refuses her love and insists she leave, Linda finds herself forced to remain by orders of the Prince, for sinister reasons of his own.

While 1931 brought forth Universal horror classics as DRACULA and FRANKENSTEIN, many of their other theatrical releases from that year are virtually forgotten. EAST OF BORNEO, a lesser known product, may not be a horror film, but it does contain some chills of its own. Released a year before the classic THE MOST DANGEOUS GAME (RKO, 1932), EAST OF BORNEO does contain a villainous-host, that of Prince Hashin, who pleasures himself in watching guilty natives being fed to the crocodiles as one swims for his life to safety across the bank, only to meet with more hungry crocodiles on the other side. The Prince even intends on doing the same to his doctor friend after Alan's attempts to sneak Linda off the island at night. Georges Renavent, who makes one think about the bearded Cesar Romero from WEE WILLIE WINKIE (1937), gives a notable performance. Lupita Tovar as Nieia, a native girl on the island who has a passion for the doctor, is visible in certain scenes, but sadly given very little to do or say throughout its full 75 minutes.

Though EAST OF BORNEO gets off to a very slow start, it does pick up considerably during its second half, even if some of the results are unbelievable at times. Unseen for many years, EAST OF BORNEO did have occasional broadcasts during the early years of cable television, such as Christian Broadcast Network in the early 1980s. Because it's a public domain title, prints have become available through various distributors since then on both video cassette and later DVD format. Aside from earthquake and volcano eruptions that occur in the story, EAST OF BORNEO may not offer any great shakes to contemporary viewers. Overall, for classic film buffs, it's still curiosity viewing if nothing else. (**)

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.

So many years after he abandoned her, thinking her unfaithful, "Linda Randolph" (Rose Hobart) sets off to trace her long absent husband on an island in the East Indies. When she finds him, he is friends with, and working for, a dodgy local potentate who takes a bit of a shine to her. The unscrupulous prince seems bent on capturing her heart (or something like that..) so she and the ex-husband (Charles Bickford) have to come up with a plan to get the hell off the island. It takes about half of the film to build up anything like a head of steam; but once it does it actually moves long quite nicely and though the ending is never really in any doubt, we do have some fun getting there. It looks like the jungle is growing from pots on a back-lot somewhere in California, so don't go looking for authentic images of Krakatoa; but it's fine - if maybe a touch too long - for what it is.

Once again, some genius decided to put the white credits over a white background, so we can only see about half the names during the opening. "East of Borneo" is one of the films from the Treeline/Reelmedia Action Classic collection, and the black and white edges are pretty washed out and blurred, since its from 1931. This was the fourth film for Rose Hobart (Linda Randolph) and the eighth part for Charles Bickford (Dr. Clark). Pity the filming locations are not listed, but it could have all been done on a Hollywood lot with rented animals. Linda goes trooping through the jungle to find her husband, although we're probably not really in the jungle, since she never closes the screen netting all the way to keep the flies out...lots of chanting, drumming, and someone gets et by a lion. Georges Renavent, who had been in the biz for 15 years by now, plays the ruthless and heartless Prince Hashim. Melford, the director, had been acting and directing since 1909, so while the story here is pretty simple, it does have a professional quality to it. Note that this was produced by Carl Laemmle Junior, the son of the founder of Universal Studios, so he probably got to make this exactly as he wanted it. Pretty good special effects towards the end. Gotta see for yourself....don't want to spoil any surprises for those who haven't seen it yet....

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