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.

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.

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!

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.

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....