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.

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....

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. (**)

The best thing about East Of Borneo is the very clever way Universal was able to blend in real jungle footage into the plot of this movie. I'd love to know where Carl Laemmle got it. I can't believe he spent the money to actually go to the Dutch East Indies and shoot it for the studio. Universal was on its uppers at the time.

Saying that we have an interesting jungle melodrama. Rose Hobart has come looking for her estranged husband Charles Bickford who has truly gone native. When he's not shacking up with all the native women, he's court physician to the local maharajah Georges Renevent. When he makes it clear he's scorning Hobart, Renevent starts checking her out. She is the only white woman he's seen in some time.

The film has a really nicely filmed volcano sequence at the end. This might have been the inspiration for Crosby and Hope burlesquing such climax at the end of Road To Bali. Plot if you could call it that had some of the elements of East Of Borneo.

Seen today East Of Borneo is quite archaic and I doubt we'll see a remake. It holds up well in spots and worth a look.

Rose Hobart (DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE) travels deep into the jungles of Borneo to find her missing doctor husband (Charles Bickford), now the drunken court physician to capricious potentate, Prince Hashin (Georges Revavent). Although her husband won't give her the time of day, the Prince decides this white woman will do to give him an heir to further his "Aryan" race. After a slow (but not uninteresting) start, EAST OF BORNEO picks up with a couple of dynamic adventure scenes - one showing the heroes racing across the backs of crocodiles, and the other showcasing a fantastic volcanic eruption achieved by a primitive but still wondrous combination of rear screen projection and miniature work. Leonard Maltin is all wrong about EAST OF BORNEO; although it's not quite as good as the later THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME, this forgotten film (made by the same team responsible for Universal's Spanish-language DRACULA) is definitely worth seeking out.