JUNGLE CAVALCADE

(director: Frank Buck; screenwriters: Phil Reisman Jr./from a book by Edward Anthony and Frank Buck; cinematographers: Leroy C. Phelps/Nick Cavaliere/Carl Berger/Harry E. Squire; editor: Jay Bonafield; music: Nathaniel Shilkret; cast: Frank Buck (Narrator); Runtime: 80; MPAA Rating: NR; producers: William C. Ament/Amadee Van Beuren; RKO; 1941)

“If you ever wondered how the animals for the zoos are captured, this old-fashioned documentary still has the footage that works.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

A documentary on world famous hunter Frank Buck in the jungle bringing back animals for American zoos. His self-serving attitude during his narration, believing he’s doing the animals a favor by giving them free meals while in captivity at the zoo, will not endear him with animal activists. The film uses clips from three previous Buck jungle documentaries: “Bring ‘Em Back Alive,” “Wild Cargo,” and “Fang and Claw.”

In the Malaysian jungle Buck and his native helpers capture a 25-foot python with a lasso and a ferocious man-eating tiger in a pit. In the Sumatran jungle Buck manages to trick a giant orangutan to come down from a tall tree and then capture him in a net. There are filmed captures of a baby elephant, rare gibbon monkeys, a rare spotted leopard, a black leopard and a honey bear cub. To catch a rhinoceros, Buck must weave a net that will hold a thousand pounds. In Ceylon, wild elephants are captured.

When his mission is complete, Buck crates the animals and by truck gets them to Singapore. They will then go by ship to their designated American zoos.

If you ever wondered how the animals for the zoos are captured, this old-fashioned documentary still has the footage that works.

REVIEWED ON 4/25/2016 GRADE: B-