What a waste of my time!!!

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

When one compares this film with the same directors' earlier Grass: A Nation's Battle for Life (1925, one sees how clearly it is a step in the wrong direction for documentary albeit a step in the right direction for the team that would make King Kong. According to another reviewer, Schoedsack and Cooper had not seen Nanook of the North (1922) when they made their film Grass and, if true, that fact explains a great deal. In Grass, they made a film that had the real smell of reality about it, a reality that they seem genuinely have encountered more or less by accident and it is a passionate story, quite the best travel film of the silent era and one of the best, in my view, of all time.This second venture, on the other hand, has "F for fake" (one might equally say "F for Flaherty") written all over it and is a good measure of the deplorable influence that Flaherty, for all his undoubted ability, would have on US documentary-making. The fact that the film was amongst the first Oscar winners is equally symptomatic. When there was a choice between sensationalised drama and truth, the US film industry has never doubted for a moment which it preferred. Plus ça change....I am happy with Grass and I am happy, for that matter, with King Kong but Kingkongery masquerading as documentary is not my cup of tea.

Before they teamed up to make "King Kong," co-producers & directors Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack made this outstanding pseudo-documentary drama "Chang: A Drama of the Wilderness" about a village of Siamese people struggling to roll back the jungle. This 75-minute, black & white, epic doesn't pull its punches, especially when the armed & dangerous tribesmen wield their rifles against an array of lethal predators. You won't find a celebrity Hollywood actor in this spectacle. Actual natives played the village in this movie. One of the highlights is the elephant stampede at their village. Early in the film, the villagers embark on a hunt for the vicious critters that are wreaking havoc. The photography is incredible as are the many camera set-ups that thrust us into the heart of the action. A must see for documentary filmmakers!

An impressive film in its day, Chang: A Drama of the Wilderness is about a young Siamese family trying to eke out an existence in the jungles of what is now known as Thailand. Life is a daily struggle for family as their daily needs for food and shelter are threatened, primarily by other predators. Leopards, tigers, snakes, and elephants present challenges that must be overcome. The film's highlights are the various means of ingenuity villagers employ to trap animals and the huge elephant stampede near the end of the film. The film was nominated for artistic quality of production, losing to Sunrise, in the only year the academy offered the award. The production team of Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, who later gave us the original King Kong, filmed the entire production themselves. One wonders why they only caught scenes with the animals in them and not other threatening aspects of nature like weather. Still, the cinematography is quite impressive with natural lighting only used. Some of the shots must have been dangerous to obtain as any viewer will see. The effect of the film is undoubtedly diminished for any viewer who grew up watching Wild Kingdom with Marlin Perkins or National Geographic specials in terms of the novelty of viewing wild animals in their natural habitat. **1/2 of 4 stars.

This documentary was nominated for Artistic Quality of Production for the very first Academy Awards. The category appeared only once, apparently to give recognition to works with more critical than commercial success. Chang holds up very well and despite at times being too ridiculous for words is well worth viewing for the shots of animals in the wild and an enchanting musical score added in re-release. Brought to you by the same production team that did the original King Kong.