A brilliant film that helped define a genre

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Famed circus-man and animal wrangler Clyde Beatty stars as himself in this semi-fictitious account of his girlfriend (Parker), whom he neglects for his animals, disappearing on an expedition to a remote island in the tropics. Naturally Beatty sets off to locate her, but runs into trouble when the blimp on which he's travelling crashes following a storm. Not only does he have to contend with the ferocious menagerie of lions, tigers, leopards and hyenas, but his even more dangerous assistant wrangler Sharkey (Richmond) motivated only to cause maximum harm to Beatty at every given opportunity.Beatty is affable if not really an actor, while the under-utilised Cecilia Parker has little independence in her character to make the impression of which she's capable as the film's biggest name. Every circus needs a clown and Syd Saylor offers slapstick relief as a goofy-looking sidekick to Beatty's 'straight man' routine, and generally speaking, Warner Richmond achieves his brief as Beatty's two-faced nemesis and impostor to the throne.Frequent footage of the animals performing their tricks might be of interest to some, or appear cruel to others; essentially the feature is an advertisement for Beatty's travelling animal circus and so if that's your tonic, you should be entertained.

"Clyde Beatty portrays himself, an animal trainer and circus star in this action film. Beatty leads a search for his missing girlfriend and her father, who were on an expedition looking for a lost tropical island. Using a dirigible as his mode of transportation, Beatty and his band head off in search of the missing explorers, only to crash their airship on the same island their friends are located (on, presumably). Battling wild animals and a gang of greedy men searching for gold, Beatty and his party must rescue his girlfriend and father, all the while trying to escape their jungle island," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis.It's good to see young Mickey Rooney, from "The Big Cage" (1933), has a featured appearance, early during the running time. And, the film begins well, with Rooney helping Mr. Beatty fend off a lion attack staged by shifty Warner Richmond (as Sharkey). It gets tedious with Beatty romancing Cecilia Parker (later, she plays Rooney's "Andy Hardy" big sister), and repetitive with the animal antics. Still, "The Lost Jungle" isn't too bad for a "feature" versions of a "serial" film - most of the "serial-to-feature" re-productions are poorly edited, despite the seeming abundance of film footage available to tinker around with.**** The Lost Jungle (6/13/34) Armand Schaefer, David Howard ~ Clyde Beatty, Syd Saylor, Cecilia Parker, Mickey Rooney

"The Lost Jungle" is one of those typical 'back-and-forth captured items type' serials-- the bad guys capture something (or someone); then the good guys steal it back; then the bad guys steal it back again, etc., etc. How many of these can you name? 'Holt of the Secret Service,' 'The New Adventures of Tarzan,' 'The Perils of Pauline,' 'SOS Coast Guard,' 'The Phantom Creeps,' 'The Return of Chandu,' and countless others as well as this one-- in this case, stealing the missing jewels.Then there are those serials where the heroes go back and forth to a place-- 'The Lost City,' 'The Phantom Empire,' and the Flash Gordon serials. Except for the Flash Gordon serials and anything with Bela Lugosi, these are all the kinds of serials you watch while you're doing something else. You don't miss much except who's got the 'whatzit' or who's in the 'wherezit' in each episode.What if you cut out most of this endless back-and-forth business and edited it into a tight feature? They did it with this one! Usually feature versions cut out so much the film jumps too fast, skips too much, is hard to follow or doesn't make sense. Here, with the constant back and forth stealing of the jewels (how many times? 3? 4? 5?) cut down to just one time, the whole film flows right along with good continuity.In fact, for the 69 minutes of the movie, most of it is the entire, long first chapter that includes Clyde Beatty in the ring working with the animals (and with Mickey Rooney as a small boy), flying across the ocean in the dirigible (hail to those dirigible serials!) and crashing on the 'mysterious' island. Then bang! zoom! the hidden jewels are stolen and recovered and it's happy ending time! Glorious thirties shots of wild circus animals, especially with Clyde himself. They could have kept more animal sequences in, but why quibble.NOTE: My copy was part of the 'SciFi Classics 50 Movie Pack.' Unless you've got a lot of things to do around the house and need something to watch while doing them, go for the feature version first.

I'm surprised I missed this one as a kid growing up, since anything with wild animals, especially jungle cats I found to be thrilling; that's why Tarzan has always been a favorite. "The Lost Jungle" more than anything appears to be a showcase for the talents of circus animal trainer Clyde Beatty, who portrays himself in the film. Beatty is not particularly impressive in physical stature, which makes it all the more remarkable in the way he handles himself surrounded by all manner of wild beasts both in captivity and in the wild.The search for a legendary island city of Kamor in the South Pacific forms the backdrop for the film's adventure. However it's not Beatty who initiates the voyage, but a Professor Livingston (Crauford Kent) who theorizes that a place exists where animals native to both Africa and India live together. That leg of the journey takes place aboard a schooner directed by Captain Robinson (Edward LeSaint), who for good measure drags his daughter Ruth (Cecilia Parker) along. Ruth is technically Beatty's fiancée, but since he can't tear himself away from his lions and tigers, he quite literally misses the boat.Beatty forms his own expedition to Kamor to rescue the Robinson's when news of their disappearance arrives. Their trip aboard a dirigible also meets with disaster, but at least they make it to their destination. What I found amazing was that two different parties set out for a largely mythical land, somewhere in a vast ocean (maybe), and they both wind up in exactly the same place.As a romantic, Beatty's a good lion tamer. When he first encounters Ruth, she's about to become lunch for a savage island lion named Sammy. After saving her from a main course, Beatty once again mangles every opportunity to let Ruth know how much he missed her. Instead he's fixated on the incredible wildlife that the island has to offer - sheesh! Skulking around to make life tough for Beatty is the villain of the piece, a low life named Sharkey (Warner Richmond). Motivated by jealousy and greed, Sharkey does his best to do bodily harm to the boss. Beatty never suspects what a heel he is, but the viewer can only cheer when a savage lion evens the score with the bad guy.If you pay close attention, you might recognize a whiskerless George (Pre-Gabby) Hayes aboard the dirigible as one of Beatty's crew. However another future star also makes an early appearance in the movie. The young boy with the dog who's fascinated by Beatty's heroics is none other than Mickey Rooney! Perhaps the real stars of the movie though are the four footed entertainers themselves, second billed to Beatty as The Hagenbeck Wallace Animals. Truthfully, it's hard to imagine how those jungle scenes were created, especially the very realistic battle between a lion and tiger. I imagine some stock footage was used, but it's difficult at times to draw a line between the staged and real scenes.A couple of times in the movie, Clyde Beatty makes a reference to "bring them back alive" regarding the jungle cats of Kamor. I would be curious to know if there were any conflicts with Beatty contemporary Frank Buck over the phrase, as Buck was an adventurer who captured wild animals for zoos and circus use during the same era. In fact, Buck's film "Bring 'Em Back Alive" preceded this one by two years, and the line was one of his trademarks.In any event, "The Lost Jungle" is worth a viewing to see the real Clyde Beatty in person, using his skill and resources to tame wild beasts. If nothing else, you won't want to miss that famous stare down.