In one of the oddest casting choices in film history (and of a certain legend's career), the role usually played by Maria Montez is taken over by...Barbara Stanwyck??? She's the matriarch of a Burmese plantation who welcomes strangers into her house with open arms (and apparently an open bar), not even checking their references. The moment alleged killer Robert Ryan shows up, she's eying him up and down like a search light, offering him a second drink just as he's chugged down his first.
She's just inspected the elephants and the men who use them to work in the jungles and fired one of them for repeatedly abusing the elder of the pack. This Elephant Queen of Burma treats the riders well, and immediately places a Sabu-like youngster on the back of the abused pachyderm, promising him great rewards if he does his job well. But the natives believe that evil spirited tiger has killed an elephant in the jungle, and Stanwyck heads out there with Ryan to prove that it was a real tiger, not some invisible spook with the power to kill beasts of burden three times the size of real tigers.
On the search for Ryan is David Farrar, hired by the ruler of Burma to find the man they believe killed the prince. Ryan and Stanwyck encounter Farrar after their return from the jungle and this leads to another jaunt into the tropical forest where they encounter bandits and an oncoming monsoon. The three of them are forced to spend the night in an abandoned ancient ruins where chimps, orangutans and other assorted small monkeys reside. Before you can say, "Me Tarzan, You Jane", the king's men are on the march, having arrested one of the bandits who is in possession of one of the late princes' bracelet.
Unbelievable adventure in the realm of Maria Montez/Yvonne de Carlo adventures of the 1940's (with a touch of "Elephant Walk" thrown in), this seems totally out of Stanwyck's element, and even her performance seems out of whack, sometimes so kindly you'd think she'd never played all those deadly film noir vixens. Visions of various jungle animals (including the deadly tiger as well as a black panther) add to the colorful vision of this jungle paradise, and the audacious set design is equally camp in its presentation. "You two men make me prefer the company of elephants!", she barks at one point to the fighting men, and certainly, her pachyderm pals are as loyal to her as her servants. Much of the acting of the mostly British cast playing the Burmese is amateurish and silly, but this isn't without its compensation. I've never had so much fun laughing at a Barbara Stanwyck movie in my life, and it wasn't one of her classic screwball comedies.
She's just inspected the elephants and the men who use them to work in the jungles and fired one of them for repeatedly abusing the elder of the pack. This Elephant Queen of Burma treats the riders well, and immediately places a Sabu-like youngster on the back of the abused pachyderm, promising him great rewards if he does his job well. But the natives believe that evil spirited tiger has killed an elephant in the jungle, and Stanwyck heads out there with Ryan to prove that it was a real tiger, not some invisible spook with the power to kill beasts of burden three times the size of real tigers.
On the search for Ryan is David Farrar, hired by the ruler of Burma to find the man they believe killed the prince. Ryan and Stanwyck encounter Farrar after their return from the jungle and this leads to another jaunt into the tropical forest where they encounter bandits and an oncoming monsoon. The three of them are forced to spend the night in an abandoned ancient ruins where chimps, orangutans and other assorted small monkeys reside. Before you can say, "Me Tarzan, You Jane", the king's men are on the march, having arrested one of the bandits who is in possession of one of the late princes' bracelet.
Unbelievable adventure in the realm of Maria Montez/Yvonne de Carlo adventures of the 1940's (with a touch of "Elephant Walk" thrown in), this seems totally out of Stanwyck's element, and even her performance seems out of whack, sometimes so kindly you'd think she'd never played all those deadly film noir vixens. Visions of various jungle animals (including the deadly tiger as well as a black panther) add to the colorful vision of this jungle paradise, and the audacious set design is equally camp in its presentation. "You two men make me prefer the company of elephants!", she barks at one point to the fighting men, and certainly, her pachyderm pals are as loyal to her as her servants. Much of the acting of the mostly British cast playing the Burmese is amateurish and silly, but this isn't without its compensation. I've never had so much fun laughing at a Barbara Stanwyck movie in my life, and it wasn't one of her classic screwball comedies.