KING OF THE WILD (1931) Fine copy. Sepia.

King of the Wild is a 1931 American pre-Code Mascot movie serial. The complete serial is available on DVD from Alpha Video.

A seven-reel feature version of the serial was later released in South America under the title Bimi.

PLOT:
Robert Grant, framed for a coup in the Indian country of Ranjapur, escapes from prison to Africa in search of the real villains. He is an American businessman in the east who bears an uncanny resemblance to a Raja. When the Raja is killed by a tiger he was hunting Grant is forced to take his place so that the Raja's cousin will not seize the throne before the rightful heir can ascend. Unfortunately for Grant his supposed friend Harris sells him out to the evil cousin because Grant refused to hold onto the throne and loot the country of all its wealth. What follows is a long chase as Grant tries to prove his innocence while disguised as an Arab (he's jailed for murder but escapes) and help the only one who knows who he really is find her brother who is being held captive until he relays the location of a diamond mine.

Its a complex story that has more chapter twists then most cliffhangers. It is a good looking serial that is an odd mix of locations that are nowhere near each other (Africa, India, the desert...). The film moves along pretty well, even if the plot does tend to fold back on itself. The cast is pretty good with Boris Karloff one of the baddies looking for the diamond mine. Moreover, there is an a sasquatch-type ape-man, Bimi, who becomes the villain Harris' henchman, thus giving the epithet, "King of the Wild", to the serial's title.

CAST:
Walter Miller as Robert Grant, American escapee from Ranjapur
Nora Lane as Muriel Armitage, Tom Armitage's sister
Dorothy Christy as Mrs LaSalle
Tom Santschi as Harris, Villainous Animal trapper
Boris Karloff as Mustapha, an African sheikh
Arthur McLaglen as Bimi, the Ape man
Carroll Nye as Tom Armitage, Muriel's brother who knows the location of a secret diamond mine
Victor Potel as Peterson
Albert DeWinton as Cyril Wainwright
Martha Lalande as Mrs Colby
Mischa Auer as Dakka, an escaped lunatic
Lafe McKee as Officer

PRODUCTION:
The stars of King of the Wild were originally intended to be Harry Carey and Edwina Booth, but filming on the MGM film TRADER HORN (1931) went over-schedule, forcing Mascot to recast the serial with Walter Miller and Nora Lane instead. The serial is what many would call racially insensitive today. The portrayal of Arabs mostly as villains and of black Africans as savages was par for the course for the time the film was made,

Also appearing in the serial was real-life explorer Albert DeWinton. He later went after explorer Percy Fawcett, who had disappeared in Brazil several years earlier. DeWinton also disappeared in the Amazon in early 1934 and was presumed dead. Bimi, the Ape Man, was played by actor Victor McLaglen's brother Arthur, and Mischa Auer plays an escaped lunatic named Dakka.

KING OF THE WILD is sometimes misreported as an alternate title for the serial KING OF THE KONGO, which also co-starred Walter Miller and Boris Karloff, but they are two different serials. KONGO was also a Mascot serial made two years earlier in 1929. It was the first serial to have sound, although only partial sound ("Part Talking") rather than the later (and now standard) "All-Talking" productions with complete sound. Despite an announcement that two versions of this serial would be released, (a "Part Talking" version and a silent version intended for theatres not yet equipped for sound), no evidence for a silent version's ever being released exists. All current (as of 2024) online transfers of the film are the sound version without the sound. Some have the sound credits excised. The copy of KING OF THE KONGO in this chis collection is a silent tinted version.

CHAPTERS:
Man Eaters
Tiger of Destiny
The Avenging Horde
Secret of the Volcano
Pit of Peril
Creeping Doom
Sealed Lips
Jaws of the Jungle
Door of Dread
Leopard's Lair
The Fire of the Gods
Jungle Justice