Jungle in a storm
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Jungle in a storm |
| Original title | Red dust |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1932 |
| length | 86 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Victor Fleming |
| script | John Lee Mahin |
| production |
Irving Thalberg , Hunt Stromberg for MGM |
| camera | Harold Rosson |
| cut | Blanche Sewell |
| occupation | |
| |
Jungle by Storm is a 1932 American drama directed by Victor Fleming. The screenplay is based on a play by Wilson Collison , which premiered on January 2, 1928 on Broadway . The film is one of the pre-code films that were produced in the time before the Hays Code , the censorship and production guidelines for US films. The film is particularly remarkable for its ambiguous dialogues and the revealing plot, which culminates in a nude bath in a rain barrel by Jean Harlow. The film had its German premiere on May 2, 1981 in the third program of Bavarian Radio . In 2006 the film was included in the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress .
action
Except for some occasional trips to Saigon Dennis Carson took his life on his rubber - plantation in Indochina spent jungle. The plantation is only approached every four weeks by an old steamer. The numerous local workers, the supervisors Mac and Guidon and the simple-minded house servant Hoy live with Denis - there are no women on the plantation. This changes when the prostitute Vantine finds refuge there because she has come into conflict with the law in Saigon. The cheeky and talkative blonde falls in love with Dennis and always calls him "Fred". Dennis sees her as just a little pastime.
The American Gary Willis, a new surveyor for the plantation , arrives on the next ship . He is accompanied by his wife Barbara. At the same time, Vantine leaves the plantation by steamer to return to Saigon. At first it bothers Dennis that his new employee has brought his wife with him, and Barbara doesn't think much of Dennis either until he saves Gary's life after a malaria attack . Vantine returns to the plantation because the steamer is broken, but Dennis doesn't want to hear from her anymore. Meanwhile, he falls in love with Barbara, to which Vantine reacts with increasing jealousy. After a while, Barbara returned Dennis' affectionate feelings and began an affair with him. Except for the good-natured, naive Gary, everyone on the plantation knows about it. Dennis sends Gary downriver to survey for a few weeks to have Barbara to himself.
Barbara and Dennis eventually want to get married, so Gary needs to be notified so Barbara can get a divorce. Dennis visits Gary, but notices Gary's deep love for Barbara. Dennis returns to the plantation, surrenders to the alcohol and allows himself to be comforted by Vantine. Vantine finally sees her chance at Dennis until Barbara joins them. When Dennis tries to end their affair and behaves like a proletarian, Barbara shoots him down.
Gary returns after hearing the rumors about Barbara and Dennis. Barbara is too disturbed, but Vantine tells Gary that Barbara shot Dennis because he had become intrusive. According to Vantine's statements, Gary forgives his wife, but he has only contempt for Dennis. Vantine treats Dennis after his shot and takes care of him. In bed he reads a newspaper article that reports on the Willis' departure. He eventually realizes that he loves Vantine.
Notes on the content
The difference between the couples becomes clear in the film. Dennis and Vantine may be rough and simple, but prove to be strong as the film progresses; while the Willis couple are fine and educated, but appear rather weak overall. Vantine talks a lot and gets on Dennis' nerves, but she's not afraid of danger. In contrast, the petite Barbara is more ladylike when she is afraid of a tiger, for example. As the film progresses, she cannot remain loyal to her husband and therefore appears weak. This in turn also appears weak, as he brings his wife into an environment that neither suits him nor his wife. While Gary brought tennis rackets into the deep jungle, the more muscular Dennis has to save him from malaria death and run the plantation. This becomes particularly clear in the tiger scene, when Dennis and not Gary can kill a tiger in one scene.
The film shows some very realistic insights into the rubber business. Trees are cut open in order to squeeze out the rubber sap. Later in the film, Dennis Barbara explains how the rubber solidifies when it interacts with vinegar . The film also illustrates the spartan living conditions on plantations and the alternation between rainy and dry seasons.
Later criticism of the film sparked mainly on the portrayal of the locals, who are mainly represented by the simple-minded house servant Hoy as a comic relief . Although not portrayed as malicious, Hoy often behaves insensitively and thereby disturbs the rest of the characters, who come from America, so that they correct him. The character starts to get hysterical at the smallest opportunity. The bulk of local workers are portrayed as lazy and unreliable, so the overseers have to watch out for them to avoid doing anything stupid. Such a stereotyped representation of foreigners was not uncommon in the largely racist USA of the 1930s; other films also made use of such representations.
The film was shot in the time of the Pre-Code , a phase of American cinema in the early 1930s before the introduction of the Hays Code , which relentlessly openly reflected American society. A feature of the pre-code was lewd dialogue. Although no sex scenes are shown in Jungle in the Storm , they are hinted at several times and there are numerous kissing scenes. Many dialogues contain suggestive allusions and ambiguities. For example, the old overseer Mac says that if it were 1894 he would know what he would be playing with Vantine. Vantine also hints at her work as a prostitute when she mentions that she is not used to sleeping at night. The characters in the film are by no means heroes and pursue their own goals: Vantine is a revealing and cheeky prostitute whom Dennis, who is partly proletarian, exploits her infatuation at the beginning of the film. Barbara, who initially appears fine, also begins an affair with Dennis.
In one scene in the film, Jean Harlow takes a bath in a rain barrel. She repeated this scene a year later in the film Sexbombe (OT: Bombshell ), again directed by Victor Fleming.
Production history
Jungle by Storm had a budget of around $ 400,000, an average amount for a film at the time. The screenplay is based on a play by Wilson Collison , which had its Broadway premiere on January 2, 1928 , but only ran for eight days and was partially panned by critics. In the main roles, Clark Gable and Jean Harlow were cast, two rising stars who had played together for the first time in supporting roles a year earlier in the film The Secret Six . Originally Greta Garbo was supposed to take on the role of Vantine, when she refused, Harlow got her chance. A total of Gable and Harlow were to make six films together by Harlow's untimely death in 1937 and rise to major stars in Hollywood.
The director was originally supposed to be directed by Howard Hawks , who was replaced by Victor Fleming after differences with the studio . Fleming received no credit in the film's English opening credits . Seven years later, Fleming would also work with Clark Gable on the Hollywood classic Gone With the Wind and receive the Oscar for best director. Cedric Gibbons was responsible for the film construction of Jungle in the Storm , Douglas Shearer was responsible for the sound . Gilbert Adrian designed the costumes . The entire film was not shot in Vietnam, but in a large setting at the MGM studio in California. For this purpose, a jungle landscape was recreated and an artificial river was created.
Filming in September 1932 was partly overshadowed by the suicide of Harlow's husband, film producer Paul Bern . Harlow stopped working for ten days while scenes were filmed without her involvement. Despite the interruption, the film was finished on time.
synchronization
The German dubbed version of Dschungel im Sturm was made in Munich in 1980 on the occasion of the television premiere.
| role | actor | German Dubbing voice |
|---|---|---|
| Dennis Carson | Clark Gable | Norbert Langer |
| Vantine | Jean Harlow | Angelika Bender |
| Barbara Willis | Mary Astor | Ursula Heyer |
| Gary Willis | Gene Raymond | Christian Wolff |
| Mac McQuarg | Tully Marshall | Peter Capell |
| Guidon | Donald Crisp | Hartmut Neugebauer |
| Hoy | Willie Fung | Michael Habeck |
| Captain Limey | Forrester Harvey | Hans Jürgen Diedrich |
reception
The film was released in the United States on October 22, 1932. It was only released in European cinemas in 1933. That is why the film was never shown in German cinemas because the National Socialists considered it unseemly. The Illustrierte Film-Kurier Berlin brought out an extensive film program under the German title "The Yellow Hell" with the number 2050. The film had its German premiere on May 2, 1981 in the third program of the Bavarian Radio , almost fifty years after the film was released. Worldwide, the film grossed a good 1.2 million US dollars, three times the budget.
In 1940 Henry C. Potter made a remake called Congo Maisie with Ann Sothern and John Carroll in the lead roles. At the same time, Gable played his role again in a radio play. Another remake was made by John Ford with Mogambo , which hit theaters in 1953. Clark Gable also appeared in front of the camera as the main actor in this film. His film partners were Ava Gardner and Grace Kelly . Both remakes took place in Africa .
When it was released, the reviews were benevolent. Mordaunt Hall wrote in the New York Times that the dialogue was not particularly strong, but that Jean Harlow made her audience laugh at her lines. Harlow fits the role perfectly and has a good screen presence. Clark Gable and Mary Astor were also praised, so Astor was good at showing the difference between their character and Harlow. Hall also took a liking to Gene Raymond and Tully Marshall, who made the most of their little roles. In the following decades, the film was largely neglected because of the Hays Code introduced in 1934 until the 1960s.
Jungle by Storm was listed on the National Film Preservation Board's National Film Registry in 2006 . Today, apart from criticism of the portrayal of the Vietnamese, the reviews are generally very good. All seven Rotten Tomatoes reviews were positive. The following reviews also gave the film a positive rating:
"Fleming's film with its Hollywood stars was a great success at the time and is considered a highlight of erotic cinema in the 1930s."
"Spongy situations and lewd dialogues made Hollywood censors sweat."
“The lavish Hollywood production is based on a well-known play by Wilson Collison and unites four superstars from the 1930s. The story skillfully combines the crackling erotic atmosphere with the forces of nature of the Asian jungle. "
Web links
- Red Dust in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Criticism of Variety (English)
- Brief discussion in the Classic Film Guide (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b ( page no longer available , search in web archives )
- ↑ http://pre-code.com/pre-code-follies-red-dust-1932/
- ↑ http://www.moviediva.com/MD_root/reviewpages/MDRedDust.htm
- ↑ Film title Casts Film Cast list Movie Cast Characters - synchrondatenbank.de. Retrieved April 13, 2019 .
- ↑ Gross profit on imdb.com
- ↑ http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9802EFDE1E31E333A25756C0A9679D946394D6CF
- ↑ Jungle in a Storm. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ Jungle in the Storm on cinema.de
- ↑ Jungle in the Storm on rp-online.de ( Memento from January 15, 2013 in the Internet Archive )