King of the Wild

King of the Wild
King of the Wild
Directed by	B. Reeves Eason; Richard Thorpe; Lionel Backus (asst.); Theodore Joos (asst.)
Written by	Wyndham Gittens; Ford Beebe
Produced by	Nat Levine
Starring	Walter Miller; Nora Lane; Dorothy Christy; Tom Santschi; Boris Karloff; Arthur McLaglen; Mischa Auer
Cinematography	Benjamin H. Kline; Edward A. Kull
Music by	Lee Zahler
Distributed by	Mascot Pictures
Release date	May 1, 1931;
Running time	12 chapters (248 min)
Country	United States
Language	English

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. Here he meets Sheik Mustapha (Boris Karloff), who has evidence to clear him and the location of a secret diamond mine.

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.^[1]

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.^[2] 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 Boris Karloff, but they are two different serials.^[3]

Chapter titles

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

_Source:^[4]

References

^ King of the Wild at the All Movie, retrieved 29/04/07
^ Associated Press via Montreal Gazette (September 17, 1934)
^ Harmon, Jim; Donald F. Glut (1973). "14. The Villains "All Bad, All Mad"". The Great Movie Serials: Their Sound and Fury. Routledge. p. 351. ISBN 978-0-7130-0097-9.
^ Cline, William C. (1984). "Filmography". In the Nick of Time. McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 203. ISBN 0-7864-0471-X.

External links

King of the Wild at IMDb
King of the Wild at AllMovie

Preceded by The Phantom of the West (1931)	Mascot Serial King of the Wild (1931)	Succeeded by The Vanishing Legion (1931)

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[allmovie-1] King of the Wild at the All Movie, retrieved 29/04/07

[2] Associated Press via Montreal Gazette (September 17, 1934)

[GMS-3] Harmon, Jim; Donald F. Glut (1973). "14. The Villains "All Bad, All Mad"". The Great Movie Serials: Their Sound and Fury. Routledge. p. 351. ISBN 978-0-7130-0097-9.

[4] Cline, William C. (1984). "Filmography". In the Nick of Time. McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 203. ISBN 0-7864-0471-X.

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