Best Pictures #40: 1930-31 (4th) Academy Awards Outstanding Production Nominee: Trader Horn (1931)

by A.J.

Best Pictures #40: 1930-31 (4^th) Academy Awards Outstanding Production Nominee

Trader Horn (1931)

Trader Horn is an old-fashioned adventure film about men surviving, persevering, and adventuring in a strange, untamed land. Until recently Trader Horn was a rare film but now it is readily available on DVD from Warner Archive. It stars Harry Carey as Aloysius “Trader” Horn, a veteran white trader touring through Africa by river with his sidekick Peru (Duncan Renaldo), who wears a comically large pith helmet. The film is based on a book written by the real Aloysius Horn. Their adventures are mostly episodic until they encounter a missionary widow who is searching for her long-lost daughter that was kidnapped as a baby many years ago. After the missionary dies, Horn and Peru take up the search.

It’s safe to assume that Trader Horn’s nomination for Outstanding Production was meant to recognize and acknowledge its epic production. It received no other nominations. This was the first non-documentary film to be shot on location in Africa, which would have been a big deal at a time when nearly every scene of every movie made by every studio was shot on soundstages and backlots. The reason for keeping productions close to studio headquarters was to have control over the production and cut down on problems that might cause costly delays. The production of Trader Horn photographed authentic African landscapes and wildlife but suffered many troubles, some of them tragic. Several crew members were stricken with malaria, including director W.S. Van Dyke and co-star Edwina Booth. It would take Booth six years to recover from her case of malaria. She retired from acting, sued MGM, and settled out of court. Two crew members were killed during filming, both native Africans. One fell off a boat and was eaten by a crocodile. The other was killed by a stampeding rhinoceros. His death was caught on film and used in the movie. It’s a quick shot and not graphic at all—you would never guess it wasn’t just a visual effect—but knowing that the death is real makes it a most disturbing moment to watch. 

Harry Carey is believable as the experienced adventurer that knows his way around the wilds of Africa and the other main actors give good performances, though the characters are thin. An adventure film like this does not require overly complex characters or plot—though those could only help the movie—but underdeveloped characters and a simple plot mean that the action scenes and exotic locations are what is left to engage the audience. A typical scene in Trader Horn will have Horn and Peru in a boat or on a trail, then cut to the wild animals or vistas. For long stretches of the film the characters watch animals graze and hunt. Horn and Peru stroll through the savanna at one point and come across nearly every kind of African animal you’d hope to see if you were on safari. Horn points out and names all of the different animals to Peru like a zoo tour guide and the movie cuts to shots of these animals and the cuts don’t always match well.

I think what would have been most appealing to audiences about Trader Horn at the time of its release are the scenes of African animals, people, and the promise of thrilling adventure. There is some excitement to be found in Trader Horn, but not as much as you’d hope to find in an adventure picture. I must admit that I did feel a flourish of excitement when Horn and his native guide swung on vines like Tarzan over a pit of crocodiles (the first sound Tarzan film would be made a year later in 1932, starring Johnny Weissmuller). The scene in which Horn and Peru are about to be sacrificed by a native tribe by being crucified upside down is also suspenseful. However, the preceding scene of Horn and Peru in a hut listening to the tribal drums beat faster and faster goes on for far too long, well past the point of building suspense. There are a few other sequences that go on longer than needed dramatically but show off the footage shot in Africa. The most notable these scenes happens early in the film when Horn and Peru arrive in a native village to trade. Shots of the native villagers and their version of daily hustle and bustle goes on and on but shows quasi-documentary footage of an exotic, far away people that audiences normally would not have seen. Trader Horn, being a Pre-Code film, even gets away showing topless native women; something I did not expect to see in film made in 1931.

Trader Horn was directed by W.S. Van Dyke, who had worked on films shot in exotic locations before, but also had the nickname “One Take Woody” for shooting scenes as quickly and efficiently as possible. I can understand why MGM would hire “One Take Woody” to helm an expensive production shot in a faraway land where safety is not guaranteed, get the shots required to make an exciting adventure movie, and get out quickly and inexpensively. The result, however, is underwhelming. All of the scenes of African wildlife and landscape are shot from a still, motionless camera. There are some shots that are impressive because of what they show (like a raging waterfall), but many feel dull.

There are many aspects of Trader Horn that are dated by today’s standards and that modern audiences would find offensive. Horn’s native gun bearer, Rencharo (Mutia Omoolu) is a mostly mute and faithful sidekick who would be an interesting character if the film had thought to portray him as such. A rhinoceros is shot and killed, along with other exotic, now endangered, animals, and the close-up shot of the dying rhino’s face is incredibly depressing. Big game hunting was viewed differently in the 1930s, as exciting and manly, and the rights of animals on screen did not exist. According to the IMDB and Wikipedia pages for Trader Horn, many of the scenes of animals attacking other animals were shot in Mexico by a second unit. The reason for this is because in Mexico at the time laws regarding the treatment of animals were lax. The big cats were starved in order to ensure vicious attacks on other animals.

The most curious thing in Trader Horn is the White Goddess character (Nina, the missionary’s long-lost daughter played by Edwina Booth) that rules a native tribe. Peru implores her to help him and Horn when they’ve been captured by her tribe because she is white like them and white people should help each other. Booth herself is as good as she can be playing an over-the-top character that does not speak any English—none of her dialogue, or any native dialogue is subtitled. The trailer for the film advertises “See the cruelest woman in all Africa rule pagan tribes.” I’m not sure how to feel about this character, but I am sure this would not happen in an adventure film made today.  

I couldn’t help but think of Chang: A Drama of the Wilderness, nominated for Unique and Artistic Picture at the 1^st Academy Awards, which managed to make an exciting, entertaining film that treated native people respectfully, made them the stars of the movie, and worked with animals far better than in Trader Horn, even though both involved killing real animals. The most objectionable treatment of animals in Chang was the kidnapping of a baby elephant to get its mother to stampede and tear apart a hut, but the mother frees her baby and both return to the jungle. Leopards and tigers were killed in Chang and it is a sad thing to see, but these animals had been menacing the native Lao people and, as a result, death by big cats decreased in the following years. Trader Horn is MGM’s attempt to capture the thrill and excitement of exotic animals and locations, the danger and adventure of a quasi-documentary like Chang, and couch it in the more broadly appealing framework of a mainstream narrative. The result is a blend of fictional narrative and real nature documentary that has only some of the excitement it was it was aiming to capture. 

Nominee: MGM

Producer: Irving Thalberg

Director: W.S. Van Dyke

Screenplay: Richard Schayer, adaptation by Dale Van Every and John T. Neville, dialogue by Cyril Hume, based on the book by Alfred Aloysius Horn

Cast: Harry Carey, Edwina Booth, Duncan Renaldo

Release Date: May 23^rd, 1931

Total Nominations: 1, including Outstanding Production
Wins: N/A

Other Nominations: N/A

Classic Movie Picks: May 2016

by Lani

Each month, I scour the Turner Classic Movies schedule for upcoming films that I can't miss. The highlights are posted here for your reading and viewing pleasure! (All listed times are Eastern Standard, check your local listings or TCM.com for actual air times in your area. Each day's schedule begins at 6:00 a.m.; if a film airs between midnight and 6 a.m. it is listed on the previous day's programming schedule.)

5/9, 10 PM - Two Guys from Milwaukee (1946) 
Blustery comic Jack Carson and handsome crooner Dennis Morgan were Warner Brothers' version of Paramount's popular screen duo Bing Crosby and Bob Hope. Carson and Morgan made 11 films together, though not all were starring vehicles for them as a team. Reportedly friends in real life, the two have an easy chemistry which makes their films fun to watch. 
In Milwaukee, Morgan is a Balkan prince who slips away from his security detail while in New York City in order to see how the common folk live (and possibly meet his favorite starlet, Lauren Bacall). Carson is the streetwise cabbie who takes the prince under his wing after Morgan claims to be from Carson's hometown of Milwaukee. The rest of the cast is full of solid Warners contract players like Joan Leslie and Janis Paige providing romantic intrigue and S.Z. Sakall bringing his inimitable brand of comic relief. Luckily Lauren Bacall was also under contract at Warners, so she shows up for a cameo, too, alongside new husband Humphrey Bogart.

5/23: Peabody Award Winners
8 PM - Green Eyes (1977)
10 PM - Hoop Dreams (1994)
1 AM - Promise (1986)
3 AM - George Wallace (1997)
This year marks the 75th anniversary of the Peabody Awards, which honor outstanding achievement in media. TCM is showing four Peabody-winning films, three of which were originally made for TV. Green Eyes stars the great Paul Winfield as a Vietnam vet who returns to southeast Asia to find the son he left behind. Made in 1977, this film was one of the first to show the effects of the Vietnam war on veterans. In Promise, James Garner stars as a man who must assume custody of his schizophrenic younger brother, played by James Woods, after the death of their mother. Woods received an Emmy and Golden Globe for his performance. George Wallace is a biopic about the four term governor of Alabama who was a proponent of racial segregation, then changed his views late in life. In award-winning performances all around, Gary Sinise stars as Wallace and Mare Winningham and Angelina Jolie play his first and second wives Lurleen and Cornelia.
The fourth film of the night is the watershed documentary Hoop Dreams. The film by noted documentarian Steve James follows two Chicago teens with dreams of playing in the NBA. Their lives don't follow the predictable path of a Hollywood plot; watching these two families confront numerous obstacles and how it affects their pursuit of the American dream will keep you riveted. Despite winning a Peabody, and being one of the most critically acclaimed documentaries of all time, Hoop Dreams was not even nominated for an Academy Award. The public outcry at the time resulted in the Academy changing its nomination process for documentaries, making it impossible for a small group of voters to skew the results in favor of their favorites, as had been the case before.

5/26, 8 PM - The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971)
On Thursdays this month, TCM is spotlighting the movies of American International Pictures. AIP was an independent production company in the 50s, 60s, and 70s known for low budget movies aimed at teenagers, ranging from the kooky antics of Beach Party antics to biker gang delinquents to goofy horror movies starring Vincent Price, like tonight's feature in which Price plays the titular Dr. Phibes.
The mysterious Phibes is killing off a string of doctors whom he blames for the untimely death of Mrs. Phibes. The deaths, arbitrarily based the Old Testament plagues, just get more and more gruesome and improbable. However, the film is self-aware enough to have fun with the over-the-top story and sprinkles in moments of black comedy, such when a detective arriving at a murder scene remarks, "A brass unicorn has been catapulted across a London street and impaled an eminent surgeon...words fail me, gentlemen."
It is no surprise that director Robert Fuest was also an art director; the "Edwardian England meets Swinging London" sets are a feast for the eyes, particularly Phibes' bizarre lair where he lives and with his equally enigmatic female assistant Vulnavia. (Yes, Vulnavia.) The plot is almost secondary to the unexpected and creative visuals - I would describe them in more detail, but don't want to ruin the surprise of seeing everything for the first time. 
This is a thoroughly weird little movie and probably not for everyone, but if you have an appreciation for camp and creativity, you'll find plenty to like about Phibes.

5/27, 7:15 AM - Chang (1927)
Chang is a silent pseudo-documentary from filmmaker-adventurers Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack made six years before their best-known creation, King Kong. The film follows a family of Lao tribesman living in the jungles of northern Siam. The film sought to portray the day-to-day life of the Lao and the dangers they faced in the untamed jungle. Though the people are not actors, most of the scenes were staged reenactments -- a common practice of "documentary" film of the time, but one which makes the film seem less than authentic today. Much of the film concerns the wild animals encountered by the tribe -- including tigers, leopards, and elephants -- and these scenes are all extremely exciting. While the situation may have been staged for the benefit of the film, the tiger charging at the cameraman is still very real and very dangerous. These scenes give the film the feeling of a rip-roaring adventure tale. 
Chang was nominated in the first Academy Awards in the category of "Unique and Artistic Picture," a separate category from Best Picture, but one which was considered of equal prestige. It is a truly unique film and if you're interested in learning more about it, my co-blogger A.J. reviewed Chang for his best pictures series.

Best Pictures #2: 1927/28 (1st) Academy Awards, Unique & Artistic Picture Nominee: Chang: A Drama of the Wilderness (1927)

by A.J.

1927/28 (1^st) Academy Awards, Unique & Artistic Picture* Nominee:

Chang: A Drama of the Wilderness (1927)

Chang: A Drama of the Wilderness, a silent film from 1927, had only one nomination at the first Academy Awards for Unique and Artistic Picture. Since at the time of the first Academy Awards, the Unique & Artistic Picture category and the Outstanding Picture category were considered equal, Chang can be considered to be the only documentary ever nominated for Best Picture. Unique & Artistic Picture is certainly the right category for Chang because it is, if anything, a unique picture. Directors Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Shoedsack spent several months in the jungles of northern Siam learning about the native Lao people and their way of life in preparation for their documentary for Paramount Famous-Lasky. The result is an exciting and entertaining picture about Kru, a Lao tribesman, his family, and their daily struggles to live deep in the unconquerable jungle.

I think the best way to describe Chang is as a quasi-documentary since many, if not all, of the scenes are staged reenactments. Kru is a real Lao tribesman, he was the guide for Cooper and Shoedsack on their expedition in northern Siam. His children in the movie are his actual children, but his wife, Chantui, is actually the wife of a fellow tribesman. The Kru family home is a hut built on stilts deep in the jungle away from the main village. Lao homes are actually built on stilts to keep jungle animals out, but the house we see was built specifically for the film and the interior is a separate set. Staged reenactments were not uncommon in documentaries of the silent era; the technique was used notably in Nanook of the North from 1922, which is nearly universally thought of as the predecessor to modern documentaries. If audiences and critics at the time knew about the staging of scenes, they did not mind as Chang was a hit with both.

Many scenes in the movie are reenactments of things Cooper & Schoedsack witnessed, but did not capture on film. There is no scene that is a complete fabrication, except maybe for the scene of a monkey dropping coconuts on stampeding elephants which is the only scene of the movie not shot in Northern Siam (it was done in New York’s Central Park Zoo). Other moments of humor come from certain animals having their own dialogue cards. There was a script written for Chang, but it had to be thrown out due to the unpredictability of the wild jungle animals. The scenes with the jungle animals are the highlight and tragedy of Chang. Kru’s livestock is being killed by leopards, so he enlists the people from the main village to help him in a hunt. The hunting techniques used by the tribesmen are accurate; rifles, spears, deadfalls, pitfalls, and wooden decoy men are all deployed. The leopards and two tigers we see killed in the hunt are real animals that were killed for the film.

However, it should be noted that the Lao people do not kill tigers, according to the DVD commentary by filmmaker and author Rudy Behlmer. The Lao people believe tigers to be possessed by evil spirits that would exact horrible revenge on anyone who killed one, so the rate of death by tiger was very high for the villages of Northern Siam. They would only hunt a tiger if it carried off too many babies. Cooper told the natives that he would bear the responsibility for the deaths of the tigers and any vengeance the evil spirits would unleash. My only solace in seeing those leopards and tigers killed is that they actually were a menace to the people of the region and Cooper and Schoedsack were told by a missionary that the number of people killed by tigers had decreased greatly after their filming in the jungle was done.

Still, I find incredible excitement in the scenes with the tigers. First, a tiger emerges slowly from the dense jungle to drink from a stream. Later, we see a group of hunters running away from a tiger and climbing up a tree in a shot that is almost certainly staged. However, there is no way the wide shot of a hunter up in a tree with the tiger prowling below could be staged. In another shot the camera looks down from a tree and a tiger jumps up, its face filling the screen. A shot that feels even more dangerous when you realize that it was done without the aid of zoom lenses (there were none). Schoedsack was up in the tree on a platform setting up a different shot with his hand cranked camera when a tiger bounded up mere feet, if not inches, from the platform.

The climatic elephant stampede was achieved with much planning and cooperation between the filmmakers and the natives. The tribe used elephants that had been trained as livestock. A low angle shot looking up at the legs of stampeding elephants was captured by Schoedsack in a pit dug by the tribesmen and covered with logs and a low turret that they assured him would hold under the weight of elephants. Cooper and Schoedsack had respect for the native peoples and it shows from the amount of cooperation they received and in the portrayal of the Lao people. In an era of motion pictures when casual racism was, well, casual and political correctness was not even the wild idea of a fantasist, Cooper and Schoedsack show us a non-exploitative portrayal of a people and culture far from Hollywood.

Though scenes may be staged, Chang still creates an authentic feeling of the life of Kru and his family living in the jungle. And, yes, Chang should be thought of as a documentary. In some ways Chang can be looked at as a forerunner to Disney’s short nature documentaries of the 1950s and 60s and the current Disney Nature film series which create a familiar narrative from hours and hours of documentary footage and seek to impart a message of environmental awareness to the audience. Chang is the story of a family living a vastly different way of life than the audience, but also delivers the message that the jungle and nature in general, despite all of mankind’s innovations, is unconquerable. I can’t think of too many documentaries I’d describe as thrilling the way an adventure movie is thrilling while also being informative and entertaining. This is certainly not a well-known film, but fortunately it is readily available on DVD. The sense of adventure and awe of wild beasts and the untamable natural world that Cooper and Schoedsack capture here would be evoked six years later with incredible effect on a much grander, and completely fictional, scale in the duo’s 1933 film King Kong. 

Nominee: Paramount Famous-Lasky

Producer(s): Merian C. Cooper & Ernest B. Schoedsack 

Director(s): Merian C. Cooper & Ernest B. Schoedsack 

Screenplay: N/A

Cast: Kru, Chantui

Release Date: April 29th, 1927

Total Nominations: 1, including Unique & Artistic Picture

*The first Academy Awards had two categories for Best Picture: Unique & Artistic Picture and Outstanding Picture. The Outstanding Picture category is widely considered to be the forerunner to Best Picture since the Unique & Artistic Picture category was discontinued the following year. Since at the time each category was thought of equally as the top award, I have included the Unique & Artistic Picture nominees as Best Picture nominees.