Rating: 3.5/5
Eric Gorman is a wealthy zoologist and big game hunter. One night, after a colleague kissed his wife, Evelyn, at a dance, we see Gorman with the colleague sewing something. The next day, they find the colleague dead in the tiger enclosure, his mouth sewn shut.
Back in the US, Evelyn is secretly seeing Roger Hewitt and intends to leave Gorman for Roger. At a zoo gala, Roger collapses with a Green Mamba bite on his leg. A doctor tries to lance the swollen entry wound and tie off the leg with a tourniquet, but it’s too late. Roger is dead.
In Gorman’s office, Evelyn discovers a snakehead apparatus with faux fangs that emit real venom. She knows she must escape and inform the authorities, no matter the cost. That is if Gorman will let her.
These actors have so much faith in the animals! An assistant secretes the venom from a Green Mamba for testing. A character falls into a pool of alligators. Charlie Ruggles boops a lion on the nose.
This movie would be better without Charlie Ruggles. His obnoxious comic relief follows the Porky Pig school of stumbling over every line.
Lionel Atwill and Gail Patrick are the only actors who give good performances. Everyone else is fine, if unremarkable.
This is a shocking Pre-Code exploitation film — if you want to talk about movies you can’t make today, this should be at the top of the list.
Stray Thoughts
- Old zoos are so depressing! The enclosures are so small :(
- Sun Bears!!!
- They keep saying “antitoxin” when they should say “antivenom.”
** SPOILERS **
- I hate how they let the lions fight :(
- The anaconda biting and wrapping around Lionel Atwill looks so real! And the tension of watching it coil up and slowly unhinge was so scary! My mouth was agape the whole scene