Forbidden Adventure
Cast & Crew
J. C. "doc" Cook
Grace Mckee
C. Sharpe Minor
Gayne Whitman
Film Details
Synopsis
Two white explorers, American Tom Dawes and Scotsman Sandy Kemp, travel to the Dyak villages of Borneo, where they hear stories of a primitive, remote tribe, that is ruled by a "white goddess." Intrigued, Tom and Sandy travel upriver to the village and are captured by the hostile tribesmen. Because they have entered a sacred place, the men are sentenced to death, but are saved when they hear a woman's voice say that they are to be made blood brothers of the Dyaks. Later, they see the young white woman who is treated as a goddess by the tribe. She and Tom are attracted to each other and she dances a native dance for him. After her dance, she relates her background: After emigrating from Russia to Borneo, her mother and father start a small rubber plantation. The happiness of the young family is shattered one afternoon when a cruel planter named Slade kidnaps her mother. When her father comes to his wife's aid, Slade and his native workers kill him, then take the wife and the little girl, Ileana, to Slade's house. After being raped repeatedly by Slade, the woman becomes deranged. Slade eventually lets her run away, followed by little Ileana, and the two find refuge in the jungle. The deranged mother spends her time plotting revenge and begins to realize her dream when she sees a native snake charmer. She then spends days making a flute and charming the jungle animals with her tune. Her music provokes the beasts of the jungle to kill Slade's men, and eventually the planter himself. Ileana then tells Tom that after Slade's death, she and her mother were adopted by the tribe. Her deranged mother still lives with her. When it is time for Tom and Sandy to leave, Tom asks Ileana to accompany them, but she does not want to leave her mother, who would be unable to live in civilization. Just before the boat leaves, a fire breaks out in the village and Ileana's mother is trapped and burned to death. With no reason to stay in the village, Ileana agrees to return with Tom to civilization.
Director
J. C. "doc" Cook
Film Details
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The viewed print bore the title Jungle Virgin and had a 1942 copyright statement on the opening title card, but no claimant, production or distribution company was identified. The only copyright information located for the film was a 1934 registry under the title Forbidden Adventure, which noted that the film's title had been changed from Inyaah the Jungle Goddess. Documentation in the copyright file includes a letter from Dwain Esper of Road Show Attractions claiming that the copyrighted picture was not Inyaah, but a different picture. Comparison of credits and available plot information of the viewed film and copyright records confirms that the two films were the same, however. According to a Motion Picture Herald release chart in January 1937, a film entitled Inyaah, was released by J. H. Hoffberg on November 15, 1936, with a running time of 70 min. Although information from the New York State censors shows that Inyahh was evaluated for exhibition in New York in 1936, it was rejected. Additional information about the 1936 release has not been located. According to other information in copyright records, a Film Daily ad in March 1938 and files in the MPAA/PCA Collection in the AMPAS Library, the picture was also known as The Virgin of Sarawak and Strange Adventures. The film viewed is frequently confused with a 1937 picture called Angkor that was reviewed under the title Forbidden Adventure in Variety on June 30, 1937.
According to information in the PCA file, the picture was rejected for certification in August 1938 because of nudity in the film and because of the suggestion of rape. After portions of the film were eliminated, a cerificate was issued to Esper, then head of Hollywood Producers and Distributors, on September 19, 1938, with the proviso that shots of women's bare breasts and boys's genitalia be eliminated. Other information in the file indicates that in March 1938, Mr. Allender of Warner-Allender Roadshows, Inc. called the PCA office to ask to whom the certificate had been issued. According to a memo in the file from Geoffrey Shurlock of the PCA, "Mr. Allender indicated that Mr. Esper and Mr. [J. C. "Doc"] Cook were not authorized to submit the picture, or to apply for the certificate, stating that Mr. Cook had removed the negative from the laboratory without any right..." No additional information on this dispute has been located, however, the film was reviewed under the title Strange Adventures/The Virgin of Sarawak by the New York State censorship board on July 31, 1940 for distributor Mapel Attractions, a successor to Road Show Attractions. Eliminations of nudity were required at that time. The viewed print contained shots of bare female breasts which were partially obliterated by black bands across the screen.
