Taming the Jungle
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Bob Tansey
Melvin Koontz
Dean Foix
Olga Celeste
Chubby Guilfoyle
Bob Tansey
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
The life of wild animals, including lions, tigers, South American pumas and leopards, in their native environments is first shown. Next, techniques for trapping them are exhibited. Lions are lured into wooden cages with sliding doors, while tigers are baited with liver to go into a net. Finally, the methods of four well-known trainers, Melvin Koontz, Dean Foix, Olga Celeste and Chubby Guilfoyle, for transforming the wild beasts into docile circus performers are examined. Celeste, the only well-known woman trainer, uses gentle words on her specialty, leopards. Koontz fires a gun loaded with bullets rather than blanks. Whips, sticks and chairs are common tools; the chair is effective because the four points of attack of its legs disconcert the animal. At the end, the puma is shown to follow his deadly enemy, the leopard, around the arena; the tiger leaps through flaming hoops; and the lion wrestles playfully with his trainer Koontz.
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Variety noted that an introductory scene, which, according to a campaign book, was to have shown a lion escaping from a zoo, was not in the film. They also stated that the introduction included "innumerable shots made for various pictures and newsreels on the Selig grounds in Hollywood" and commented that the film was "one of the poorest patchworks yet made." Motion Picture Daily remarked that the scenes of wild animals being captured were "obviously staged."
