I Married Adventure
Cast & Crew
Osa Johnson
Jim Bannon
Gerald Carbonara
Don Clark
Ralph Dixon
Albert Duffy
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Following their first trip to the South Seas, adventurer Martin Johnson and his wife Osa embark on a two-year voyage to the Solomon Islands. Among the peoples they visit are the men of Taman Island, who dry the heads of both their own and enemy dead. Next, they retrace Jack London's trip to the Solomon Islands and continue through the South Seas to Borneo, where they are marooned after Martin is stricken with tropic fever. Returning to the United States with footage of cannibals and headhunters, the Johnsons are inspired by world famous explorer Carl Akeley to continue their work in Africa before the continent succumbs to civilization. The Johnsons begin their twelve-year odyssey by stopping in Mombasa. After they acquire a chimp, Teddy, the Johnsons, hoping to photograph big game undetected, build a blind in which to hide their cameras. Following this, a fire at Murchison Falls prompts a stampede, and a lion hunt is called when a local tribe's sacred cow is killed. In an uncharted village in the interior, a woman is killed by rhino, and the tribe takes its revenge on the beast. While visiting some pygmies, Martin gives them some salt and cigars. Next, the Johnsons take two Sikorsky amphibious planes on a 60,000 mile trip up the Nile River to equatorial Mt. Kenya, where it snows. The Johnsons return to America, but twenty years after their visit to Borneo, they return to the jungle. There, they accompany natives on a search for an orangutan that has been on a rampage. The animal is soon captured alive. Martin dies shortly after their return, and Osa indicates that she plans a journey back to Africa soon.
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The credits and summary were taken from a preview print, located at the Library of Congress, which invited comments for additional editing. I Married Adventure begins with the following onscreen acknowledgment: "To those brave men and women-explorers-discoverers-adventurers-who faced untold hardships and danger, defying death, that the world might be richer in knowledge, we dedicate this picture. In darkest Africa, their names are legion." The film is, in part, a compilation featuring footage from many of the Johnsons' previous exploration films, including Baboona, Congorilla and Borneo. Hollywood Reporter production charts indicate that additional footage was filmed in early January 1940. According to a biography of the Johnsons, their 1937 lecture film Jungles Calling provided the basic outline for the "record-breaking" book on which this film is based. The biography also notes that Martin, who died on January 13, 1937, was portrayed in part of the film by an actor who was filmed only from behind. The film is divided into sequential chapters, presumably reflective of Osa Johnson's book. For more information on the Johnsons and their films, see catalog entry above for Congorilla.
