Rango
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Claude King
Douglas Scott
Ali
Bin
Tua
Rango
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
A white father explains to his son how man's closest relative in nature is the orangutan, which translates literally as "man of the forest." He then tells the story of Ali and his son Bin, natives of Sumatra, who hunt in a jungle village. Sumatra, he explains, is the only place on earth where both African-derived orangutans and Indian tigers live. As Ali tries to shoot a tiger, the tree-dwelling orangutans, Tua and his baby Rango, get in the way, and Rango is nearly caught by the tiger. While Ali prepares a tiger trap, Tua investigates Ali's grass hut, and he and Rango feed on the human beings' stored goods. Dozens of orangutans join them, ransacking the hut. When Ali and Bin return and find they have been robbed, Ali sets a trap to catch Rango and puts him on a chain. Ali then saves Tua from a black panther. In the night, a tiger enters Ali and Bin's camp, and Rango warns Bin in time for him to shoot and scare the tiger away. At dawn, Tua comes for Rango and eats in the hut, while Bin tends the water buffalo, the only faithful servant of man in the vast jungle. After the tiger kills a deer, the orangutans scream warnings to each other and flee. Two male tigers approach and chase Bin, Rango and Tua. The tiger then kills Rango, but the water buffalo fights the tiger and kills him. Ali and Bin embrace as Tua waits for Rango, unaware he will never return.
Cast
Claude King
Douglas Scott
Ali
Bin
Tua
Rango
Crew
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
The film is alternately tinted yellow (for day), red (for sunset) and blue (for night), and is silent except for a talking prologue and a synchronized musical score. The film was shot in the jungles of Achin (also called Atjeh) in northwest Sumatra, Indonesia. Javanese and Malays were in the cast, along with the Achinese, who Motion Picture Herald describes as "one of the fiercest tribes in the Dutch West Indies."
Notes
The opening credits for this film state: "Produced and Directed in Sumatra by Ernest B. Schoedsack, Co-producer [with Merian C. Cooper] of Chang, Grass and The Four Feathers. Although there is no photography credit on this film, Motion Picture Herald credits Schoedsack with "direction, story, photography, and editing." New York Times states, however, that Schoedsack traveled to Sumatra with his wife and a cameraman, and credits Alfred Williams with camera work. The film is alternately tinted yellow (for day), red (for sunset) and blue (for night), and is silent except for a talking prologue and a synchronized musical score. The film was shot in the jungles of Achin (also called Atjeh) in northwest Sumatra, Indonesia. Javanese and Malays were in the cast, along with the Achinese, who Motion Picture Herald describes as "one of the fiercest tribes in the Dutch West Indies." Schoedsack's Four Feathers was screened at the New York Criterion during the same week that Rango played at New York's Rivoli Theatre.
