bkoganbing Even today with Siegfried and Roy and their glitzy Vegas style wild animal taming act, the guy whose name is forever associated as the best in that profession is still Clyde Beatty. As an actor however Clyde was a great lion tamer. Still this feature version of the Mascot serial The Lost Jungle does give Beatty's legion of fans an opportunity to see him work the big cats.Like Sonja Henie, Beatty made his money and reputation in his field and just saw movies as a way of gaining publicity for his circus and he owned and was the feature attraction of his own circus, in the same way that Henie just used her 20th Century Fox films to publicize her ice show. Of course there's light years difference between working for 20th Century Fox and Mascot Pictures.The condensed feature film has a whole lot of things that any serial would have, lost island, lost treasure on same, a dirigible with Beatty and sidekick Syd Saylor on board, a shipwreck with Beatty's girl friend Cecilia Parker on it. Plus lots of encounters with lions and tigers who are on this mysterious lost island of Kumar in the Indian ocean which has animals native to both Africa and Asia. It even has a young Mickey Rooney at the beginning of the film as a kid going to Beatty's circus.It's not much of a film, but it is a chance to see Clyde Beatty who was the very best at what he did.

MartinHafer In 1934, the serial "The Lost Jungle" debuted and was 243 minutes long. This particular movie is a shortened version--condensed down to 68 minutes! So does the overall film look comprehensible with about 3/4 of the film missing? Read on to find out for yourself.It's a darn shame that the quality of this print is really poor, as it's worth seeing the film just to get a look at Beatty's animal act. In one scene, he has lions, tigers, leopards and bears all in the ring at the same time!! I've seen some great animal acts in person and can't recall seeing anything THAT amazing. On top of that, the animals really looked angry and hostile--and made for some great viewing.As for plot, the story is (naturally) about Beatty and there are two plots going on at the same time. First, the ever-busy Beatty is oblivious to how much his lady friend is in love with him. She finally leaves in disgust--will Clyde come to his senses and get her? Second, Beatty has a rival who actually tries to get him killed in the ring. It looks like an accident and you wonder if Beatty will also come to his senses and realize the guy is trying to kill him.So is it worth seeing? Well, it's far from brilliantly produced and the acting isn't great. But, it does look better than the average jungle film of the era AND you get to see Beatty in action--making it worth seeing.By the way, near the beginning keep your eye out for a very young Mickey Rooney during his pre-fame days (he's with a dog) as well as Gabby Hayes as a passenger on the dirigible. You need to look closely for Hayes as he's NOT dressed like the 'ol West coot like he did in many B-westerns. Also, it is a bit distressing that a lion and tiger were allowed to fight. Instead of stopping it, they filmed it! And, it's pretty weird since this was supposed to be in the wild--and lions and tigers live on different continents.

wes-connors "Clyde Beatty portrays himself, an animal trainer and circus star in this action film. Beatty leads a search for his missing girlfriend and her father, who were on an expedition looking for a lost tropical island. Using a dirigible as his mode of transportation, Beatty and his band head off in search of the missing explorers, only to crash their airship on the same island their friends are located (on, presumably). Battling wild animals and a gang of greedy men searching for gold, Beatty and his party must rescue his girlfriend and father, all the while trying to escape their jungle island," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis.It's good to see young Mickey Rooney, from "The Big Cage" (1933), has a featured appearance, early during the running time. And, the film begins well, with Rooney helping Mr. Beatty fend off a lion attack staged by shifty Warner Richmond (as Sharkey). It gets tedious with Beatty romancing Cecilia Parker (later, she plays Rooney's "Andy Hardy" big sister), and repetitive with the animal antics. Still, "The Lost Jungle" isn't too bad for a "feature" versions of a "serial" film - most of the "serial-to-feature" re-productions are poorly edited, despite the seeming abundance of film footage available to tinker around with.**** The Lost Jungle (6/13/34) Armand Schaefer, David Howard ~ Clyde Beatty, Syd Saylor, Cecilia Parker, Mickey Rooney

John W Chance "The Lost Jungle" is one of those typical 'back-and-forth captured items type' serials-- the bad guys capture something (or someone); then the good guys steal it back; then the bad guys steal it back again, etc., etc. How many of these can you name? 'Holt of the Secret Service,' 'The New Adventures of Tarzan,' 'The Perils of Pauline,' 'SOS Coast Guard,' 'The Phantom Creeps,' 'The Return of Chandu,' and countless others as well as this one-- in this case, stealing the missing jewels.Then there are those serials where the heroes go back and forth to a place-- 'The Lost City,' 'The Phantom Empire,' and the Flash Gordon serials. Except for the Flash Gordon serials and anything with Bela Lugosi, these are all the kinds of serials you watch while you're doing something else. You don't miss much except who's got the 'whatzit' or who's in the 'wherezit' in each episode.What if you cut out most of this endless back-and-forth business and edited it into a tight feature? They did it with this one! Usually feature versions cut out so much the film jumps too fast, skips too much, is hard to follow or doesn't make sense. Here, with the constant back and forth stealing of the jewels (how many times? 3? 4? 5?) cut down to just one time, the whole film flows right along with good continuity.In fact, for the 69 minutes of the movie, most of it is the entire, long first chapter that includes Clyde Beatty in the ring working with the animals (and with Mickey Rooney as a small boy), flying across the ocean in the dirigible (hail to those dirigible serials!) and crashing on the 'mysterious' island. Then bang! zoom! the hidden jewels are stolen and recovered and it's happy ending time! Glorious thirties shots of wild circus animals, especially with Clyde himself. They could have kept more animal sequences in, but why quibble.NOTE: My copy was part of the 'SciFi Classics 50 Movie Pack.' Unless you've got a lot of things to do around the house and need something to watch while doing them, go for the feature version first.