Tiger Fangs (1943)

Easy to figure out, this jungle adventure is fun fluff with Mr. Bring Em' Back Alive himself, Frank Buck, preventing a nefarious villain from utilizing jungle cats to kill enemies of his unsurprising cause. Z grade fluff has plenty of great stock footage although I don't think that it would please animal rights activists. Yet, at under an hour, this poverty row bottom of the barrel double bill is perfect popcorn fare. Pretty June Duprez is an engaging heroine, especially when she is confronted by a snarling, drooling panther. A slew of chirping monkeys of all sorts will amuse the kiddies while a herd of elephants make a welcome late entry to help wrap up the plot.

Frank Buck was a man who created a persona of a big game hunter whose motto was "bring 'em back alive". In other words, instead of shooting the animals like most hunters, he specialized in bringing exotic Asian animals back for circuses and zoos. He was moderately successful in films by various small studios as well as with an animal act with Ringling Brothers.In this film, Frank goes to Southeast Asia to investigate the maulings of natives in the vicinity of the rubber plantations needed for the war effort. Eventually, Frank learns that evil Nazis are behind the maulings in hope to disrupt the Allies.Overall, the word that came to mind when I watched this film was 'cheap'! The budget by schlock studio PRC was obviously minuscule--as there were really very few actors in the film and a very large amount of stock footage was used. The problem was not just the overuse of the footage, but some animals were NOT Asian (such as Chimps) and some was obviously originally silent footage as it ran too fast when used with a sound film (because silent films ran between 16-22 frames per second whereas sound always runs at 24 frames per second). The overall effect is craptastic to say the least--especially combined with awkward acting and writing. The bottom line is that it's a rather dull film and hardly worth your time unless you really, really like bad films!

Jungle films sometimes incorporate some noirish sequences, but as they were generally made for the matinée trade, the most often used plot element was mystery. Admittedly, in some movies like "Tiger Fangs" (1943), the mystery element was easily penetrated by a seven-year-old, even though it seemed to puzzle slow-of-brain Frank Buck and company. Admittedly, a bit of well-staged action helped to distract from the plot's shortcomings. However, aside from its copious use of ancient stock shots, this movie's most notable contribution to an audience's entertainment was the engaging performance by Dan Seymour as an overweight, short-sighted villain. The rest of the players were a waste of time. It was particularly sad to see super-lovely June Duprez (star of Korda's luxurious "Thief of Bagdad") forced to stand around in the shade of such pushy "B" regulars as Duncan Renaldo and J. Farrell MacDonald

During World War II, "Bring 'em Back Alive" hunter Frank Buck (as Frank Buck) battles Nazi and Japanese warriors, in the jungles of Asia; he also encounters native superstition. Several of Mr. Buck's wild animal friends are on caged display. Some of the wild animals aren't so friendly - in fact, they're downright deadly! Tigers, mainly. Duncan Renaldo (as Pete Jeremy) helps Buck out, as the Allies' rubber trade supply is threatened. Pretty June Duprez (as Linda MacCardle) adds femininity to the cast; she knows how to scream, when threatened. Rotund villain Dan Seymour (as Henry Gratz) shoots an elephant in his suspenders.Ta-dumb...