Chang: A Drama of the Wilderness (1927)

Thanks to those other reviewers for filling in the background to what is now an antique-- but no less fascinating-- oddity. The movie reflects a time period when enterprising (and intrepid) filmmakers like Cooper and Schoedsack were discovering the audience potential for semi-documentaries showing exotic peoples and locales. Here it's an adventure in northern Siam (Thailand). The rough storyline follows a Laotian family and villagers as they compete against a fierce jungle for livelihood. As expected, scenes are filled with wild beasts and clambering natives. Some scenes are obvious pandering —the gamboling monkey, the cute baby; others are pure spectacle—the rampaging elephant herd, the marauding big cats. Of course, much of the animal spectacle-- though not the killing-- is familiar in our age of 24-hour cable TV. Still, seeing how the natives cope under primitive conditions remains fascinating.A couple points, I think, are worth noting. Though the exact locale is not pin-pointed on a map, the location appears roughly within what has since become known notoriously as The Golden Triangle (northern convergence of Burma, Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam). Whatever its status in 1927, the Triangle has grown into one of the world's biggest sources of heroin-grade opium. I can't help wondering whether the advance of a money economy has since turned villagers like those of the movie into cash-crop farmers.Also, the movie's theme writes confidently of the jungle's permanent presence. Eighty years later with new waves of extractive technology, and I wonder if that permanence is as assured now as it was then. Looks to me like the rainforests are under industrial siege and may well be losing their presence in the face of human advancement. A rather ironical turn of events.Neither of these points is meant to detract from the overall excellence of the film. However, I don't think the movie should be viewed as a dead historical document. Instead, it can be used as an informative lens for looking at the age-old struggle between man and nature.

An impressive film in its day, Chang: A Drama of the Wilderness is about a young Siamese family trying to eke out an existence in the jungles of what is now known as Thailand. Life is a daily struggle for family as their daily needs for food and shelter are threatened, primarily by other predators. Leopards, tigers, snakes, and elephants present challenges that must be overcome. The film's highlights are the various means of ingenuity villagers employ to trap animals and the huge elephant stampede near the end of the film. The film was nominated for artistic quality of production, losing to Sunrise, in the only year the academy offered the award. The production team of Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, who later gave us the original King Kong, filmed the entire production themselves. One wonders why they only caught scenes with the animals in them and not other threatening aspects of nature like weather. Still, the cinematography is quite impressive with natural lighting only used. Some of the shots must have been dangerous to obtain as any viewer will see. The effect of the film is undoubtedly diminished for any viewer who grew up watching Wild Kingdom with Marlin Perkins or National Geographic specials in terms of the novelty of viewing wild animals in their natural habitat. **1/2 of 4 stars.

I actually had very low hopes for this movie when I picked it up--it looked like a dull silent documentary about a dull group of Siamese (Thai) villagers living in the jungle. I was either expecting a dull documentary or a fake film filled with White folks dressed like Asians and stock footage instead of real action. However, I was very pleasantly surprised when the film turned out not to exactly be a documentary but had a surprisingly interesting story behind it as well as excellent writing--making this a far from dull story indeed. In addition, the film was not filmed on some back lot or crammed full of stock images, but Paramount Studios went to a lot of trouble--going to Siam and using real Siamese (not conjoined) people. And, these Asians were NOT White people acting like dumb lackeys like Charlie Chan or those in THE GOOD EARTH but real people that you cared about. So, thanks to a good story, decent characters and action as well as a sensitive portrayal in the jungle, this is an excellent film and it occasionally had a nice sense of humor. It also helped that real elephants, tigers, leopards and other animals were used--not props or stuffed animals. However, of all the animal stars, I think I liked the gibbon best--you'd have to see it to understand what I mean.For 1927, this is truly an amazing and modern film, though modern sensitivities might be aroused. PETA members will no doubt cringe when much of the plot involves hunting and killing tigers and leopards and elephants! All these scenes are amazingly realistic and given that the villagers were being killed by these critters, I could certainly understand the film--but in the 21st century, some people are bound to be shocked with the savagery of the action.

Previously Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack made Grass, a very great silent documentary inspired by the success of Nanook of the North (which they hadn't even seen when they were flying off to the Middle East to film the long migration of a group of nomads). Grass was a real documentary, with little staging. Nanook, however, had a lot of staging, and has suffered a ton of criticism since its first release because of it. No matter how clearly Nanook is staged, Cooper's and Schoedsack's Chang is a hundred times more staged. I don't care. It's an amazing film. Call it a fictionalized documentary, or a fudged one. Whatever. Chang is an awesome movie. The story is gripping, the cinematography is great, and the filmmaking in general is wonderful. I'm sitting there wondering how the hell they got these shots of tigers and elephants and stuff. I'm thinking Carl Denham, the risk-taking filmmaker from their own later King Kong. This whole movie seems like a preparation for King Kong. A couple of the scenes are repeated there. This may be preparation, but it is as amazing in its own way. 10/10.