Chang: A Drama of the Wilderness (1927)
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100% of critics liked it
(7 reviews) -
59% of users liked it
(563 ratings)
Like their previous docudrama Grass: A Nation's Battle for Life, Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack's Chang: A Drama of the Wilderness can be seen in retrospect as a dry run for the same production team's King Kong. With the actual Siamese jungle as their backdrop, Cooper and… More Like their previous docudrama Grass: A Nation's Battle for Life, Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack's Chang: A Drama of the Wilderness can be seen in retrospect as a dry run for the same production team's King Kong. With the actual Siamese jungle as their backdrop, Cooper and Schoedsack fashioned a narrative concerning a simple native family's struggle to survive in a daunting environment. The family's confrontations with rampaging animals very closely resemble the close calls endured by Fay Wray, Bruce Cabot and Robert Armstrong when meeting up with Kong and his prehistoric compadres. The film's climax is an elephant stampede which levels an entire village. Only the closest scrutiny reveals the artificial means by which the producers achieved this climax: they built a miniature village, then unleashed a herd of baby elephants! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Directed By
- Merian C. Cooper, Ernest B. Schoedsack
- Written By
- Achmed Abdullah
- Genres
- Documentary, Drama, Classics
Unrated,
- In Theaters
- Sep 3, 1927 Limited
- On DVD
- Nov 21, 2000
- Studio
- Paramount Pictures
Critic Reviews
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Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com
The directors, best known for the the seminal 1933 King Kong, received for their jungle docudrama an Oscar nomination for Unique and Artistic Picture.
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Nick Davis, Nick's Flick Picks
Beautiful and engaging, if factually dubious... Built, shot, and scripted to entertain literally anyone, from a 4-year-old to a nonagenarian member of its own original audience.
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John A. Nesbit, Old School Reviews
decidedly scripted for jungle adventure to set up conflicts with the local fauna
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Michael W. Phillips, Jr., Goatdog's Movies
It's of dubious ethnographical importance, but it is certainly entertaining.
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Ken Hanke, Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Superb quasi-documentary precursor to King Kong
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