By Fred Blosser
In
“Man-Eater of Kumaon,” a 1948 feature now available on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber
Studio Classics, Dr. John Collins (Wendell Corey) undertakes an ill-fated
big-game hunt in the distant land of the movie’s title—an actual region of
India in the Himalayan foothills, not a fantasy world orbiting somewhere
between planets Coruscant and Dune as the exotic name might suggest nowadays. Stalking a tiger in the underbrush, Collins
inflicts an agonizing but not fatal injury as his bullet severs one of the
tiger’s toes. His Indian guides warn
that the wounded tiger will begin attacking and killing humans, and they urge
him to finish what he started. But the
American doesn’t
feel particularly responsible for the villagers now at the mercy of the
carnivore. In his case, it’s less a
matter of Western chauvinism than a general lack of empathy for other people
whatever their ethnicity, a shortcoming that cost him his marriage back in the
States.
After
recovering from an onset of malaria, Collins plans to try his luck in Sumatra next. But the tiger has already begun its depredations, and on his way to
Delhi, the hunter encounters a little boy, Panwah, orphaned by the big
cat. Collins conveys the child to a
nearby village, where he is taken in by a young couple, Narain (Sabu) and Lali
(Joanne Page), whom the American befriends. In part, we infer, he becomes close to the loving couple because they
remind him of what he lost back home when his wife divorced him. Still, he resists the idea that, having
turned the tiger into a killer of humans, it’s up to him to restore peace and
security by finishing the job—until the attacks become personal when Lali is
badly mauled while saving Panwah.
“Man-Eater
of Kumaon” was loosely based on a best-selling memoir by big-game hunter Jim
Corbett, who in real life was neither an American nor a disenchanted
physician. This wasn’t the first or last
instance of filmmakers purchasing a popular book, keeping the title for name
recognition, and throwing out most everything else. Unlike many books and films that have
glorified big-game hunting as a macho rite of passage, the dilemma facing John
Collins is a crisis of conscience, not a challenge to his ability to secure a
trophy head. Still, animal-rights
advocates and conservationists are likely to be disturbed by scenes of the
hunter pointing his rifle at the tiger whatever the context. Now, laws would require that the cat be
tranquillised as the first resort and relocated to another habitat away from
humans, not killed. Aside from Sabu, all
the Indians in the story are portrayed by non-Indian actors, a practice that
wouldn’t begin to change for another ten years, when Kamala Devi and I.S Johar
appeared in prominent supporting roles in another movie about ferocious
felines, “Harry Black and the Tiger” (1958). Arguing that studios should have been more inclusive in the 1940s is a
little like contending that Ford’s Theatre should have had metal detectors in
1865. Nevertheless, it’s still a hurdle
for many viewers today, accustomed as we’ve become to the routine presence of
Indian and Indian-American actors in contemporary TV shows and movies, although
critically beloved classics like “Gunga Din” and “Black Narcissus” often seem
to get a pass in this regard.
Well
acted by the always dependable Wendell Corey and capably directed by Byron
Haskin (better known to Sci-Fi enthusiasts for 1953’s “The War of the Worlds”
and six episodes of “The Outer Limits” in 1963-64), “Man-Eater of Kumaon” shows
to good advantage in the new Blu-ray from Kino Lorber. The movie was filmed in black and white by
acclaimed cinematographer William C. Mellor, a choice that may have been
necessitated by the budgetary logistics of incorporating old B&W stock
footage into new shots of a tiger prowling through a backlot jungle set, but it
serves a dramatic purpose too. Mellor’s
glistening daytime shots and hi-def, misty nocturnal compositions underscore a
Film Noir quality in the plot, as fate manoeuvres John Collins into an
initially reluctant, then fiercely resigned showdown with the hostile force of
nature represented by the rogue tiger. Special features on the Blu-ray include several trailers for other
jungle movies and Wendell Corey pictures available from Kino Lorber, a
spirited audio commentary by David Del Valle and Dan Marino and reversible sleeve artwork.
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(Fred Blosser is the author of "Sons of Ringo: The Great Spaghetti Western Heroes". Click here to order from Amazon)