Jungle Mystery is a 1932 American pre-CodeUniversal 12-chapter movie serial directed by Ray Taylor. The serial was based on a book called The Ivory Trail by Talbot Mundy.[2] A 1935 feature version was also released, edited down to 75 minutes.
Plot
Various expeditionary parties head to Zanzibar to search for a legendary cache of ivory and a missing explorer named Jack Morgan. Tom Tyler played the hero, Kirk Montgomery, and Cecilia Parker played the heroine, Barbara Morgan, who is searching for her missing brother Jack. Boris Shillov and his henchman Comrade Krotsky are also searching for the ivory. The "jungle mystery" pertains to a half-man, half-ape creature named Zungu.
Sam Baker as Zungu (the title character; half-man, half-ape)
Onslow Stevens as Jack Morgan (Barbara's missing brother; uncredited)
Ralph Morgan as Recap Narrator (voice; uncredited)
Production
The film is noteworthy for its extensive use of stock footage of various jungle animals, many of them repeated frequently throughout the serial. (There's even a shot of tigers, which are not native to Africa.) Apart from one sequence filmed in Bronson Canyon, it was shot entirely on the Universal backlot and soundstages.
Although it had been believed lost for many years, the original nitrate negative was in fact still in the Universal vaults. It was preserved in 2016 (along with the edited 1935 feature version which ran only 75 minutes) and officially re-premiered at the Cinecon Classic Film Festival in Hollywood, CA during the 2016 Labor Day weekend.
