Runtime: 62 minutes
Directed by: A. Edward Sutherland
Starring: Charles Ruggles playing an irritating role, Lionel Atwill, Gail Patrick, Randolph Scott, Kathleen Burke
From: Paramount
Part of a collection seemingly curated just for me. Specifically, this month on the Criterion Channel they added a 20 movie collection known as Pre-Code Paramount, a title that is self-explanatory. As I had actually already seen two of the films in the past, this is something I'll explore as long as it's available. Murders in the Zoo is something I've known of for years; after all, who can forget hearing that there's a Pre-Code picture which opens w/ a man getting his mouth sewn shut?
Lionel Atwill plays a zoologist who is insanely jealous of the attention that his pretty wife Evelyn (Gail Patrick, who by appearance was the Marion Cotillard of the 1930's) receives from men, whether his suspicions are correct or not. He is happy to kill those suspected suitors in grisly fashion that happens to involve zoo animals. Much to the movie's detriment was Charles Ruggles in his role as Peter Yates... no, not the famed director but rather an alcoholic man who was hired as the publicity director for the local municipal zoo. It was more the character's fault than the actor's that Yates was an irritating buffoon. I wouldn't have minded more of Randolph Scott and Gail Patrick as the zoo's laboratory doctor and his assistant who are also a married couple to be.
Thankfully there's only a few scenes of that doofus character so that does not completely tank the picture. The nasty moments involving snakes and alligators are still present and are pretty potent even before the Hays Code became a thing. What a real SOB Atwill played, which added to the macabre fun of this. Even with its flaws this was an unforgettable experience and not a film I am disappointed w/ after finally getting to check it out. After all, I received the surprise that during this time, you could imply that you soiled your pants! In the final act, Yates is almost bit by a mamba; after that experience, he asked Patrick's character if she knew a good laundry service in town. Admittedly, if I suddenly discovered there was a poisonous snake only a foot away from me, my pants would be soiled also.
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