Verrat im Dschungel (1939)

Verrat im Dschungel: Directed by Henry Hathaway. With Gary Cooper, David Niven, Andrea Leeds, Reginald Owen. A small American contingent tries to train rural tribesmen to defend themselves against fanatical Muslim radicals in 1906 Philippines.

“This is a very enjoyable adventure that clearly influenced Raiders of the Lost Ark and the other Indiana Jones films. It is expertly directed by the unfairly forgotten Henry Hathaway and Gary Cooper is excellent in the lead role as a doctor assigned to help train Phillipine natives against the dangerous Moro tribesman who regularly invade their villages.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI must point out that another user comment, by one u0026quot;skt171,u0026quot; attempts to make an analogy between this film and our current situation in Iraq. The analogy is correct, but not in the way the poster intended. This film is now widely considered both u0026quot;historically and politically dubious,u0026quot; a fact pointed out by the well-respected Time Out Film Guide.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eFor this reason, it is hard for me to take the posteru0026#39;s assertions seriously, particularly when he tries to point out how our media would have u0026quot;ruinedu0026quot; our successful intervention in Phillipine affairs as it (presumably) is ruining our involvement in Iraq. Except for one problem…our involvement in the Philippines was neither as noble nor as successful as this film depicts.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eOne other interesting point: this film is being shown repeatedly on the Fox Movie Channel prior to an important election in which Iraq is perhaps the most pressing issue. In fact, they are u0026quot;celebratingu0026quot; the legacy of studio-system u0026quot;productu0026quot; (their term, not mine) Henry Hathaway all month. Hathaway, of course, made MANY pro-war films during his career…which basically consisted of him taking whatever job the studio gave him. I can just see the Fox executives thinking to themselves, u0026quot;if only movies were still like this…those Democrats wouldnu0026#39;t have a leg to stand on! Lets show nothing but Hathaway films until after the election.u0026quot; Im sure the reason for this is to prompt others to liken this inaccurate film to Iraq…it seems to have worked for skt171 (although he saw the film on VHS), thats for sure! Bottom line: enjoy this film as an adventure story. It works beautifully in this way. But look elsewhere for accurate history. And please, do not use this film as a basis for supporting our presence in Iraq, but rather as a blueprint for what a pro-Iraq War film would be like if we still lived in an era when movies were allowed to function as a propaganda arm of the US Governmentu0026#39;s military policy.”