Jacare

1852. JACARE (1942-USA). With FRANK BUCK, JAMES M. DANNALDSON, MIGUEL ROJINSKY. Music composed and conducted by MIKLOS ROZSA. Frank “Bring ÔEm Back Alive” Buck, famed naturalist, explorer and captor of big game, appears in and narrates this always interesting jungle documentary, which advertises itself as “an authentic pictorial story of men against the Jungle…the first motion picture made in the great Brazilian jungle of the dark Amazon…. “It features the adventures and last-second escapes of a pair of men who trek deep into the mysterious, fierce, untamed and uncharted Amazon: James M. Dannaldson, Buck’s protŽgŽ, a zoologist with an “uncanny knack for handling wild animals”: and Miguel Rojinsky, highly regarded Brazilian naturalist, a man who’s “hard as nails” and” has a way with animals.” As the drama unfolds, they find themselves contending with the tangle of brush, trees and vines, as well as boa constrictors, eagles, alligators, water buffalo, ocelots, jaguars and a 28-foot-long anaconda (in one of the most exciting sequences). Ultimately, they come in contact with the deadly jacare, the “great killer,” a murderous reptile who inhabits the Amazon’s death-infested waters and becomes frenzied at the smell of human flesh. There also are less dangerous but no less exotic creatures, including herons, iguanas, M butterflies, screaming parrots and clowning monkeys. However, always remember that “you never can tell when death may leap from the underbrush, or drop from the trees.” 64 minutes. Jungle Adventure