Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack’s Oscar-nominated “Chang: A Drama of the Wilderness” is a follow-up to their docudrama, “Grass: A Nation’s Battle for Life.”
Using the actual Siamese jungle as their backdrop, Cooper and Schoedsack fashioned a narrative concerning a simple native family’s struggle to survive in a daunting environment.
The family’s confrontations with rampaging animals resemble the those faced by Fay Wray, Bruce Cabot and Robert Armstrong when meeting up with Kong in the directors’ later and best-known film, “King Kong.”
The climax is an elephant stampede which levels an entire village, for which the filmmakers built a miniature village, then unleashed a herd of elephants.
Oscar Nominations: 1
Unique Artistic Picture
Oscar Context:
The winner was Murnau’s “Sunrise.”
Running time: 70 Minutes
Directed by Merian C. Cooper, Ernest B. Schoedsack.
Achmed Abdullah.
DVD:
November 21, 2000
Paramount