After his 1932 historic epic "The Sign of the Cross," Cecil B. DeMille reverted back to more contemporary, domestic films he was known to have directed during his silent movie days. The first, 1933's "This Day and Age," a coming-of-age film about high schoolers, was a disappointment with the public. He decided for his next motion picture to showcase an exotic backdrop, traveling to Hawaii to film January 1934 "Four Frightened People." The DeMille picture focused on four passengers who escape a diseased-ridden freighter to a nearby jungle terra firma on a lifeboat.
"Four Frightened People," based on a 1931 E. Arnot Robertson novel of the same name, is a "Heart of Darkness" kind of tale where the four are forced to travel on foot several days in the thick jungle in search of civilization. Librarian Judy Jones (Claudette Colbert) is a frail bookworm who is about to crack from under the stress of the wilds when a chimpanzee inadvertently turns her life around. In one of DeMille's more famous scenes, Judy takes a shower underneath a waterfall. The chimp stumbles upon her pile of clothes and takes them. The two men in the group searching for her, Arnold Ainger (Herbert Marshall) and Steward Corder (William Gargan), happen to see her, and they go ga-ga. Walking in her birthday suit, as reviewer Ace Black points out, the librarian is transformed "from docile and helpless to confident and alluring, allowing Judy the freedom to find the lioness within." The filming on the Big Island of Hawaii was a dicey affair, as all jungle film productions were back then. Claudette Colbert appendicitis flared up just before she left for the Pacific island and was hospitalized. The actress appears thinner than normal early in the film. Beside her sickness delaying the production, other factors caused DeMille fits, including a mechanical cobra breaking down, a noisy camera making it difficult for the audio technician, and actress Mary Boland, 41, playing the fourth member of the quartet as Mrs. Mardick, proved difficult to handle.
Paramount Pictures, as was becoming a custom in Hollywood before the premier of a movie, held an unannounced preview of "Four Frightened People" before an unsuspecting audience. Trouble was the spectators were waiting to see "Ace of Aces," and most of the viewers were kids. After receiving the audience's survey reactions, DeMille surprisingly agreed with the viewers, who said more was needed to be said about each of the four characters, and cut the movie by 17 minutes. The director then front-ended his movie by adding a biography of each of the four main characters and pared down the film's length.
Although "Four Frightened People" was hailed as a praiseworthy film by the critics, the public failed to line up at the theaters' box offices. DeMille realized then and there his forte was to direct large-scale spectaculars. This jungle movie was the last modest film the director was involved in for the remainder of his Hollywood career.
"Four Frightened People," based on a 1931 E. Arnot Robertson novel of the same name, is a "Heart of Darkness" kind of tale where the four are forced to travel on foot several days in the thick jungle in search of civilization. Librarian Judy Jones (Claudette Colbert) is a frail bookworm who is about to crack from under the stress of the wilds when a chimpanzee inadvertently turns her life around. In one of DeMille's more famous scenes, Judy takes a shower underneath a waterfall. The chimp stumbles upon her pile of clothes and takes them. The two men in the group searching for her, Arnold Ainger (Herbert Marshall) and Steward Corder (William Gargan), happen to see her, and they go ga-ga. Walking in her birthday suit, as reviewer Ace Black points out, the librarian is transformed "from docile and helpless to confident and alluring, allowing Judy the freedom to find the lioness within." The filming on the Big Island of Hawaii was a dicey affair, as all jungle film productions were back then. Claudette Colbert appendicitis flared up just before she left for the Pacific island and was hospitalized. The actress appears thinner than normal early in the film. Beside her sickness delaying the production, other factors caused DeMille fits, including a mechanical cobra breaking down, a noisy camera making it difficult for the audio technician, and actress Mary Boland, 41, playing the fourth member of the quartet as Mrs. Mardick, proved difficult to handle.
Paramount Pictures, as was becoming a custom in Hollywood before the premier of a movie, held an unannounced preview of "Four Frightened People" before an unsuspecting audience. Trouble was the spectators were waiting to see "Ace of Aces," and most of the viewers were kids. After receiving the audience's survey reactions, DeMille surprisingly agreed with the viewers, who said more was needed to be said about each of the four characters, and cut the movie by 17 minutes. The director then front-ended his movie by adding a biography of each of the four main characters and pared down the film's length.
Although "Four Frightened People" was hailed as a praiseworthy film by the critics, the public failed to line up at the theaters' box offices. DeMille realized then and there his forte was to direct large-scale spectaculars. This jungle movie was the last modest film the director was involved in for the remainder of his Hollywood career.