In the 1932 classic "King Kong," the protagonist is a filmmaker who has made a living traveling to remote locations with exotic backgrounds to film wildlife adventures. Hence he journeys to Skull Island where he's heard a gigantic ape is living. The Kong backstory closely resembles the team made up Merian C. Cooper, who produced the original "Kong" 1932 movie, and his cameraman Ernest Schoedsack, when they received funding from Paramount Pictures to film their adventures in northern Thailand. Part-owner Jesse Lasky of Paramount was so impressed by the pair's previous effort where they followed a Persian tribe's migration, 1925's "Grass," he had his studio pay them by sponsoring the trip to this Asian country.
His instincts were spot on since the April 1927 release of "Chang: A Drama of the Wilderness" was received with great acclaim and rousing rounds of applause from packed theater audiences nationwide. The feature film was constructed as a documentary. If the viewer didn't know better, the two Americans capture the reality of a remote tribe living off the land in the jungles of Thailand as true-to-life.
But like most documentaries produced during the time, "Chang," which means 'Elephant" in Thai, was manipulated by the two filmmakers to fit their intended framework drawn up before they even arrived on the scene. The documentary's main character, Kru, was the guide for them and arranged for his family (besides a stand-in for his wife) and his friends to play the parts of members of a society that had long abandoned the practices displayed in the movie. Kru's background included not only being a guide, fisherman, hunter and trapper, but he was a practicing preacher as well as a carpenter.
Nonetheless, it was dangerous work for Cooper and Schoedsack to film the breathtaking wild animal footage. Cooper was at the ready with a gun when needed if the tigers, lions and elephants being photographed up close decided to lunge at the pair. Such a scenario played out on one occasion when a tiger approached uncomfortably too close to them. Another particularly dangerous set-up was when, using director John Ford's technique, Schoedsack dug a hole and positioned his camera to capture the rampaging elephants literally trampling over the planks lined above him. The weight of the heavy animals nearly broke the wood situated precariously just inches from his head.
The 18-month shoot was an ordeal for Cooper, who battled a case of malaria throughout the shoot. The production crew was forced to prepare for daily early morning filming since the animals were mostly active during the coolness of the day. They became lethargic in the afternoon and sought shelter as the Thai heat overtook the jungle. The humidity was so common that it wrecked havoc on the film stock and equipment, which had to be maintained on an hourly basis.
The manipulations of the producers are clearly shown in several sequences. The cross-cutting edits between man-hungry animals who corner the natives up a tree and the medium shots of the natives hanging waiting for relief shows the two scenes were clearly filmed separately. In the climatic sequence where a herd of elephants are stampeding and crushing the village's houses, the producers built miniature flimsy buildings and rounded a bunch of baby and juvenile elephants to make the model huts appear bigger than they really were. In another sequence, the crew tied up a baby elephant underneath a rickety tall hut and waited for the mother to come storming onto the scene. Sure enough, the irate adult elephant in a rage destroyed the building like it was balsa wood to free her baby.
"Chang" is still as thrilling of a movie to see today as it had been when it first premiered. Once the documentary was ready for release, Paramount wanted to use the reactions of animals caged in zoos looking at the projected film for publicity purposes. But studio executives were disappointed that so few zoos took up the offer. The recently established Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, holding its first Academy Awards in 1929, nominated "Chang" as one of three pictures for 'Unique and Artistic Productions.' The category was the only time the Academy listed it. But at the time it was considered as prestigious as its other category, 'Outstanding Picture.' In retrospect, "Chang" is the only documentary to ever have been nominated as a Best Picture.
His instincts were spot on since the April 1927 release of "Chang: A Drama of the Wilderness" was received with great acclaim and rousing rounds of applause from packed theater audiences nationwide. The feature film was constructed as a documentary. If the viewer didn't know better, the two Americans capture the reality of a remote tribe living off the land in the jungles of Thailand as true-to-life.
But like most documentaries produced during the time, "Chang," which means 'Elephant" in Thai, was manipulated by the two filmmakers to fit their intended framework drawn up before they even arrived on the scene. The documentary's main character, Kru, was the guide for them and arranged for his family (besides a stand-in for his wife) and his friends to play the parts of members of a society that had long abandoned the practices displayed in the movie. Kru's background included not only being a guide, fisherman, hunter and trapper, but he was a practicing preacher as well as a carpenter.
Nonetheless, it was dangerous work for Cooper and Schoedsack to film the breathtaking wild animal footage. Cooper was at the ready with a gun when needed if the tigers, lions and elephants being photographed up close decided to lunge at the pair. Such a scenario played out on one occasion when a tiger approached uncomfortably too close to them. Another particularly dangerous set-up was when, using director John Ford's technique, Schoedsack dug a hole and positioned his camera to capture the rampaging elephants literally trampling over the planks lined above him. The weight of the heavy animals nearly broke the wood situated precariously just inches from his head.
The 18-month shoot was an ordeal for Cooper, who battled a case of malaria throughout the shoot. The production crew was forced to prepare for daily early morning filming since the animals were mostly active during the coolness of the day. They became lethargic in the afternoon and sought shelter as the Thai heat overtook the jungle. The humidity was so common that it wrecked havoc on the film stock and equipment, which had to be maintained on an hourly basis.
The manipulations of the producers are clearly shown in several sequences. The cross-cutting edits between man-hungry animals who corner the natives up a tree and the medium shots of the natives hanging waiting for relief shows the two scenes were clearly filmed separately. In the climatic sequence where a herd of elephants are stampeding and crushing the village's houses, the producers built miniature flimsy buildings and rounded a bunch of baby and juvenile elephants to make the model huts appear bigger than they really were. In another sequence, the crew tied up a baby elephant underneath a rickety tall hut and waited for the mother to come storming onto the scene. Sure enough, the irate adult elephant in a rage destroyed the building like it was balsa wood to free her baby.
"Chang" is still as thrilling of a movie to see today as it had been when it first premiered. Once the documentary was ready for release, Paramount wanted to use the reactions of animals caged in zoos looking at the projected film for publicity purposes. But studio executives were disappointed that so few zoos took up the offer. The recently established Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, holding its first Academy Awards in 1929, nominated "Chang" as one of three pictures for 'Unique and Artistic Productions.' The category was the only time the Academy listed it. But at the time it was considered as prestigious as its other category, 'Outstanding Picture.' In retrospect, "Chang" is the only documentary to ever have been nominated as a Best Picture.