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6.5/10
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A monomaniacal zoologist is pathologically jealous of his beautiful but unfaithful wife Evelyn and will not stop short of murder to keep her.A monomaniacal zoologist is pathologically jealous of his beautiful but unfaithful wife Evelyn and will not stop short of murder to keep her.A monomaniacal zoologist is pathologically jealous of his beautiful but unfaithful wife Evelyn and will not stop short of murder to keep her.
Charles Ruggles
- Peter Yates
- (as Charlie Ruggles)
Nancy Crowley
- Little Girl at the Zoo
- (uncredited)
Jane Darwell
- Banquet Guest
- (uncredited)
Samuel S. Hinds
- Banquet Guest
- (uncredited)
Carmencita Johnson
- Little Girl at the Zoo
- (uncredited)
Cullen Johnson
- Little Boy at the Zoo
- (uncredited)
Ethan Laidlaw
- Policeman Reardon
- (uncredited)
Howard Leeds
- Telegraph Messenger
- (uncredited)
Edward McWade
- Dan Baker - Zoo Guard
- (uncredited)
Bert Moorhouse
- Apartment Desk Clerk
- (uncredited)
Edward Pawley
- Bob Taylor
- (uncredited)
Lee Phelps
- Banquet Photographer
- (uncredited)
- …
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaOne of over 700 Paramount productions, filmed between 1929 and 1949, which were sold to MCA/Universal in 1958 for television distribution, and have been owned and controlled by Universal ever since.
- GoofsGorman invites Hewitt to the benefit dinner, which he says will be on Thursday. Moments later, we see a printed invitation, which says "Wednesday".
- Quotes
Eric Gorman: Mr. Gates, never be afraid of a wild animal. Let it alone, and it'll leave you alone. That's more than we can say of most humans.
Peter Yates: You mean that you really like these, eh?
Eric Gorman: Beasts? I love them. They're honest in their simplicity, their primative emotions... They love, they hate, they kill.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Svengoolie: Murders in the Zoo (2016)
Featured review
Classic casting blunder
There's a famous gag that a camel is a horse that was designed by a committee. Murders in the Zoo is a good, creepy early '30s thriller with one design flaw so wrong as to sink the whole thing. Every thriller has a little comic relief character. In this one it's the zoo's publicist who is afraid of animals. But somebody came up with the bright idea of casting Charlie Ruggles in this role. Now Ruggles is basically a one-note comic actor who inexplicably attained name-above-the-title stardom. And with his name in the cast, suddenly this supporting role became the starring role. You can see all the places where scenes were added or expanded to give the character more screen time. But he is still just the comic relief--he is not involved in any way with any major development in the storyline. He could be excised completely and never be missed. Randolph Scott is the hero and Lionel Atwill the villain, and both acquit themselves admirably. But every few minutes the forward movement of the story comes to a screeching halt while we are treated to the antics of the "star", and so the poor camel never quite gets his gait. The film has some genuinely classic "horror movie" moments, but it would be so very much better with a reliable character man providing the "comic relief" instead of making this relatively insignificant role into a star turn (for ANY star).
helpful•2414
- campfire
- Jun 5, 2002
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Murder at the Zoo
- Filming locations
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 2 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Mono(Western Electric Noiseless Recording, original)
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