The Beast Of Borneo (1934)

Starring Mae Stuart, John Preston, Eugene Sigaloff, Alexander Schoenberg, Doris Brook
Directed by Harry Garson
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

A scientist experimenting on primates' brains travels to Borneo to capture a orangutan, but picks fights with his jungle guide, jealous of the attention the man pays to his lovely assistant.

Pretty much delineated along the same lines as most jungle adventures of the period, the picture uses the customary stock footage of jungle natives cut into scenes with the actors, and some distasteful sequences where a young orangutan is pushed around and tied up.  What I found most interesting about it was the footage of the large orangutans, powerful beasts not really showcased in films of this type before or after.  A struggle to capture the beast where one of the native actors has his back broken is very convincing, and one hopes it was done without harm to the actor or the ape.  Sigaloff plays the scientist, Dr. Boris Borodoff, and has some cruel and mad tendencies which would have probably played better in a horror film.