Chang: A Drama of the Wilderness

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Adolf Zukor & Jesse L. Lasky
         present
          CHANG
 A Drama of the Wilderness

   A COOPER-SCHOEDSACK
       PRODUCTION

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Produced in the Jungles
   of Northern Siam
         by
ERNEST B. SCHOEDSACK
         and
  MERIAN C. COOPER

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      Titles by 
   Achmed Abdullah


     Passed by the
National Board of Review

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              THE CAST:
                ____

         Natives of the Wild:
who have never seen a motion picture.

             Wild Beasts:
who have never had to fear a modern rifle.

             The Jungle

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Before the most ancient
 civilization arose, before 
the first city in the world 
was built, before man trod 
the earth - than, as now,
there stretched across vast
spaces of farther Asia a
great green threatening mass
of vegetation...the Jungle...

6
Man, the intruder, came
 into the Jungle ... He
fought it .... He never
vanquished it...For strong
    is the Jungle.

[dissolves to:]

7
Time and again fields,
 towns, great Empires
were hacked out of the 
Jungle .... They are
forgotten .... Always the
Jungle rose in its wrath
  and swallowed them.

[dissolves to:]

8
But Man must live ....
  So Man fights on.

[dissolves to:]

9
Still today in the Jungle
  his crude axe sounds
    in the clearing.

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Such a man is Kru, the
  Lao tribesman --

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Bolder than the rest of
 his tribe, a Pioneer
without Covered Wagon,
he has ventured deeper 
into the Jungle to make 
       his home.

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Chantui, Kru's wife.

13
"The last grain of rice
 is husked, O very small
       daughter!"

14
Nah, son and heir of the 
     House of Kru.

15
"Give Bimbo a bite, 
     big boy!"

16
The family's wealth is a
 few domestic animals,
which must be protected
from the Jungle's stealthy,
 ferocious wild beasts.

17
Even human beings are
not safe from the Jungle
prowlers .... So the Kru
family mansion is built on 
        stilts.

18
"The world's all upside
          down!"

19
Cocoanut milk grows its 
      own bottles.

20
"Chantui! .... Today, in
 the clearing, I saw 
   leopard tracks!"

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"A leopard! .... I must
   put the calf away."

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[animated title; text 
appears at various angles]

"WOOF! WOOF!!" 
"BAA-AA-AA!" "BAA-AA-AA!!"

"WOOF! WOOF!" "WOOF! WOOF!" 
"BAA-AA-AA!"

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[animated title; text 
appears at various angles]

"WOOF! WOOF!" "WOOF! WOOF!!" 
"BAA-AA-AA!!" "BA-AA-A!" "BAA-AA-AA!"
"WOOF! WOOF!" 

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To catch the murderer,
  Kru builds up the
goatpen wall higher than 
a leopard can jump, and -

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-- turns the pen into a 
trap and gambles his 
 last goat for bait.

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If the leopard steps on
this treadle, the door
      will fall.

27
One little tillable patch,
 hacked from the living
       Jungle --

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-- with the help of his 
 patient water buffalo.

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"That's what I call
      service!"

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Rice is the only crop.
 Should it fail, the
little family faces hunger.
... "O Buddha, protect
      our crop!"

31
Evening ....

32
Last chores of the day.
Everything is made snug
and safe against the 
 dangers of the night.

33
Tigers like dog-meat,
and like it young and
       tender.

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Here's one mouthful the 
   tigers won't get.

35
While Man sleeps, the 
    Jungle wakes.

36
"Mama dear - please -
 tell me a bear story!"

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She rolls her own.

38
"You're the roughest 
 mama I've ever had!"

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Tiger--the bully of the
Jungle .... cruel ....
   bloodthirsty ....

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For such is the Law of
the Jungle:-- death to 
the weaker, food to the 
      stronger.

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"Ouch!"

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The murdering leopard 
returns to the scene of 
      his crime.

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The old homestead:--
Kru's former village.

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"Last night the tiger took my
 buffalo .... Many leopards
 prey upon my stock. One
 leopard I slew. But there
 are tracks of more .... Give
 me many men, O Chief, to
         help me!"

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"Tomorrow, O Kru,
 thirty brave men
    shall go."

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Next day, the men match
 their cunning against 
that of the Jungle beasts. 
Wherever they find an
animal trail they make --

47
-- pitfalls --

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-- snares --

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-- nets --

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-- deadfalls --

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One touch on the trip-
rope .... and the sharp
bamboo blades crash 
       down.

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Other strange devices --

53
When all had been made 
       ready --

54
"Drive them out, brothers!
 Drive them, O brave men,
     O strong men!"

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A snare.

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Caught!!

57
Can he bite through the
         rope?

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TIGER!

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"That was my last bullet, 
 O Tahn .... Let's us go 
          home."

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"We be mighty hunters, 
         Kru!"

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"Even so, Tahn. Every
 tiger in the Jungle
 will tremble at our
       names!"

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"HELP! HELP!"

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"SHOOT! SHOOT!"

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"See what I missed!"

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"Aye -- and what 
   missed me!

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In the drive, they spared 
  the baby animals ....

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Mongoose -- the snake
       killer.

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Scaly Anteater.

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Baby Leopard.

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Baby Anteater.

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Months of blazing golden-
  red, tropical sun ....
Months of warm rain ....
Months of Man's back-
breaking toil....Now Kru's 
rice is almost ready to 
       harvest.

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To protect his rice against
 the evil spirits of the 
Jungle - a mantra, a secret,
   strange witch charm.

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The mantra was powerless!
 The day before the
harvest - disaster! Kru's
little crop is destroyed!

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Trampled! .... Trampled! ....
A Chang! .... A giant Chang!

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To catch the vandal
 raiders of the night
who have robbed his
family of their chief food.

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A pitfall deep enough 
to catch the largest
Chang in all the Jungle.

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Over-night .... trapper's
         luck.

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Hunters from the village
pursue an agile breakfast.

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A barbed-tailed monitor
        lizard.

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"Come quick! A Chang!"

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"Heave away, boys!"

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"Give him hell, boys!"

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"Take him away ....
 I don't like his nose!"

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"You just wait 'til mother
   hears about this!"

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Now peace and happiness
 and contentment come 
to the little Jungle home.

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"Our troubles are over, 
 Chantui. We've killed
    the tigers ...."

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".... and the leopards ...."

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".... and when the little
 Chang grows up, we'll
 make him work for us
.... yes -- all is well
 now -- praised be the
     Lord Buddha!"

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 "Out! Out! Quick!
THE MOTHER CHANG!"

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"Don't leave your little
         Bimbo!"

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"Help! Help little Bimbo!"

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"Won't somebody help
   little Bimbo?"

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"Can't somebody stop
   that leopard?"

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The wrong trail!

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"Hi! Wait for Bimbo!"

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Pitfall!

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"Rung hao!! There's its
        mate!!"

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Morning in the village.

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Finders keepers.

100
"Now show me what
 monkeys are good for
 -- besides fleas!"

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At last the little family
reaches the village --
 the haven of safety.

102
At the house of the Chief
 the elders listen to Kru's
          story.

103
"And coming through the
 Jungle, O wise men,
 everywhere I saw tracks of 
 Chang .... It must be that
 the Great Herd has 
 returned - that the dread
 destroyers are once more
    on the war path!"

104
"We dare not return to
 the Jungle! .... The
 Great Herd would
   crush us all!"

105
"The Great Herd near
 here? What foolish
 words be these, O
 grandson of a monkey?"

106
"Lies!....A tale with which
 to frighten women and
 little children! .... All the
 world knows that the Great
 Herd has not been seen
 since our grandfathers' day!"

107
"O Very Foolish! ... Great
 Herd? .... A silly tale! ...
 Only in your imagining
 is there this Great --"

108
In answer to the Jungle's
      challenge --

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-- they build a huge
elephant trap or krall.

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Walls made of wood. Jungle
wood. Wood as heavy as
iron, as strong as steel, as
tough as copper. Wood
powerful enough to resist
the Changs' massed charge.

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Buttressed with sturdy
       logs --

112
Through a day and a
night, and again a day
and a night, they toil
desperately, until they
fashion a huge funnel.

113
A high gate is left open.

114
The trap itself.

115
While the krall is being
 built, Kru and the
Jungle trackers have
followed the trail of the
 Great Herd until --

116
"Men or beasts we elephants
 do not fear, but what are
 these strange trees that
          walk?"

117
Fire. The friend of man.
The dreaded enemy of 
every Jungle beast ... Night
after night the great bonfires
blaze up with scarlet tongues,
stretching an ever-tightening
wall of flame around the
       Great Herd.

118
Thus, for days, they drive
  the Great Herd, never
daring to relax their caution
  for a single moment.

119
Beaters behind them.
Beaters on either side.
Only one way to go; -
across the lake...toward
     the krall.

120
The Chosen Twenty --
 the Bravest of the
Brave -- the guardians
   of the krall.

121 [each line of text 
     revealed consecutively]

 "THEY COME!
   QUICK!
TO THE KRALL!"

122 [third sentence revealed 
     consecutively]

"OUT, SWORDS! OUT, SPEARS!
    OUT, O BRAVE MEN!
        HELP US,
     O LORD BUDDHA!"

123
With spears the Chosen
Twenty fight the mad-
dened elephants back
   from the walls.

124
"BLOCK THAT GATE!"

125
So part of the Great
 Herd was captured;
-- the rest dispersed....
leaderless....no longer a
      danger ....

[dissolves to:]

126
Strong is the elephant;
 stronger is Man's mind.
Here, as everywhere,
brawn surrenders to brain.

127
Says G. P. Sanderson, great
 English authority on ele-
phants; "Nor are there any
elephants who cannot be
subjugated whatever their size
or age. The largest elephants
are frequently the most easily
tamed as they are less appre-
hensive than the young ones."

128
Two months in the stocks
breaks the elephants'
spirits .... Then kindness
wins their affection and
        loyalty.

129
Never completely victorious.
 ... Never completely de-
feated....Such is Man's fate
in the Jungle....So he fights
          on....

[dissolves to:]

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And so Kru, the Pioneer,
 goes back again to the
Jungle... to hack out a
new home for his family.

131
Kru's new slave -- his
share of the great drive.
It is thus that man turns
the Jungle's own against
   the Jungle itself.

132
"Bring me a length of
 sugar-cane, O very
  small daughter!"

133
Bimbo's share of the drive
-- a new, big butter-and-
egg monkey from the 
 middle wilderness --

134
"Mama! Mama!"

135
Peace, then! .... For a day
 .... Perhaps for a month
....Perhaps for a year? But
     not for long....

[dissolves to:]

136
For first was the Jungle.
 Always will be the Jungle.
From the beginning until the
end of Time it stretches ....
the Unconquered .... the
     Unconquerable!

THE END