The Lion Man

The Lion Man is an amusing old attempt at swashbuckling adventure in the spirit of Tarzan. In fact, the writer, Edgar Rice Burroughs, is responsible for the more famous lord of the apes.

A British businessman travels to the Middle East on a prospecting venture with his young son in tow. His business contact there is a marauder who lures foreign people in to kill them. When he kills the businessman's crew only the young boy survives.

The orphan boy is raised by a spiritual hermit who lives in the desert and becomes a hero known as El Lion, protector of caravans passing through.

His father's killer is trying to force a local girl to marry him, but she will not be wed to such a man. The Lion Man may be her only hope. He's the kind of guy a princess could fall for. Love will not be easy for these two with evil men scheming to tear them apart before they even get hooked up good.

The whole idea of a lion man protector sounds like this is going to be a super hero kind of a movie. I guess this was before super heroes were really all that super. El Lion has quite the reputation, but he does little in the movie to be worthy of it. In fact, he falls prey to evil schemes so easily I wonder how he has survived for so long and why he is so feared.

Everyone in the movie seems to talk in King James language with “thees” and “thous.” It got on my nerves after a while especially since it doesn't fit the scenario. Besides that the rest of their dialect doesn't sound Old English, the pronouns seem to be enough for them to act like that's what they're speaking.

The A/V quality is so bad it's hard to see and hear the actors. Add to that their goofy pseudo-Old English dialect and it becomes difficult to get into any of the story. I can't even really comment fairly on how good the acting is because I couldn't see expressions or hear voices well enough due to the very low quality.

The action is hysterical. When people get shot they fall over in such an over the top way that it becomes comical. I found the Wagner soundtrack amusing, too. When you can't afford an original soundtrack use classical music!

MORALITY:

Typical of black and white movies there is no sex, nudity, or strong language in this. A lot of people get shot but it's bloodless and even a little goofy.

SPIRITUALITY:

There is something of a spiritual side to the hermit. It would be easy to see his connection with the animals as being something supernatural. El Lion acts heroically protecting even strangers from the dangers that took the life of his father.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

The Lion Man is amusing in a quaint sort of way. It reminds me of some of the old serials I've seen though without some of the more ridiculous sci-fi elements. I recommend it if you like those very early action films and can look past some unrealistic action sequences.

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