''Hell's Headquarters'' is a 1932 American

pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was an era in the Cinema of the United States, American film industry that occurred between the widespread adoption of sound in film in the late 1920s and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship gui ...

"jungle adventure" film directed by Andrew L. Stone and starring

Jack Mulhall John Joseph Francis Mulhall (October 7, 1887 – June 1, 1979) was an American film actor beginning in the silent film era who successfully transitioned to sound films, appearing in over 430 films in a career spanning 50 years. Early years Mu ...

, Barbara Weeks, and Frank Mayo. Set in contemporary Africa, it portrays the search by an American

big-game hunter Big-game hunting is the hunting of large game animals for trophies, taxidermy, meat, and commercially valuable animal by-products (such as horns, antlers, tusks, bones, fur, body fat, or special organs). The term is often associated with the ...

and others for a large and highly valuable

cache Cache, caching, or caché may refer to: Science and technology * Cache (computing), a technique used in computer storage for easier data access * Cache (biology) or hoarding, a food storing behavior of animals * Cache (archaeology), artifacts p ...

of elephant

ivory Ivory is a hard, white material from the tusks (traditionally from elephants) and Tooth, teeth of animals, that consists mainly of dentine, one of the physical structures of teeth and tusks. The chemical structure of the teeth and tusks of mamm ...

Plot

Big-game hunter Ross King receives news in the United States that his longtime hunting partner, Jim Jessup, died suddenly of jungle fever back in Africa, in the Congo. At the same time, Phil Talbot, another American living in the Congo, writes to longtime friends Diane Cameron and her father about a stash of ivory that he will share with them if they invest $10,000 in an expedition to retrieve it. Once in Africa, Diane and her father meet Ross on a boat traveling up the Congo River. Initially, she is disturbed by the experienced hunter's disparaging remarks about Talbot, but soon she discovers that Talbot has indeed become a bitter and hostile man. While Talbot prepares his expedition into the jungle, Ross and Kuba confer on a plan to follow him and prove that he actually murdered Jessup after making him reveal the location of his and Ross's stash of ivory. Before their departure, however, Talbot learns from a native that he is suspected of killing Jessup, so he tries unsuccessfully to kill Ross. Later on the trek through the jungle, Diane is attacked by a

leopard The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant cat species in the genus ''Panthera''. It has a pale yellowish to dark golden fur with dark spots grouped in rosettes. Its body is slender and muscular reaching a length of with a ...

but is rescued by Ross, who is nearby shadowing the expedition. Ross now reveals himself to a nervous Talbot, demanding that he be allowed to lead the search. When they all finally arrive at the appointed location, Ross confronts Talbot once again and this time beats him until he finally confesses to murdering Jessup. Talbot escapes into the surrounding jungle, although he is killed there by a lion while Ross shows Diane and her father his coveted treasure of ivory.

Cast

as Ross King * Barbara Weeks as Diane Cameron * Frank Mayo as Phil Talbot *

Phillips Smalley Wendell Phillips Smalley (August 7, 1865 – May 2, 1939) was an American silent film director and actor. Biography Born in Brooklyn, New York (state), New York, he was the grandson of Wendell Phillips; he was the son of George Washburn Smalle ...

as Mr. Cameron *Fred Parker as Dr. Smith * Everett Brown as Kuba

Production

On February 10, 1932, while filming a jungle scene on set, Barbara Weeks was seriously injured by a leopard. ''The Boston Globe'' reported the day after the incident that the "trained" animal attacked the actress and clawed her left leg "as she walked past a tent in which he leopardwas stationed.""LEOPARD ATTACKS BARBARA WEEKS: Former Melrose Girl Saved by Jack Mulhall", ''The Boston Globe'', February 11, 1932, p. 2. ProQuest Historical Newspapers. According to the newspaper, Weeks had been saved by Jack Mulhall and C. F. Broughton when they "seized the beast."The "C. F. Broughton" cited by ''The Boston Globe'' was actually Cliff P. Broughton, an independent producer in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, so the middle initial "F" given in the news item was either a misidentification at the time by the newspaper or was a simple typographical error. In its issue of February 12, the

trade paper A trade magazine, also called a trade journal or trade paper (colloquially or disparagingly a trade rag), is a magazine or newspaper whose target audience is people who work in a particular trade or industry. The collective term for this a ...

''The Film Daily'' also reports Weeks' injuries:

References

Bibliography

* Pitts, Michael R. ''Poverty Row Studios, 1929–1940: An Illustrated History of 55 Independent Film Companies, with a Filmography for Each''. McFarland & Company, 2005.

External links

Hell's Headquarters
at

IMDb IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...

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Hell's Headquarters
at Letterbox DVD {{Andrew L. Stone 1932 films 1932 adventure films American adventure films American drama films Films directed by Andrew L. Stone 1932 drama films Mayfair Pictures films Films set in Africa 1930s English-language films 1930s American films English-language adventure films