Lionel Atwill steals the show as a zoologist with a big-ass chip on his shoulder and a murderous jealousy when it comes to his wife Evelyn. Sure, she’s not exactly faithful but her husband is a bit of a deviant and assuredly a dick and any man close to her is meeting a grisly end thanks to the fangs, claws and paws of Mr. Atwill’s specimens. Divorce seems like it would be easier but I guess I’m just a quitter and slightly less megalomaniacal. Anyways, it’s bad news for Evelyn’s new suitor Roger Hewitt. Employees of the zoo where the animals are kept begin to get suspicious and an alcoholic press agent named Peter Yates is hired on by the failing zoo to get themselves out of dire straits. Yates is our comic relief and he’s not terrible but I still wouldn’t miss him if he were cut entirely. He’s also responsible for pointing out the man in Evelyn’s room to her husband when he goes to meet the doctor at the port. This gets Hewitt murdered. Smooth move, Yates. A clever use of a green mamba head poisons the young man and when Evelyn comes across said head in her husband’s desk drawer (she’s suspicious but now she has proof), she heads out to the zoo to expose her hubby. He catches up with her and when he fails to talk her out of turning him in, she takes a quick trip into the gator pit. Atwill attempts to throw the blame at the zoo and their negligence but we all know he’s a piece of shit and the employees are suspecting the same. Things start spiraling out of control and the hastily covered tracks Atwill has left behind will ultimately lead to his undoing. Some shocking violence (nothing compared to today but I was not expecting to see a man’s lips sewn together in an early thirties flick), plenty of animal footage passing for action and a leading role for the under-appreciated Atwill make for one hell of a fun time. Kathleen Burke is easy on the eyes as the ill-fated Evelyn and the damn thing barely runs over an hour so if you get bored, that’s really on you. Do I wish the film was actually about Atwill somehow controlling an army of various mammals to wipe out anyone who wronged him? Yes, of course but it’s not and we just have to deal with that. You can watch Michael Gough kind of do that in Black Zoo.
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