HELL'S HEADQUARTERS (1932) Jack Mulhall, Barbara Weeks & Frank Mayo | Drama, Mystery, Romance | B&W

Hell's Headquarters is a 1932 American pre-Code "jungle adventure" film directed by Andrew L. Stone and starring Jack Mulhall, Barbara Weeks, and Frank Mayo. Set in contemporary Africa, it portrays the search by an American big-game hunter and others for a large and highly valuable cache of elephant ivory.

SYNOPSIS
Doctor Smith and his wife, Mary,depart a riverboat and are met by Phil Talbot. Phil informs Dr. Smith that Jessup, the only other white man in the village, has died while the doctor and his wife were off on a two-day holiday. Unknown to Smith, Jessup and his partner, Ross King, had a large cache of ivory tusks in the jungle, and he had told Phil about it. Meanwhile, Mary Smith has decided to steam-boat down the Congo River to Capetown for an extended holiday. Kuba, King's gun-bearer, asks Smith to write a letter to King, currently residing at a New York City Explorer's Club, and advise him that his partner has died. Talbot sends a letter to his stateside sweetheart, Diane Cameron, and her father, asking them to come to Africa and join him on an ivory-treasure expedition, and replenish their family-fortune lost in the recent stock-market crash. What Mr. Cameron and Diane don't know about Talbot is that his years in Africa have unhinged him. On the voyage over, Diane meets Ross,and they fall in love. The Camerons, King and Talbot start on a trek to find the ivory, but Talbot has his own agenda regarding the ivory.

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 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 & CREW
Jack Mulhall as Ross King
Barbara Weeks as Diane Cameron
Frank Mayo as Phil Talbot
Phillips Smalley as Mr. Cameron
Fred Parker as Dr. Smith
Everett Brown as Kuba

Directed by Andrew L. Stone
Written by Norton S. Parker
Produced by Armand Schaefer, George W. Weeks
Cinematography Jules Cronjager
Edited by Frank Atkinson
Music by Lee Zahler
Production company Action Pictures
Distributed by Mayfair Pictures
Release date May 15, 1932
Running time 63 minutes
Country United States
Language English

NOTES
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 [the leopard] was stationed." According to the newspaper, Weeks had been saved by Jack Mulhall and C. F. Broughton when they "seized the beast." In its issue of February 12, the trade paper The Film Daily also reports Weeks' injuries:
HOLLYWOOD—Barbara Weeks was badly clawed by a leopard at the Cliff Broughton studio while filming of a new picture was in progress. One of three leopards used in the scene became enraged and inflicted 13 deep wounds on Miss Week's leg before Jack Mulhall could beat it off with a cane.

#oldmovies #freemovies #drama #mystery #romance #classicfilms #freemoviesonline #blackandwhite #lostandfoundfilms