Masters Of The Congo Jungle

Alpha Video's budget-priced DVD release of this documentary has been packaged to look like a "Mondo" title, bearing the slogan "Shocking! Primitive! Savage Life and Death!" However, nearly all the violence in the film is committed by animals against one another (and then rarely in an especially bloody fashion), and for a film made in 1959, this actually offers a dignified and respectful look at life among indigenous peoples in what was then called the Belgian Congo. This release of Masters of the Congo Jungle has been transferred to disc in pan-and-scan format at the full-screen aspect ratio of 1.33:1; the relatively low bit rate of the transfer results in some minor artifacting in spots, and the source materials are scratchy and a bit faded, with the blacks looking more like a muddy red throughout. The original mono soundtrack is mastered in Dolby Digital Mono, and appears to have been taken from the print's optical track, which sounds good but not exceptional. No bonus materials are included beyond trailers for other Alpha releases. Overall, this film deserves a better-quality DVD release than this, but the fact this disc can be easily obtained for less than six dollars goes a long way toward making up for its flaws.