The opening scene from "Murders in the Zoo" is quite extreme for 1933 audiences . I shalln't say what happens but you can't miss it!

Lionel Atwill steals the show once again as the sadistic, cunning and evil proprietor of various dangerous animals that he plans to sell to a zoo. Little does anyone realise that he shall use his animals for other means........

You only have to observe the expression of Lionel Atwill to know he is a somewhat dodgy customer.

This gem was unfairly ignored for years but is very good on its own merits.

A rather strange movie - because everyone plays it straight except Charlie Ruggles, who acts as if he is in a slapstick comedy! He plays a marketing man for a municipal zoo who is deathly afraid of animals, and he made me chuckle once or twice, but a little of him goes a long way. The film is thinly plotted, but it contains some fascinating animal footage, and Lionel Atwill is perversely pleasurable to watch as the villain; he is murderously mad with jealousy and desire for his unfaithful wife (Kathleen Burke). It's roles like this one that have made him one of the most important predecessors of horror icons such as Vincent Price. **1/2 out of 4.

Opening up in Africa with the murder of a zoologist's wife's lover, this frightening thriller doesn't use monsters, mad scientists or ancient mummy's to provide the chills, but nature itself. Lionel Atwill is his delightfully villianess self as the zoologist who uses the deadly green mamba, a giant anaconda like snake, to do his dirty work, and back in the states, as evidence begins to point to him, more bizarre murders occur. Charlie Ruggles brings the tone down from frights to laughs as a man whose skin crawls anytime he's around anything other than a human being. Even milk-craving baby bears and a friendly chimp have him on edge. There's some truly horrifying moments here, including one clever disposal of a body, and a finale that is up there with the final shot of "Freaks" in the art of the macabre. Kathleen Burke (as Atwill's wife), Randolph Scott and Gail Patrick offer fine support, but this is Atwill's film all the way.