Chang (film)

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Chang: A Drama of the Wilderness

Directed by	Merian C. Cooper Ernest B. Schoedsack
Produced by	Merian C. Cooper Ernest B. Schoedsack
Written by	Achmed Abdullah
Starring	Kru Chantui Nah
Cinematography	Ernest B. Schoedsack
Editing by	Louis R. Loeffler
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Running time	64 min.
IMDb profile

Chang: A Drama of the Wilderness (Famous Lasky Corp., 1927) is a documentary film about a poor farmer in Siam (Thailand) and his daily struggle for survival in the jungle. Its two directors, Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, collaborated again six years later to make the blockbuster film King Kong (1933).

In the directors' own words, Chang is a "melodrama with man, the jungle, and wild animals as its cast." Kru, the farmer depicted in the film, battles leopards, tigers, and even a herd of elephants, all of which pose a constant threat to his livelihood. As filmmakers, Cooper and Schoedsack attempted to capture real life with their cameras, though they often re-staged events that had not been captured adequately on film. The danger was real to all the people and animals involved. Tigers, leopards, and bears are slaughtered on camera, while the film's climax shows Kru's house being demolished by a stampeding elephant.

Chang was nominated for the Academy Award for Unique and Artistic Production at the first Academy Awards in 1929, the only year when that award was presented.