Eduard von Borsody started out as a cameraman and later became an editor at Ufa, learning his craft from Gustav Ucicky. He went on to work in a number of genres, seeking to emulate the commercial appeal of American thrillers and action films. Kautschuk reflects the influence of Trader Horn, blending studio footage and location shots, providing all of the obligatory scenes one might expect from a jungle film: a struggle with an anaconda and sundry fierce critters, bouts with tropical fever, encounters with hostile natives, river crossings over virtual mounds of crocodiles. Like Herzog's Fitzcarraldo, British protagonist Henry Wickham searches for rubber in the forests of Brazil, coming into conflict with locals and outside interests. His ultimate triumph is that of a successful colonizer and resourceful master of logistics. One contemporary suggested Borsody might have chosen a hero closer to home: "Doesn't German history's battle for raw materials and search for ersatz materials provide examples which might just as well warrant a film adaptation?"-E.R.