Perils of Nyoka

What a serial or film, however you see this film you will see why it was the movie that helped launch the interest in show business by Carol Burnett. Ms. Burnett claimed that after watching the heroine Nyoka Gordon in action that she wanted to be like her in the movies. What a plot and characters-there is Nyoka Gordon, a comely lass raised in the wilds of the studio backlot er I mean Northern Africa. Handsome Larry-our hero, a couple of professor types, a dumb sidekick named Red(played by Billy Benedict on vacation from the East Side Kids), a beautiful villainess named Vultura, her wicked hammy helper-Cassib(played by the guy who gave us Ming the Merciless of Flash Gordon serial fame), a dog named Fang, a goofy little monkey and one poorly designed Gorilla costumed person running around doing Vultura's dirty work. Oh, I almost forgot, it also has Republic perenial of serials Tristam Coffin as Tortellini-the Italian spy for Vultura. This film does not have any Tigermen in it, but it does have a wind tunnel! Tacky looking chariots! that idiotic gorilla guy, some great fist fights! and two beautiful babes in the title roles. After viewing it many times, if Vultura didn't hang with the ghastly looking gorilla-she is the hottest of the two ladies and a better actress. She sure hams it up, but Nyoka looks like she is sleep walking half the time. Watch it at least once, it is funnier if taken as a comedy. If you think of it as serious-you will find it dreadful.

I've had the pleasure of meeting both of these ladies at nostalgia film festivals. I was sitting with Kay Aldridge in the viewing room when they ran a chapter of Daredevils of the West in which she co-starred with Allan "Rocky" Lane. Kay gave out with a shriek at the appropriate time as her screen image was about to go over a cliff in a runaway wagon. Adrian told me the story of how Kay was tied up and hanging in mid-air during a scene from "Nyoka" They had her standing on a box for the close-up shot and then took the box away for the long shot. Kay looked up to the heavens and said "Oh Lord, send me a man right away." Of course it got a laugh from the crew. I don't know how old she was at the time of "Nyoka," but when she didn't report to work one day, director Bill Witney discovered that she had chicken pox.Kay had a rather sophisticated way of talking which may have detracted some from her athletic character role, but she did make three serials for Republic. She later married a millionaire and moved to Maine, but did make some festival appearances.

Typical Republic action serial. Stuntman Dave Sharpe is clearly visible in fight scenes involving Clayton Moore. There is a slight facial resemblance from a distance, but Sharpe was smaller in build than Moore. William Whitney, the director, was a master at staging fights, chases and "cliffhangers."

One of the better Republican serials . Unusual for placing a heroine as the central character with the hero as merely the sidekick; required to do little more than rescue her as she falls into another swamp or sandpit fort he hundredth time. Amusiing to see a dynamic athletic hero reduced to being wallpaper instead go the generic all conquering hero as usually written in every decade. Episodes contained big cat fights, including one to the death. Although the cast list doesn't credit the contribution of "satan" , Vultura's loyal gorilla with a horn sticking his Head. Like a primate unicorn.

Like other Republic serials it has become unfairly neglected since it contains some visionary script writing. This is Lara Croft with more style and written 50 years before the computer graphic had been thought of. Instead there is a live heroine out to find her father and translate a papyrus that she alone can read. Did Lara's creators check the copyright on this film had expired first?

Lorna Grey is the real star. Excudiong powerful allure combined with ruthless ambition to obtain the treasure, then kill everyone just for the fun of it. I

It has been suggested that a camel is a horse that was designed by a committee. I hasten to add that the only camels in this serial, supposedly set in Arabia, are in the same brief shot at the beginning of each serial episode. And as for Arabia, it looks suspiciously like the Iverson Ranch in California, shooting site of countless movie features and serials, so many that I have come to know those great boulders by name.

Add to this is William "Billy" Benedict, the nice, white-haired boy from the East Side Kids series; Clayton Moore, better known as the Lone Ranger; and the most dastardly villain of them all, Charles Middleton, best known for playing Ming the Merciless in three Flash Gordon serials, to say nothing of his many other nasty roles. And lest I forget, the absolute cheesiest man in a gorilla suit ever. EVER seen on film, plus a German shepherd that is actually smarter than most of the humans--and the shepherd is not a man in a dog suit. So--we have an Arabia without sand or camels, an ersatz ape, a dog, and a cast put together, one might think, by drawing straws from a list of those who were out of work. And we haven't even gotten to the plot, the acting, and the dialog.

Action consists of the usual haymaker fistfights without anyone so much as getting a fat lip, a bloody nose, a black eye, or a skinned knuckle. Even the two women get into some real donnybrooks. This might be said of all serials--except for the shapely legs as the two women rassle and pull hair. There are also lots of chases on foot and on horseback, among the boulders of the Iverson Ranch, through caves (where did that light come from?), etc. The stunt work is really find, especially for Nyoka herself. The dialog is pretty much recited right off the cue cards.

The plot is the usual serial silliness. A group of good guys, led by Nyoka compete with a group of bad guys, led by the beauteous Vultura, to find an ancient text that will revolutionize medicine, cure cancer, and make whoever locates it a great humanitarian or fabulously rich. Guess which group fits with these choices.

Did I like it? You betcha. It's just the thing to make one forget for a time one's otherwise drab and wretched life. I recommend it for that purpose.