showbizvet
Joined Sep 2006
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showbizvet's rating
I thought I'd take a moment and defend the movie, since the other comment was quite pointed. Of course everyone is entitled to their opinion, but since my parents are the ones who made the movie, thought I'd shed a bit of light.
While it's true the movie is not high budget, when it was made in the early 1950's, it was truly innovative and scored high grosses throughout the south, mainly in drive-in theaters.
My dad and mom made the film and yes, there was travelogue footage, but rather than look at that as a negative, here's how it happened. A deal had been struck with Howco (my dad was originally the "o" in Howco, that with his leaving, he would have rights to the the Sabu movie, "Law of the Jungle", but he could not use the actual screen image of Sabu. Thus they were left with footage without a star and a story line. Enter the creative minds of Ron and June Ormond who now owned footage, of which they must create a story around.
My dad had a doctor friend, Dr. Harris (don't know his first name) who was a bit of an adventurer and had recently traveled to Africa, where... yes... he did film some footage which was made available to the Ormonds.
So we had Sabu footage... travelogue footage... now they just needed a story. During those years a popular series was Tarzan, using that as a catalyst; they reversed the gender of the hero, named her Velda and proceeded to film the movie.
So what you see is indeed travelogue footage... footage shot at Iverson's ranch.. and a fake jungle from "Law Of The Jungle". They then took these ingredients and made a film (which created traffic jams) filled the drive-in theaters across the South. As an aside, we'd get to town early... ballyhoo down the streets in a convertible, babe, guy in a gorilla suit and a loud speaker proclaiming... "Who will be her mate, man of beast". The southern towns loved it. And as far as a worn out gorilla suit, that's not the case. The suit(s) was bought from Western Costumes, in excellent condition and later my dad lent it to Ed Wood for his film "White Gorilla" (not certain of the name). So... the film can be criticized, or remembered for the innovative VERY low budget film that set box office records for its time. As for me, my mom and dad were the greatest and I could not have asked for a better childhood or more treasured memories such as being around when this film was made.
While it's true the movie is not high budget, when it was made in the early 1950's, it was truly innovative and scored high grosses throughout the south, mainly in drive-in theaters.
My dad and mom made the film and yes, there was travelogue footage, but rather than look at that as a negative, here's how it happened. A deal had been struck with Howco (my dad was originally the "o" in Howco, that with his leaving, he would have rights to the the Sabu movie, "Law of the Jungle", but he could not use the actual screen image of Sabu. Thus they were left with footage without a star and a story line. Enter the creative minds of Ron and June Ormond who now owned footage, of which they must create a story around.
My dad had a doctor friend, Dr. Harris (don't know his first name) who was a bit of an adventurer and had recently traveled to Africa, where... yes... he did film some footage which was made available to the Ormonds.
So we had Sabu footage... travelogue footage... now they just needed a story. During those years a popular series was Tarzan, using that as a catalyst; they reversed the gender of the hero, named her Velda and proceeded to film the movie.
So what you see is indeed travelogue footage... footage shot at Iverson's ranch.. and a fake jungle from "Law Of The Jungle". They then took these ingredients and made a film (which created traffic jams) filled the drive-in theaters across the South. As an aside, we'd get to town early... ballyhoo down the streets in a convertible, babe, guy in a gorilla suit and a loud speaker proclaiming... "Who will be her mate, man of beast". The southern towns loved it. And as far as a worn out gorilla suit, that's not the case. The suit(s) was bought from Western Costumes, in excellent condition and later my dad lent it to Ed Wood for his film "White Gorilla" (not certain of the name). So... the film can be criticized, or remembered for the innovative VERY low budget film that set box office records for its time. As for me, my mom and dad were the greatest and I could not have asked for a better childhood or more treasured memories such as being around when this film was made.