White Pongo!

White Pongo came out in 1944, one year after Nabonga and features Ray Crash Corrigan once again as an ape, in fact he's likely two apes. The story is at once simple and complex -- a safari heads into the depths of the African jungles to find a lost scientist. It turns out the team is made up of all sorts of folks, some of them not so trustworthy. Our heroine is payed by Maris Wrixon and she's the obligatory love interest who will inevitably fall victim to the ape dubbed "Pongo".

But despite some pretty decent exteriors, some pretty tight casting, the script lets the movie down with exceedingly little novelty. It's pretty standard safari drama, with a romance breaking out between the "Lady" and a lowly guard. Her noble-born boyfriend objects and that creates moments of mild friction. Then there is a major turn of events and people turn out to be not who we thought, though casting made you suspect. All the time Pongo muddles around in the brush looking at once puzzled and inclined to do something. Eventually he does.

The movie ends with a big battle between Pongo and another gorilla and the ending might surprise you, that I will admit. The Pongo suit was used a couple of more times in movies which make this one look like Citizen Kane in terms of production value. The first one we look at tomorrow.

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Nabonga!

Nabonga is a pretty decent flick, for what it is -- a low-budget jungle adventure. The key is an above average cast led by the great Buster Crabbe. Barton MacLane is a delightful baddie and Julie London is a pretty damsel with Fifi Dorsay stealing a number of scenes. Also featured is Prince Modupe in a role as native assistant which rises above the usual racist limits put on parts like that.

But the main show is Nabonga, which according to the poster means gorilla. The gorilla in question this time is Ray Crash Corrigan, one of the great gorilla men in his suit which was larger and more dynamic than many which had come before. Corrigan's gorilla was a fantasy, a creature not real but terrifying and capable of emotions. It's an illusion in the same way King Kong is an illusion, not a real ape, but something only available on screen.

The story is simple -- a man steals money and flees with his daughter. But their plane crashes and only the girl survives ultimately -- growing to become a legendary "White Witch". She is sought by Buster Crabbe's character many years later, the son of the man who was blamed for the crime and who killed himself. With the help of Prince Modupo, he finds the plane and the Witch. MacLane and Dorsay are lurking about to steal the money but things go haywire when it's revealed that an enormous ape named 'Samson" protects the girl and the treasure.

It's a cheapo flick, but they do well with what they have and a little suspension of disbelief will carry you away. I reviewed this movie nearly a decade ago here at the Dojo and my opinion has changed -- I was very harsh to this low-budget effort.

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