Nabonga (1944)

For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

Absolutely the worst movie.

Absolutely Brilliant!

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

As you can guess from the cover and title, Nabonga is about a man in a gorilla suit named "Samson." A plane crashes in the jungle with stolen jewels and securities. Doreen, a Shirley Temple clone, survives the crash and lives until adulthood becoming a gorilla whisperer. She has become a legend as "the white witch." Buster Crabbe, sometimes known a "Bwana" looks for the treasure as bad guys follow him.Doreen (Julie London) as an adult living in the jungle has smooth silky white skin without a scratch, like most real live Hollywood Jungle women. The film I watched was restored, at least the part filmed on a set. The stock footage, films from the jungles in Africa...and around the world, was edited into the film at random points. It wasn't restored that well.The film is camp nostalgia. The end included a plea to buy war bonds and stamps.

"Nabonga" marks the debut film of Julie London. It's also the first and only movie of Jackie Newfield, daughter of director Sam Newfield (and niece, of course, of Newfield's brother, Sigmund Neufeld).By the humble standards of the Neufeld Brothers, this entry is reasonably entertaining. The story is a familiar one (it was later re-used with great effect in "Mr Joseph Young of Africa"), but here it moves with sufficient pace and encompasses enough action to satisfy second-feature fans. True, Buster Crabbe breezes through his part with plenty of charm, but little conviction. As a good guy, his motives towards and treatment of the heroine often seem a little dubious, but such subtleties don't worry Buster at all. Julie London, however, makes quite an impression, while Ray "Crash" Corrigan has a grand time as the gorilla (though he is outclassed in the acting department by young Jackie Newfield). Fifi D'Orsay seems an unnecessary addition to the story, an opinion oddly shared by scriptwriter Myton who gives her little to do and then removes her from the plot with little ceremony. We would have liked to see more of Prince Modupe, however, whose dignified and knowledgeable native guide is far removed from the usual Hollywood stereotypes.Production values seem adequate enough for Poverty Row and are helped out enormously by Robert Cline's always attractively glossy and often noirishly lit photography.Available on DVD through Alpha. Quality rating: nine out of ten.

I was all ready to strap myself in for the ride, but you know what, once the story got going it didn't turn out to be too bad. It reminded me a little of 1949's "Mighty Joe Young" without the production values, and quite possibly a more notable cast.The story opens with the ill fated plane flight of a wanted embezzler who escapes the authorities with his ten year old daughter in tow. With a tropical storm raging, the plane goes down in an African jungle. Even though the pilot and his two passengers survive, embezzler Stockwell (Herbert Rawlinson) is taking no chances after his cash and jewels are noticed by the flier; and then there were two. Shortly after getting situated, young Doreen Stockwell goes on a jungle foray and discovers a wounded gorilla.It's left to the viewer's imagination to piece things together as the film fast forwards unannounced to a period some years later when Ray Gorman (Buster Crabbe) arrives, curious to discover the facts behind the legend of a 'great white witch'. His servant Tobo (Prince Modupe) lends testimony to the tale of a witch born of a big bird that fell from the sky. Gorman and Tobo go in search of the 'house with wings' and the missing treasure. Adding intrigue to the adventure is the presence of mercenary Carl Hurst (Barton MacLane), who sets out to follow Gorman and cash in on the treasure trove himself, along with an accomplice named Marie (Fifi D'Orsay).I got a kick out of the scene where Tobo saves Gorman by shooting a leopard about to attack; Gorman expresses his wonder at Tobo's ability to read the jungle. Tobo's response - "When you live in jungle all your life, you know these things". Yet in the very next scene, Tobo follows Gorman as both swim across a crocodile infested river! Actually, Tobo's character is handled in rather dignified fashion given the era, when blacks often were portrayed as foils or in subservient roles. Gorman in fact treated his guide with respect and was willing to trust his judgment, and their relationship pretty much got along as equals.The casting coup of the film definitely has to be that of Julie London as the adult white witch Doreen. It was London's first film role, and even though she doesn't sing, she really doesn't have to. It was almost comical to observe her repeated 'I really like you' conversations with Buster Crabbe's character, who managed to miss all the signals. In that regard, the intrepid explorer was a total klutz.I saw this movie under the title "Nabonga Gorilla", which is a bit curious since Doreen's playmate is called Samson, and the name only shows up in the credits with a different spelling - 'Nbongo'. There it states that the part of the gorilla was played by Nbongo, though film fans will easily recognize the name of Ray "Crash" Corrigan as the man in the monkey suit. In ape circles, Corrigan came to be known by many names, including Zamba, Konga, Bonga, and my personal favorite - White Pongo. I wonder if he got to keep the gorilla costume.

I watched the first 45 minutes of this movie and had to give up. It is dull! dull! dull! Even Buster Crabbe seemed to have been affected by the dullness. He seemed to be walking through his part. I gave the movie points for the shots of the real animals.