Darkest Africa
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| Darkest Africa | |
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| Directed by | B. Reeves Eason Joseph Kane |
| Produced by | Nat Levine Barney A. Sarecky |
| Written by | Ted Parsons John Rathmell Barney A. Sarecky |
| Starring | Clyde Beatty Manuel King Elaine Shepard Lucien Prival Ray "Crash" Corrigan Wheeler Oakman |
| Music by | Arthur Kay |
| Cinematography | Edgar Lyons William Nobles |
| Editing by | Dick Fantl |
| Distributed by | Republic Pictures |
| Release date(s) | 15 February 1936 (serial) 21 May 1936 (film) 10 November 1948 (re-release) 1966 (2nd film) |
| Running time | 15 chapters (269 min) |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $107,281 (negative cost: $119,343)[1] |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Darkest Africa (1936) is a Republic movie serial. This was the first serial produced by Republic Pictures and was a loose sequel to a Mascot Pictures serial called The Lost Jungle, also starring Clyde Beatty. Mascot, and other companies, had been taken over in 1935 by Consolidated Film Laboratories and merged to become Republic. Producer Nat Levine was formerly the owner of Mascot Pictures.
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[edit] Plot
While on Safari in East Africa, Clyde Beatty runs into a loincloth wearing boy, Baru, and his pet ape Bonga. Baru reveals that he has escaped from the lost city of Joba, King Solomon's sacred city of the Golden Bat, but that his sister, Valerie, remains there. She was found by High Priest Dagna as a child and declared to be Joba's goddess as part of his quest for power. Her escape could cause a revolt among the city's citizens. Clyde agrees to help Baru rescue Valerie and they set out to Joba, through the Valley of Lost Souls.
Meanwhile, the unscrupulous Durkin and Craddock notice the green diamond Baru is wearing and follow them to plunder the city for similar jewels. Dagna receives word of the heroes approach from his Bat-men and makes plans to stop them.
[edit] Cast
[edit] Main Cast
- Clyde Beatty as Himself, world famous Big game hunter and Lion tamer
- Manuel King as Baru Tremaine, escapee from the Lost City of Joba
- Elaine Shepard as Valerie Tremaine, Baru's sister and captive "goddess" of the Lost City of Joba
- Lucien Prival as Dagna, High priest and ruler of the Lost City of Joba
- Ray "Crash" Corrigan (in ape suit) as Bonga, Baru's pet ape
- Wheeler Oakman as Durkin, "Shady trading-post entrepreneur"
[edit] Supporting Cast
- Edward McWade as Gorn, keeper of the Books of Law in the Lost City of Joba
- Edmund Cobb as Craddock, "Shady trading-post entrepreneur"
- Ray Turner as Hambone, Clyde's assistant
- Donald Reed as Negus, a slave in the Lost City of Joba
[edit] Chapter titles
- BARU - Son of the Jungle (29 min 37s)
- The Tiger-Men's God (18 min 13s)
- Bat-Men of Joba (17 min 59s)
- The Hunter Lions of Joba (17 min 27s)
- Bonga's Courage (16 min 33s)
- Prisoners of the High Priest (18 min 34s)
- Swing for Life (17 min 47s)
- Fang and Claw (17 min 9s)
- When Birdmen Strike (16 min 49s)
- Trial by Thunder-Rods (16 min 42s)
- Jars of Death (16 min 35s)
- Revolt of the Slaves (16 min 18s)
- Gauntlet of Destruction (16 min 48s)
- The Divine Sacrifice (15 min 48s)
- The Prophecy of Gorn (17min 3s)
This was the only 15-chapter serial produced by Republic in 1936 (the others were two 12-chapter serials and one 14-chapter serial). The next 15-chapter serial was Dick Tracy in 1937, itself the only 15-chapter serial of its year.
[edit] Production
Filming was made between 29 November and 28 December 1935 under the working title of Dark Continent, before being released as Darkest Africa on 15 February 1936. Later, it was re-released on 10 November 1948 as King of Jungleland to make up for a lack of original material in theatres that year. The chapters were edited together for a 73-minute feature version, which was released on 21 May 1936, and then again in 1966 for a 100-minute Century 66 version, called Bat Men of Africa.[1]
The serial's production was budgetted at $107,281 but the final negative cost was $119,343 - an overspend of $12,062 (or 11.2%). This made it the most expensive Republic serial of 1936, although it was beaten by the first serial of 1937, Dick Tracy at $127,640. Over all sixty-six Republic serials, however, this was the third cheapest per chapter (it cost $7,956.20 on average to produce each of the 15 chapters in the serial).[1]
[edit] Cliffhangers
- A volcanic eruption and resultant earthquake causes a landslide to fall on the heroes.
- Clyde is forced into a pit containing a Tiger.
- The heroes hide from the chasing Bat-men in an empty sarcophagus only for it to be stabbed repeatedly with their spears.
- Clyde is punched off a platform by Craddock, lands unconscious in a mine shaft and is attacked by a pack of Hunter-Lions.
- Clyde is tied to a tree and attacked by a Lion.
- Dagna sets a pack of Hunter-Lions on Clyde.
- Clyde hides behind a curtain but he's spotted and the curtain is riddled with a hail of bullets.
- An unconscious Baru is attacked by a Tiger; The vine Clyde is climbing is cut by Durkin.
- A patrol of Bat-men attack Clyde from the air, catching him with two thrown spears.
- A Bat-man cuts the rope on which Clyde is swinging to freedom.
- The heroes are enveloped in a cloud of poison gas.
- Swinging the rescue Valerie, Clyde's rope is cut by a slave and they fall into a crowd of armed rebels.
- An explosion showers two heroes in rocks.
- Valerie commits suicide by jumping from Pinnacle Rock.
[edit] Stunts & Effects
[edit] Stunts
- Yakima Canutt
- Eddie Parker as Craddock (doubling Edmund Cobb)
[edit] Special Effects
Special effects are by John T. Coyle and the Lydecker brothers.
The flying Bat-men are dummies that run along wires. This technique was the basis of the flying effect in the later Adventures of Captain Marvel and King of the Rocket Men.
[edit] References
- ^ a b c Valley of the Cliffhangers Supplement; Mathis, Jack, 1995, ISBN 0-9632878-1-8
[edit] External links
| Preceded by none |
Republic Serial Darkest Africa (1936) |
Succeeded by Undersea Kingdom (1936) |
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