King of the Congo
| King of the Congo | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by |
Spencer Gordon Bennet Wallace Grissell |
| Produced by | Sam Katzman |
| Written by |
Royal K. Cole Arthur Hoerl George H. Plympton |
| Starring |
Buster Crabbe Gloria Dea Leonard Penn Jack Ingram Rick Vallin Nick Stuart William Fawcett Rusty Wescoatt |
| Music by | Mischa Bakaleinikoff |
| Cinematography | William Whitley |
| Edited by | Earl Turner |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release dates | May 1, 1952 |
Running time | 252 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
King of the Congo was the 48th serial released by Columbia Pictures. It was based on the comic book character "Thun'da", created by Frank Frazetta.
Plot
The film series is a complicated serial with more twists than a maze that basically centers around a U.S. Air Force captain and his quest for missing microfilm that contains vital information. The heroic Buster Crabbe plays Captain Roger Drum, who shoots down an enemy plane on its way to Africa with the secret microfilm. Intent on revealing the subversive group that the message was for, Drum assumes the pilot's identity and flies to Africa himself and crashes in the jungle. He is rescued by the pacific Rock People, led by Princess Pha (Gloria Dea), and is renamed Thunda, King of the Congo, after he rings a temple gong in alarm. With the subversives believing Thunda is their missing pilot and under constant attack by another tribe called the Cave Men, our hero plots to bring down the subversives who are searching for a new metal more radioactive than uranium. At the end, Thunda (or Drum) clears the jungle of villains and reunites the Rock People and Cave Men for well.
Cast
| Buster Crabbe | Thunda/Capt. Roger Drum |
| Gloria Dea | Princess Pha |
| Leonard Penn | Boris |
| Jack Ingram | Clark |
| Rick Vallin | Andreov |
| Nick Stuart | Degar |
| William Fawcett | High Priest |
| Rusty Wescoatt | Kor |
| Alex Montoya | Lipah |
| Frank Ellis | Ivan |
| Lee Roberts | Lt. Blake |
| Neyle Morrow | Nahee |
Production
King of the Congo was both the last Tarzan-style serial and last serial to star Buster Crabbe.[1] Crabbe starred in nine serials between 1933 and 1952.
Chapter titles
- Mission of Menace
- Red Shadows in the Jungle
- Into the Valley of Mist
- Thunda Meets His Match
- Thunda Turns the Tables
- Thunda's Desperate Charge
- Thunda Trapped
- Mission of Evil
- Menace of the Magnetic Rocks
- Lair of the Leopard
- An Ally from the Sky
- Riding Wild
- Red Raiders
- Savage Vengeance
- Judgment of the Jungle
Source:[2]
Filming locations
- Iverson Ranch, Chatsworth, Los Angeles.
See also
References
- ↑ Harmon, Jim; Donald F. Glut (1973). "6. Jungle "Look Out The Elephants Are Coming!"". The Great Movie Serials: Their Sound and Fury. Routledge. p. 138. ISBN 978-0-7130-0097-9.
- ↑ Cline, William C. (1984). "Filmography". In the Nick of Time. McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 253. ISBN 0-7864-0471-X.
External links
- Buster Crabbe filmography
- BFI - Film & TV database
- King of the Congo at the Internet Movie Database
- King of the Congo at AllMovie
| Preceded by Captain Video: Master of the Stratosphere (1951) |
Columbia Serial King of the Congo (1952) |
Succeeded by Blackhawk (1952) |
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