Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Jungle Drums of Africa

It probably wasn’t that popular when it first played theaters in 1953, but time has given this film serial from Republic Studios a certain sheen that makes it a lot of fun to watch today. It’s the story of two intrepid Americans (because back in 19653 there were no other kind) who travel to Africa to negotiate a mining rights contract with the chief of a local tribe. The bad guys, smelling the money to be made by raping the land, try to stop the American before they can get the deal done. The bad guys aren’t very good at being bad, though; in fact, they’re not even good shots because they keep missing the good guys even when they’re so close they could walk up and punch them but can’t seem to hit them with an arrow, spear of a bullet. Such pickiness ruins the fun watching these adventures, so don’t think about the fact that the ‘natives’ speak very proper English, or that the footage of the animals never matched the footage of the actors (who seem to be making their movie on a Hollywood back lot). Ignore the faults and you’ll have a blast.

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