Nabonga
Encyclopedia
Nabonga is a PRC
Producers Releasing Corporation
Producers Releasing Corporation was one of the more lower-end Hollywood film studios on Poverty Row from the late '30s to the mid-'40s. PRC, as it was commonly known, made low-budget B-movies for the lower-half of a double bill. A few of its films have gained a respectable reputation over the...

 film made in 1943 starring Buster Crabbe
Buster Crabbe
Clarence Linden "Buster" Crabbe was an American athlete and actor, who starred in a number of popular serials in the 1930s and 1940s.-Birth:...

 and in her debut, Julie London
Julie London
Julie London was an American singer and actress. She was best known for her smoky, sensual voice. London was at her singing career's peak in the 1950s. Her acting career lasted more than 35 years...

. It was retitled Jungle Woman in the British Empire.

Plot

T. F. Stockwell (Herbert Rawlinson
Herbert Rawlinson
Herbert Rawlinson was an English stage, film, radio, and television actor. A leading man during Hollywood's silent film era, Rawlinson transitioned to character roles after the advent of sound films. Rawlinson died of lung cancer in 1953...

) steals the money and jewelry contents of safe deposit boxes of the bank he works at in Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...

. He flees south in a private plane with his young daughter Doreen (Jackie Newfield, daughter of the director) and the pilot. Brought down in the jungle during a storm, the three survive the crash but Rawlinson murders the pilot when he sees the stolen loot. Whilst exploring the surroundings, Doreen finds a gorilla (Ray Corrigan) wounded and left for dead by members of a safari
Safari
A safari is an overland journey, usually a trip by tourists to Africa. Traditionally, the term is used for a big-game hunt, but today the term often refers to a trip taken not for the purposes of hunting, but to observe and photograph animals and other wildlife.-Etymology:Entering the English...

.

Years pass when Ray Gorman (Buster Crabbe
Buster Crabbe
Clarence Linden "Buster" Crabbe was an American athlete and actor, who starred in a number of popular serials in the 1930s and 1940s.-Birth:...

) comes to the area on the fringes of the jungle where the plane crashed. Bar owner Carl Hurst (Barton MacLane
Barton MacLane
Barton MacLane was an American actor, playwright, and screenwriter. Although he has appeared in many classic films from the 1930s through the 1960s, he was known for his role as Gen...

) and his female associate Marie (Fifi D'Orsay
Fifi D'Orsay
-Biography:Born Marie-Rose Angelina Yvonne Lussier in Montreal, Quebec, as a young typist, filled with the desire to become an actress, she went to New York City. There, she found work in The Greenwich Village Follies after an audition in which she sang the song "Yes, We Have No Bananas' in French...

) spy on Gorman to see what he's up to.

Gorman's father was head of the bank that Stockwell worked for and robbed; when Gorman's father was blamed for the theft he committed suicide. Gorman is out to recover the loot from the plane crash to clear his father's name. When Gorman saves Hurst's servant Tobo (Prince Modupe) from being murdered by another African (Fred Toones
Fred Toones
Fred "Snowflake" Toones was an African-American film actor comedian of the early sound era...

), Tobo confides in Gorman that there is a white witch in the jungle who legend has it came from the sky. Gorman realises that this could be a reference to Stockwell's plane crash and disappearance. Tobo offers to lead Gorman to the area whilst Hurst and Marie secretly follow.

The "white witch" is the grown up Doreen (Julie London
Julie London
Julie London was an American singer and actress. She was best known for her smoky, sensual voice. London was at her singing career's peak in the 1950s. Her acting career lasted more than 35 years...

) living with her gorilla named Samson who protects her; her father having disappeared in the jungle.

Production

Guinea born Prince Modupe according to his autobiography I Was a Savage/Royal African was a Hollywood technical advisor
Technical advisor
A technical advisor is an individual who is expert in a particular field of knowledge, hired to provide detailed information and advice to people working in that field...

 on African films such as Sundown
Sundown (film)
Sundown is a 1941 war film directed by Henry Hathaway and starring Bruce Cabot and Gene Tierney. The film's adventure story, set against a war backdrop was well received by critics, earning three Academy Award nominations and was a box office success....

and The Snows of Kilimanjaro
The Snows of Kilimanjaro (film)
The Snows of Kilimanjaro is a 1952 film based on the short story of the same name by Ernest Hemingway. The film version of the short story was directed by Henry King, and starred Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, and Susan Hayward....

. He gives not only a highly sympathetic portrayal of an African, but one who is a friend rather than a servant of Crabbe. In addition to fighting men and a crocodile, Crabbe displays amusing Bob Hope
Bob Hope
Bob Hope, KBE, KCSG, KSS was a British-born American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO shows entertaining American military personnel...

type comedy when frightened by Julie London's killer gorilla.
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