Nabonga

Nabonga
Original film poster
Directed by	Sam Newfield
Produced by	Sigmund Newfield
Written by	Fred Myton
Starring	Buster Crabbe Julie London Barton MacLane Fifi D'Orsay Prince Modupe
Music by	Willy Stahl
Cinematography	Robert E. Cline
Distributed by	PRC
Release date(s)	25 January 1944
Running time	75 min.
Country	United States
Language	English

Nabonga is a PRC film made in 1943 starring Buster Crabbe and in her debut, Julie London. It was retitled Jungle Woman in the British Empire.

Plot

T. F. Stockwell (Herbert Rawlinson) steals the money and jewelry contents of safe deposit boxes of the bank he works at in Cairo. 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.

Years pass when Ray Gorman (Buster Crabbe) comes to the area on the fringes of the jungle where the plane crashed. Bar owner Carl Hurst (Barton MacLane) and his female associate Marie (Fifi D'Orsay) 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), 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) 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 on African films ^[1] such as Sundown ^[2] and The Snows of Kilimanjaro ^[3]. 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 type comedy when frightened by Julie London's killer gorilla.

Notes

1. ^ pp.78-79 Carpenter, Edmund Snow Oh, What a Blow that Phantom Gave Me 1974 Holt, Reinhart and Winston
2. ^ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0595349/
3. ^ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0595349/

External links

• Nabonga at the Internet Movie Database
• Nabonga is available for free download at the Internet Archive [more]