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5 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
Not horrible and not that good, but historically notable, 11 July 2005

Author: Brandt Sponseller from New York City

Although the primary attraction here is simply historical interest, Son of Ingagi isn't horrible if watched for entertainment purposes. But it's not that good, either. Besides preservation problems with extant versions, the film suffers from a lackadaisical script, fairly flat direction and various budget-related problems. Of course, the preservation problems are hardly the fault of co-producer/director Richard C. Kahn and co-producer Alfred N. Sack, but on the other hand, aren't exactly easy to overlook when you're watching.

Given the title, an attempt was made to affiliate this film with 1931's Ingagi. Admittedly, I haven't seen Ingagi yet--it doesn't appear to be available on home video--but judging by the information available to me, it's difficult to see what the connection is between the two films besides a very loose thematic tie. There are no cast or crew members in common. The setting is different. There is nothing in this film known by the name of Ingagi. The only similarity appears to be that Ingagi was set in Africa, whereas a character in Son of Ingagi has spent some time in Africa, and Ingagi had a gorilla, whereas Son of Ingagi has a kind of ape-man.

The story here, instead, begins with a marriage between Bob (Alfred Grant) and Eleanor (Daisy Bufford). They appear to live in Anytown, U.S.A. They head off for their honeymoon, which they oddly spend right next door to the foundry where Bob works--it seems as if he was planning on going to punch the clock the next morning. They hear a bang. The foundry has caught fire (we see none of this--we're just told it instead) and now Bob is out of a job.

At the same time, there is a mysterious woman, Dr. Jackson (Laura Bowman), who was invited to Bob and Eleanor's wedding, but whom most folks are afraid of--she's thought of as a sort of voodoo woman. And perhaps for good reason. Dr. Jackson has spent a lot of time in Africa and the Far East, she keeps trinkets like skulls on her desk, and most importantly, she has an ape-man named Ingeena (Zack Williams) stored in her basement. He has a cell but doesn't appear to be kept inside. He enters and leaves the main part of the house through a secret passageway.

There's an accident and Bob and Eleanor end up being named in Dr. Jackson's will as heirs to her estate--despite the fact that they did not know her very well. Suspicion falls on them, and soon, other bodies are turning up near them. Eventually, the police--especially Nelson (Spencer Williams, Jr.)--set up shop in Bob and Eleanor's new home while they're living in it, in an attempt to solve the "mystery".

That plot description might not sound too bad, but the problem is that there just isn't that much more to the plot, and even those measly points end up unfolding flatly, with too much telling and not enough showing. It would be difficult to say, based on Son of Ingagi, that Kahn is a director who knows how to build suspense, but admittedly, the script is a bit lightweight, the cast occasionally seems amateurish, and the budget is low enough to make Ingeena's make-up more laughable than frightening. Even a climactic fire must resort to employing an obvious model of a building. So Kahn didn't necessarily have a lot to work with.

It would have helped to beef up the script and make the film a bit longer. The Alpha Video print of Son of Ingagi clocks in at just under an hour. IMDb has the original running time listed as 70 minutes. That may be correct--the Alpha print has awkward edits and jumps that seem like some material is missing--but ten additional minutes would not have been sufficient to help the story. The print doesn't help, however. Besides the jumps, it hasn't been very well preserved. The image is often cloudy or scratchy. The dark scenes sometimes disappear into a sea of blackness--and occasionally these scenes should convey important information.

Son of Ingagi is sometimes called the first "all black horror film". That's not quite right, but it's close. At least two all or mostly black horror films appeared before this one--Louisiana (aka Drums o' Voodoo, or just Voodoo Drums, 1934), and The Devil's Daughter (1939). However, Louisiana appears to have been lost. And the dates aren't always given consistently on this film and The Devil's Daughter, so it's difficult to say which one was filmed first without more research. That makes Son of Ingagi close enough to being the first all black horror film.

Aside from the bland script, lack of suspense and less than thrilling monster (despite the attempts to give Ingeena archetypal relations to the Frankenstein monster), Son of Ingagi isn't helped by its lack of a score. Doo-wop group The Four Toppers provide a couple early musical numbers that are pleasant enough, but this also underscores the later lack of music. Music would have helped sustain an appropriate mood. In fact the Four Toppers songs do nothing to help create a thriller or horror mood, of course, and even later, Kahn just as strongly gives us comic moments. As another IMDb-er pointed out, Spencer Williams Jr. seems to be doing his best Mantan Moreland impersonation. But there's not enough of a commitment to humor, or horror, or any other genre for that matter, to quite make Son of Ingagi work.

This is really only for people interested in the history of the genre, and particularly films with unusual ethnic orientations for their eras. Otherwise, make sure you have a couple strong cups of espresso ready to go if you decide to give this one a try. I watched it around seven in the evening and almost fell asleep.

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5 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
You keep a big Brute Man in the Basement? What happens?, 29 November 2001
Author: Glenn Andreiev (gandreiev@aol.com) from Huntington, NY

SON OF INGAGI (1940) is a rare horror film. One of the films by Zack Williams, a black film artist who made films with an all black cast, for the black audiences. (This was in the days before Denzel washington, Sidney Portier, James Earl Jones, the days you never saw a black man in the heroic lead in a film.) The real treat of the movie is the nasty old witch that lives in a little house. All she has to do is bang a low-toned gong and the big giant, who sleeps on hay, wakes up and beats the old woman's enemies to a frazzle. A rare piece of film history, and a lot of fun.

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3 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
Atmospheric low-low budget curiosity, 13 May 2005

Author: GroovyDoom from Haddonfield, IL

Definitely recommended only for die-hard fans of dusty old movies, this is one you've almost definitely never seen. Long out of circulation in any form, this very tame 1940s 'haunted house' type thriller is unique because it features an all-black cast. Otherwise, it is badly dated and so mild that it's a real snore throughout most of the short runtime.

The plot concerns two newlyweds who find themselves visited on their wedding night by a mysterious woman, a certain Doctor Jackson. Doctor Jackson is a severe old woman, and we see her roughing up her attorney and revealing herself to be stubborn and willful. However, she is also touched that the newlyweds have found her important enough to invite to their wedding, and she reveals that she was once romantically linked with the bride's father. Unbeknownst to anybody, Dr. Jackson has drawn up a will that leaves all of her earthly possessions, including her spooky old house, to our protagonists.

Also a secret is the fact that she has a weird ape-man living in her basement, which can only be accessed through a hidden door. The ape-man is summoned with an ominous gong the old lady has, and it appears to be mostly docile. However, Dr. Jackson is experimenting with some kind of potion, which she foolishly leaves sitting out in the basement where the ape-man lives. It drinks the potion and goes homicidally crazy, choking her to death. By wild coincidence, our newlyweds happen to visit the woman at almost the same moment and find her dead, no sign of the ape man. When the police discover that they were the beneficiaries of the old woman's will, they suspect the husband of murder. Cleared of all charges, the husband returns with his bride to move into the house they've just inherited--unaware that the ape man is still lurking in the basement. A few more attacks happen until the inevitable bride-snatching occurs after our lonely ape-man ventures out of the cellar.

The movie was filmed on a few cheap sets, with most of the action wisely taking place in the old dark house, but it's not that memorable of a set. It's poorly established, and we don't get a look at the creepy exterior until the conclusion, when it goes up in flames. The acting is passable, at best, with some comic relief coming from a bumbling detective. The makeup on the ape man is ludicrous, and there is no real explanation for what the creature is or why the doctor has it in her basement. We are to gather she brought it back from one of her excursions to Africa, but that's about all we know. Oh, and it likes cold cut sandwiches, too.

Worth a look for the curious, just don't expect too much. Watch for a couple of lively musical numbers near the beginning of the film, performed by the Four Toppers (not to be confused with the similarly-named Four Tops).

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1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
Laura Bowman, Alfred Grant, Arthur Ray, and The Four Toppers are the talents in the film!, 28 December 2007

Author: msladysoul (msladysoul@aol.com) from Michigan

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

I see there are many bad reviews for this movie mostly from Caucasian people who don't really care for race films or appreciate the efforts and are comparing race films with Hollywood films that had big budget that could make any movie better. I consider myself a expert on race films, I try to research the films and the people in it who have been forgotten and overlooked for their contribution to cinema, deserving or not. Son of Ingagi, is not one of the best race films, but I enjoyed it after watching it a few times. Instead of knocking the whole cast, there are quite a few good actors and actresses in this film who try to make the best in this film. Laura Bowman, one of the early black actresses of stage and screen, was a highly respected and talented actress, her acting was in the same fashion of Ethel Barrymore, Marie Dressler, and. She really stands out in this film. She was always great at playing an intimidating, misunderstood, grouchy old woman but she could be comical with the same traits. Handsome and suave Alfred Grant showed his potential as an actor in this film. He showed every true emotion for any given situation more then any other in the cast. Daisy Bufford who played the wife, was a little too cheerful for an horror movie. There were times where she should have been scare instead of smiling and looking calm. I just can't believe her in this film. I would liked to have seen Margaret Whitten, Sybil Lewis, Theresa Harris, or Mae Turner, some of race films better actresses in the wife part. Arthur Ray who plays the Doctor's brother is always good as the conniving old Grinch. Zack Williams was good at the grunts, roars, and I beg to differ if you saw such a thing as him in your home, you would be a little scared My problem with some of the acting was for an scary movie, there was times the husband and wife were a little too cheerful for living in a home where murders were committed but I understand that not too much emphasis, dialog, and attention was given to the actors and actresses in race films, most of these films were shot in a week, but if one is going to make any film or any kind, at least make it good, don't just do anything or show little concern because of lack of money or time. No this movie won't scare you but it gave me a chance to witness black actors and actresses playing people from all walks of life and not being stereotypes and many showed potentiality as actors and actresses. If black actors and actresses were developed by studios like many white actors and actresses, many could have been great.

Basically this film is centered around a young married couple who's marriage is interrupted by mystery and murder that indirectly involves them. Dr. Jackson, a woman who is invited to their wedding, was connected to the wife's father whom she was in love with. The Doctor wants to give all her life earnings and home to the young married couple for being nice to her and because of love of the wife's father. The Doctor is killed by the ape she brought back from Africa, (how she got it into this country I'll never know) it seems he dranked something the Doctor mixed up that was gonna do something significant to change humanity, I wonder what it was because it made the ape dangerous and gave the ape killing tendencies. The ape killed his master, his Doctor. The young married couple finds the body and is suspected of killing the doctor because a will is found in which their to inherit the Doctor's money and home and its believed they made the will up and kill the Doctor because there's no other suspects. The young couple move into the Doctor's house (why I don't know, I wouldn't move into a home where someone was killed and the murderer is still loose) and they don't know there's an ape in the basement. An attorney is killed while visiting the home and so the detectives stake out at the home and well its found out later who committed the crimes and other stories unravel. Maybe the movie would have been more interesting if the husband and wife would have suspected each other. I mean there was really no whodunit between the husband and wife. The wife was walking around like nothing was happening.

I like The Four Toppers, they were a great singing group. I wonder if The Four Tops knew it was a grew before them with sort of the same name?

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Son of Ingagi was not one of Spencer Williams' better moments, 8 February 2011

Author: tavm from Baton Rouge, La.

In reviewing movies involving people of color in chronological order for Black History Month, we're now at 1940 when Spencer Williams-future star of TV's version of "Amos 'n' Andy"-wrote and took a part in this horror/comedy feature. I'll just say right now that this isn't very good. In fact, the pace is just lethargic enough that I rarely laughed and was not scared at all. The fact is that the only time a score plays is when they show newspaper montages to advance the story. So that's a demerit right there. The leads of Alfred Grant and Daisy Bufford are as bland as you'd expect. Laura Bowman has some nice moments playing a mysterious character but she's not on screen enough. And vocal group The Four Toppers have some entertaining musical interludes when singing "So Long, Pal" and "You Drove the Groom Away". And even Williams has some amusing moments involving two disappearing sandwiches. But it's all for naught as the whole thing just falls apart past the 30-minute mark especially when a noticeable splice occurs there. So I'd only recommend Son of Ingagi if you're curious enough. P.S. Among the people involved from my now-home state of Louisiana: director Richard C. Kahn from New Orleans, Ms. Bufford from Franklin, Spencer Williams from Vidalia, and Zack Williams (the monster of the movie). Among supporting players from other black-cast movies I've seen: Ms. Bowman was also in God's Step Children, Arthur Ray was also in The Duke is Tops, Earle Morris was also in director Kahn's The Bronze Buckaroo, and Maggie Hathaway was in Cabin in the Sky and Stormy Weather.

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Proof that black films could be just as bad as any other!, 12 January 2011

Author: planktonrules from Bradenton, Florida

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Up to the 1950s, small studios made films for consumption in black movie houses across America. Given that these movies were never shown to mixed audiences, their audiences were rather small and their production values even smaller. For the most part, these films lack the polish and professional acting you'd find in other contemporary films--though there are a few exceptions. "Son of Ingagi" is an exception--but not in a good way. It manages to be significantly WORSE than the average black-produced film of its day and my score of 2 might just be a bit charitable.

This film is supposed to be a horror film--much like the low-budget stuff being released by PRC and Monogram. However, given the budget is even LESS than that of these poverty row production companies, the film never elicits any chills or thrills, only giggles.

It begins with a young couple getting married. Soon after the wedding, a strange old lady doctor comes to visit the bride (who, by the way, is the worst actor in the film...by far) and wish her well in her new marriage. In the following scene, you see the Doc at home and she has some sort of ape-man living in her home that she brought back from Africa. Despite having lived with her peacefully for MANY years, the ape-dude ends up killing her and others. The young couple then inherit the home and killings continue. The idiot police send their #1 idiot (Spencer Williams of "Amos 'n Andy" fame) to solve the crime though he isn't much good. Eventually, the man of the house rescues his bride (who the monster just kidnapped) and destroys the creature. However, there is so little energy and excitement that you really won't care....just laugh! While this isn't quite as bad as an Ed Wood film, it is close. The acting and writing were pretty bad and the film is, unfortunately, rather dull. The only good reasons to watch it are if you like watching bad movies or you want to see an example of black cinema. Other than that, steer clear.

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Mainly of interest as an early example of all-black cinema, 16 March 2010

Author: Mondo_Giallo from Edinburgh, Scotland, UK

This old flick is about a murderous half-man half-ape who lives in a secret basement unbeknownst to a young married couple who have just taken ownership of the property. This leads to a number of murders which casts all manner of aspersions on the husband.

Son of Ingagi is, along with Devils Daughter and Chloe, Love is Calling You, one of the earliest all-black horror films. Like the others it's strictly a poverty row affair which only really stands out as an example of early black cinema. While it does have a reasonably intimidating monster, it suffers from being very creaky, as many of the low-budget films from the period are. It combines elements of horror and comedy, which was something that was increasingly popular at the time. Although, even up to the present day, this approach has proved never to be easy to pull off successfully as the comedy deflates the horror and vice-versa.

Without doubt this is a movie primarily recommended for those interested in the development of black cinema. It also should be of interest to fans of old 30's and 40's low budget horror films. Others should approach with caution, as despite its significance as an early example of a minority race film, it might just be a little too unoriginal and antiquated.

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Like Counting Sheep, 29 July 2009

Author: wes-connors from Earth

"A newlywed couple is visited by a mysterious doctor that claims she has some important information to pass along to the bride. Shortly after the bride meets with the doctor, the doctor dies and ends up leaving the estate to the bride. When the couple arrives at the doctor's home to take up residence, the newlyweds discover the doctor has left more than an estate to them," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis.

An awful film, notable for a couple of reasons. The musical numbers performed by "The Four Toppers" are nicely done. And, you do a good look at Spencer Williams, who wrote the story and has a featured on-screen role (as Nelson). In the early 1950s, Mr. Williams became an "overnight sensation" when he was picked to play the latter half of the popular "Amos 'n Andy" radio comedy team, transferred to TV.

** Son of Ingagi (1940) Richard C. Kahn ~ Alfred Grant, Daisy Bufford, Spencer Williams

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"The Toppers" provide a high point, 8 August 2008

Author: kidboots from Australia

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Laura Bowman had a real presence and while she was the focal point - the film had direction. Even when she had to utter such silly lines as "the greatest discovery since Louis Pasteur" she has a believability in her acting. Once her character (Dr. Helen Jackson) is killed off, Spencer Williams entered as a police chief and the film descended into a Mantan Moreland type comedy mystery (although there was really no mystery about who was doing the killings). Only Alfred Grant as Bob and Daisy Bufford as Eleanor tried to keep it "real". There were also inconsistencies in the story - why was there a fire??? What was the reason??? There was also the locket and the note that was pushed under the door - by whom???

On the day Bob and Eleanor married, Dr. Helen Jackson demands Bradshaw, a lawyer, draw up her will. That night Bob and Eleanor celebrate their wedding with friends and a great little singing group "The Toppers". They had a similar sound to the Mills Brothers and provide an entertaining musical interlude with "So Long Pal" and "You Drove the Gloom Away". That same night there is a fire at the factory and while Bob is out Dr. Jackson pays Eleanor a visit. She tells Eleanor about her parents and that she had always loved Eleanor's dad. She also gives her a locket that she had been given by Eleanor's dad before he married her mother.

When Dr. Jackson goes home her brother, Zino, is there demanding half her fortune but after seeing N'gina (half beast, half man) he flees. Dr. Jackson has made some great discovery, but she is murdered and suspicion falls on the newly married couple as they have inherited the doctors estate. Bradshaw, who always seemed to be acting in a suspicious manner calls on the couple who have moved into Dr. Jackson's house. He is murdered because he accidentally summons N'gina with the dinner gong. The police chief (Spencer Williams) is very casual and laid back bringing a comic relief to the film that isn't needed. He was probably in training for his role as Andy in the Amos and Andy television show.

There is no mystery about the murders, that through all the comedy, are still carried out very dramatically. N'gina then kidnaps Eleanor and starts a fire that burns the Doctor's house to the ground.

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Blaxploitation's First Monster Movie!, 27 November 2007
Author: michaeldukey2000 from United States

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

While it's been said that there are other older films with all black casts dealing with the subject of voodoo or the supernatural this is without a doubt the first one to feature a creature and an African one at that.

Historically this is a pretty interesting picture but as entertainment value it's extremely primitive. Made on teensy budget that would make a Monogram studios effort look extravagant this is an oddity even for ethnic films of the day as they were almost exclusively musical comedies or morality plays. Serious films and roles for African Americans would take a long time to get into the mainstream but the writer and Co-star of this piece of fluff would do much to change that a little later with his film The Blood Of Jesus. Unfortunately the stigma of playing Andrew Hogg Brown on the CBS TV show Amos and ANdy would hang over his head until recently when a lot of his serious films for the Harlem crowd were rediscovered.

As the pithy story goes a rather bland couple has received a mysterious wedding gift from a seemingly "Grinchy" woman doctor who just happens to have a seven foot hairy ape type guy living in her basement. Nothing much is explained in any of the characters motivations but sometimes the critter is treated with sympathy, sometimes for chills and other times for laughs. In the first few scenes he comes off more like a mentally challenged human with a hirsute disease rather than the Gorilla Man that he's referred to later. Just when the good Dr. is on the verge on presenting a medical miracle serum to everyone her hairy companion drinks the stuff and goes on a rage and kills his benefactor. Whatever the stuff was it sure didn't agree with him. Most of the movie sort of clunks along with near run ins with the beast until the young couple inherits the house meets the ape man and the movie abruptly ends.

I've actually seen worse old films than this tailored for a racial audience but this one is more for historians and exploitation buffs.

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