NABONGA is a jungle adventure cheapie churned out in the 1940s. It was made in 1944 so perhaps wartime audiences were a little more forgiving of time-wasting, non-serious material like this. Watching it these days it's a real chore to sit through, and that comes from somebody who loves old Tarzan movies, serials, and the like.
The film sees a bunch of has-been characters flying into a jungle set and finding themselves menaced by the usual guy in a gorilla suit. There's some dated romance stuff and a strapping hero played by genre mainstay Buster Crabbe. I love Crabbe in his other roles but he gets very little to do here other than look dashing, which is no difficulty for him. The jungle girl aspect of the plot is never used very effectively, and the gorilla makes noises and hangs around in the background a lot. It's not exactly what I would team a crowd-pleaser.
The film sees a bunch of has-been characters flying into a jungle set and finding themselves menaced by the usual guy in a gorilla suit. There's some dated romance stuff and a strapping hero played by genre mainstay Buster Crabbe. I love Crabbe in his other roles but he gets very little to do here other than look dashing, which is no difficulty for him. The jungle girl aspect of the plot is never used very effectively, and the gorilla makes noises and hangs around in the background a lot. It's not exactly what I would team a crowd-pleaser.