When a treasure hunter seeks a downed airplane in the jungles of Africa, he encounters one of the passenger's young daughter, now fully grown, and with a gorilla protector.
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Title: Nabonga (1944)
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Cast
| Complete credited cast: | |||
| Buster Crabbe | ... | Ray Gorman | |
| Fifi D'Orsay | ... | Marie | |
| Barton MacLane | ... | Carl Hurst | |
| Julie London | ... | Doreen Stockwell | |
| Bryant Washburn | ... | Hunter | |
| Herbert Rawlinson | ... | Stockwell | |
 |
Prince Modupe | ... | Tobo |
|
|
Jackie Newfield | ... | Doreen Stockwell - as a Child |
| Ray Corrigan | ... | Gorilla (as Nbongo) | |
Edit
Plot Summary
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Add Synopsis
Storyline
In an effort to clear the name of his deceased father, young Ray Gorman travels to darkest Africa to try to track down the money embezzled from his father's bank years earlier. After a long trek through the jungle Gorman finds the money in the care of beautiful 'white witch' Doreen, daughter of the now long-dead embezzler. Gorman finds his goal difficult to accomplish as not only does Doreen, guarded by a huge, ferocious gorilla, not want to give up the money, but greedy guide Carl Hurst has followed Gorman's trail, intent on getting the money himself by any means necessary. Written by Doug Sederberg <vornoff@sonic.net>
Taglines:
A WHITE GIRL RULES THE JUNGLE...HER STRENGTH OF POWER WAS "NABONGA!" (original poster - all caps) See more »Genres:
AdventureParents Guide:
Add content advisory for parents »
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See full technical specs »
Details
Country:
USALanguage:
EnglishRelease Date:
25 January 1944 (USA) See more »Also Known As:
Gorilla See more »Company Credits
Show more on
IMDbPro »
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Sound Mix:
MonoColor:
Black and WhiteAspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1
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Policeman: Mr. Stockwell, open up, it's the police. Open up the door or we'll break it in!
[the policeman batter down the door and search the apartment]
Policeman: Well, he's gone. Some little girl's going to have a broken heart when she discovers her doll was left behind.
See more »
Did You Know?
Trivia
Shot in 1943, not released until 1944. See more »Quotes
[first lines]Policeman: Mr. Stockwell, open up, it's the police. Open up the door or we'll break it in!
[the policeman batter down the door and search the apartment]
Policeman: Well, he's gone. Some little girl's going to have a broken heart when she discovers her doll was left behind.
See more »
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I love jungle adventure films, me. From those crazy Tarzan films from a billion years ago, to the care-free and heart-warming Italian Cannibal films of the late seventies, you just can't go wrong with sending Whitey into some foliage (with some guides, obviously), and watching them get eaten by the locals, swallowed up by quicksand, or fall foul of some grumpy animal.
Nabonga, however, doesn't have much in the way of action, has plenty of stock footage (seemingly from some turn of the century documentary), a man in a gorilla suit, and not much else. I mean, the hero of the piece loses two punch-ups! What hope do we have? It involves some guy going on the lam with his kid and some money who crashes in the jungle, only for him to die and the kid to grow and become friends with a gorilla, who protects her. Some guy comes looking for the cash, and some other people want the cash too.
Alright, it's not that bad, really. The stock footage is almost as prominent in the amazing Zombie Creeping Flesh, and give me a guy in a gorilla suit over Andy Serkis any day, but there's still too much mooching around for it to be anything more than average. It's good that the kid lost in the jungle had a dress that grew as she grew though who knows what other lost technology resides in the great green unknown?