Nabonga / Swamp Fire

"Nabonga Gorilla (1944) & Swamp Fire (1946) ... VCI Home Video"

First up PRC presents "NABONGA GORILLA" (1944) (75 mins/B&W) (Dolby digitally remastered) --- Under Sam Newfield (Director), Sigmund Neufeld (Producer), Fred Myton (Story and (Screenplay), Willy Stahl (Music Director), Robert E. Cline (Cinematographer), Holbrook N. Todd (Editor) ----- the cast includes Buster Crabbe (Ray Gorman), Fifi D'Orsay (Marie), Barton MacLane (Carl Hurst), Julie London (Doreen Stockwell), Bryant Washburn (Hunter), Herbert Rawlinson (T.F. Stockwell), Prince Modupe (Tobo), Jackie Newfield (Doreen Stockwell, as a child), Ray Corrigan (Nabongo the Gorilla), I. Stanford Jolley (Policeman) . . . . . . our story goes deep into the jungle of Africa searching for the sole survivor a young girl of a plane crash ... a young girl Julie London is now a woman and protected by a gorilla (Ray Corrigan in a gorilla suit) who found her ... to clear his father and his bank Buster Crabbe is bound and determined to find out what really happened ... but Barton MacLane his guide has other ideas and the plot thickens and the excitement builds ... will Buster get the money, save the girl, take care of MacLane without any interference from the gorilla Nabonga ... this could be very tricky and interesting so sit back and enjoy what is about to unfold ------ special footnote, Julie London was an actress and a very sultry singer who starred in a number of movies in the 40s & 50s before beginning a popular singing career, most remembered for her role as Nurse Dixie McCall in the television series "Emergency!" (1972), Julie's biggest popularity as a singer was in the late 50s, leaving her full-time film career to concentrate on her singing career, over 40 of her albums to date have been released, and her vocal style has been endeared by many core fans, known as "The Liberty Girl" for helping establish Liberty Records as a successful label, her many hit albums on that label include "Julie Is Her Name", "Calendar Girl" with some borderline erotic (for the time) cover photography by Gene Lester, "About the Blues", "Your Number, Please", "Send For Me", "Love Letters", "The End of the World", "In Person at the Americana", "The Wonderful World of Julie London" and the provocatively titled "Nice Girls Don't Stay for Breakfast".------ another great jungle adventure for Buster Crabbe under the PRC Picture banner, proves to be one of his most exciting performances.

SPECIAL FEATURES:
BIOS:
1. Buster Crabbe (aka: Clarence Linden Crabbe II)
Birth Date: 2/17/1907 - Oakland California
Died: 4/23/1983 - Scottsdale, Arizona
2. Barton MacLane
Date of birth: 25 December 1902 - Columbia, South Carolina
Date of death: 1 January 1969 - Santa Monica, California
3. Julie London (aka: Julie Peck)
Date of birth: 26 September 1926 - Santa Rosa, California
Date of death: 18 October 2000 - Encino, California
4. Ray "Crash" Corrigan (aka: Raymond Benard)
Date of birth: 14 February 1902 - Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Date of death: 10 August 1976 - Brookings Harbor, Oregon
5. Sam Newfield (Director)
Date of birth: 6 December 1899 - New York, New York
Date of death: 10 November 1964 - Los Angeles, California

Second on the double bill is Paramount Pictures present "SWAMP FIRE" (1946) (69 mins/B&W) (Dolby digitally remastered) --- Under William Pine (Director / Producer), William C. Thomas (Producer), Daniel Mainwaring (Screenwriter), Fred Jackman, Jr. (Cinematographer), Rudy Schrager (Composer (Music Score), Howard A. Smith (Editor), Paul F. Sylos (Art Director), Harold E. Knox (First Assistant Director) ------ the cast includes Johnny Weissmuller (Johnny Duval), Buster Crabbe (Mike Kalavich), Virginia Grey (Janet Hilton), Carol Thurston (Toni Rousseau), Pedro de Cordoba (Tim Rousseau), Marcelle Corday (Grandmere Roussea), William Edmunds (Emile Ledoux), Edwin Maxwell (Capt. Pierre Moise), Pierre Watkin (P.T. Hilton), Charles Gordon (Capt. Hal Peyton), Frank Fenton (Capt. Pete Dailey), David Janssen (Emile's eldest son), I. Stanford Jolley (Coast Guard Skipper) . . . . . . . our film and story brings together for the first time on the big screen two former Tarzans, Johnny Weissmuller and Buster Crabbe ... each in love with the same girl and on the opposite sides of the Louisiana Bayou when it came to obeying the laws of the land ... Weissmuller is the Captain of a River Boat and Crabbe is a trapper picking up his catches on taboo land of the government ... watch the two stars exhibit their talent of wrestling in an alligator hole, did I say for their lives ... keep your eyes peeled for a young David Janssen ("Richard Diamond" and "The Fugitive" Television Series) and a wonderful B-Western and Serial character actor I. Stanford Jolley who was a pioneer also in film noir films.------ another great river adventure under the Paramount banner, proves to be one of director William Pine and screenwriter Daniel Mainwaring best outing.

Special foonote, actor Johnny Weissmuller was one of the world's best swimmers in the 1920s, winning five Olympic gold medals and one bronze medal ... won fifty-two US National Championships and set sixty-seven world records ... following his swimming career, he became the sixth actor to portray Tarzan in films, a role he played in twelve motion pictures ... Weissmuller left that role and immediately traded his loincloth costume for jungle fatigues and appeared fully clothed in the role of Jungle Jim (1948) for Columbia, where he made thirteen Jungle Jim movies between (1948) and (1954), the next year he appeared in three more jungle movies playing himself ... many actors also played Tarzan such as Buster Crabbe, but Weissmuller was the best-known, with a distinctive, ululating Tarzan yell is still often used in films ... during an appearance on television's Mike Douglas Show in the 1970's, Weissmuller explained how the famous yell was created ... recordings of three vocalists were spliced together to get the effect--a soprano, an alto, and a hog caller.

Second special footnote, actor Buster Crabbe graduated from the University of Southern California and won the 400 meter freestyle in which he medaled in the 1932 Olympics, went to work for Paramount in "King of the Jungle" (1933), next role was "Tarzan the Fearless (1933), Crabbe returned to Paramount Pictures was featured in Zane Grey Westerns which were well received, then came the roles that made him a household word "Flash Gordon" and "Buck Rogers" at Universal Picture Serials (1936-1940), meanwhile PRC Studios was looking for a leading hero "Billy the Kid" and "Billy Carson" in the 1940's B-Western series and ran its course for six years, later made several televison appearances and appeared in a series "Captain Gallant and the Foreign Legion" (1955-1957).....

SPECIAL FEATURES:
BIOS:

1. Johnny Weissmuller (aka: Janos Weissmuller)
Date of birth: 2 June 1904 - Freidorf, Banat, Austria-Hungary (now Romania)
Date of death: 20 January 1984 - Acapulco, Mexico
2. Buster Crabbe (aka: Clarence Linden Crabbe II)
Birth Date: 2/17/1907 - Oakland California
Died: 4/23/1983 - Scottsdale, Arizona

Great job by VCI Entertainment for releasing "Nabonga Gorilla" (1944)
and "Swamp Fire" (1946) - the digital transfere with a clean, clear and
crisp print...looking forward to more high quality releases from
the vintage serial era of the '20s, '30s & '40s and B-Westerns...order your
copy now from Amazon or VCI Entertainment where there are plenty of
copies available on DVD and VHS, stay tuned once again for top notch
action mixed with deadly adventure from the "King of Serials" VCI...just
the way we like 'em

Total Time: 144 min on DVD/VHS ~ VCI Home Video ~ (10/24/2000) October 25, 2006

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