With everybody talking ever so slowly and in monotone speech, this is creakier than the soil above an open volcano. Cheaply made and rushed for the weekend matinee crowd, this has not stood the test of time well. Getting past stereotypes of Arabs and African natives, and even taking into account that the film is of the fantasy/adventure genre, this is difficult to get into and stay interested in. Even with some intentional stupid elements (Otto Hoffman in drag looking like a combination of Old Mother Riley and Whistler's Grandmother; a silly looking ape man mumbling everything but "Ooga Booga!"), this is nearly sleep inducing, not only to its idiotic plotting, but a tinny soundtrack practically music-less.
American explorer Walter Miller is accused of murder and escapes from Ranjapur to the wilds of Africa where in 20 something chapters, he faces various challenges while trying to find the real killer and locate secret diamond fields among the blue clay, fighting wild animals, eluding his enemies and protecting Nora Lane, a young lady searching for her missing brother. How the outlandish old lady becomes involved in hiking across jungle and desert terrain is better left unexplained. This only had interest for me for the presence of Boris Karloff as the main villain, a stereotypical Arab, whose slow drawl and deep voice influences Miller when he disguises himself as an Arab. Badly read narration at the beginning of each episode doesn't even help recap how the previous chapter ended, since they each end jarringly and don't give really good cliffhangers in the first place. I'd like to find the edited feature length version which would get rid of all the fat and trim it down to a respectable length.
American explorer Walter Miller is accused of murder and escapes from Ranjapur to the wilds of Africa where in 20 something chapters, he faces various challenges while trying to find the real killer and locate secret diamond fields among the blue clay, fighting wild animals, eluding his enemies and protecting Nora Lane, a young lady searching for her missing brother. How the outlandish old lady becomes involved in hiking across jungle and desert terrain is better left unexplained. This only had interest for me for the presence of Boris Karloff as the main villain, a stereotypical Arab, whose slow drawl and deep voice influences Miller when he disguises himself as an Arab. Badly read narration at the beginning of each episode doesn't even help recap how the previous chapter ended, since they each end jarringly and don't give really good cliffhangers in the first place. I'd like to find the edited feature length version which would get rid of all the fat and trim it down to a respectable length.
