Side Order of Ninjas

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White Pongo (1945)

Adventure Unlimited


Cast:

Richard Fraser is Geoffrey Bishop
Maris Wrixon is Pamela Bragdon
Lionel Royce is Peter Van Dorn
Al Eben is Hans Kroegert
Gordon Richards is Sir Harry Bragdon


What the box says:

A group of explorers sers off to find the mysterious white ape they believe may be evolution's "missing link". Stumbling into the realm of the mysterious and deadly world of Pongo, they soon realize they will be lucky just to make it out alive.


Plot:

In the unexplored jungles in an African village, an old man fees a guy who has been tied. The White Ape watches the village. The tied guy waits until the villagers go to their huts before making his great escape. The White Ape attacks a villager.

At a dock, a doctor treats the delusional guy rambling on about the White Konga. Pierre greets the explorer Harry and his daughter, Pam. Pierre takes Harry to hear the dying man talk about the White Ape.

Apparently, the White Ape is the missing link between man and primate. Pierre shows Harry and his men some evidence about the White Ape’s intelligence. They decide to search for the animal and prepare for the expedition. Harry’s secretary, Max, is worried about Pam going with the group. Max and Pam have some of those remarks that would be biting if they had acting skills.

On the river, let the stock footage of animals ensue. The White Gorilla is watching the boats.

Setting up camp down river, Pam starts putting the movies on Bishop, the soldier, to make Max jealous. Pam gets Bishop to be in her canoe to guard her as more stock footage assaults us.

Later, they reach the village the guy escaped from, trade with the locals,


I'm not going to trade any real estate for a string of beads.
and try to get some data on the White Gorilla. They find the old white guy who shows them some old pictures from an earlier expedition where the White Gorilla killed its leader.

The White Gorilla is watching Pam. The group head further down the river, but along the shore, the White Gorilla trails the group. Reaching their next camp site, the group sets up a camp. The White Gorilla seems to be obsessed with Pam. The group set up a pit to trap the White Gorilla.


Why you should lift with your knees not your back...

That night, the White Gorilla doesn’t trip the trap.


I have too much pride to dance for bananas.
Pam spots her hairy beau and promptly freaks out. Harry thinks she was dreaming.

Pam puts the movies on Bishop. Max walks in on them and starts a fight with Bishop. Harry stops it and threatens to have Bishop arrested if he even talks to Pam.

Everyone rushes to the trap and finds a regular gorilla tripped it. They let it go.

Pierre, Max, and some other dudes plot on getting some gold. They tie up Harry and the others. The mutineers promise to leave supplies behind if the captives don’t try to follow them. Max takes Pam with him.

Later, Bishop frees himself and Harry and the others. It turns out Bishop is an undercover agent that has been trailing Pierre for suspicion of killing a group of miners. They head after the goons. The White Ape follows, too.

The mutineers reach the river. Pierre won’t leave the supplies. Pam runs off. Max starts to realize what he’s done and follow her but is shot by Pierre for his trouble. The White Gorilla attacks Pierre and later grabs Pam.

That night, the White Gorilla is carrying Pam. The next day, Bishop and the others are still tracking to rescue Pam.

The White Gorilla charges at a stock footage lion. Pam tries to escape but is easily recaptured. A regular gorilla attacks the White Gorilla. Bishop and the others finally catch up to Pam and watch the battle.

The White Gorilla kills the regular gorilla. Bishop wounds it.

Later the White Gorilla is in a cage to be taken to London. Harry thinks how the world will marvel at the fact of a highly intelligent gorilla will change the world while Pam is mourning with Bishop by swapping saliva.


What I say:

Today's soundtrack suggestion is Ray Steven's song, Harry, the Hairy Ape

Hollywood is known for milking an idea dry and then rendering the residual components into dust they can use, too. While a number of Tarzan-styled movies came out whether they were direct sequels or cheap ripoffs. With the studios and their jungle sets, coming up with B movie styled plots was pretty easy. An expedition is sent to search for a lost tribe, artifact, etc runs into a hostile tribe as they trek through the savage jungle. A few changes can make a number of jungle movies not seem totally identical.

Gather around children, let SideOrderOfNinjas tell you a story. There was a time that any guy in Hollywood with a gorilla suit could make enough money from just popping up in movies such as Ape and Apeman. That's part of why Ro-Man in Robot Monster was a gorilla suit with a diving helmet. From the 1930s to the 1950s, the man in the gorilla suit was pretty common for movies as long as the jungle movies lived. But as the jungle movies died down, it became less necessary to need the man in the gorilla suit.

We can tell that this movie was made decades ago from it ending with the gorilla being captured and going to be taken to be studied. A later movie would either end with the gorilla dying free or escaping back into the wilderness with someone explaining how some things aren't to be known by modern man. Obviously, you can tell this movie was made before the kernel of intelligent design was in anyone's heads.

King Kong gave us Kong obsessed with Fay Wray. Obviously, we have the stalker-version of a Beauty and the Beast vibe for the White Gorilla following Pam. A cartoon would have had some sort of cupid shooting an arrow at the gorilla to expalin why he keeps follow and watching Pam the rest of the movie. Sure there has to be some sort of Freudian animal complex with why gorillas are obsessed with screaming women.

Jungle movies just have the random bits of stock footage normally a character pointing away and then cutting to seeing a hippo in a nearby river. A couple of other animal shots like seeing some antelope or a lion on the plain normally is enough. A few shots of animals normally gives the feel of a big budget or at least something better than the typical jungle adventure movie.

Discussing love relationships in 1940s cheap jungle movies doens't make one Dr. Phil. We have Max and Pam with knowing either adversity will bring them together or drive her to the arms of Bishop who she keeps flirting with to make Max jealous. Bishop and Pam are meant to have the feisty Hepburn/Tracy type of relationship. Unfortunately, them being in a movie called White Gorilla isn't exactly a glowing reference for the aforementioned Hepburn/Tracy relationship. Pam's action drive Max into joining the mutineers and only realizing too late what he's done which allows him to pay with his life. Normally, actions like that will let the giant rabbits free to rampage the American SouthWest in Night of the Lepus



2 1/2 NINJAS

Quotable Dialogue

"You forgot I was born on a safari..."
"It takes more than a shave to make a gentleman."
"I can't say I blame the old, probably has a good reason."
"That old boy's Caucasian."


Morals of the Story

All natives must dance around fires.
Panama hats are very popular in Africa.
Explorers carry church bells.
Gorillas use clubs for weapons.


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