Nabonga

Black and white horror movies love to use primates. Nabonga is at least an appropriate setting being a jungle adventure picture with a gorilla that behaves in a somewhat (I feel I should emphasize *somewhat*) natural fashion. Sure it's still a murderous gorilla, but at least this time it's because he protecting something not because he has some silly vendetta or evil scheme.

Doreen's father is a criminal on the run. As he attempts to escape the authorities his plane crashes in the jungle. Doreen grows up in the wild with a gorilla protector. She becomes known as the “white witch” to the natives as she seems to have a supernatural control over her gorilla protector.

Ray is the son of the man swindled by Doreen's father as a banker in charge of the valuables belonging to others. Ray's family has been ruined by accusations of collusion with the crook. He intends to recover the stolen valuables and return them to the rightful owners to clear his family name. When he finds Doreen she likes him, but she has no concept of right and wrong believing the plunder to be rightfully hers, after all her father told her so.

Meanwhile, some other American explorers have gotten wind of Ray having a bead on some treasure. They set out to take it for themselves. While Ray struggles with how to get the valuables back without getting mauled by a huge gorilla, the villains plot the demise of them all.

It's an amusing if not very believable movie. The interaction between Ray and Doreen made me smile and even chuckle a few times. I expected the gorilla to be annoying simply because I have grown tired of the use of them, but I didn't come away feeling bothered. It's a little closer to a story like King Kong than The Monster Maker.

Doreen does not look at all like a girl who has grown up amongst wild animals. She seems to have mighty good hygiene out in the savage lands. Her hair is too pretty, and her dress, while having a jungle motif, still looks like a movie star gown rather than something sewn together with whatever a girl stranded in the jungle might be able to scrape together. Her vocabulary is limited but not to the extent I expected. I guess this can be explained by having her father around for part of her life in the wilderness.

Speaking of her father, the DVD description is wrong about Doreen being the only survivor of the plane crash. Her father's fate is a mystery that is never explained. We know something happened to him – nothing else, but he did survive the crash and lived with Doreen in the jungle for some unknown period of time.

Other than Ray and Doreen's amusing interactions I found most of the acting dull and unconvincing. The early stages of the plot are very confusing. We need a better introduction to Ray, or if they wanted to save that for a later revelation, more time spent with the villains to develop them into characters we can follow. For a while there we only know some white explorers are hunting the white witch, but why they are interested is a mystery – one that is confusing rather than intriguing. Once we get a better idea of who the men are the story and their motives clear up, but it needn't have been that convoluted in the first place.

MORALITY:

As with many black and white movies this is a very tame movie. There is no sex, nudity, or strong language. A modern movie might have shown a jungle woman in a state of undress, but this one keeps her clothed at all times. The violence almost always happens off screen. Typically we hear a gorilla growl followed by a scream and later see some legs sticking out of the brush.

SPIRITUALITY:

A character with no concept of right and wrong is interesting. She has no malice in her heart but can't see Ray's position and why returning the stolen good to their rightful owners would be a good thing. These things are hers because she was told as such; that's all she knows.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

I don't dislike the movie, but neither am I very impressed. It is just interesting enough to keep me from getting bored even if it isn't done well enough to actually draw me in.

#Nabonga