Adventures of Captain Africa Mighty Jungle Avenger!
1955 film by Spencer Gordon Bennet
- June 9, 1955 (1955-06-09)
Running time
(15 episodes)
The Adventures of Captain Africa is a 1955 adventure serial film directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet and starring John Hart.
Plot
Trapper Nat Coleman and government agent Ted Arnold come upon a plot to take over an African nation. Its leader, Caliph Abdul el Hamid, has been exiled from his country and replaced by a look-alike usurper allied with an unnamed foreign power. The Caliph intends to return but enemy agents Boris and Greg are out to stop him. Captain Africa, a masked jungle lord, appears occasionally to aid Nat and Ted.
Cast
- John Hart as Captain Africa
- Rick Vallin as Ted
- Ben Welden as Omar
- June Howard as Princess Rhoda
- Bud Osborne as Nat Coleman
- Paul Marion as Hamid
- Lee Roberts as Boris
Production
The Adventures of Captain Africa was conceived and filmed as a sequel to The Phantom (starring Tom Tyler).[1][2] Well into production, Columbia found that its screen rights to the comic strip had expired. King Features wanted more money than producer Sam Katzman was willing to spend, and negotiations broke down.[3]
Katzman ordered a rewrite, and new scenes showed John Hart now wearing an amended costume that only used part of the original Phantom outfit, with the addition of a leather aviator's cap and riding breeches.[3] The revised story featured a new hero, Captain Africa, who still bears a strong resemblance to the Phantom in both appearance and behavior.
The Adventures of Captain Africa consists mostly of stock footage from earlier serials Jungle Menace (1937), The Desert Hawk (1944), and The Phantom (1943) itself. Footage from The Phantom was reduced when this stopped being a sequel. Each of the 15 chapters uses only a few minutes of new material.[3]
Producer Katzman was well known for his thrift and shortcuts.[1] Serial producers often economized by including a "cheater" chapter, in which flashbacks to earlier chapters are shown instead of new scenes. The Adventures of Captain Africa uses four cheaters among its 15 chapters. The frequent recaps were possibly necessitated by the hasty rewrites during production.
The Adventures of Captain Africa was Columbia's last jungle serial.[4]
Release
The serial was released on VHS, and on DVD from a company called Serial Bowl, which specialized in movie serials.
Critical reception
Serial historian William C. Cline writes that The Adventures of Captain Africa is "an obvious remake of The Phantom, it contained many stock shots from the earlier release and at times seemed almost like a repeat run."[4]
Chapter titles
- Mystery Man of the Jungle!
- Captain Africa to the Rescue!
- Midnight Attack!
- Into the Crocodile Pit!
- Jungle War Drums!
- Slave Traders!
- Saved by Captain Africa!
- The Bridge in the Sky! -- Re-Cap Chapter
- Blasted by Captain Africa! -- Re-Cap Chapter
- The Vanishing Princess!
- The Tunnel of Terror! -- Re-Cap Chapter
- Fangs of the Beast!
- Renegades at Bay! -- Re-Cap Chapter
- Captain Africa and the Wolf Dog!
- Captain Africa's Final Move!
Source:[5]
See also
References
- ^ a b Wollstein, Hans J. "Adventures of Captain Africa (1955)". The New York Times. Archived from the original on April 11, 2008. Retrieved 2011-02-28.
- ^ Photos of Hart as the Phantom
- ^ a b c Harmon, Jim; Donald F. Glut (1973). "10. The Long-Underwear Boys "You've Met Me, Now Meet My Fist!"". The Great Movie Serials: Their Sound and Fury. Routledge. pp. 270–271. ISBN 978-0-7130-0097-9.
- ^ a b Cline, William C. (1984). "3. The Six Faces of Adventure". In the Nick of Time. McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 36. ISBN 0-7864-0471-X.
- ^ Cline, William C. (1984). "Filmography". In the Nick of Time. McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 257. ISBN 0-7864-0471-X.
External links
- Adventures of Captain Africa Mighty Jungle Avenger! at IMDb
- Adventures of Captain Africa Mighty Jungle Avenger! at AllMovie
- v
- t
- e
(1937–1941)
- Jungle Menace
- The Mysterious Pilot
- The Secret of Treasure Island
- The Great Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok
- The Spider's Web
- Flying G-Men
- Mandrake the Magician
- Overland with Kit Carson
- The Shadow
- Terry and the Pirates
- Deadwood Dick
- The Green Archer
- White Eagle
- The Spider Returns
- The Iron Claw
- Holt of the Secret Service
(1942–1945)
- Captain Midnight
- Perils of the Royal Mounted
- The Secret Code
- The Valley of Vanishing Men
- Batman
- The Phantom
- The Desert Hawk
- Black Arrow
- Brenda Starr, Reporter
- The Monster and the Ape
(1945–1956)
- Jungle Raiders
- Who's Guilty?
- Hop Harrigan
- Chick Carter, Detective
- Son of the Guardsman
- Jack Armstrong
- The Vigilante
- The Sea Hound
- Brick Bradford
- Tex Granger
- Superman
- Congo Bill
- Bruce Gentry
- Batman and Robin
- Adventures of Sir Galahad
- Cody of the Pony Express
- Atom Man vs. Superman
- Pirates of the High Seas
- Roar of the Iron Horse
- Mysterious Island
- Captain Video
- King of the Congo
- Blackhawk
- Son of Geronimo
- The Lost Planet
- The Great Adventures of Captain Kidd
- Gunfighters of the Northwest
- Riding with Buffalo Bill
- Adventures of Captain Africa Mighty Jungle Avenger!
- Perils of the Wilderness
- Blazing the Overland Trail
