8-533: Darkest Africa (1936) is a Republic movie serial . This was the first serial produced by Republic Pictures and was a loose sequel to a Mascot Pictures serial called The Lost Jungle , also starring Clyde Beatty . Mascot, and other companies, had been taken over in 1935 by Consolidated Film Laboratories and merged to become Republic. Producer Nat Levine was formerly the owner of Mascot Pictures. While on Safari in East Africa , Clyde Beatty runs into
16-528: A loincloth wearing boy, Baru , and his pet ape Bonga. Baru reveals that he has escaped from the lost city of Joba, King Solomon 's sacred city of the Golden Bat, but that his sister, Valerie, remains there. She was found by High Priest Dagna as a child and declared to be Joba's goddess as part of his quest for power. Her escape could cause a revolt among the city's citizens. Clyde agrees to help Baru rescue Valerie and they set out to Joba, through
24-403: A "picturesque example." Darkest Africa' s official release date is 15 February 1936, although this is actually the date the seventh chapter was made available to film exchanges. A 73-minute feature film version, created by editing the serial footage together, was released on 21 May 1936. Darkest Africa was first re-released under the title of King of Jungleland , on 10 November 1948, between
32-543: The Lydecker brothers . Darkest Africa contained the first use of the flying special effects that Republic would go on to use in future serials, such as the acclaimed Adventures of Captain Marvel . This serial also showcased examples of the studio's model work that would be one of the factors in its future reputation and success. The destruction of the lost city in the final chapter is particularly highlighted by Cline as
40-452: The Valley of Lost Souls. Meanwhile, the unscrupulous Durkin and Craddock notice the green diamond Baru is wearing and follow them to plunder the city for similar jewels. Dagna receives word of the heroes approach from his bat-men and makes plans to stop them. Darkest Africa was budgeted at $ 107,281 although the final negative cost was $ 119,343 (a $ 12,062, or 11.2%, overspend). It was
48-472: The first runs of Adventures of Frank and Jesse James and Federal Agents vs. Underworld, Inc . The name change was to conform to Republic's successful tradition of using the "King of..." naming format. Darkest Africa was one of several Republic serials re-released for television in 1966. It was again retitled, this time as Batmen of Africa , to capitalize on the Batman craze of the time. This version
56-399: The most expensive Republic serial of 1936. It was filmed between 29 November and 28 December 1935 under the working title Dark Continent . The serial's production number was 416. Over all sixty-six Republic serials, however, this was the third cheapest per chapter (it cost $ 7,956.20 on average to produce each of the 15 chapters in the serial). The special effects are by John T. Coyle and
64-428: Was cut down to 100-minutes in length. Cline wrote of this serial, that "some of the finest photography of Beatty's animal training techniques ever seen were numbered in this production." He criticizes the performance of Prival as Dagna as less than nothing, consisting of "rapid, shrill delivery of lines in a monotone." Prival's only redeeming quality is a "mean and treacherous cast to his features." Source: This
#488511