Sabaka

This is an incredibly bad yet fascinating Technicolor adventure from United Artists and writer-producer-director Frank Ferrin in which Indian teenager Gunga Ram (Nino Marcel) works as an elephant handler for the kindly Maharajah of Bakore (Lou Krugman). When Gunga's sister is killed by member of a nefarious cult that worships the fire demon Sabaka, the young man sets out to find the cult's High Priestess (June Foray) and bring her to justice.

Amateurishly acted and filmed with all of the finesse of someone who has never seen a movie before let alone made one, this turkey is filled with unintentional humor and terrible dialogue. It would be easy to write this off as bottom of the barrel, yet there is quite a bit of nice location filming, with an authentic parade featuring ornate decorations, and elaborate temples.

There is also the once-in-a-lifetime cast of Karloff as an Indian general, Denny as a doddering old colonial governor, future TV reporter and lover of Fidel Castro Linda Howard as Gunga Ram's ill-fated sister, and June Foray, voice of Rocky the Flying Squirrel among others, in one of her few live-action movie acting roles. Be forewarned: there are some disturbing animal scenes, including what appears to be an Indian local killing a real leopard, and a tiger let loose on a live and bound water buffalo.

"Sabaka" is not a great film by any standard, though, in a pinch, it's worth watching as a time-passer. I know this is faint praise, but it's just not a movie I can strongly endorse. The only reason I decided to watch the film is that Boris Karloff was in the film, though he was generally wasted.

The film is set in India and it was nice to see that the film crew actually went to this country to film it. HOWEVER, it was also a severe disappointment that none of the folks in the film were Indians! While Karloff looked rather Indian, most of the actors simply looked like Hollywood actors painted up to look like Indians--which they were. And, in addition to having Hollywood types in the roles, the film also suffered from 'travelogue-itis'--the horrible need to film lots of native scenes and place them into the film--often at the most inappropriate times. For example, during a scene where the jungle is on fire, there is a scene involving a leopard killing some helpless animal---why?!?! What does this have to do with a forest fire?! The story is about a cult started by a couple of scum-bags. They worship the false fire god Sabaka--who is evil and full of nastiness. So it's up to a nice young Sabu-wannabe to infiltrate the gang and bring them all to justice using his trusted jungle friends. None of it is all that interesting but at least it isn't all that dull. And at least it's in color--nice, pretty color. But the story is a bit uninspired and it's just a slightly below average time-passer.

Mahout Nino Marcel attempts to seek justice when the evil worshipers of a fire demon kill his sister's family. However, his methods cause the indulgent Maharajah Lou Krugman to discipline him.

It's a very peculiar production, with some fine footage from Mysore obviously and clumsily edited into the film, with some fine actors, including Boris Karloff, Reginald Denny, Victor Jory, June Foray (in a rare physical appearance), Jay Novello, and Vito Scotti offering performances ruined by their deliberately stilted dialogue, and a plot that looks like a bad 1930s-style Hollywood Poverty Row offering. Produced independently by writer-director Frank Ferrin (best known for writing and directing a couple of episodes of Andy's Gang, it has more of an air of desperation than good fun. It's not helped by the poor print I looked at.

Forgettable costumer about an Indian (dot not feather) boy who seeks revenge on a cult. Boring time-waster with some recognizable faces in supporting roles, namely past-their-prime talent like Boris Karloff, Reginald Denny, and Victor Jory. Nice to see June Foray in a live-action role. Print I saw had very muddy colors. Nothing much to recommend about this unless you are a Karloff completist or you are having trouble falling asleep.

I saw this film Sabaka many years ago when it was featured on Andy's Gang and on the black and white TV show I remember being impressed with, especially with Nino Marcel as Gunga Ram as a second incarnation of Sabu. Seeing it now in color it looks far more impressive with the location shooting in India. But I'm now some 60 years have passed and the story itself isn't anything to write home about.

There's a new cult of the Fire God Sabaka starting in Maharajah Lou Krugman's kingdom. It's headed by Victor Jory and June Forey and they seem like a Hindu version of Isis, basically a criminal enterprise wrapped up as religion.

Marcel takes a personal interest in it after his sister Lisa Howard is killed after she and the house she was in are set on fire. Fire is the favorite form of execution by these fire god cultists. Marcel has all kinds of problems trying to get the Maharajah's attention, especially with the kingdom's military commander Boris Karloff in the way.

Karloff in that role and Reginald Denny as the local viceroy are wasted in their parts. Both have little to do with the story, Denny next to nothing.

I'd see a Sabu film first in fact I'm curious why he wasn't cast. He was doing films over at Lippert Pictures, some of them worse than Sabaka.