Sabaka

Gunga Ram, a boy in the employ of a maharajah vows revenge against the cult of Sabaka, the god of fire. The cult had burned his older sister and her husband alive in their home in order to help win converts.

Set in India, with a cast made up of entirely Hollywood vets, it was supposedly shot in India, its more dress up day at the back lot rather than a real shot on location film. Clearly much of the film, the animal and travelogue sort of stuff was shot on location, however I doubt any of the name actors stuff was.

The cast is for the most part is wasted in their small roles. Reginald Denny as a British Lord basically sits in a chair and watches a parade, top billed Boris Karloff plays a disapproving general, and while he's very good in his scenes has a role that means nothing to the proceedings. Only Victor Jory and June Foray as the heads of the fire cult have anything to do. (And its nice to have more than just Ms Foray's voice to keep us entertained.) The movie itself is okay. An unremarkable adventure for kids, its the sort of thing I could have seen my parents dropping me off at on a Saturday afternoon when I was a kid.Its not particularly scary, actually its not particularly anything, it just sort of is. It doesn't help that after an involving first third, where we meet all the characters and have a good number of possible plots set up, the film shifts gears and becomes primarily interested in the revenge story. This would be okay if it wasn't the only thing going on, but as the sole focus of the film its not enough to sustain the last 45 minutes to an hour.

An okay time killer this would be worth seeing if a decent, unfaded and worn print could be found. Its a good example of what family films used to be (and why they went out of favor). Frankly if it wasn't for the stars this film would have been lost to time.

5 out of 10.

Being a Boris Karloff fan, this was like finding a rare old coin, including expecting a few flaws. My impression is that this is fairly obscure. He must have been on a working-vacation in India 'cause his part is supportive. Others in the cast, too, are recognizable, albeit out-of-place. The premise is that a maharaja is caring for an orphaned teen of lower caste. The youngster's pregnant, married older sister and her husband are among those killed by perps intending to broaden fear in the name of fire idol, Sabaka. You see, the cult's ringleaders accept enrichment from the intimidated, in exchange for protection from the wrath of Sabaka. The youth accurately exposes the hierarchy, but, his finger-pointing is so wishy-washy that the maharaja and police (Karloff) are upset with the kid and do not detain the accused. Therefore, the boy embarks on a jungle journey in pursuit of the bad guys, himself. There are obligatory - and mediocre - animal scenes. This film evidences the importance of religion in India (in 1954, anyway). The color in the flick that I saw, was poor. All-in-all, a bag mixed with pros-and-cons.

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.

I only watched this film due to Boris Karloff's presence; however, I don't know why he even bothered as his supporting role here gives him precious little to do! Still, this juvenile Indian adventure is harmless enough - and mercifully short. Despite being filmed on location, it's pretty obvious that most of its jungle sequences featuring wild animals are actually stock footage! I have to say, though, that for a kiddie film it's unusually mean-spirited: animals and human beings alike get burned alive, while Victor Jory as one of the members of a fire-worshipping cult is cruelly dispatched by his high priestess (played by June Foray, more familiar to film and TV buffs as a voice artist in animation, and the only one who manages to enter into the spirit of the thing) by leading him straight into the grip of a deadly cobra! By the way, the lead character is named Gunga Ram (I wonder how they ever came up with that one?)!!

SABAKA appears to be a feature version of the "Gunga" adventures that were featured on a children's show, hosted first by Ed McConnell and later by Andy Devine. I am only familiar with the Devine episodes, which were called ANDY'S GANG. Devine took over in 1955 after the death of McConnell, who had created the show for radio in the late 40s and brought it to TV.

The show is best remembered for its puppet characters, especially Froggy the Gremlin. But each episode began with the host cracking a fat book to read stories of the adventures of "Gunga, the East Indian Elephant Boy." A ten- or fifteen-minute filmed drama ensued, featuring a lot of Indian location footage.

Nino Marcel, Vito Scoti, and Lou Krugman appeared in the same roles listed for SABAKA. Closing credits for the ANDY'S GANG (which is available on EBay etc) list Frank Ferrin as producer.