Congo Bill, roi de la jungle

Congo Bill is one of the great "Saturday Afternoon Serials" that were a treat for kids in the mid twentieth century. I have a special fondness for this adventure serial as it was my first cinema experience at age seven, when I was growing up in Fiji. With each of the fifteen episodes playing weekly on a Saturday afternoon, you had nearly four months of suspense and excitement! Congo Bill is an intrepid lion tamer and explorer attached to a circus who goes to Africa in search of a beautiful girl who is a possible heir to the circus fortune. He has heard rumours about a mythical White Queen living in the Congo and wants to find out if there is any basis in fact to this story. The steamy, humid, tropical atmosphere of the Congo is well captured at the ramshackle "Green Parrot Inn" where patrons sweat while drinking cold refreshments under slowly revolving ceiling fans.

Evil doers try to dog Congo Bill's path all the way. Each episode ends with a heart stopping cliff-hanger that consumes all your curiosity and impatient expectations from week to week! Children and adults alike will love this pure escapist entertainment. I highly recommend it.

This serial is like a tightly wound spring, delivering a visceral roller-coaster ride of thrills. It is masterful pure story-telling made without artifice or self-consciousness. Each of the fifteen Chapter titles is an attention grabber and provide unadulterated enjoyment.

Oscar nominated writer Don McGuire (for "Tootsie" 1982), amply demonstrates his acting credentials as the eponymous action hero Congo Bill, wearing his emblematic pith helmet. His steely determination and resolve sees him through many tight scrapes and adventures!

Cleo Moore's feminine pulchritude is beautifully displayed in a small tight fitting dress which highlights her classic hour-glass figure. She plays the White Queen, called Lureen (from the Latin meaning "wreathed with laurel"...quite a prescient name for a Queen!). There is a constant frisson of excitement between Lureen and Congo Bill which adds to the viewer's enjoyment.

Stirring music from Mischa Bakaleinikoff heightens the tension of the film. It is a pity serials are no longer made for todays audiences. The cinema serial of our yesterdays borrows from the great tradition of certain nineteenth century writers. The inimitable Charles Dickens and fellow luminary William Makepiece Thackeray's novels were serialized as monthly "Chapters" in periodicals of the day. Serials like Congo Bill hail from noble antecedents.

A menacing and terrifying gorilla features prominently in several of the episodes providing thrills particularly to younger members of the audience. Watch this serial and you will be rewarded with white knuckle twists and turns!

Congo Bill provides everything one wants in an adventure serial. It gives the viewer dramatic tension, cliff hangers, suspense and very well drawn characterizations. Each of the fifteen episodes runs for twenty minutes so you get five hours of rock solid entertainment. Great value for your buck! Don McGuire is great as the fearless Congo Bill and Cleo Moore, the White Queen is very beautiful and eye catching.

The authoritative voice of the narrator at the beginning and end of each chapter sounds like a Walter Cronkite or Tom Brokaw and his senatorial tone adds gravitas to the unfolding storyline. The minor characters are excellent too. The haughty and taciturn Cameron, world weary philosopher of life Doctor Greenway, arrogant and dismissive Andre Bocar, buffoon Ivan, bumbling licensee Kleeg and Kahla (Congo Bill's young sidekick and personal gun bearer) promotes authenticity with his broken English patois. The Witchdoctor's headdress featuring wild animal horns strikes fear and awe and makes an indelible impression (the helmet worn by Yul Brynner as Ramesses in "The Ten Commandments" made a similar imposing impression on me).

The exterior shots make the spectator feel like they are in the heart of Africa with lots of giraffes, elephants, lions and gorilla. The tension within each chapter of Congo Bill is palpable and draws you in totally. Among the pantheon of adventure serials this is a Magnum Opus.

I feel with this adventure serial , a ground breaking template was struck for such future movie blockbusters as Steven Spielberg's "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and his later film "The Temple of Doom" featuring the character Indiana Jones. Woody Allen's "The Purple Rose of Cairo" also springs to mind , where the action star is even dressed like Congo Bill. "Raiders of the Lost Ark" features many of the same white knuckle death defying near misses seen at the end of each of the fifteen chapters in Congo Bill. There is also congruity in the protagonists having geographical names : "Congo" Bill/"Indiana" Jones. A runaway boulder chasing Congo Bill and Indiana Jones in both respective movies is also strikingly similar. Also as an aside , both Congo Bill and Indiana Jones have their travels to distant locales traced by an animation of an aeroplane flying across a map.

Don McGuire plays a very convincing Congo Bill , a hero and adventurer. He would have been cheered on by scores of kids in packed movie houses back in the late forties and early fifties , myself included ! Cleo Moore as Lureen the "White Queen" is the epitome of a Love Goddess and Beauty Queen , sitting on her throne in darkest Africa. Charles King as Kleeg , proprietor of the infamous "Green Parrot Inn" is great comic relief and a pleasure to watch. I firmly believe Spielberg may have got his inspiration for the Indiana Jones movies from "Congo Bill" , if he had seen the serial as a child (from little acorns giant oak trees grow).

The "good guys" and "bad guys" in Congo Bill , indistinguishable in their pith helmets and white suits {no black and white hats here as in early cowboy movies) , are reminiscent of a bygone colonial era. Anyone lucky enough to see "Congo Bill" is in for an adrenalin charged ride ! Ten out of ten and two thumbs up!