reptilicus

At some time in studio boardroom had to have said "Let's put those 2 guys that played Tarzan together in one movie. This idea will sell itself to the distributors." He was probably right because SWAMP FIRE is a decently made, well paced movie that does not disappoint viewers.

Johnny Weissmuller starts as Johnny Duval, a war hero returning to his bayou home. He lost a ship he was in command of during the war and vows he will not take up his old position as bar pilot. This does not at all bother his old rival Mike (Buster Crabbe sporting a mustache and a Cajun accent) who sees this as a chance to make time with Johnny's old sweetheart Toni (Carol Thurston, who also appeared with Weissmuller in the Jungle Jim movie KILLER APE (1951)). Too bad but Toni only has eyes for Johnny. To make matters worse a spoiled rich girl (Virgina Grey) has set her sights on Johnny and coerces her dad (Pierre Watkin) to buy up a lot of bayou land and outlaw all trapping, which means the local folks can no longer hunt to feed their families. Is that enough plot for you? Wait, there is a lot more to come, and somehow it all fits into the 68 minutes running time without any of the resolutions seeming like a plot contrivance.

Johnny faces his demons while navigating rough waters one night but just when you think things are going to start going well he is piloting another ship through a dense fog and rams a smaller boat captained by Toni's father! Trying to drink himself to oblivion he is found Ms. Grey who uses this opportunity to poison his mind against Toni. Does it work? Does it ever? Don't forget the jealous Mike is still hanging around and think Johnny has sold out his own people to join the yacht club crowd. He plans a revenge where he plans to . . . oh well . . . you saw the title of the movie, right?

The cast is fabulous. Pierre Watkin had played Perry White in both SUPERMAN serials for Columbia Pictures. Ms. Grey would go on to encounter dinosaurs in UNKNOWN ISLAND in 1948. Mr. Crabbe found a home in B westerns and Mr. Weissmuller never really leave the jungle; starring as Jungle Jim in movies and TV for many years to come.

Budget restraints are pretty obvious. This movie must set a record for the number of rear screen projection shots used but it is still fairly believable and fun to watch.

To me this is one of the best of the Post-WW2 Popeye cartoons. Olive Oyl and Bluto have joined the zoot suit generation which bugs the sailor somewhat because he has brought stuff to Olive's house for, as he says it, "A real old fashinged party" while she expects to "Boing and bop and blow our top." When Bluto shows up in his saddle shoes and pencil mustache Popeye refers to him as a "male booby-soxer" but Olive is attracted to the swing dancer piano playing muscle man; well she is for the first half of the cartoon anyway.

This is a great musical cartoon with much of the dialog in rhyme (similar to the 1934 Three Stooges short WOMAN HATERS). In other cartoons Popeye admits to being 40 but this time there seems to be a generation gap between him and his comrades. Olive ridicules his "antique antics" but when Bluto goes overboard she is quick to yell for Popeye to rescue her. And oh the magic of spinach! This time out the sailor man not only gets super strong but super cool as well.

There was a semi remake of this cartoon in 1960 called "Coffee House". In that one Olive and Bluto had joined the Beat Generation and spend most of the show show sipping espresso. Bluto even composes a poem to an onion! It is fair to give both of them a chance not only for the fun but to compare the similarities.

I wonder if anyone would ever remember this movie today were it not for the presence of a young Bela Lugosi in the role of Chingachgook the Native American pal of the hero. (In a case of Life's Little Ironies this very same year found Boris Karloff also playing a Native American in the American made film LAST OF THE MOHICANS which starred Wallace Beery.)

To give credit where it is due, this German made film is remarkably well photographed with the European countryside subbing nicely for the American Northeast. A great deal of action takes place at "the castle" of Old Tom Hutter. To be safe from Indian attacks he built his home on a raft and anchored in the middle of a lake! While at first this seems like a great idea we later see it has its drawbacks too because if you do get attacked (which happens more than one in this 59 minute movie) there is no place to run. The actors, while quite obviously Teutonic, do their jobs well and are never less than convincing. Emil Mamelok is quite good as Deerslayer and Herta Hayden as the woman he loves . . . well . . . sort of loves anyway, is very good. Bela is remarkably effective in the role of Chingachgook. He is the personification of stoicism as he hardly ever changes his facial expression no matter what is happening around him.

Now about what I said about this movie not being the best. There are some racial slurs against American Indians that are downright insulting. Granted, this novel was written a long time ago and they only reflect the attitudes of people at that time but is that any excuse to perpetuate racial intolerance via the media of film? More than once a character named Hurry Harry remarks "Them Injuns may be men but they ain't hu-men!" And our hero himself remarks to the Iroquois chief, "I am a white man. You cannot know what it means to be a white man. I will marry no Indian." That almost had me turning the movie off. Did I mention that I myself happen to be an American Indian? Well I am, and very proud of it.

For the sake of film history it is a good thing that this movie, even in its current truncated form, still exists. For the sake of Bela Lugosi's fans it is also good that some of his silent films, particularly the ones made in Europe, still exist. It is nothing less than miraculous that they survived 2 world wars while locked away in studio vaults. Should you see this movie? Yes! Will I ever see it again? No.