La Maîtresse du Désert

An expedition in the Mideast seeks Tablets of Hippocrates with medical secrets. It is not much of a spoiler to say it is the cure for cancer-kind of amusing in giving a modern twist to Hippocrates. The expedition is led by Professor Campbell (Forbes Murray) and Dr. Larry Grayson (Clayton Moore). Nyoka Gordon (Kay Aldridge) is roped in; like her father, she can translate the papyrus giving its location, but her father was lost on a previous expedition (and there are twists). They are opposed by the sexy villainess Vultura (Lorna Gray), who has Arab sidekicks in Cassib (Charles Middleton) and his brigands, all with selfish ambitions. They are played by white actors. Also among the good guys is an Italian double agent, Count Torrini (Tristram Coffin), pretending to be one of them but working for Vultura.

Having the plot focused on a tablet, a papyrus, translation of ancient languages, and treasure gives this serial a real aura of Arabic mystery and intrigue. There are temples, tents, and wide open spaces, with frequent horseback and car (even chariot) chases, enough to give a sense of limited dialogue. Black and white embellish the mystical atmosphere.

As each chapter ends, one or more protagonists are in danger, which they get out of at the beginning of the next one. In contrast to a close sporting event, this movie is a cliffhanger literally-many scenes have people dangling from cliffs or threatened by or threatened inside them. People constantly face up against the fire of guns and of flames, wind, falls into pits, spikes, dynamite, bridge sabotage, and falling boulders or concrete. Nyoka in particular is often tied up by the bad guys. There are many daring escapes.

Whereas the gun firing can involve the good guys more broadly, the many fight scenes (fists, swords, throwing, jumping, grabbing, rolling) mostly involve Larry and Nyoka mixing it up with the villains; they are the central focus, the prime movers. Moore may be no Bruce Lee, but he often fights many at one time. The viewer will wonder if he has more fistfights here than in all the episodes of The Lone Ranger series put together, or maybe all his films? With lots of deft strikes, dodging, rolling around, and rendering unsuccessful the villains' efforts to grab and capture her, Nyoka holds her own and Larry rescues her when she is in trouble.

Nyoka and Vultura are both very pretty. Nyoka is more noteworthy for her athleticism and Vultura for her evil sexiness. As a femme fatale villainess, Vultura is up there with Fiona Volpe in Thunderball in my book (and the pronunciation on Vol and Vul is the same!) Beautiful face combined with sexy legs and a turban. Nyoka and Vultura have a number of good catfights for viewers to enjoy.

Not to forget, Nyoka is assisted by her capable German Shepherd Fang and Vultura by her menacing gorilla Satan. Aside from Fang, Red Davis's (Billy Benedict) monkey Jitters also performs heroic actions for the good guys.

Nyoka and the Tigermen is action-packed, exotic, fast-moving, captivating, and without any dull moments. I highly recommend it.

I miss Clayton Moore. Really. He stars in this Republic serial with Kay Aldridge (another pre-Lara Croft) and does a wonderful job. The plot makes a lot of sense this time. It concerns an American doctor (Moore) who ventures to what looks like a Middle-Eastern country in search of tablets written by Hippocrates that provide a cure for cancer. He meets Nyoka Gordon,(played by Aldridge) who is pitted against Hollywood dust storms, a man in a gorilla suit, funky armpits (when she goes mano-y-mano with the villains in some dirty fighting) and in nasty climactic tussles with Vultura (beautiful Lorna Gray) - and these ain't no hair-pullin' catfights, guys! Republic's stuntwomen were just as tough as the men if not tougher. Vultura and her henchmen do everything in their evil power to stop Nyoka and her handsome hero from getting the tablets, which also lead to a bountiful treasure. During the action Nyoka is even reunited with her long-lost father who is a ruler of some sort. There's even brain surgery going on in one cave while a fight takes place in the next. Hmmm, wonder what would OSHA would've thought of that? Talk about professionalism among the staff! I've heard of office conflicts but this is ridiculous! Seriously, though, this is a good film and well-made. The plot makes sense, the action is good, and it's very easy to follow. It's available as part of Republic's serial collection. Compared to some of the garbage called movie entertainment thrown at us today, I'll take a Republic serial any day.

Members of the serial generation view these re-released DVDs in a different light. We took them no more or less seriously than a new generation takes Indiana Jones or 007, characters we immediately immediately recognized as contemporary clones. I have no idea why the title was changed as it doesn't fit. I rate this serial as one of Republic's ten best. Its soundtrack music is first rate and helps overcome a setting which even as kids we knew was north Los Angeles County. But the search for golden tablets by good guys, bad guys, wicked queens and axis spies is simple ground breaking for Indiana Jones. It is a matter of taste how or if you enjoy the various animals that belong to both sides. As kids we thought them a novel touch.

I've had the pleasure of meeting both of these ladies at nostalgia film festivals. I was sitting with Kay Aldridge in the viewing room when they ran a chapter of Daredevils of the West in which she co-starred with Allan "Rocky" Lane. Kay gave out with a shriek at the appropriate time as her screen image was about to go over a cliff in a runaway wagon. Adrian told me the story of how Kay was tied up and hanging in mid-air during a scene from "Nyoka" They had her standing on a box for the close-up shot and then took the box away for the long shot. Kay looked up to the heavens and said "Oh Lord, send me a man right away." Of course it got a laugh from the crew. I don't know how old she was at the time of "Nyoka," but when she didn't report to work one day, director Bill Witney discovered that she had chicken pox.Kay had a rather sophisticated way of talking which may have detracted some from her athletic character role, but she did make three serials for Republic. She later married a millionaire and moved to Maine, but did make some festival appearances.

Typical Republic action serial. Stuntman Dave Sharpe is clearly visible in fight scenes involving Clayton Moore. There is a slight facial resemblance from a distance, but Sharpe was smaller in build than Moore. William Whitney, the director, was a master at staging fights, chases and "cliffhangers."