White Pongo

This movie for some reason isn't as popular as Plan 9 and Robot Monster, but it's really good (in a bad way).

The whole film is a waste of your time. You got a stupid storyline - an albino gorilla running around the jungle terrorizing people. You got scientist trying to stop the havoc. Then there's the horrible monkey suit and dialogue. Yes, it's one of the worst! Watch it!

One of many Poverty Row jungle films, this has to be one of the truly "so bad it's good" films of its era. A Chief Native Bearer named "Mumbo Jumbo" -- addressed by the other actors with a straight face! Pongo is a white gorilla, and one of the natives points to the ground and cries, "B'wana! B'wana! Pongo tracks!" Normal gorillas leave recognizably different tracks? Pressing through the jungle on their trek, they pass the same tree multiple times.

I have a copy of the film on videotape. One of my favorite scenes was edited out of the print it was made from. The hero and heroine are drifting down the river on a boat. They're sitting in the moonlight, and Pongo is following the boat in the jungle, making quite a racket as he snaps small trees, hurls aside boulders, and rustles through the underbrush, to keep up with the boat. He's framed by the profiles of the hero and heroine, in the background. The hero looks deeply into the heroine's eyes and says, dreamily, "Quiet out here in the river, isn't it?" I hope the DVD has that one left in.

This is not a great film, and all of its humorous scenes are intended to be serious. But because of that, it's a fun film.

White Pongo isn't a bad movie. The problem is, it isn't a good one either. The acting is adequate but the story moves very slowly. The slight twists and turns of the movie are not enough to bring some much needed excitement to the production. I thought that the costume for the white ape was actually pretty good but the ape wasn't used to the full extent that it was capable of playing. I would have to say that White Pongo is a not so exciting adventure movie, partly a romantic story and a very small part mystery movie. My review would have to be that it is not good, not bad but a so so movie. If you do watch the movie, don't expect too much and you won't be disappointed. If you don't watch it, you didn't miss much.

This is another story of a jungle expedition that runs across a legendary white ape that may or may not be the missing link. There has got to be five or six of these films floating around in the film vaults and everyone of them is a turkey or a close cousin.

The problem here, as in almost every jungle movie, is that the gorillas look like what they are, men in suits. Worse if the fact that the suits are absolutely terrible and so unconvincing that anyone watching it is going to laugh rather than scream.

This movie isn't too terrible, and is actually okay if you have a love of bad movies, especially ones that you can talk back to and make fun of. As these things go its not a movie that I' search out, but it is one that I'd put on if I was in need of some unintentional laughs.

This is the kind of film that kids will enjoy and does not contain a lot of violence. The setting looked good with a lot of jungle greenery and men in gorilla suits. There is actually a plot to this thing. I would have rather had the plot revolve around looking for and trying to capture a rare white gorilla than looking for a white ape that they suppose to be the 'missing link',,,but I guess the 'link' bit adds something(??). Check out the filmography of Wrixen and Fraser, the native safari guide named, believe it or not..Mumbo Jumbo, they were accomplished actors and played in many notable films. White Pongo is not bad but not good either. There is decent character development and a slight surprise near the end. Ape gets girl, ape looses girl, guy gets girl. Happy ending. Good clean fun.