Perils of Nyoka (1942)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

William Witney

Writers:

Ronald Davidson (writer)
Norman S. Hall (writer)

Release Date:

27 June 1942 (USA)

Genre:

Action

Plot:

It's intrepid Nyoka and her friends versus Vultura, Queen of the Desert, on a quest for the Golden Tablets of Hippocrates.

Plot Keywords:

Beautiful Woman | Serial

Cast

Kay Aldridge	...	Nyoka Gordon
Clayton Moore	...	Dr. Larry Grayson
Lorna Gray	...	Vultura
Charles Middleton	...	Cassib
William 'Billy' Benedict	...	Red Davis (as William Benedict)
Forbes Murray	...	Prof. Douglas Campbell
George Pembroke	...	John Spencer
Tristram Coffin	...	Benito Torrini [Chs.1-10]
Robert Strange	...	Prof. Henry Gordon [Chs. 4-15]
Kenne Duncan	...	Abu, expedition headman (as Kenneth Duncan)
Georges Renavent	...	Maghreb, Vultura's high priest [Chs.1-4,7,9,15] (as George Renavent)
John Davidson	...	Lhoba, Tuareg high priest [Chs.4-7,12-13]
Ken Terrell	...	Ahmed, Arab henchman
George J. Lewis	...	Batan, Arab henchman (as George Lewis)
Art Dupuis	...	Hassan, Arab henchman

Also Known As:

Nyoka and the Lost Secrets of Hippocrates
Nyoka and the Tigermen (USA) (reissue title)

Runtime:

261 min (15 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Finland:K-12

Filming Locations:

Corriganville, Ray Corrigan Ranch, Simi Valley, California, USA

Company:

Republic Pictures (I)

Trivia:

Chapter Titles: 1. Desert Intrigue, 2. Death's Chariot, 3. Devil's Crucible, 4. Ascending Doom, 5. Fatal Second, 6. Human Sacrifice, 7. Monster's Clutch, 8. Tuareg Vengeance, 9. Burned Alive, 10. Treacherous Trail, 11. Unknown Peril, 12. Underground Tornado, 13. Thundering Death, 14. Blazing Barrier, 15. Satan's Fury

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Mechanic (1972)

Star Wars Done Right

I'm beginning to understand that movies carry themselves into our minds in different ways.

Some movies have their experience centered on the time when you are actually watching it. Many movies have greater impact in their memory. Its after you leave the theater that the thing really seeps in.

Some movies are carried by the idea behind them. We acknowledge the idea and let the movie wash by us unless it announces how bad it is. But there's another mode that I'm trying to understand, an interest that started when the final (episode 3) Star Wars entry was imminent.

Serials afford us a means to have the effect of the movie suspended between episodes, which makes it more likely that the elements of the thing will merge with or be incorporated in our lives. So I've been studying serials.

Some of these are the most important film experiences you will ever have, from "Phantom Empire" to the TeeVee "miniseries" of "Singing Detective," and for some "Decalog". In between are all manner of beasts. All happen to be more close to archetypes than their one- shot brethren. All happen to employ smaller plot elements but because of the repetition, some can build layer upon layer of density.

Of the seven of eight serials I've been watching is this one. It has no intrinsic cinematic interest, but it the most fun to watch of any I've seen. Incidentally, I think you really need to watch these episodes on different days.

This features low production values, mostly cheesy acting and trite plot lines. But we routinely forgive this (we did with "Star Wars") if the overarching notions stick.

We have the good and bad women, both far closer to pure archetype than real character. The good girl seeks to rescue her father and retrieve an ancient writing with great power to help humanity. The bad girl seeks the same ancient thing but only for riches (and personal power). The struggle between these two is reflective of the same struggle in the minds of filmmakers. They can seek and utilize ancient archetypes for artistic or hedonistic ends.

Having two ripe young women struggle over this, with Egyptian and film Western trappings is about as pure as it gets. This serial is notable in that things actually happen in each segment rather than having the good guys get in precarious situations. In this case, as in the Star Wars saga, the father is captured by the dark side, threatens the group and is deprogrammed back to the good. Also as in Star Wars, there's a guy in a gorilla costume.

The key trick here is how often you think about the thing between watchings. Now that's cinema. It has devolved in modern times to less profound TeeVee formulas. After all, the purpose of these old serials was to engage you in a cinematic life, to subtly convince you to shell out your weekly 25 cents for the film experience.

TeeVee exploitation of the phenomenon is merely to sell stuff unrelated to the life in film.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.