NABONGA (1944) * For whatever reason, at some point Buster Crabbe must have become tired of being Flash Gordon, and returned to his most glorious role, as Tarzan the Fearless. Kind of. That is, he at least went back into the jungle, and filmed the tiredest man-fighting-crocodile scene ever put to celluloid. So maybe it's Julie London, more, who's Tarzana, but her principal achievements in the jungle appear to be somehow imitating the effects of hairbrush and rollers, and engendering the jealousy of gorillas. One of 'em, though, London or Crabbe or someone, raided Tarzan's stock footage of agitated animals. No matter, none of it's much good. I could go on about how bad the acting it, or how absurd the plot, or why can't Crabbe even beat up that old fat guy, or isn't it remarkable how even in the jungle London manages to dress more conservatively than Madonna (whom she vaguely resembles, physically, but without Madge's infinitely superior acting talents), but I'd be wasting all of our time. The big problem isn't any of this-and the absurd gorilla suits are kind of funny-the big problem is that it's all very dull.
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