King of the Congo

For the 1929 Mascot serial see The King of the Kongo, and for other uses please see Congo.

King of the Congo
Directed by	Spencer Gordon Bennett Wallace Grissell
Produced by	Sam Katzman
Written by	Royal K. Cole Arthur Hoerl George H. Plympton
Starring	Buster Crabbe Gloria Dea Leonard Penn Jack Ingram Rick Vallin Nick Stuart William Fawcett Rusty Wescoatt
Music by	Mischa Bakaleinikoff
Cinematography	William Whitley
Editing by	Earl Turner
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date(s)	May 1, 1952
Running time	15 chapters (252 min)
Country	United States
Language	English - B&W
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

King of the Congo (1952) was the 48th serial released by Columbia Pictures. Based on the comic book character "Thun'Da, King of the Congo", created by Frank Frazetta.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Chapter titles 4 Filming locations 5 Sources

Plot

The film series is a complicated serial with more twists than a maze that basically centers around a U.S. Air Force captain and his quest for missing microfilm that contains vital information. The heroic Buster Crabbe plays Captain Roger Drum, who shoots down an enemy plane on its way to Africa with the secret microfilm. Intent on revealing the subversive group that the message was for, Drum assumes the pilot's identity and flies to Africa himself and crashes in the jungle. He is rescued by the pacific Rock People, led by Princess Phi (Gloria Dea), and is renamed Thunda, King of the Congo, after he rings a temple gong in alarm. With the subversives believing Thunda is their missing pilot and under constant attack by another tribe called the Cave Men, our hero plots to bring down the subversives who are searching for a new metal more radioactive than uranium. At the end, Thunda (or Drum) clear the jungle of villains and reunites the Rock People and Cave Men for well. King of the Congo also was the seventh and last serial starred by Buster Crabbe between 1933 and 1952.

Cast

• Buster Crabbe - Thunda/Cap. Roger Drum
• Gloria Dea - Princess Pha
• Leonard Penn - Boris
• Jack Ingram - Clark
• Rick Vallin - Andreov
• Nick Stuart - Degar
• William Fawcett - High Priest
• Rusty Wescoatt - Kor
• Alex Montoya - Lipah
• Frank Ellis - Ivan
• Lee Roberts - Lt. Blake
• Neyle Morrow - Nahee

Chapter titles

1. Mission of menace
2. Red shadows in the jungle
3. Into the valley of mist
4. Thunda meets his match!
5. Thunda turns the tables
6. Thunda's desperate chance
7. Thunda trapped!
8. Mission of evil
9. Menace of the magnetic rocks
10. Lair of the leopard
11. An ally from the sky
12. Riding wild!
13. Red raiders!
14. Savage vengeance!
15. Judgement of the jungle

Filming locations

• Iverson Ranch, Chatsworth, Los Angeles, California.

Sources

• Buster Crabbe filmography
• BFI - Film & TV database
• King of the Congo at the Internet Movie Database

Preceded by Captain Video: Master of the Stratosphere (1951)

Columbia Serial King of the Congo (1952)

Succeeded by Blackhawk (1952)

•  • e Columbia serials
Pre-war Serials (1937-1942)	Jungle Menace • The Mysterious Pilot • The Secret of Treasure Island • The Great Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok • The Spider's Web • Flying G-Men • Mandrake the Magician • Overland with Kit Carson • The Shadow • Terry and the Pirates • Deadwood Dick • The Green Archer • White Eagle • The Spider Returns • The Iron Claw • Holt of the Secret Service
War-time Serials (1942-1945)	Captain Midnight • Perils of the Royal Mounted • The Secret Code • The Valley of Vanishing Men • Batman • The Phantom • The Desert Hawk • Black Arrow • Brenda Starr, Reporter • The Monster and the Ape
Post-war Serials (1945-1956)	Jungle Raiders • Who's Guilty? • Hop Harrigan • Chick Carter, Detective • Son of the Guardsman • Jack Armstrong • The Vigilante • The Sea Hound • Brick Bradford • Tex Granger • Superman • Congo Bill • Bruce Gentry • Batman and Robin • Adventures of Sir Galahad • Cody of the Pony Express • Atom Man vs. Superman • Pirates of the High Seas • Roar of the Iron Horse • Mysterious Island • Captain Video • King of the Congo • Blackhawk • Son of Geronimo • The Lost Planet • The Great Adventures of Captain Kidd • Gunfighters of the Northwest • Riding with Buffalo Bill • The Adventures of Captain Africa • Perils of the Wilderness • Blazing the Overland Trail
Actors and Actresses	Kirk Alyn • Judd Holdren • Warren Hull • Victor Jory • Clayton Moore • Noel Neill • Tom Tyler
Production Crew	Spencer Gordon Bennet • Elmer Clifton • B. Reeves Eason • James W. Horne • Sam Katzman • George H. Plympton • Joseph F. Poland • Ray Taylor • Mack V. Wright
See also	Film serials • List of film serials • List of film serials by studio

•  • e American films of the 1950s
1950 •1951 •1952 •1953 •1954 •1955 •1956 •1957 •1958 •1959