The Adventures of Captain Africa
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| The Adventures of Captain Africa | |
|---|---|
 Original poster for the first chapter of this serial |
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| Directed by | Spencer Gordon Bennet |
| Produced by | Sam Katzman |
| Written by | George H. Plympton |
| Starring | John Hart Rick Vallin Ben Welden June Howard Bud Osborne Paul Marion |
| Music by | Mischa Bakaleinikoff |
| Cinematography | Ira H. Morgan |
| Editing by | Earl Turner |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
| Release date(s) |  9 June 1955 |
| Running time | 15 chapters |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Preceded by | The Phantom (1943) original intent |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
The Adventures of Captain Africa (1955) is a Columbia serial starring John Hart. It was the third to last serial to be produced by Columbia.
It was conceived and filmed as a sequel to The Phantom (starring Tom Tyler). [1][2] Well into production, Columbia found that its film rights to the comic strip had expired. Hurried retakes and major re-editing followed, with John Hart now wearing an amended costume that only used part of the original Phantom outfit. The new story featured a new hero, Captain Africa, who still bears a strong resemblance to the The Phantom in both appearance and behavior. The serial features heavy use of stock footage from earlier serials Jungle Menace (1937), The Desert Hawk (1944) and The Phantom (1943) itself. Footage from The Phantom was reduced when this stopped being a sequel.
The serial was produced by legendary Hollywood cheapskate Sam Katzman. Serial producers often economized by including a "cheater" chapter, in which flashbacks to earlier chapters are shown instead of new scenes. The Adventures of Captain Africa audaciously uses four cheaters within its 15-chapter length. The frequent recaps were possibly necessitated by the hasty rewrites during production.
The serial is today available on VHS, but has so far not experienced a DVD release.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
Trapper Nat Coleman and government agent Ted Arnold come upon a plot to take over an African nation. Its leader, Caliph Abdul el Hamid, has been exiled from his country and replaced by a look-alike usurper allied with an unnamed foreign power. The Caliph intends to return but enemy agents Boris and Greg are out to stop him. Captain Africa a masked jungle lord, appears occasionally to aid Nat and Ted.
The main villain does not actually make an appearance anywhere in the entire serial.
[edit] Cast
- John Hart as Captain Africa, masked government agent
- Rick Vallin as Ted Arnold, government agent (and principal hero of the serial despite the title)
- Ben Welden as Omar, the Caliph's servant and Nat Coleman's assistant (since rescuing him in the jungle)
- June Howard as Princess Rhoda, the Caliph's daughter
- Bud Osborne as Nat Coleman, an animal trapper involved in the plot through his assistant Omar
- Paul Marion as Abdul el Hamid, exiled but legitimate Caliph
- Lee Roberts as Boris, agent of a foreign power attempting to take over the Caliph's nation
- Terry Frost as Greg, agent of a foreign power attempting to take over the Caliph's nation
- Edward Coch as Balu, native ally of Captain Africa
- Michael Fox as Prime Minister
[edit] Chapter titles
- Mystery Man of the Jungle!
- Captain Africa to the Rescue!
- Midnight Attack!
- Into the Crocodile Pit!
- Jungle War Drums!
- Slave Traders!
- Saved by Captain Africa!
- The Bridge in the Sky! -- Re-Cap Chapter
- Blasted by Captain Africa! -- Re-Cap Chapter
- The Vanishing Princess!
- The Tunnel of Terror! -- Re-Cap Chapter
- Fangs of the Beast!
- Renegades at Bay! -- Re-Cap Chapter
- Captain Africa and the Wolf Dog!
- Captain Africa's Final Move!
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- The Adventures of Captain Africa at the Internet Movie Database
- The Adventures of Captain Africa article at Todd Gault's Movie Serial Experience
| Preceded by Riding with Buffalo Bill (1954) |
Columbia Serial The Adventures of Captain Africa (1955) |
Succeeded by Perils of the Wilderness (1956) |
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