Sunday, December 12, 2021

Lockout Theatre: PANTHER GIRL OF THE KONGO (1955)

One of the last serials of the 1950s, and one of the worst. 

To scare natives away from a diamond mine, mad scientist Arthur Space transforms crayfish into giant claw monsters. Good grief, he could make a fortune selling seafood in New Orleans. As Panther Girl, Phyllis Coates - the original Lois Lane - faints a lot. Myron Healey does the fighting. Out of cheapness, they used old footage from the 1941 serial Jungle Girl. Not only that, but Phyllis wore a second-hand costume, used in a previous serial. Special effects by the Lydecker Brothers, who used real crayfish next to scaled down people. They later worked with Irwin Allen in Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.

5 comments:

  1. Phyllis shoulda gone to TV. It worked for Barbara Hale.

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  2. Right up my alley. Jungle serials are great because sooner or later an actor shows up in a gorilla suit (which he bought so he could work in movies), and chases the people because gorillas are vicious predators. Thanks, Duque!

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  3. Oh wait. Phyllis did go to TV. Didn't work out, I guess.

    Then again, she was no Barbara Hale.

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  4. Why no BATMAN: THE MOVIE (1966) yet? Someone here no like Adam West - the greatest actor of all time?

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  5. He was actually pretty good in that Judy Davis movie. Mostly because he was playing an affectless, emotionless manipulator. But still!

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