Geekboy's Movie Poster Collection: Part 1

So I just spent the last two weeks doing a massive remodel of my bedroom.  Throwing Spackle around, repainting, building new shelves, tearing out old carpet, and rearranging my furniture.  I decided I wanted some new wall art to go with the new paint job.  I'd found a dealer on Ebay who specializes in the reproduction of vintage posters at reasonable prices, and I'd been drooling over them for a while.  I finally took the plunge and purchased some of my favorites.

First up we have the 1941 Republic serial 'Jungle Girl'.  If you know me you know that this is my all time favorite serial, so picking up this one was an obvious move.

As this dealer also had the 1942 follow up, 'Perils of Nyoka,' I bought it as well so I'd have a complete set.

Third we have 1949's 'King of the Rocketmen'.  This is the first of four Republic serials to feature the Rocketman suit - the others being 'Radar men from the Moon' (1952) 'Zombies of the Stratosphere' (1952) and 'Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe' (1953).  Each of the Rocketman serials uses a significant amount of stock footage from the previous installments, so watching them back to back can get pretty redundant.

Fun fact: The Rocketman serials are the primary source of inspiration for Dave Steven's comicbook hero 'The Rocketeer'.

George Lucas also named one of the Clone Troopers from Star Wars 'Commander Cody' as a tribute to the character from 'Radar Men' and 'Sky Marshal'.

And finally we have the 1968 science fiction film 'The Green Slime'.  This is kind of the odd one out in a collection for Cliffhanger Serial posters, but it's an awesome poster and I wanted it, okay?

It may be an awesome poster, but the movie that goes with it is slightly less awesome.  It does have a rocking theme song though - give a listen here:

 -Geekboy.

Tarzan Triumphs (1943)

So I just recently watched my first ever Johnny Wiesmuller Tarzan movie.  'Tarzan Triumphs' features a lot of firsts.  Not only is this the first Wiesmuller I watched, but it's the first in the series to feature the Nazis as villains, and the first in the series in which Jane is absent.

Although Jane is mentioned, she is replaced by a Jungle Princess named Zandra, who is played by Frances Gifford of 'Jungle Girl' fame.  Gifford is a big part of why I wanted to watch 'Tarzan Triumphs'.

Overall, this movie was much higher quality than I was expecting.  There's not a single gorilla costume in this picture.  Not that I have anything against people in gorilla costumes - quite the opposite in fact.  But 'Tarzan Triumphs' features trained monkeys, an elephant, crocodiles...

This clearly had a bit of a budget.  The quality makes it clear why the Johnny Wiesmuller series was so popular and long running.  And it's more than just the budget.  Although it does have a lot of the cheese you would expect a Tarzan movie to have - Tarzan speaking in one to three word sentences, the fact that Tarzan
and Jane named their adopted son 'Boy' and Jane was okay with this - the story is pretty well crafted.

The movie starts with Boy, who has wandered off into the jungle on his own contrary to Tarzan's instructions.  He finds a cliff overlooking the lost city of Palandrya.  Being the accident prone jungle boy that he is, Boy slips off the edge and needs to be rescued by Princess Zandra who happens to be passing through.  But the rock ledge they're standing on starts to give way, and they are both saved by Tarzan. 

 After this casual chance meeting that will drive the entire rest of the movie, Tarzan and Boy return to their tree house.  Tarzan had been going into town to get a letter from Jane.  She writes of the Nazis in war torn Europe, establishing the historical context, and explain Jane's absence.  Two birds, one stone.  Cheeta the monkey steals some fruit from the other monkeys, but Tarzan makes him give it back.  This seemingly cutesy throwaway moment is also important later.  Pretty solid beginning that shows the writers know what they're doing.

A group of Nazis parachute into the jungle, planning to invade Zandra's lost jungle city so they enslave the natives and steal all of their natural resources.  However, one of the Nazis is separated from the others.  He's the one carrying the radio, which the Nazis need to communicate with Germany.  He lands in a crocodile infested lake near Tarzan's tree house.

Tarzan rescues the Nazi, who manages to convince Tarzan that he's a lost explorer.  Cheeta is fascinated by the radio, and steals a vital part of the transmitter.

Meanwhile, the natives welcome the Nazis with open arms.  The leader of the Nazi expedition had been to the lost city before, and managed to convince the natives that he was a friend.  This parallels the Nazi now living in Tarzan's camp.  Personally, I thing the story would be more compelling if the Nazi in Tarzan's camp turned out to be sympathetic because Tarzan saved his life, but that's not the case.

Turns out the natives were a little too trusting.  Zandra's father
and brother are murdered, and in true Edgar Rice Burroughs tradition, the leader of the Nazis wants to make Zandra his bride.  She manages to escape, but she is pursued.

Meanwhile, the Nazi in Tarzan's camp is pretty fed up with the way Cheeta keeps messing with the radio, and he chases after the monkey with his gun.  Boy isn't too happy about this, as Cheeta is his pet.  Long story short, the bad guy ends up falling off a nearby cliff.

Tarzan discovers Zandra's distress and saves her from the pursuing Nazis.  She tries to talk him into saving her people, but he wants nothing of war and the world of men.  Boy is convinced that if Zandra - and this bit is kind of weird and creepy - acts and dresses more like Jane, Tarzan would be willing to help.  This awkward part of the movie makes it look like A: Tarzan is cheating on Jane in her absence and B: Boy thinks his adoptive mother is easily replaceable.  Boy's scheme fails to work however, and Zandra decides to return to her own people.  Tarzan tries to stop her because he believes it's too dangerous.

While all this is going on, the Nazis are searching for their radio.  They find Tarzan's camp and the radio, but the part Cheeta stole is still missing.  They interrogate Boy, and decide to take him back to the lost city.  Tarzan chases after them, swinging through the trees.  They shoot at him and he falls.  The Nazis search for his body, but the monkeys from the beginning cover him with leaves.  Zandra finds him and nurses him back to health.  Boy being captured finally lights a fire under Tarzan, and he and Zandra go to the lost city to fight some Nazis.

I thought this was a really good story.  That said, far to much of the movie is devoted to the monkey Cheeta doing something cute and/or funny, while Tarzan and Boy point and laugh.  This reminds me a bit of the later 'Thin Man' movies, which contained a good bit of filler featuring Nick and Nora's dog Asta.  Also I was a little disappointed by Princess Zandra.  She only gets a few action scenes - particularly compared to her alter ego Nyoka.  Tarzan is pretty lousy as a heroic figure.  I know the heroic journey requires the protagonist to first reject the call to adventure, but aside from rescuing the Nazi paratrooper from the crocodiles and then saving Zandra from the Nazis, Tarzan doesn't start being heroic until the last 20 minutes.  I know extreme anti social tendencies and self imposed isolation are a part of what make this version of Tarzan tick, but he looks a bit like a jerk for not helping Zandra save her city from the Nazis faster.

I read somewhere that this was the most violent of all the Johnny Wiesmuller Tarzan movies.  I found this one part to be a little shocking: In the climax Boy picks up a gun and shoots one of the Nazis.  I know this movie was made during WWII, so the mindset was one of 'Everyone must do their part for the war effort,' but it's a little disturbing to see an 8 to 12 year old shoot somebody without showing any signs of remorse.  Granted, any jury would rule this as self defense, but it's still kind of jarring.  I guess you 'had to be there' living through the war for this storytelling decision to feel appropriate.

'Tarzan Triumphs' is a pretty solid jungle adventure movie.  I can see now why the classic Tarzan pictures are considered classics, and I could definitely see myself watching more.

Thoughts On: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

"Hey Geekboy!"  You say.  "If you're doing the Indiana Jones movies, shouldn't you start with 'Raiders of the Lost Ark?  Hmm?  The first movie in the franchise?  Hmm?"

Firstly, 'Temple of Doom' is the first one I saw - from start to finish anyway.  I saw part of 'Raiders' on TV when I was 4 or 5, but Mum and Dad thought it was too adult for me and changed the channel.  And rightly so.  I would go on to see 'Temple of Doom' at age 12 during my obsession with the Orient Expedition Lego comics and games.  Johnny Thunder is more or less an Australian version of Dr. Jones so he was the proper stepping stone to the movies.

Secondly, the title card tells us 'Temple of Doom' takes place in 1935, one year before 'Raiders of the Lost Ark'.  Yep, technically speaking 'Temple of Doom' is a prequel.

Oh yeah.  Spoilers I guess, if you haven't seen 'Temple of Doom', but you probably have.

George Lucas and Steven Spielberg wanted to get down to the nitty gritty of what made Indiana tick in this movie.  This version of Indiana was supposed to start at a place of 'If I can't have the Ark of the Covenant, nobody can!' and would have blown it sky high rather then let the Nazis have it.  He's just out for Fortune and Glory.  Over the course of the story he is supposed to grow into the more respectable archeologist from 'Raiders'.

There's a bit of a disconnect though, because young Indiana in 'Last Crusade' starts off as a literal boy-scout.  How do you go from "That belongs in a Museum!" to "Some say Dr. Jones is more Grave Robber than Archeologist..."  I suppose you could say the Indiana could have become disgruntled and bitter after losing the Cross of Coronado ("You lost today kid, but you don't have to like it.") and turned to the archeologist Dark Side.

In some ways 'Temple of Doom' gives us the most selfless version of Indiana.  Ironic, because they were trying to make him at his most roguish.  This Indiana is the father figure to Short Round, a young orphan boy who tried to rob him, and the protector of a woman he just met.  True, he more or less kidnapped Willie in the beginning for selfish reasons, but hey, she had the antidote when he was dying.  You'd do the same.

Then he comes to an impoverished village in need of a champion of justice while he's just passing through, and decides to help only after he hears about all of the children in the village who had been carried away as slaves.  Because he's just in it for the fortune and glory.  Right Indiana.

In all of the other movies his motivation revolves around a personal interest in how the adventure turns out.  True, he's recruited by the government in 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' but the possibility of seeing his Ex girlfriend Marion Ravenwood again is a definite perk.  In 'The Last Crusade' he has no interest in finding the Holy Grail until he finds out that his estranged Father disappeared looking for it.  And then in 'Kingdom of the Crystal Skull' - yes I do consider 'Crystal Skull' cannon, I like that movie! - He's trying to protect his reputation when he's accused of being a Communist sympathizer.

All of those motives make sense.  It's not actually selfish to look out for people you care about or protect your reputation - I remember my Grandma saying that sometimes all you have is your good name.  But to try and help people you've just met?  That's an undeniably selfLESS act.  'Temple of Doom' plays out like an episode of 'The Lone Ranger!'  The Lone Ranger and Tonto ride into a new town, see that it's run by a corrupt mayor, or held hostage by a gang of outlaws, then they save the day and ride off with a "High Ho Silver!" leaving the good townsfolk to ask "Who was that masked man anyway?"

When they reach the titular temple of doom Indiana has an opportunity to grab the Sankara stones and scram.  He doesn't because he hears one of the slave children crying out in anguish.  Indiana investigates, and impulsively throws a rock at the Thugee guard whipping the boy.  Because this selfish rouge sticks up for the little guy.  This act - selfless though it may be - causes Indiana and the gang to be captured by the cultists.  Yep, our hero helps those in need regardless of the consequences.  That greedy selfish nature his character has is really shining through.  Indiana is forced to drink a potion that makes him an evil zombie cultist.  Short Round is forced to work in the mines with the other slaves.  And Willie?  She's about to be scarified to Kali.  Time out from the review for a second.

In the part where Indy and Short Round are rescuing Willie from the sacrifice Spielberg does something Spielberg does so well.  He has an action scene that is really intense and really funny.  Willie is being lowered into a flaming pit.  Our heroes come along, stop that bad guy lowering the cage, and start to pull her back up.  More bad guys attack Indiana, and the cage starts lowering again.  Repeat.  Several times.  And it's hilarious.

Spielberg does something similar in 'The Adventures of Tintin' with the sword-fight between Sir Francis Haddock and Red Rackham.  Haddock is trying to blow up the ship and all of the pirates on it.  He sets a really long fuse leading to all the ship's gunpowder.  Rackham discovers him and they get into a big swashbuckling fight.  Red Rackham stomps on the fuse.  Haddock finds a way to re-light it -breaking a lantern or something -  and they keep fighting.  They go through this several times, and each time Haddock re-lights the fuse you laugh as your heart rate increases.

So they have a big fight, free all the slaves, and then try to escape in the big mine car chase.  I think the movie actually has a bit of action fatigue by this point.  There's that part with the flooded tunnel that Lucas and Spielburg borrowed from the 1941 serial 'Jungle Girl' and then more fighting once they escape the tunnels.  There's a hilarious call back to 'Raiders' where Indiana is confronted by two swordsmen and reaches for his gun.  BUT HIS HOLSTER IS EMPTY.  He lost his trusty revolver in that car chase all the way back in the beginning of the movie.  We get a little bit of a taste of that planned sword-fight that they cut from 'Raiders'.

Then we have the famous bridge sequence.  Even though lots of jungle movies and serials from back in the day - 'Gunga Din' and 'Perils of Nyoka' come to mind - have a collapsing suspension bridge, if you try to do one now everybody will point and say "Temple of Doom! They got that from Temple of Doom!"

Here we have a scene that mirrors the ultimatum from 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' where Indy threatens to blow up the Ark of the Covenant and Rene Belloq calls his bluff.  Indiana first threatens to drop the stones into the river were they'll be lost again.  When his bluff is called by Mola Ram, he changes his approach.  Now he threatens to cut the bridge and take as many of the cultists with him as he can.  Big fight, he cuts the bridge, and he and Mola Ram fight over the Sankara stones.  Two are lost, but he manages to save the third for the villagers.

At this point in  the story Willie finally calls him out for pretending he isn't being selfless.  "So much for your Fortune and Glory!"

Wait a minute. Wait a minute. WAIT! A!! MINUTE!!!

I only just realized something after years of watching and re-watching this movie.  In the opening Indiana threatens to kill Willie unless Lao Che will give him a valuable diamond.  This is a reflection of the bridge scene but FLIPPED!  On the bridge Indy is bargaining with Mola Ram to let Willie and Short Round or he'll drop the stones into the river.  In the first scenario it's a life for the diamond, in the second it's the Sankara stones for a life.  I can't believe I never noticed that parallel.  So this movie DOES show us a good bit of character growth after all.

So there you have it.  'Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom'.  A movie that shows us Indiana Jones at his worst and may just give us Indiana Jones at his best.

Perils Of Nyoka (1942)

The 1942 serial "Perils of Nyoka" (Re-released under the title "Nyoka and the Tigermen") is a sequel to the 1941 serial "Jungle Girl".  Sort of.  Except for the part were it really isn't a sequel at all.

This serial stars Kay Aldridge as Nyoka GORDON, whereas Jungle Girl featured Frances Gifford as Nyoka MEREDITH.  Nyoka Meredith's father Dr. John Meredith was murdered in chapter 1 of "Jungle Girl", and "Perils of Nyoka" concerns Nyoka Gordon's search for her father Dr. Henry Gordon.  Nyoka Meredith swings around on vines, and Nyoka Gordon hangs out in the desert with her friendly native Bedouin buddies.  Get the picture?

But "Perils Of Nyoka" is a sequel in spirit.  This serial has plenty on globe trotting adventure, treasure hunting, and death traps.  And for those of us who are fans of people wearing gorilla costumes, Queen Vultura's pet ape Satan appears in almost every chapter.  Some people think that "Perils" is actually a better serial than "Jungle Girl".  I personally prefer Jungle Girl, but "Perils" is in my top 5 favorite cliffhangers.

So.  What's so great about "Perils of Nyoka?"

The Music.  This may be odd thing to talk about in a review of this sort, but I love the opening theme.  In my opinion "Perils" has the best music of any cliffhanger serial.

The Villains.  Queen Vultura is up there with great serial villains like Ming the Merciless and Fu Manchu.  Visually she is memorable, and, dare I say iconic?  She assassinates people with her poison ring, she masquerades first as Nyoka and later as a native sun goddess, and she has a legion of arabs and her afore mentioned pet gorilla at her command.  Actress Lorna Gray has also appeared as the heroine in serials such as Captain America (1944) and Daughter of Don Q (1946) but she really shines as this native Femme Fatale.




The Action.  While most serials have a brawling fistfight every chapter in which the heroes break all the  furniture in a room, this serial shakes it up with a swashbuckling swordfight in chapter 1.  We also get breaking suspension bridges, spike traps, human sacrifice, ect. ect.  My favorite chapter endings include a pit-and-the-pendulum style sacrificial altar, where the altar lifts to meet the pendulum rather than the pendulum descending, and a trap where cave winds threaten to blow our heroes out of a tunnel and over the edge of a cliff.

Why do I feel this serial is slightly weaker that "Jungle Girl?"

Our Heroine.  This Nyoka doesn't lead the action the same way Nyoka Meredith did in "Jungle Girl".  She gets knocked out pretty much every time she's in a fight, and is rescued by her boyfriend Larry (Played by the future Lone Ranger Clayton Moore) or her dog Fang, far more often than she escapes herself or bails out the guys when they get into trouble.

Fang is basically like Lassie in this story, to the point where are Nyoka is constantly locking the helpful canine in his cage or tying off his leash just so she can get into trouble easier!

The Globe Trotting.  Yep, one of the things that makes this serial great is also one of the things that weakens it.  After awhile all the trap filled lost temples our heroes need to explore in order to find the next clue on their treasure hunt start to feel a little redundant.  And then in the final chapter their quest takes them right back to where they started.  So, all of that traveling feels a little pointless.  Would it have helped if this serial was 12 chapters instead of 15?  Maybe.

But those aren't good reasons to NOT watch this serial.  If you love a good action adventure romp, go check this out ASAP.




Fawcett Comics published an adaption of this serial, which led to the Golden Age comic series "Nyoka the Jungle Girl".  Most of these comics are now public domain and can be read for free here.

Perils of Nyoka (Fan Art)

It's been awhile since I've done any Fan Art (and all the old artwork I posted on this blog makes me cringe now). Since my blog description includes Fan Art I decided it was high time I did some.

Here's a digital drawing I made of Nyoka Gordon, the evil Queen Vultura, and Satan the Gorilla from the 1942 cliffhanger serial "Perils of Nyoka" aka "Nyoka and the Tigermen."

You can expect a review of Perils of Nyoka sometime in the near future.  It the meantime, if you have any Fan Art Requests, leave them in the comments!

Jungle Girl (1941)

The 1941 cliffhanger serial Jungle Girl is one of the best serials ever made.

It's got everything.  Evil identical twins?  Check.  Booby-Trap filled Diamond Mines?  Check.  An evil Witch Doctor?  Check.  Human Sacrifice?  Check.  Guy in a Gorilla costume?  Check.  A pretty Heroine who swings around on vines?  You betcha.


This was my first serial.  Sort of.

I had heard the term cliffhanger before.  Read that they inspired Star Wars and Indiana Jones.  But I had no idea what they were.  Reading a Flash Gordon comic by Al Williamson, I read that one of his greatest influences was something called "Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe."  I decided to look it up on Youtube.  Turns out it wasn't a movie, but an early example of a mini series.  It didn't hold my interest.  I was new to the whole retro thing.

But something called "Jungle Girl" appeared on my "Recommended for you."  I decided to check it out.

Youtube only had chapters 1, 9, and 10.  ("Chapter" is cliffhanger speak for "Episode")
The ending of chapter 9 had me hooked.  Our three daring heroes were trapped in a tiny chamber by the evil witch doctor, who had pulled a secret lever, and now the floor was disappearing into the wall, and a gaping pit was opening under the feet of our imperiled protagonists...

Chapter 10 ended with our heroine, Nyoka, caught snooping around the bad guy's hideout.  She's left tied to a pole, just as the guy-in-the-gorilla-costume escapes from his cage.  He is coming towards her, intent on tearing the flesh from her bones (That's what guys in gorilla costumes do. Everybody knows that).


And then it just cut off!  Not only was I thrown into the middle, but I had no idea what would happen next!  As I was pretty green when it came to serials, I didn't know everything would turn out okay.

I became pretty obsessed by serials after that.  I watched every one I could find.  I don't know if that would have happened if Jungle Girl hadn't left me cliffhung.

Eventually I tracked down Jungle Girl on DVD.  Sort of.  My copy was defective.  The first 10 chapters played fine.  11 through 15 were missing.  I went through 3 DVDs before I found out how Nyoka escaped from the guy in the gorilla suit!

It was worth all the effort and frustration in the end.  Jungle Girl is one of the best serials out there.  Really solid story telling you won't find in other serials.

For example, in an early chapter, Nyoka, Jack, and Curly are trapped in an oil swamp.  The natives are chasing them and throwing flame tipped spears.  The oil catches fire and our gang is cut off from the shore.  How will they ever escape?  Find out at this theater next week!

Later on, the bad guys sweet talk the natives into stealing the fuel for the heroes airplane so they can't leave the valley.  Our heroes catch the natives in the act, and pursue.  They have a showdown at the cliffs, and in the fight, the cans of fuel catch fire and explode!  Avalanche!

So our heroes decide to refine the oil from the swamp, and build a refinery using bamboo and coconuts.    After a showdown in the refinery, Nyoka is in peril again, as she hangs above a vat of the boiling oil...

That one plot thread effectively keeps Nyoka and the Gang from leaving the valley, and leads to at least 3 chapter endings.  It's rare that you see that much foresight and planning in a serial!

People who complain about a lack of good action roles for women in Golden Age Hollywood really should watch some of these old cliffhangers.  Yes, by technical definition Nyoka is a "Damsel in Distress."  But more often than not, she's the one leading the action.  And in a good serial every main character spends some time in peril.  Jack is also a "damsel" in several chapters.  Even comic relief Curly spends some time in jeopardy.  And Kimbu-the-Annoying-Jungle-Kid is a total damsel in distress.


Use of a child actor is one of the weak points of this serial.  The other weakness is the way Shamba the Witch Doctor is forgotten towards the end of the serial.

Every chapter ending involving the Diamond Temple is terrific.  The first chapter has a flooding tunnel that is visually mirrored in 'Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom'.  There is a big sacrificial alter it the shape of a lion's head.  The victim is strapped down to the lion's moving jaw and then lifted up to the roaring flames.  There's a big bamboo-and-coconut conveyor belt that leads to a big rock crusher that the natives use to mine the diamonds.

I get a kick out of the way, if our heroes need to sneak into the back entrance of the mines, they lower a vine from the cliff-top and climb down to a secret tunnel.  They toss the same vine down several times over the course of the Chapter-play.  What I want to know is, who's the Joker who keeps putting the vine back where it was?

Overall, this is a great serial.  Likable, if sometimes a bit wooden, characters.  Great chapter endings.  A story that holds together really well.

If you like Indiana Jones, Tarzan, or King Solomon's Mines, give this a watch.  It should be right up your alley.