CONGO BILL 1948 (STARRY NIGHT)

A rare serial that actually deserves to be better known.

Before I say anything more about the serial, let me talk a bit about DVD companies. During the VHS period of the 80's and 90's most VHS releases were pretty good quality yet there wer always companies of dubious content and quality.

These companies usually turned out substandard tapes much to the chagrin of customers like me. But I watched them anyway because I figured it was the ONLY way to see them at the time. Now comes the DVD age and Blu-ray age and we are still seeing certain companies turning out awful products.

Now don't get me wrong, I am not turning into a "fanboy". I'll watch anything. Which brings us to today's review. This 15 chapter dandy comes from a company called Starry Night, and man alive does it suck. It's watchable, but damn it looks like a 3rd generation bootleg and it has spanish subtitles and isn't framed well at all.

Obviously a fly-by-night company and hell, the disc only cost 10 bucks, but still, it amazes me some companies don't even try and make anything better. It sounds a lot like Lowe's Corporation, but that is another tale for another time.

The serial follows the adventures of a man named Congo Bill (Don McGuire) who is also an lion tamer and adventurer. He owns a circus and is hired to find a missing young woman in the African jungle who may actually be the rightful owner.

The circus is worth a half a million dollars so there are evil forces out to get the money as well as killing Bill and the young woman he is looking for named Ruth (Cleo Moore).

Sometimes this one drags a bit, but it's still fun, and watching Cleo Moore in a sarong is ALWAYS a pleasure. I admit I lust after Cleo Moore! A stunning woman who really never rose to the stardom she aspired to, but she sure gave it her all in everything she was in. This was her first credited role, and she ain't too bad.

Cleo passed away in 1973 at the age of 48, just 6 days shy of her 49th birthday from a heart attack. I can really recommend this serial, but as I said above....BEWARE of the print this "company" uses for the DVD. Maybe someday somebody else will release this in a much better version and then I can scrap this one, but until then this will have to do.

The rest of the cast includes Fred Graham, Jack Ingram, I. Stanford Jolley, Armida, Ray Corrigan and Fred Lackteen. This was direted by Spencer Gordon Bennett and Thomas Carr. Bennett was and always will be "king of the serials" and Carr went on to direct many episodes of Superman for TV.