Tuesday, December 5, 2017

The Olympian and The Burlesque Queen by Dave Goode


I'm a huge fan of low-budget jungle adventure movies.The kind with potted plant jungle sets and tons of decades old stock footage.I think I developed this particular flick fetish in my pre-teen years watching the syndicated Ramar of the Jungle and Jungle Jim television shows.


I also loved PRC jungle programmers. The ones starring Buster Crabbe were special favorites.As I've said before Crabbe in safari togs and a pith helmet was a dead ringer for Doc Savage. My favorite of these was Nabonga.Where you not only have Crabbe fighting a crocodile and delivering the line "Those crocodiles can sure give you a work-out." But you also get the ape-suited Ray Corrigan. Plus a teenage Julie London. 



But another Crabbe jungle flick I've come to enjoy is Jungle Siren. Directed by Sam Newfield and written by George Wallace Sayre and Milton Ralson this flick stars legendary burlesque queen Ann Coriro in the title role playing Kuhlaya a Sheena-type who helps Crabbe fight Nazis in the wilds of Africa. Buster plays Captain Gary Hart and Paul Bryar is his comic relief sidekick Sgt. Mike Jenkins.
Bryar has the flick's funniest line. He wakes up one morning and starts flexing his muscles while commenting "Another 10 days of this and I'll have a physique like Buster Crabbe."
And I suppose this was the purpose of casting the former Olympic swimming champion opposite Coriro the ecdysiast.The PRC producers probably thought putting two such perfect physical specimens in the the same movie as romantic leads would be good box office.

1 comment:

  1. Ever since I read your Buster Crabbe as "Doc" Savage, I can only picture him in that role! Even beating out his Flash Gordon!

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