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Perfect cast and a good story

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

The first must-see film of the year.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Or as everyone in the film calls it, White Ponga. The title refers to a legendary albino gorilla, who may or may not be—you guessed it—the missing link between humans and apes. Following a sighting by a white man, a scientific expedition of upper-class Brits combs the jungle for the creature (passing the same tree several times). The character named Baxter sounds like an American trying badly to impersonate an Englishman (which he was). The others talk in accents thick enough to merit sub-titles.WHITE PONGO features boat-rowing, walking through the jungle, and stock footage galore, designed to pad out the film as the plot was too anemic to support a feature. There's also a romantic sub-plot, but who cares?As with any low-budget jungle film of this era, the gorilla suits are just plain awful. They remind me of the Don Martin/Mad Magazine story, "National Gorilla Suit Day." The jungle scenery looks like a movie set designed by white people whose closest encounter with Africa was "The Lion Sleeps Tonight." And of course, the pacing is glacial.Other items of note:The African character named Mumbo Jumbo.The scene in which a native points to footprints in the dirt and exclaims, "Bwana, bwana! Pongo tracks!" Do white gorillas have noticeably different tracks than black ones?

The best performance in this deadly dull jungle film is the man in the white ape suit. All the rest of the actors (not worth mentioning by name) in this dud are as talented as members of a fourth rate summer stock troop. PRC in this case does stand for "Pretty Rotten Cinema", sinking to the bottom of the mire with one of the worst movies ever made. In fact, it runs the risk, had I had the option, of being given a negative rating number. The best moments are the obvious documentary stock footage, real shots of various jungle animals, while the human variety of mammals recite their lines so deplorably with a monotone delivery. Even the so-called beautiful blonde who is the object of White Pongo's affections here is unappealing, both physically and personally. The actual white gorilla does nothing horrific but stalk the blonde bore until the end when he takes care of one of the villains. For some reason, the black gorillas are frightened of the white one (until a sudden fight breaks out between the two), indicating a slightly racist metaphor that sinks this into the lowest of quicksand.

A group of explorers embark on a journey into the middle of the African jungle in search of a fabled white ape; a creature thought to be the missing link.The idea that a white ape would be closer to man than a black one is possibly a little bit subconsciously racist if you were to choose to over-analyse this movie. But it's really best to take this detail with a pinch of salt as White Pongo is resolutely not a film to take seriously at all. It was one of dozens of adventure films from the 40's that were set in exotic and unchartered locations. Back in those days before the advent of television audiences certainly seemed to get a kick out of seeing stories set in the wild. There was still something mysterious about these places and the world hadn't been so fully explored that it didn't seem impossible that a large hitherto unknown gorilla could be out there somewhere. White Pongo like others of its type pandered to these kinds of feelings.The film itself is a quite typical adventure film from the time. Men-in-monkey-suit movies were ten-a-penny back in the 40's and this is simply another one in the cycle. It's a fairly enjoyable one though. Aside from White Ponga (it's never actually referred to as 'Pongo' for some reason) there are other typical black apes. The latter are nastier, baser creatures. White Ponga by contrast is relatively noble. He kills bad guys and, like King Kong before him, is somewhat obsessed with the white woman of the party, whom he captures. Aside from the monkey mayhem there is strife and underhand dealings happening amongst the explorer outfit; while there is the requisite smattering of stock footage of wild animals thrown in for good measure. Overall, it isn't exactly a bad way to spend an hour of your time.

This movie for some reason isn't as popular as Plan 9 and Robot Monster, but it's really good (in a bad way). The whole film is a waste of your time. You got a stupid storyline - an albino gorilla running around the jungle terrorizing people. You got scientist trying to stop the havoc. Then there's the horrible monkey suit and dialogue. Yes, it's one of the worst! Watch it!