A 15-episode serial in which Beatty goes to darkest Africa to rescue the Goddess of Joba, who is being held by the high priest.A 15-episode serial in which Beatty goes to darkest Africa to rescue the Goddess of Joba, who is being held by the high priest.A 15-episode serial in which Beatty goes to darkest Africa to rescue the Goddess of Joba, who is being held by the high priest.
Joseph Byrd
- Nagga
- (uncredited)
Ray Corrigan
- Bonga
- (uncredited)
- …
Joe De La Cruz
- Slave
- (uncredited)
Harrison Greene
- Driscoll
- (uncredited)
Prince Modupe
- Tiger Men Chief
- (uncredited)
Eddie Parker
- Sentry
- (uncredited)
Henry Sylvester
- Tomlin
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaDebut of actress Elaine Shepard.
- GoofsTigers are native to Asia, not Africa. (Beatty does mention in Chapter 1 that he was surprised to find a tiger in Africa.)
- ConnectionsEdited into Bat Men of Africa (1966)
Featured review
Batmen Over Africa
A wonderful early sound chapterplay that scores high on adventure and imagination. It features real-life animal trainer and bring-'em-back-alive specialist Clyde Beatty as a fictional version of himself heading into Darkest Africa. What he discovers is straight out the lost civilization genre that was so popular in the Nineteenth Century, but here the film makers get extra credit for creating a race of men who fly about on bat wings, a technique that would be put to good use in future Republic Studios chapterplay such as "Captain Marvel" and "King of the Rocket Men." Despite its faults, mostly brought about by a tight budget and the re-use of footage from earlier films, such as "The Lost Jungle" (tigers in Africa!), it is saved by energetic direction, an action-packed script, and incredible visuals. It drew thousands of young viewers back to theaters week after week, and still holds up well today as a vintage period piece. More than a generation later the chapterplay can back to amuse and enthrall youngsters as a silent home movie from Castle Film (even without sound the flying batmen looked great) and as a re-edited feature film for theater release and later television, losing a little coherency in translation but not enough to truly dampen the enjoyment.
helpful•10
- ralphv1
- Aug 31, 2015
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $119,343 (estimated)
- Runtime1 hour 13 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content