Although the primary attraction here is simply historical interest, Son of Ingagi isn't horrible if watched for entertainment purposes. But it's not that good, either. Besides preservation problems with extant versions, the film suffers from a lackadaisical script, fairly flat direction and various budget-related problems. Of course, the preservation problems are hardly the fault of co-producer/director Richard C. Kahn and co-producer Alfred N. Sack, but on the other hand, aren't exactly easy to overlook when you're watching.
Given the title, an attempt was made to affiliate this film with 1931's Ingagi. Admittedly, I haven't seen Ingagi yet--it doesn't appear to be available on home video--but judging by the information available to me, it's difficult to see what the connection is between the two films besides a very loose thematic tie. There are no cast or crew members in common. The setting is different. There is nothing in this film known by the name of Ingagi. The only similarity appears to be that Ingagi was set in Africa, whereas a character in Son of Ingagi has spent some time in Africa, and Ingagi had a gorilla, whereas Son of Ingagi has a kind of ape-man.
The story here, instead, begins with a marriage between Bob (Alfred Grant) and Eleanor (Daisy Bufford). They appear to live in Anytown, U.S.A. They head off for their honeymoon, which they oddly spend right next door to the foundry where Bob works--it seems as if he was planning on going to punch the clock the next morning. They hear a bang. The foundry has caught fire (we see none of this--we're just told it instead) and now Bob is out of a job.
At the same time, there is a mysterious woman, Dr. Jackson (Laura Bowman), who was invited to Bob and Eleanor's wedding, but whom most folks are afraid of--she's thought of as a sort of voodoo woman. And perhaps for good reason. Dr. Jackson has spent a lot of time in Africa and the Far East, she keeps trinkets like skulls on her desk, and most importantly, she has an ape-man named Ingeena (Zack Williams) stored in her basement. He has a cell but doesn't appear to be kept inside. He enters and leaves the main part of the house through a secret passageway.
There's an accident and Bob and Eleanor end up being named in Dr. Jackson's will as heirs to her estate--despite the fact that they did not know her very well. Suspicion falls on them, and soon, other bodies are turning up near them. Eventually, the police--especially Nelson (Spencer Williams, Jr.)--set up shop in Bob and Eleanor's new home while they're living in it, in an attempt to solve the "mystery".
That plot description might not sound too bad, but the problem is that there just isn't that much more to the plot, and even those measly points end up unfolding flatly, with too much telling and not enough showing. It would be difficult to say, based on Son of Ingagi, that Kahn is a director who knows how to build suspense, but admittedly, the script is a bit lightweight, the cast occasionally seems amateurish, and the budget is low enough to make Ingeena's make-up more laughable than frightening. Even a climactic fire must resort to employing an obvious model of a building. So Kahn didn't necessarily have a lot to work with.
It would have helped to beef up the script and make the film a bit longer. The Alpha Video print of Son of Ingagi clocks in at just under an hour. IMDb has the original running time listed as 70 minutes. That may be correct--the Alpha print has awkward edits and jumps that seem like some material is missing--but ten additional minutes would not have been sufficient to help the story. The print doesn't help, however. Besides the jumps, it hasn't been very well preserved. The image is often cloudy or scratchy. The dark scenes sometimes disappear into a sea of blackness--and occasionally these scenes should convey important information.
Son of Ingagi is sometimes called the first "all black horror film". That's not quite right, but it's close. At least two all or mostly black horror films appeared before this one--Louisiana (aka Drums o' Voodoo, or just Voodoo Drums, 1934), and The Devil's Daughter (1939). However, Louisiana appears to have been lost. And the dates aren't always given consistently on this film and The Devil's Daughter, so it's difficult to say which one was filmed first without more research. That makes Son of Ingagi close enough to being the first all black horror film.
Aside from the bland script, lack of suspense and less than thrilling monster (despite the attempts to give Ingeena archetypal relations to the Frankenstein monster), Son of Ingagi isn't helped by its lack of a score. Doo-wop group The Four Toppers provide a couple early musical numbers that are pleasant enough, but this also underscores the later lack of music. Music would have helped sustain an appropriate mood. In fact the Four Toppers songs do nothing to help create a thriller or horror mood, of course, and even later, Kahn just as strongly gives us comic moments. As another IMDb-er pointed out, Spencer Williams Jr. seems to be doing his best Mantan Moreland impersonation. But there's not enough of a commitment to humor, or horror, or any other genre for that matter, to quite make Son of Ingagi work.
This is really only for people interested in the history of the genre, and particularly films with unusual ethnic orientations for their eras. Otherwise, make sure you have a couple strong cups of espresso ready to go if you decide to give this one a try. I watched it around seven in the evening and almost fell asleep.
Given the title, an attempt was made to affiliate this film with 1931's Ingagi. Admittedly, I haven't seen Ingagi yet--it doesn't appear to be available on home video--but judging by the information available to me, it's difficult to see what the connection is between the two films besides a very loose thematic tie. There are no cast or crew members in common. The setting is different. There is nothing in this film known by the name of Ingagi. The only similarity appears to be that Ingagi was set in Africa, whereas a character in Son of Ingagi has spent some time in Africa, and Ingagi had a gorilla, whereas Son of Ingagi has a kind of ape-man.
The story here, instead, begins with a marriage between Bob (Alfred Grant) and Eleanor (Daisy Bufford). They appear to live in Anytown, U.S.A. They head off for their honeymoon, which they oddly spend right next door to the foundry where Bob works--it seems as if he was planning on going to punch the clock the next morning. They hear a bang. The foundry has caught fire (we see none of this--we're just told it instead) and now Bob is out of a job.
At the same time, there is a mysterious woman, Dr. Jackson (Laura Bowman), who was invited to Bob and Eleanor's wedding, but whom most folks are afraid of--she's thought of as a sort of voodoo woman. And perhaps for good reason. Dr. Jackson has spent a lot of time in Africa and the Far East, she keeps trinkets like skulls on her desk, and most importantly, she has an ape-man named Ingeena (Zack Williams) stored in her basement. He has a cell but doesn't appear to be kept inside. He enters and leaves the main part of the house through a secret passageway.
There's an accident and Bob and Eleanor end up being named in Dr. Jackson's will as heirs to her estate--despite the fact that they did not know her very well. Suspicion falls on them, and soon, other bodies are turning up near them. Eventually, the police--especially Nelson (Spencer Williams, Jr.)--set up shop in Bob and Eleanor's new home while they're living in it, in an attempt to solve the "mystery".
That plot description might not sound too bad, but the problem is that there just isn't that much more to the plot, and even those measly points end up unfolding flatly, with too much telling and not enough showing. It would be difficult to say, based on Son of Ingagi, that Kahn is a director who knows how to build suspense, but admittedly, the script is a bit lightweight, the cast occasionally seems amateurish, and the budget is low enough to make Ingeena's make-up more laughable than frightening. Even a climactic fire must resort to employing an obvious model of a building. So Kahn didn't necessarily have a lot to work with.
It would have helped to beef up the script and make the film a bit longer. The Alpha Video print of Son of Ingagi clocks in at just under an hour. IMDb has the original running time listed as 70 minutes. That may be correct--the Alpha print has awkward edits and jumps that seem like some material is missing--but ten additional minutes would not have been sufficient to help the story. The print doesn't help, however. Besides the jumps, it hasn't been very well preserved. The image is often cloudy or scratchy. The dark scenes sometimes disappear into a sea of blackness--and occasionally these scenes should convey important information.
Son of Ingagi is sometimes called the first "all black horror film". That's not quite right, but it's close. At least two all or mostly black horror films appeared before this one--Louisiana (aka Drums o' Voodoo, or just Voodoo Drums, 1934), and The Devil's Daughter (1939). However, Louisiana appears to have been lost. And the dates aren't always given consistently on this film and The Devil's Daughter, so it's difficult to say which one was filmed first without more research. That makes Son of Ingagi close enough to being the first all black horror film.
Aside from the bland script, lack of suspense and less than thrilling monster (despite the attempts to give Ingeena archetypal relations to the Frankenstein monster), Son of Ingagi isn't helped by its lack of a score. Doo-wop group The Four Toppers provide a couple early musical numbers that are pleasant enough, but this also underscores the later lack of music. Music would have helped sustain an appropriate mood. In fact the Four Toppers songs do nothing to help create a thriller or horror mood, of course, and even later, Kahn just as strongly gives us comic moments. As another IMDb-er pointed out, Spencer Williams Jr. seems to be doing his best Mantan Moreland impersonation. But there's not enough of a commitment to humor, or horror, or any other genre for that matter, to quite make Son of Ingagi work.
This is really only for people interested in the history of the genre, and particularly films with unusual ethnic orientations for their eras. Otherwise, make sure you have a couple strong cups of espresso ready to go if you decide to give this one a try. I watched it around seven in the evening and almost fell asleep.
