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Cowboys, Creatures, and Classics: The Story of Republic Pictures
Bat Men of Africa (a.k.a. Darkest Africa), directed by Joseph Kane, was the first fifteen-episode serial produced by Republic Pictures. World famous big game hunter and lion tamer Clyde Beatty starred in the chapter play portraying an adventurer on safari in East Africa. While in the Dark Continent, he meets and befriends a loincloth-wearing boy and his pet ape.
The boy reveals that he has escaped from the lost city of Joba, King Solomon’s sacred city of the Golden Bat, but that his sister, Valerie, remains there. Clyde agrees to help his new friend rescue Valerie and treks through the dangerous Valley of Lost Souls to get to her. Meanwhile, a pair of unscrupulous treasure hunters notices a green diamond the young boy is wearing, and they decide to follow the trip to plunder the city of Joba.
Among the cliffhangers in the picture are volcanic eruptions, a patrol of Bat-men type creatures attacking the trio from the air, a landslide, and a fall down a mineshaft. At a cost of $119,343, Bat Men of Africa was the most expensive Republic serial of 1936.
To learn more about the cliffhanger serials of
Republic Pictures read
Cowboys, Creatures and Classics: The Story of Republic Pictures.
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