 203 - JUNGLE GODDESS with short: THE PHANTOM CREEPS PT 1
Genre: Dated ’40s Adventure (1948,
B&W)
Short: This experiment starts with the first chapter of the Bela Lugosi serial
The Phantom Creeps in which Bela is a mad scientist (of
course) who, in order to achieve his nefarious plans, has created: explosive crawling spiders;
a huge, freakishly-goofy robot; and an invisibility belt that he strangely wears on the outside of his clothes.
And like all serials, this chapter ends on a cliffhanger.
Note: This short is the source of the “This will simplify everything!” riff used many-a-time in future
experiments.
Synopsis: In the dated ’40s feature, two men
(named Mike
– who is played by Superman George Reeves
– and Bob) decide to fly to Africa to find an heiress whose plane crashed there six years
earlier and who would now inherit millions of dollars due to the
recent death of her father. Soon after they land their
plane near the old crash site, trigger-happy Bob shoots one of the
first natives they meet and so the
two men are taken prisoner in a local village.
There, they find the missing heiress, who is worshipped as a goddess by the natives... only because she is white.
While she is
called the “White Goddess” by the natives, trigger-happy Bob is now known as the “White Devil” and is sentenced to death. So the White Goddess and
“Superman” Mike make plans to escape the village before the White Devil is put to death.
“White Devil” Bob doesn’t trust anyone and so he shoots yet another native when he gets into a fight with Mike.
The three must now leave quickly before the villagers can catch and kill them all.
But Bob-the-White-Devil
knocks out Superman-Mike and runs off to shoot randomly at everything that moves, including a coconut.
Bob is finally killed by a villager’s spear and the White Goddess and Superman-Mike take off in the plane to fly back to civilization so they can
finally get some french-fried potatoes together.
Don’s Review: This experiment is memorable for the insultingly dated
view of Africa, such as a tribe that worships white people, and the trigger-happy white men who come in and shoot everything in sight.
Although not quite at the rapid-fire rate of later
episodes, the riffing in this works very well because
the episode really comes across like a group of friends
having a good time making fun of a movie instead of a
scripted TV-show (especially in the short when J&tBs
are obviously having a great time imitating Bela Lugosi’s
thick accent). The host segments are still a bit on
the thrown-together side, but are still really
enjoyable. So the fun factor of this episode is
pretty high and this is one experiment that repeats very
well.
Trivial Note: This feature is the source of the line
“What I wouldn’t give for a hamburger and some nice french-fried potatoes” which would be used, in minor variations, as a riff in many,
many future episodes.
Don’s Rating: 
[S:
F:
]
Related Link:
(1) Mighty Jack’s MST3K Review (Episode Review)
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