Nice effects though.

How sad is this?

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

I wish I had a dollar for every film made about the African jungle or that featured some knucklehead dressed up in a gorilla costume during the 1930s and 40s--I'd be a millionaire. Sure, in this case it's a WHITE gorilla, but it's still at heart a movie like so many others.The film begins with a man escaping and making his way through the jungle back to civilization. During this torturous trek, he sees a white gorilla and once rescued he babbled on and on about it. How his rescuers took this to mean that this albino gorilla was some sort of "missing link", I have no idea and they soon set off to look for the beast.There must be something about the jungle, as some sort of aphrodisiac must grown in the wild. First, two men in the party fall for the lone lady in the group. Then later, Pongo (the white gorilla) himself and a black gorilla ALSO fall for this hottie! I could say more about the film, but frankly who cares?! Yet another man in gorilla suit film AND the gorilla becomes infatuated with the lady--haven't we seen this before....many times? Overall, a dull and not particularly inspiring film. I wish I could get as excited about the film like some of the other reviewers, but I just got bored with the film almost as soon as it started.

Well, let's face it: a movie from the 1940's about a white gorilla (who's actually yellow on the packaging, but let's not obsess over details here) isn't likely to be Oscar material, and the Razzies didn't exist yet so that's out too, but if you're going into this with an open mind and appreciating of suckdom, then you can sure find worse ways to lose 70 minutes of your life.White Pongo is in the jungle, and the hunters all are trying to find him, since he's the missing link between man and ape, or something to that effect. Among the expedition are your obligatory hottie, your obligatory guy with a hidden agenda, and your obligatory hero undercover, who ultimately stops the obligatory guy with a hidden agenda and ends the film liplocked with the obligatory hottie. After you sit through 15-20 minutes of complete filler such as boats going down rivers, stock footage of real Africa (as opposed to "Hollywood Africa" that takes up most of the film) and what is apparently the only jungle noise that the sound technicians could come up with (some sort of monkey chirping that you'll be hearing in your sleep after listening to it for the duration of the film), White Pongo ultimately kills the obligatory guy with a hidden agenda, then saves the obligatory hottie who has been kidnapped by an unnamed evil gorilla by having the worst five minutes of gorilla brawling ever put to cellulite. However, this is made more fun by the audio track on the Alpha Video DVD being at least a full minute behind the video for a good six or seven minutes of the latter part of the film, so at some points it seems like the gorillas are girlie-screaming and running through a pile of crunchy jungle on two feet. Anyway, WP wins the battle, and his reward is being caged up and brought back to America by the obligatory hero undercover. Hey, who said life was always fair, right? To be honest, there actually was at least an attempt at a coherent storyline in this film, so I can appreciate that end of it. Beyond that, though, White Pongo is just another wonderfully awful film for all of us who can enjoy the worst Hollywood could give us in those days gone by.

I went into "White Pongo" cold, preferring not to read the DVD sleeve to get a hint of the story. Lo and behold, it's another in a long line of gorilla films that found popularity in the 1940's, that perhaps thought it could enrich itself with a name no one had ever heard of before or since. Pongo rhymes with Congo, and that's where the action takes place, as an expedition heads into gorilla territory to seek out what may be the missing link between monkeys and men. Not only that, but the animal in question is a rare white gorilla, thought to be highly secretive and very hard to find, but is never more than a few feet away in any scene involving the intrepid explorers.Maris Wrixon provides the film's female lead and romantic interest, Pamela Bragdon. She's the daughter of Sir Harry (Gordon Richards), and insists on being part of the adventure, citing her experience of having been born on a safari. She has eyes for her personal guard Bishop (Richard Fraser), who's mission on the trip is of a dual nature; he's really an agent attempting to get the goods on safari guide Hans Kroegert (Al Eben), who may have murdered anthropologist Dierdorf. It's Dierdorf's diary that offers a clue to the white pongo creature's existence.Critics of the filmed versions of "King Kong" who find racism behind every banana tree would really have a field day with this one. The Number #1 Porter Boy is called Mumbo Jumbo (really, I'm not making this up!), and it's a "white" gorilla considered the missing link, not a black one. I try not to get involved in political correctness with Poverty Row films dealing in monkeys, so those arguments are best left for another time. This movie is best viewed with a healthy dose of good humor and good friends.I will say there's a nifty fight scene between a "normal" gorilla and the pongo; they batter each other with uprooted trees in a creative slug fest. Before it's all over, the white gorilla rescues Miss Pamela from the evil German guide (Nazi overtones anyone?) and carries her off to his cave; Pongo is no Kong however and has to hoist her over his shoulder.What's probably most disappointing about the movie is the way it ends. The expedition members capture the creature and crate him up for shipment to London. The film closes on that note, leaving the viewer to consider that maybe the movie makers dropped the ball, having never heard of sequel. This critic at least would have preferred to see the animal go free to create havoc another day in "The Return of White Pongo". Oh well, maybe someone will remake "King Kong". Oh, wait...

This is another story of a jungle expedition that runs across a legendary white ape that may or may not be the missing link. There has got to be five or six of these films floating around in the film vaults and everyone of them is a turkey or a close cousin.The problem here, as in almost every jungle movie, is that the gorillas look like what they are, men in suits. Worse if the fact that the suits are absolutely terrible and so unconvincing that anyone watching it is going to laugh rather than scream. This movie isn't too terrible, and is actually okay if you have a love of bad movies, especially ones that you can talk back to and make fun of. As these things go its not a movie that I' search out, but it is one that I'd put on if I was in need of some unintentional laughs.