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Angel on the Amazon (1948)
Topic Started: Apr 27 2015, 07:27 AM (200 Views)
rodney
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Yet another attempt to make a star out of Vera Ralston, Angel on the Amazon is pretty high budget for Republic, and having a running time of over 74 minutes means that they were aiming for something more than second tier bookings, but while it’s not a total misfire, it also doesn’t have a whole lot to recommend it.

George Brent is top billed as Jim Warburton, a pilot, delivering engine parts to the jungle to repair the plane of Christine Ridgeway (Ralston), who is part of a hunting expedition. As you’d expect, Jim becomes quickly infatuated with Christine, but something about her is very mysterious (being mysterious is the only emotion that Ralston is truly able to pull off). With her plane repaired, Christine takes off for Rio, leaving George and his other passengers (Constance Bennett and Gus Schilling co-star) in the jungle. Naturally, George follows her, and a fair amount of globetrotting takes place as he tracks her down and tries to pressure her into marrying him.

Eventually, George learns her secret, which is no secret to us, since it’s right there on the movie poster (CURSED WITH ETERNAL YOUTH!). As it’s explained to us, you know that thing that happens where somebody gets scared and their hair turns white? Well, it seems that the opposite happened to Christine Ridgeway and she cannot age.

You go into this kind of film and you sort of know what to expect, even with the attempts to sell Ralston as a star. You know it’s not going to be really good, nor are you ever going to buy Vera Ralston as whatever glamorous person she’s playing. Yet, I’m a sucker for Republic stuff. This one was a bit disappointing, because I like their stuff best when I’m basically watching a truncated serial. Still, worth trying to find if you’re a Republic completist. I found this one from a grey market dealer at a convention.
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The Batman
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Nice review, Rodney, have to admit that I am kind of intrigued. Will have to keep an eye out for this one.


Always be yourself! Unless you can be Batman...then always be Batman!
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rodney
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I hope I did it justice. It's not a bad film. You could do much worse. It has that familiar Republic feeling, even if you get the impression that it falls short of the intentions.
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The Batman
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I'm a Republic fan, too, it sounds like you got it right.


Always be yourself! Unless you can be Batman...then always be Batman!
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