Congo Bill

Congo Bill: This 1948, 15-Chapter serial from Columbia was a fairly nice entry from 1948. It starred Don McGuire as Congo Bill. There are a lot of similarities between Congo Bill and Jungle Jim, both in character, and plot to this serial. Bill is tasked to deliver a letter to the heiress of a circus in Africa, and there are rumors of a white jungle queen named Lureen, played by 24-year-old bombshell Cleo Moore, who turns out to be the missing heiress. Bernie McGraw, played by I. Stanford Jolley, wants the inheritance and tries to intercept Congo Bill. Congo Bill was patterned after Jungle Jim, of course, but I thought Don McGuire was better in the part than the actor in the Jungle Jim serial. Also in the Jungle Jim serial a 16 or 17-year-old actress played the jungle queen, but looked too young for the part. Cleo Moore, the actress who played Lureen in Congo Bill, however, did look the part, though maybe too mature for a 20-year-old jungle queen. My DVD was a bad quality, and hard to see and hear. It was probably recorded from a poor VHS version. Overall, I did think it was a better serial than Jungle Jim, and regret it’s poor quality. I would love to see a good film of this one.