Synopsis
Go on a journey to the heart of savage Africa, "the dark continent, which has always intrigued Man", in this long-lost exploitation documentary! In 1946, the French government, working in tandem with the Musee de l'Homme in Paris, launched the Ogowe-Congo expedition. The first ever teaming of ethnologists with a film crew, their mission was to create a lasting record of the indigenous culture of native tribes in French Equatorial Africa. After three years, the footage ended up in the hands of budget outfit Trinity Pictures, who fast-tracked it for theatrical release in the States. While thousands of feet of film were shot, only a little over an hour's worth ended up in Congolaise. The American movie producers had no interest in the expedition's lofty goals, so the resulting picture highlighted brutal elephant stampedes, gruesome dissections of wild animals by pygmies, and, most of all, "the voluptuous women savages of the untamed Congo!" As if to emphasize the film's sexual nature, the film concludes with the sacrifice of a 775-pound gorilla to the natives' fertility god. Just barely receiving an Motion Picture Association of America seal of approval, Congolaise was a hit at the box-office in 1950...though it probably had less to do with the public's fascination with foreign cultures than with their prurient interest in jungle girls romping around in the nude.