Son of Ingagi (1940)

the audience applauded

Redundant and unnecessary.

Absolutely the worst movie.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

"A newlywed couple is visited by a mysterious doctor that claims she has some important information to pass along to the bride. Shortly after the bride meets with the doctor, the doctor dies and ends up leaving the estate to the bride. When the couple arrives at the doctor's home to take up residence, the newlyweds discover the doctor has left more than an estate to them," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis.An awful film, notable for a couple of reasons. The musical numbers performed by "The Four Toppers" are nicely done. And, you do a good look at Spencer Williams, who wrote the story and has a featured on-screen role (as Nelson). In the early 1950s, Mr. Williams became an "overnight sensation" when he was picked to play the latter half of the popular "Amos 'n Andy" radio comedy team, transferred to TV.** Son of Ingagi (1940) Richard C. Kahn ~ Alfred Grant, Daisy Bufford, Spencer Williams

I see there are many bad reviews for this movie mostly from Caucasian people who don't really care for race films or appreciate the efforts and are comparing race films with Hollywood films that had big budget that could make any movie better. I consider myself a expert on race films, I try to research the films and the people in it who have been forgotten and overlooked for their contribution to cinema, deserving or not. Son of Ingagi, is not one of the best race films, but I enjoyed it after watching it a few times. Instead of knocking the whole cast, there are quite a few good actors and actresses in this film who try to make the best in this film. Laura Bowman, one of the early black actresses of stage and screen, was a highly respected and talented actress, her acting was in the same fashion of Ethel Barrymore, Marie Dressler, and. She really stands out in this film. She was always great at playing an intimidating, misunderstood, grouchy old woman but she could be comical with the same traits. Handsome and suave Alfred Grant showed his potential as an actor in this film. He showed every true emotion for any given situation more then any other in the cast. Daisy Bufford who played the wife, was a little too cheerful for an horror movie. There were times where she should have been scare instead of smiling and looking calm. I just can't believe her in this film. I would liked to have seen Margaret Whitten, Sybil Lewis, Theresa Harris, or Mae Turner, some of race films better actresses in the wife part. Arthur Ray who plays the Doctor's brother is always good as the conniving old Grinch. Zack Williams was good at the grunts, roars, and I beg to differ if you saw such a thing as him in your home, you would be a little scared My problem with some of the acting was for an scary movie, there was times the husband and wife were a little too cheerful for living in a home where murders were committed but I understand that not too much emphasis, dialog, and attention was given to the actors and actresses in race films, most of these films were shot in a week, but if one is going to make any film or any kind, at least make it good, don't just do anything or show little concern because of lack of money or time. No this movie won't scare you but it gave me a chance to witness black actors and actresses playing people from all walks of life and not being stereotypes and many showed potentiality as actors and actresses. If black actors and actresses were developed by studios like many white actors and actresses, many could have been great.Basically this film is centered around a young married couple who's marriage is interrupted by mystery and murder that indirectly involves them. Dr. Jackson, a woman who is invited to their wedding, was connected to the wife's father whom she was in love with. The Doctor wants to give all her life earnings and home to the young married couple for being nice to her and because of love of the wife's father. The Doctor is killed by the ape she brought back from Africa, (how she got it into this country I'll never know) it seems he dranked something the Doctor mixed up that was gonna do something significant to change humanity, I wonder what it was because it made the ape dangerous and gave the ape killing tendencies. The ape killed his master, his Doctor. The young married couple finds the body and is suspected of killing the doctor because a will is found in which their to inherit the Doctor's money and home and its believed they made the will up and kill the Doctor because there's no other suspects. The young couple move into the Doctor's house (why I don't know, I wouldn't move into a home where someone was killed and the murderer is still loose) and they don't know there's an ape in the basement. An attorney is killed while visiting the home and so the detectives stake out at the home and well its found out later who committed the crimes and other stories unravel. Maybe the movie would have been more interesting if the husband and wife would have suspected each other. I mean there was really no whodunit between the husband and wife. The wife was walking around like nothing was happening.I like The Four Toppers, they were a great singing group. I wonder if The Four Tops knew it was a grew before them with sort of the same name?

Oh boy, this one is truly pathetic, and not even in a Mystery Science Theater kind of way. I had some hopes with the appearance of the spooky Dr. Jackson (Laura Bowman); she reveals an enigmatic back story of running off to Africa after Eleanor Lindsay's parents died in a tornado when she was only ten months old. She returned home twenty years later to work on her reputation as the neighborhood curmudgeon, an enterprise that seemed to have been effective. However she shows her appreciation for being invited to the Lindsay's wedding by leaving her home and possessions to them in her will.The thing is, one of those possessions is an ape man named Ingeena, living in the basement which is accessed through a secret panel by sounding a Chinese gong. When Ingeena gulps down Dr. Jackson's greatest discovery in medicine since Louis Pasteur, he goes, well, ape. From there on out he goes on a murder rampage that eventually leaves three people dead (Dr. Jackson, Attorney Bradshaw, and Jackson's brother). It's all about as exciting as the paragraph you just read, because there is no suspense in the entire proceedings to make any of it remotely interesting to watch.There's an entirely laughable scene when Dr. Jackson's brother shoots the creature. When he empties the gun of bullets, he throws it at the ape man, and misses him from five feet away! Even Superman's TV villains were more accurate than that.Perhaps the most interesting part of the story had nothing at all to do with horror or mystery elements. The newlywed Lindsay's are entertained in their home on the evening of their wedding by the Four Toppers in a couple of lively numbers. One might question why the new couple is spending the night at home, though husband Bob offered an explanation that it was a wedding surprise. Shortly later they abandon it when they inherit the Jackson house. There seemed to be a likable chemistry between the Lindsay's, though it probably wasn't helped by sleeping in separate beds."Son of Ingagi" is probably best approached as a curiosity piece, billed as one of, if not THE first film with an all black cast. Even that seemed dubious by the appearance of Dr. Jackson and her brother. Some attempt at humor is made with the presence of inept Detective Nelson, as alert in his sleep as he is awake, that is to say, entirely oblivious of what's going on. Even so, you knew he wasn't meant to go out in a blaze of glory, nor for that matter, did the film.Update - 6/06/07: Today I managed to come across an all black cowboy Western starring Herb Jeffries and Mantan Moreland called "Two Gun Man From Harlem". It was from 1938, preceding this one by two years.

Wow! When they set out to make a bad movie in the golden days, they sure knew how to do it! This film is bad, no qualms, questions about it. The story essentially tells a story about a young couple just getting married who are visited by a wealthy doctor known to everyone else for her miserly ways, yet in secret a very giving woman. We learn that this woman is attached somehow to the wife, and then we discover that she has been in Africa and loved her father. The film is intriguing with its all black cast(save the doctor and her brother), but ultimately fails as the moment the monster(an ape-like man living in the doctor's office) is revealed destroys any credibility the movie might have had. This monster looks so silly with its black wire hairs(mop-like)hanging over its face which has sunken eyes. It moves around in a pitiful way, and in no way is scary. The film also does not know exactly what it is trying to be. Is it a horror film or a comedy? The ape kills on two occasions with no comedy implied, and then later we see it eat two sandwiches from a scared policeman desperately trying to imitate Mantan Moreland. I also forgot to mention the lovely music sung as the wedded couple spend their honeymoon in their house and are visited by all their "singing" friends and family. The film sports few great moments. It has poor, inferior direction, sets, script, and acting. The best part for me was the woman who played the doctor. She was quite atmospheric in her black dress and her portly figure. That, however, is not enough to recommend this exercise in will...making you sit through it.