The King of the Kongo is a Mascotfilm serial, and was the first serial to have sound, although only partial sound rather than the later "All-Talking" productions with complete sound. The first episode was a "three reeler" with the remaining nine episodes being "two reelers".
Plot
Independently, the two protagonists, Diana Martin and Secret Service agent Larry Trent are searching the jungle for missing relatives, her father and his brother. Tied up in this plot are ivory smugglers and a lost treasure hidden in the jungle.
Boris Karloff as Scarface Macklin. The near fatal events occurring to the hero are preceded by shadowy shots of Karloff. However, he is revealed not to be the villain in the final chapter.
The King of the Kongo was the first film serial to have any sound element. Larger serial-producing studios were reluctant to change away from silent production while smaller studios could not afford to do so. Legend has it that producer and studio-owner Nat Levine carried the sound discs in his lap from Los Angeles to New York City, by train and aeroplane, for them to be safely developed. For financial reasons, these discs could not have been repaired or replaced if anything had gone wrong. This was two years after the first Part-Talking film, The Jazz Singer, had been released and a year after the first "All-Talking" film, Lights of New York. Despite an announcement that two versions of this serial would be released,, no evidence for a silent version ever being released exists. Some of the video bootlegs of the film are the sound version with the sound credits excised. King of the Kongo is sometimes misreported as an alternate title for the 1931 serial King of the Wild, which also starred Boris Karloff.
Updated status as of 6/2014. The complete picture for this serial exists, but the sound does not. This is a current listing of the sound known to survive. Chapter 1 • Into the Unknown Chapter 2 • Terrors of the Jungle Chapter 3 • Temple of Beasts Chapter 4 • Gorilla Warfare Chapter 5 • Danger in the Dark restoration was finished in 2013 Chapter 6 • The Fight at Lions Pit National Film Preservation Foundation project began Fall 2014 Chapter 7 • The Fatal Moment Chapter 8 • Sentenced to Death Chapter 9 • Desperate Choices Chapter 10 • Jungle Justice In 2011, collector/historian Eric Grayson, owner of a 16mm silent print, restored the sound to several scenes of the film, using discs from Ron Hutchinson's Vitaphone Project. These reels were Chap 5 r1, Chap 5 r2, and Chap 6 r2. The results of some of the talking scenes have been posted on YouTube. In 2012, a Kickstarter successfully helped fund a restoration of Chapter 5. National Film Preservation Foundation grant is underway for Chapter 10. A grant for Chapter 6 was issued in June 2014.
