SeeQuant Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

Aubrey Hackett While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Orla Zuniga It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

Janis One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Michael Ledo As you can guess from the cover and title, Nabonga is about a man in a gorilla suit named "Samson." A plane crashes in the jungle with stolen jewels and securities. Doreen, a Shirley Temple clone, survives the crash and lives until adulthood becoming a gorilla whisperer. She has become a legend as "the white witch." Buster Crabbe, sometimes known a "Bwana" looks for the treasure as bad guys follow him.Doreen (Julie London) as an adult living in the jungle has smooth silky white skin without a scratch, like most real live Hollywood Jungle women. The film I watched was restored, at least the part filmed on a set. The stock footage, films from the jungles in Africa...and around the world, was edited into the film at random points. It wasn't restored that well.The film is camp nostalgia. The end included a plea to buy war bonds and stamps.

Hitchcoc It's just an adventure story. A young girl is raised by a gorilla after her father, a crook, dies. A really boring man played by Buster Crabbe finds her and needs her to give some money and jewels back. Of course, there is another guy who wants the loot. Most of the movie is the discovery of the White Witch who is really just a good looking young woman and the efforts to keep her alive by the duo of Crabbe and gorilla. Most of the scenes are silly and forgettable. There are a lot of animals (stock footage) and lots of vines and trees. It is entirely predictable and there are few surprises. The relationship between the girl and Crabbe goes nowhere. Can you imagine the reality of her being put back into Western society.

vitaleralphlouis NABONGA is just a low-budget gorilla adventure from PRC Pictures, but it offers a good story, more African wildlife shots than most Tarzan movies, and a reasonable level of sex appeal. At 75 minutes, the movie is never dull; and it matters not that Nabonga is an actor in a gorilla suit -- because audiences allowed some slack if the story was good. This rates a solid 7/10, if not better.Contrast this with Peter Jackson's overblown, miserable, and downright stupid 2006 gorilla movie --- that cost in excess of $100 million --- and was dying fast at the box office (per word-of-mouth) two weeks after its release. Jackson's movie had no entertainment value at all.Some say that Nabonga was the inspiration to the 1950 "Mighty Joe Young" --- a truly excellent classic made by the same skilled people that made the 1933 "King Kong". I'd say, not quite. "Nabonga" is a much slimmer story.You can rent Nabonga + Swamp Fire from Netflix, or buy a DVD for about $2.00 on eBay or elsewhere. Worth your time and money.

pmcenea I watched the first 45 minutes of this movie and had to give up. It is dull! dull! dull! Even Buster Crabbe seemed to have been affected by the dullness. He seemed to be walking through his part. I gave the movie points for the shots of the real animals.