Son Of Ingagi

2113. SON OF INGAGI (1940-USA). With SPENCER WILLIAMS. Black independent films proÂduced during the 1930s and 40s were in many ways similar to their Hollywood counterparts. There were black musicals, gangster melodramas, westerns and even horror films. This amusing chiller is a prime example of the latter. It contains all the elements of the archetypal fright film: a pair of happy young innocents, who happen to be newlyweds; a mysterious doctor, who happens to be a woman; a creaky old mansion; and a monster. The latter is a constantly grunting zombie-like brute who is the creation of Dr. Helen Jackson. The doctor is a former missionary in Africa, where she came to be an expert in black magic. She is as enigma. On one hand she is an embittered battleaxe who resides in the mansion with the monster, an overgrown creature whom she summons with a Chinese gong striker. Yet the doctor is at the same time deeply fond of the newlyweds, to whom she shows much kindness. Trouble comes when Dr, Jackson perfects a strange potion, which she calls “the greatest discovery in medicine since Louis Pasteur.” Without her knowledge the monster drinks this potion, which alters his behavior and leads to chaos and murder. Popular black actor-director- writer Spencer Williams, who also authored the story upon which the film is based, is happily cast as the tough-talking but comically inept cop on the case. (You may remember him as “Andy” on television’s “Amos ‘N Andy.”) There is a really funny extended sequence, which begins with his building himself a gigantic sandwich right under the nose of the monster. 63 minutes. ÒAll-BlackÓ Horror